This is Africa!!

TIA!! For anyone who hasn’t seen blood diamond, that stands for “This is Africa.” This sure is Africa, South Africa to be exact. It is so much better than I could have imagined here. We got here on Tuesday the 19^th so naturally I couldn’t sleep the night of the 18^th, and we got up to see my third sunrise (aren’t you proud dad) We got up at about 4:30 and were outside for 5 but the sun didn’t come up till well after 5:30. I don’t know why we got up so early. As soon as we walked outside, we could see land. We docked officially at about 7ish and saw our first glimpse of Table Mountain. (or table top mountain as tea calls it) The first thing I did in South Africa was a program called Operation Hunger through semester at sea. It is a program started in 97 to feed the young kids that live about 10 minutes outside of Cape Town. It was very interesting to see this city because at first look, it seems just like an American city. Everyone speaks English, you can buy American food, American music, and American magazines. The only difference is that all of the wealth in the country is very un-evenly divided up. 10% of the population holds 90% of the wealth. To be honest, I just made that up because I don’t feel like looking at what the percentages actually are. I feel confident in my numbers. So in Cape Town, it looks like America, but as soon as you drive 5 or 10 minutes outside of the city, you are in some of the poorest places I have ever seen in my life. The things we throw away after a corrugated metal sheeting job with dad is the same stuff they make their houses out of. Fiberglass, some wood, metal sheets, sometimes even cardboard comprise all of the houses in these outlying areas. The place we went to had two separate areas. One area had very small buildings made of block, about 100 homes. Directly to the left are hundreds of houses thrown together with the other materials. They said they are starting to build more block houses, but so far, they have built 100 in 10 years. That’s not very fast. The other houses are in an area called ‘the jungle.’ Use your imaginations to understand that name. When we got there, we waited for a long time and it was very unorganized. Eventually, the 47 of us were given 3 scales, some little cards, and were to weigh the little kids in these block houses. They would compare our weights with the weights from the visit last year and see if the program is working. So we were matched up with a Rastafarian guide, and split into 3 groups to start weighing kids. If you do the math, you’ll quickly realize that we had wayyyyyy more people than we needed. It ended up that all the people made the kids uncomfortable and complicated things. We did a lot of standing around. Our Rasta guide took us to the house of Mama B. This cantankerous jamacan woman has been kicked out of her hometown only to live in Europe and American for 3 months, then settled in Africa. She had very very serious views on how to get Africa back on track. She felt that all the world leaders should stop sending money to Africa because it is only making things worse. The money doesn’t get to the people who actually need it. It is corrupted and ends up in someone’s pocket. She said that Africa needs to give land to all the poor people that are in these shack areas. When they get land, they will learn how to use it, grow things, then eventually take ownership of the country instead of living on top of each other in these ‘housing’ complexes (without houses of course) Of course, that will never happen because the 10% of the people that own all the land would never want to lose their power making it impossible for Africa to get out of the hole. What a terrible situation. The kids were underweight but still very happy to be alive. Our guide said there is a program in some preschools that feed kids because there is a huge drop off in nutrition between the ages after they stop breast feeding and when they are old enough to fight for their food. This age gets pushed around by the bigger kids and basically eat nothing. When the parents eat rice and bean soup for example, the kids don’t get the same food, they eat whatever is left like the broth. It is very sad. They enjoyed our company, the towns people were very very friendly. We left to eat lunch (because our guide said we couldn’t eat there, because they never eat) and donated some portions of our lunch that we didn’t want to eat. When we came back after lunch, all the kids had gotten out of school. These little kids LOVE to have their picture taken. As long as they can look at the picture on the camera immediately after you snap the picture. Super cute. They jump all over each other and love cameras.

