Ship Life (and new updates about Japan)

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MARCH 14th---

Today I decided to get a pedicure at the health center….just go to India and you’ll know why this is necessary! The woman who did my nails was Ukrainian. It was the most painful experience of my life. I mean they look and feel good, but I was tearing at one point. She told me I had an infection on one of my toes from something in India….ewww……yay India, you have permanently ruined my feet! What a surprise! I mean I only walked barefoot in all these temples where people pee on the ground…gross! Good news is that I will have all my 5 toes when I return home hahah!

As for the health update from India. I’m happy to say that everyone made it out of India alive! There are a few cases of pneumonia, fevers, rashes and god knows what else. I ended up with about 40 mosquito bites on my legs ahhhh!!! I was actually surprised at how little I was sick. I guess those vaccinations and malaria medicine really work. I never felt that unsafe in India either.

It’s funny, because if you asked me in the beginning of the trip which place I thought would be the scariest, I would have said India. But really I felt the most unsafe places I visited were in Africa. We would get followed and have to walk every once in awhile into a café or something like that to avoid creepy people. I would always have to watch my belongings and my friends. Not to mention that Africa has the highest rape percentage in the world…..greatttt! Maybe I think Africa because I went there before India? By the time I got to India, I sort of was prepared for anything. But no one ever really scared me in India, mostly just annoyed me.

Oh, I forgot to talk about the Crew Talent Show. Some of the crew members have a lot of talent. There was some crew members from the food and dining department that formed a band and played some songs. The singer was actually really good and had everyone singing along. I hope they are the entertainment for the ball! There was also another really cool act. It’s called Bamboo Dancing. It’s really hard to explain but pretty much dancers jump around this moving bamboo on the floor. It was really cool! They announced where all the crew was from and literally I think each one is from a different country. At the end all the housekeepers sang a song together and waved their flag of origin. I think I realized at this point that our ship is filled with so much diversity. There might even be someone on the ship from almost every country. Just looking at the group on the stage, we cover most of Asia, Europe, South America, and most places in Africa. Really cool! There are a lot of dinging hall workers from Jamaica and they sang Bob Marley songs. This was hilarious! Mostly because people from Jamaica are the happiest people in the world! The guy who sang is always singing Bob Marley while he washes the dishes and makes up funny rhymes in the morning (keep in mind its 7 am…every morning) and brings everyone orange juice. At the end of the talent show, they started to play music, and it kind of turned into a giant dance party. It was really fun!


MARCH 15th---

Today in global studies they made the announcement to the whole shipboard community that we will no longer be able to go to Japan. I don’t think that many people were surprised. It makes sense. Obviously this is one of the worst things that has happened in Japan in a long time and I know that going there can be very dangerous. I mean there are nuclear explosions, toxins in the air and the idea that some of the areas of Japan won’t look the same.

But at the same time, Japan was the place I was looking forward to the most after India. Ugh! And it sucks…I mean you come all this way and you’re soooo close to the country and to just not go is sooo depressing. Now I feel that in the next 5 years I have to go to Japan. Good news is that we are going somewhere else. We don’t know for sure yet. Right now it is down to 3 options: South Korea, Taiwan and The Philippines.

Even thoough these are the 3 options right now, Dean Dan told us that other countries they are still considering. We should know by the end of this week I guess. I personally would love to go to Thailand or Indonesia….but I would be happy going anywhere they suggested! I guess I’ll just keep everyone informed.

Other than that, tonight is pre-port for Singapore. We were all advised to go so that we can hear the laws of the country. If you didn’t know this already, Singapore is a really strict country. You can be arrested for chewing/selling gum, j-walking, littering and spitting. It is one of the cleanest countries in the world (what a weird contrast coming from India!). Anyway, we are getting a sheet of all the stuff not to do.

We will be there at 8 am tomorrow morning. Sadly I am only in the country until 9 pm (there is talk about making it 6 pm ugh---I think there is some huge drinking fest or something and they don’t want everyone to get drunk before getting back on the ship?). I’m sure I’ll know what the correct time is by tonight. I have an interesting field trip tomorrow to visit all these war sites and museums….but I’m kind of bummed I don’t have more time to just explore. Hopefully we are staying until 9 because I was going to take a taxi and meet up with my friends and go out to dinner. I guess we’ll see…

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