The next day I went on a safari. We left at 3:15 in the morning. We took a bus to the airport, a plane to jo-burgh (3 hours) a bus to kruger park (6 hours), then safari cars to our camp. Very long trip but it was worth it. On the way into the park, before we even got off the bus, we saw a herd of elephants and a crocodile. I knew it would be a good trip. The way they work it is we go out in the morning from 430-7 then breakfast then lunch later then another safari from 4-630. The animals don’t like the sun so they hide during the day and its hard to see anything. On our first safari in the morning, we saw a herd of giraffe, some white rhino (the common type) and of course a ton of impala. When we saw impala for the first time, my guide goes “that’s an impala” and I go “just like my car.” (I miss that boat of a car) Right before the sunset, we saw a single male elephant. His silhouette was beautiful and I took tons of pictures of him. Our guide said he was looking for a female to mate with and was very aggressive. We got some good pictures, then after we drove by him to leave; he started charging our safari vehicle. It was scary, but we can out drive and elephant, so I felt okay. I’lljust list all of the animals we saw and you can judge what kind of a time I had. The big five include the rhino, elephant, water buffalo, lion and leopard. I saw all of them. I also saw a hyena, a turtle, a black mumba (snake), a herd of elephants, a herd of zebra, a herd of giraffes, some wildabeasts, warthogs, mongoose, monkeys, birds, crocodiles, black rhino(very very rare), a pride of lions, and a leopard. Leopards are very hard to see, so I was sad when we hadn’t seen one and it was the last day. We drove an hour away from camp to look for some hippos in the bigger river. We were almost there when someone in our safari car saw the tail of a leopard. Can you believe how excited we were? So we backed up and they were right!! It was a leopard!! He started to walk away (like all of the animals do. –we actually are going to title our safari “lots of ass” because as soon as you see the animals, they turn their backside to you.) Luckily, the leopard turned around and sat still for a while. We took as many pictures as our cameras would snap because of how uncommon it is to see one. The leopard crouched down on it’s belly real smoothly and it was looking to the other side of the road. We looked over there and there were a herd of impala (the dumbest animals ever) We all got super excited. The leopard crept forward and when it got to the road, it took off, attacked an impala and had it clenched in its jaw. We watched the leopard kill an impala then drag it off to some tree. I’m not sure if you understand how rare and exciting that was. Our guide said he had never seen anything like that. He saw lions chase something into the bush, but never a kill. We took a picture with everyone in our lucky safari car. Everyone else was jealous (I would have been too) but they liked looking at our pictures. My heart was beating fast for the next 30 minutes. It was ridiculous. I WATCHED A LEOPARD KILL AN IMPALA. How awesome is that? Now, I’m back in capetown getting a couple things then going back on the boat tonight. We leave at 11 for Mauritius. A lot of people are renting houses on the beach there, hopefully ill hang out with some of the new friends I’ve met on my safari. South Africa is an amazing place, and I suggest it to anyone who likes to travel (especially you parents- don’t worry, everyone speaks English, and the food is very Americanized. You would have a wonderful time here!!) I hear the plane tickets are expensive, but it will be worth the money. I love you all very much. I hope you enjoy the pictures. To anyone who wrote me an email: I got them when I got here, but I will write back to you in the next 2 days. Expect one coming your way!! Love you all very much

Yay for keeping real turf on the field

Yay for Gino in the scoring race.

I hope the steelers are really thinking about their draft picks!

I miss you all very much.

When I get home, the first thing I’m eating is buffalo wild wings. Anyone who meets me at the airport better be ready to stop in the one by the airport!!! Bye!

Really Quick!

Hey everyone i'll be in south africa tomorrow morning!!! that means i'll be on a safari in under 48 hours!! i love you all!! Miss you

Happy Valentines Day!!

Happy Valentines Day!!

To my longest running valentines- my parents, I love you very much.

And a happy valentines day to my other (equally important) valentines- Rannie and Ryan, (happy kinda anniversary) Mark (we’ll celebrate when I get home), Juli (sorry I’m missing anti-valentines day), Mumma (I hope you don’t mind sharing that baby) , Therasa (tell fred to take you somewhere nice for me), Kristofer (I have no idea who you are dating), and that little Keagan (you gotta share mumma, I knew her first) . I miss you all very much.

Today is Neptune day. What does that mean? (you might ask) Well, first off, everyone is happy because we don’t have class, but more importantly, we celebrate Feb 2^nd when we crossed the equator (I don’t know why we didn’t do it on Feb 2^nd) at 7:30 all the crew members dressed in these silly white outfits were banging pots and blowing whistles outside of our rooms *what an awesome way to wake up.* at about 8:30, they started the ceremony. At the pool on the top deck, there are 3 sections. The center one is about 6 feet deep, and the two sections on the outside are like baby pools that spill into the big one whenever the waves are rocking. Let me tell you, today is our rockiest day on the ship. The water has been so calm so no one is used to all the waves. Anyways, so you get in the first baby pool, and crew members pour this fishgutz liquid on you (it looks like blue kool-aid. Then, you jump in the deep pool. When you get out, you kiss a dead fish, then kneel and kiss Neptune’s (aka Dean Ken’s) ring. Only bad thing is its cold outside today. And very rockey. It was ridiculous, but we loved every second. Then on the other part of the deck, people sit in chairs and shave their heads. I don’t know where this ceremony came from. To be honest, I think SAS made it up so people looked like idiots walking around with their heads shaved. Two of my good friends shaved their heads. They’re both crazy. I think it takes too long to grow that shit back, but more power to them. (o:

A couple days ago we learned about AIDS in Africa. Like me, I’m sure most of you guys thought Africa has so many cases of AIDS because they are promiscuous. In fact it turns out that their life style is just different. In America, we get married, then divorced, then married, then divorced again. This can happen lots of times, or sometimes not as often. In Africa instead of getting married and divorced over and over, they have 2-3 partners for their whole lifetime. This becomes a concurrency web which freely passes AIDS to your 3 partners, who passes it to each of their 2 other partners, then you can imagine how it passes exponentially. We also learned that in the first couple months when you are infected, you are almost guaranteed to pass it to anyone you have relations with until your body’s antibodies start fighting back. After your immune system begins to fight AIDS, you are much less likely to spread the disease. People who have had AIDS for a couple months, or a years are not very likely to pass the disease. Only one in a hundred sexual acts will pass on the disease. That works in America’s favor because you would typically have the same partner for longer than a couple months or a year. By that time, we are likely to be tested and find out. In Africa, because of this concurrency lifestyle they have, they may have relations with all 3 partners within a month. I’m sure you all get it now. If one person in a web gets HIV, in 8 moths the disease has already spread exponentially before anyone even knows. It was a very sad lecture. He said the middle generation of people that are alive right now are basically wiped out. The grand parents and children are still in tact, but most people in my generation are infected. Very sad.

On a much happier note, since there have been so many problems with the internet, they gave everyone 100 free internet minutes. You should have heard everyone cheering in the student union. It was almost embarrassing, but I was just as happy as everyone else.

The moments leading up to my safari are quickly passing away. Before I know it, I’ll be watching a lion tribe catch some sort of buffalo only to have it almost stolen by some crocodiles. Immediately after, the pack of buffalo will fight the lion pride to get their buffalo back. If you don’t know what I’m talking about… go on youtube.com and search for battle at Kruger. You won’t even believe what you see.

I know this is sad because I am traveling around the world and I should have other things to concentrate on, but almost daily, I wonder who the steelers will draft this year. I guess some things just never change. Good news (eventho you all already know) we’re keeping our grass at Heinz Field!! I was super happy to hear about that. 2 people that I’ve met on this trip told me I should be a sports analyzer. I think it’s funny because when I watch shows on ESPN, I tear those people apart. (o: One of our deans on the boat, Ken, grew up around slippery rock. Needless to say, he is a Steelers fan. I had breakfast with our other dean is from Boston, but I can forgive him because he lived in Pittsburgh for 23 years and only moved because his grandchildren were born.

The pens played last night and tonight, I wonder how they look. Thanks mark for sending me updates. Sometimes I check my email specifically for them. I love it. Will you email me what day the draft is? I’m pretty sure it’s right before I come home. Probably sometime around Hawaii.

So on this boat, we have things called extended families and little sisters and brothers. Mike Schulz is my extended father. I probably have a sibling or two, but I dunno who it is yet. I hope it’s a brother, because I’ve never had a brother. I am also a big sister to a little blonde girl named Drue. She is 6 and she likes me because I ask her questions like ‘how many slices of orange are sitting there?” Her mom is super nice. Today, I came back from class, and there were candy hearts on my door from Drue. (o: I have also started tutoring another little boy on the boat. His name is Eric, he’s 9, and in 3^rd grade. I am teaching him about science for about an hour everyday.

I love you all very much and miss you equally. Its only day 23! But I’ll be home before you know it!

I am writing this as I’m posting… the waves today are CRAZY. You should see my room. All my stuff is all over the place. Its supposed to get a little worse tonight. We’ll see how that goes. Even our drawers are opening and slamming. On the 4^th deck, when the boat tips the water looks like it’s taller than the porthole.

Brazil

Hello from Brazil!! I was 100% looking past Brazil and thinking about South Africa and it caught me by surprise. It was amazing and I’m honestly not sure if I’ll have more fun in any other country. They scared the shit out of us before we got into port. We were here for the last day of Carnival (Carnival is like mardi gras, but a million times better and crazier) which is the day before lent starts. Nothing is open during carnival because it is just one large party that every one in Salvador (and the rest of the world) attends. They are in the book of world records for the largest party ever. Naturally, the people who are in charge of our safety were laying it on pretty thick. They told us everyone gets robbed, and fights break out in the street, then the police come in and hit everyone with sticks till it is under control. There are trucks that drive around the streets, and on top, a famous band or singer plays. It sounded fun because you can buy a tshirt to match the specific truck that you like best, then you are like in the parade and you walk inside of ropes that keep out the people who can’t afford shirts So directly outside of the ropes, all the people are angry that they’re not inside so they march with the parade, but they end up pushing each other like it’s a mosh pit occasionally. They told us that if you are pretty and make eye contact with a local, they will kiss you. And also that you WILL get pick pocketed…. All these crazy stories that I totally didn’t believe, how could that be true... I am pretty good at telling when someone is just trying to make an impression and when it’s the truth. So I was cautious, but of course I was excited to see what it was like. We got to Brazil at 530 in the morning. (ps, Dad, I saw my first sunrise 14 days into the trip) We had some meetings and they checked our passports and then we were off the boat by 10ish. Brazil is broken up into parts. Lower brazil and then you can take a elevator to the upper city. So we headed up to the upper city and tried to get a little oriented with the streets. We walked around and found a little diner off the main street that we got this mango juice that everyone was raving about. So delicious. Every restaurant and house has a juicer and they just juice whatever fruit they have to make juice. No sugar, nothing added, just straight juice. Probably one of my favorite things I had the whole time I was here. Then we tried the most famous local drink. They take limes and smash them at the bottom of the cup, then they add sugar and rum. I happen to hate rum, so I didn’t like this local favorite much, but I had to try it because I was here. The entire country of brazil speaks Portuguese and a little bit of Spanish so of course we got around okay, but it was slightly difficult. Some guys sat next to me and were trying to tell me how much they love one of brazil’s soccer teams. I got the idea and tried to tell them that I love American football, but I think they were drunk. So after that we walked around and realized carniaval was starting. The trucks I was talking about go around a set pattern that is like a loop so its not exactly a parade, but its like a track they follow. So we saw a truck and went to see what it was like. On the way towards the truck, I was looking around, and a brazilian tried to kiss me!! Just like they told us. He fortunately didn’t get me, but I was very surprised, but it was funny to us. So the first float we saw was Eveci, a singer similar to Britney spears but before she became a wack job. It was fun to see her because we had learned about her in class on the boat. So as she came by, we started walking with the float then realized we were in the middle of people they call ‘popcorn’ the people who get rowdy next to the roped off section of the floats. It was scary but luckily a local scooped up the other girls (Mal and Nel) I was with and saved us while Alex (the guy that takes care of us) was pushed down the street and into a tree. We got him back and decided to get outta there. So on our way home, we go to an intersection where we had to cross the street to get back to the boat but Eveci’s float was coming by again. So we were just standing there watching, and a group of 5 guys came and pushed us all together while the other people with them had their hands in all of our pockets. It happened so fast and we didn’t even know what was going on till we felt all of the hands feeling around for money. It was the craziest feeling ever because we were pushed together like at a really crowded concert so they were was nothing we could do about it. If I had had my camera with me, it would have been gone (for sure.) After we got out of there, we accessed the damage and in our group of 4 people, we had 2 pairs of sunglasses, a pack of cigarettes and a sheet of paper from Mal’s pocket that had Portuguese- English translations. HaHaHa. They stole her translations. I was proud of everyone for not having anything valuable in their pockets and was excited that nothing bad happened to us. Then we all went back to the boat and showered. Later, Alex convinced me to buy a tshirt with him (and like 50 other SAS students) to get inside of the ropes for the Fat Boy Slim truck. They were 250 R which is about $150. Most expensive shirt I have ever bought but I was really excited about going. So we go to the official carnival and were inside of the ropes of what the locals called ‘fat boy sem.’ It was probably the craziest thing I’ve ever seen in my life up until this point. For those of you who have seen the second matrix… the rave in the middle of the movie where they are celebrating zion… it was exactly like that but moving. Everyone was sooooo swearty and pushing each other and dancing and we all matched. Exactly like the movie. We weren’t in a cave tho. Alex had a disposable camera and I hope the pictures are amazing because it is the only way we’ll have any photographic evidence of the night. In the middle of the loop, so kid looked at me and goes “oh, did you just get out of the shower? (because I was drenched in sweat and water that people were throwing around ) and I looked at him and go “You must have too.” It was crazy and we didn’t get home till 4. then left the next morning at 5:30 for a city north west of Salvador called Lencois. (pronounced Len-Soy-s) I guarantee I’ll go back to Lencois. It was nothing like Salvador. It wasn’t scary, you could leave your valuables out in the open and no one would touch them it was safe and I loved it there. On the bus ride there, it took super long. It was supposed to be a 6 hour trip, but we had to stop for an hour because there was an accident in front of us where a woman went head on into a bus. I have no idea if she is alive. It took like 8 hours total and it was hot in the bus. When we got there, we met a guy named Washington. He was a short-ish Brazilian who owned a “pasada” which is sort of like a hostel, really basic and cheap hotel. He was wonderful and became my favorite local. We put our stuff in his house/hotel and went on a 2.5 hour hike around the town. It was so beautiful. Unlike any hike I’ve ever been on. It was sooo beautiful and even the pictures I plan on posting on this blog won’t be anything like what we actually saw. We hiked for like an hour then stopped at a waterfall where we swam and took pictures because we were amazed. Then we hiked for another 30 mins and found an even better waterfall. It was ridiculous. After we got home, we went to get dinner and hang out in town. Washington was wonderful to us. Very very friendly, he introduced us to all of his friends and we really felt like we experienced Lencois in a way that not many people go to. The next day the pasada made us the most delicious breakfast I had ever had. It was the best fruit, juice, and sandwiches I had ever tasted. Then to top it off, they made us this delicious chocolate cake. After breakfast, we went on a 10 hour hike where we stopped at two amazing places. The first one was this huge huge waterfall. Probably like half of a football field. And by it there were rocks you could jump off. Two heights, one was like 14 feet and the other one was about 3 stories tall. Instead of jumping off the little one then getting scared or not liking it, I went straight for the tall one. Washington was at the top of the rocks telling everyone how to jump with out ending up doing a belly flop and he tried to convince me to do the little one first because he didn’t want me to get hurt. I did it anyways and it was fine. I was sitting there with Mal and Nel and Washington and I said to Washington “this is so beautiful” and he said “I don’t know what is more beautiful, this waterfall or you.” I was flattered, but it was so cute. He later ended up confessing his love to me by the end of the trip. How many people have a local fall in love with them while visiting a country? Just me. Nel joked and said that she and Mal had to get someone to fall in love with them in Costa Rica and Mauritius so we could have an amazing time like we did in Lencois. Next, we climed back the way we had gotten there and we went to this rock slide. It was kinda like at ohio pyle’s slide rock where the water runs over the rock and you slide down. Only difference is it was much more fun. Everyone slid down on their bums, but the locals and guides who had been there like every day surfed down on their feet. Then when they got to the end of the slide where the rock met the pool of water, they jumped and did dives and stuff. It was so amazing. They were so good at it. I loved it. I have a couple videos of it so when I get back you can watch them. So we got back and then we out to hang out in the town where we heard some live music and ate some delicious crispy pizza. The next day we were leaving at 1:15 so we didn’t have much time to do anything crazy. We walked past a tree on the way there where there was a boa in the tree. Mel was scared so we hurried past it. Washington took us to this little area that had these deep holes that the locals dove into. It was so fun but were there for a little. They showed us some Capoera before we left and then we were on our way home. Capoera is that slow dance fighting that slaves used to do so they could practice fighting but the slave owners didn’t know since it looked like a dance. It super cool. There were lots of flips, and bending with a combination of sweeping kick and other crazy stuff. The locals were getting the boa out of the tree so the tourists didn’t get scared or eaten ( and so they could charge people money to take pictures of the snake) the snake was huge. Washington hold the snake while we took free pictures (because he liked us) it was large. Awesome. Then we said our goodbyes and came back to Salvador. It was an amazing trip and I loved every second of it. I am going to try to add some pictures to this blog, but if it doesn’t work, I’ll show everyone when I get home. I love you all and I miss you lots. Please send awesome emails in the next 10 days when we’ll be on the boat on the way to South Africa. It is going to be a very long voyage. I will probably write again during that trip unless I don’t have time because of homework which is entirely possibly. I have like 5 papers to write and I’m trying not to think about it until I have to write it. I hope you are getting all of my free post cards! Keep the mail coming!! Love you all!!!

PS, the good news is i posted my blog at an internet cafe for 1$ for a half hour of internet. the bad news is you only get to see one picture. there are plenty more to come.

PSS, GO PENS

PSS, thank you giants.

Almost in Brazil!!

Sorry it took so long, the internet hasn't been working correctly
Go Giants!!


Hi Everyone!!! Happy Carnival!! Carnival is Brazil’s 3 day long celebration (very similar to Mardi Gras, but crazier) A guest speaker on our boat, Javier, said you are allowed to do anything you want, but only for 3 days. Feb 1st is day one of the celebration and at noon, he said he still hadn’t heard from his wife back home. Brazilians are partiers and this is the best of the best. There are huge parades that roam the streets (I’m not sure how organized it is) and you buy a shirt that is specific to the truck you will be following. I think I will watch from a distance, I’m not sure I want to get squished in a fight or lost in the whole mess. I’m sure you are all excited to hear from me, I’ve been trying to write as many free semester at sea post cards as I can. If you haven’t gotten any, please email me and tell me you want them. Special thanks to Mumma and Poppa Bear for sending a card and money… and also to mark who drew me a wonderful picture. To Randi for putting all of my emails together so perfectly and also writing me about the family. Also, to Mumma (jessi) for the email, Juli for keeping my facey friends updated and to Kristofer for making sure I can graduate when I come home! You are all wonderful and I miss you tons. Who wants to hear about the ship?!?!
It’s officially a ship and not a boat, eventho I will continue to call it the boat, because it holds other boats. That’s the actual definition of a Ship… Just skip over any of this if I’ve already told you… Our classes run on A and B days (similar to MWF and TTh days in college) But they very nicely give us a day off every 4 or 5 days if we are sailing for a week or more. Everyday, we have a class called global studies. It tells us about the country and area we are going to be visiting. We do a lot of reading for all of our classes because we only have 23 days of each class. I am taking all 100 level courses, so my classes are pretty easy, I couldn’t even imagine how much reading I would have to do for a 400 level class. After the first two days of classes, there were 2 days of Add/Drop. This was set up ridiculously and I’m not sure anyone knew what they were doing. Our voyage is the biggest so far with 731 students, so the system they have used in the past could not accommodate for everyone in a timely fashion. I have intro to archeology, World’s Religions, and a class called sacred spaces that deals with architecture.
Tomorrow is our first laundry day!! That means we jam all of our dirty clothes into a 1’X1.5’ bag and pay them 5 dollars. I have no idea why it is so expensive; the bag can only hold a quarter of a load of laundry. Needless to say, I’ve been using a good amount of febreeze.
This blog is not nearly as exciting as my first one because we have been on the boat the whole time. It isn’t very eventfull. We have been doing a lot of planning. Me and a couple friends are going to Lencois in Brazil after we check out Carnival. It is supposed to be very pretty and I’m excited to go on an adventure. We have also been trying to plan our trip in China. It is super difficult because the internet is very expensive on the boat so we rely heavily on traveling books. I have nicely asked randi to try to do a little research for us so I can keep the cost down. Our boat, or ship, docks in Hong Kong on Thursday April 3rd, we are there for 2 days, get back on the boat travel for 2 days to Shanghai where we stay for 2 days, then we’re off to another country. We have no class on those 2 days between the Chinese cities, so we have decided to meet up with the boat in shanghai. This will allow us to see the great wall, forbidden city, and experience much more of china than we would otherwise.
I have a couple semester at sea trips to go on in the coming countries. In Mauritius, a small island east of madascar, I am going to learn about the medicines they use, traditiona,natural and modern medicines used by ancestral Indians. We’ll also stop at a market to meet traditional herbalists. I am doing lots of SAS trips in India. First, on Tuesday, march 11th, I’m going to where the ‘untouchables’ live and we’re doing a service project. We will help them paint, or garden, or whatever they need. The untouchables are a group of very low class people that have the worst jobs in the country, but they can not get out of their lives because of the system they were born into. Then I go on a homestay with a family that lives in India. And finally, I go to Kancheepuram “The city of 1,000 temples”and Mamallapuram, an ancient city of the pallava kings. I can’t wait for the experiences I’m about to have.
I’ll try to write another blog while I’m in Salvador, but if I get too busy, I’ll write it the day we set sail again. Keep the emails coming, I’ll do my best to respond asap. I will check what you write on my blog as often as possible, but I’ll def. get to my emails before your blog posts!!! Love and Miss you all!!!! See you soon!

Ps, Be home in 94-ish days!!

PSS!! I crossed the equator yesterday at around Noon!!