A Jam-Packed 34 Hours

Hey hey hey!

So how are you all?!? Hope everyone had an amazing spring break! Can’t wait to hear about it! We are currently sailing from Mauritius to South Africa and as I am typing this we are somewhere off the Southeast tip of Madagascar. Altho by the time I send this we will probably be past Madagascar or off the west side. I am never able to finish a whole blog in one sit down so it usually takes me a day or two to completely type it and then send it lol. There is just so much going on aboard this ship!

Shout outs – Kayla – What up girl?!? So Chicago huh? How was that? I have never been there, well actually I have been in the airport but never the actual city. It’s on my list though. Haha yeah it’s weird because I wouldn’t consider Edmond very “hickish” but when I tell them stories about stuff we do on Friday nights and our epic ranch trips then they are all like “Haha yeah Tyler you are definitely a country boy.” And you know what that’s fine with me! I like being simple and laid back, makes life more fun . So who the heck is Jed Clampett? I’m not familiar with him? Shirley – Haha dude your good…I’ve been there with the Swine Week craziness so no sweat. I have heard some really awesome things about Ecuador from my sister and dad. I am super jealous of all of you and I would have killed to be there. God is so freaking awesome! Man that is so cool about college…what are you talking about?!? Sure I will miss ya but at the same time you are fulfilling a calling and that is the coolest thing ever!! Although you know that now we have to hang out like ALL summer to make up for being apart in the fall. Can’t wait to catch up my man, now we both have plenty of stories to share haha. Esther – Girl you crack me up. Yeah I like that they know I’m a country boy, then they all know I’m chill and just lovin life baby!! And which country friends would you be referring to? The ones who get their 4 wheel drive cars stuck on a flat piece of land that was anything but a ditch? Haha oh good times! I’m not really in any hurry to watch Slumdog because I know that it won’t be anything like what I saw cause that is like all people talked about when they were reflecting. Sorry that it took so long to respond. The last 4 days have been nuts! For an exact position the moment I am sending this, we are in between Madagascar and the Southern Tip of Africa and we will arrive in Cape Town in 3 days.

Picture – The picture above is of Grillz(far right), me(middle…duh!), and Toby (actually his real name is Ben, but that is a whole different story) in our van on the second day. The second day is explained better below but I just like this picture so I threw it in here. I honestly could have picked any of my pictures from Mauritius, there were just too many to choose from. There were pictures of the island, the beaches, the trips, and everything in between. So don’t worry there are plenty more pictures for me to show you this summer. If you click the picture it gets bigger...gotta love technology ;)

Before I tell you all about my adventures in Mauritius, I wanted to briefly mention an event that happened while sailing from India to Mauritius. We have a day aboard the ship that is called Neptune Day and it is a day to celebrate crossing the equator into the Southern Hemisphere. I personally don’t think it was that big of deal but hey…we got the day off with no classes and another barbeque dinner! Hey that’s good enough for me!! The biggest thing that happens on Neptune Day is head shavings that occur in the morning. It is a maritime tradition to shave your head and become a shellback the first time you cross the equator by taking a ship. I personally didn’t shave my head because it wasn’t that big of a deal to me and I have shaved my head before. The big deal is the girls that partake in this. Let me just tell you, I have an amazing amount of respect for every girl that shaved their head. And I mean shaved…like #1 buzz cut. I was honestly surprised by the number of girls that did it, over 25 girls shaved their heads. It was so cool because no one judged them afterwards when they were bald. It was like “Hey you shaved your head for Neptune Day that is so cool!” A couple of my really good friends, Rorrie and Ali (B.B.) shaved their heads and it was cool because they just don’t care what people think and wanted to do it for themselves. You don’t find that mentality much anymore in the states with mass media telling everyone how they “should or shouldn’t look.” It was nice to see everyone living in the moment. And while they were shaving their heads there was like a miny dance party/karaoke session that went on which was a blast because we were all just dancing around the pool to songs like Don’t Stop Believing and Summer of 69 (personal favorite) and having an awesome time not going to class. I didn’t have enough to write an entire blog about Neptune Day but I still wanted to mention it so there you go!

Okay so let me just start out by saying that Mauritius might just be the prettiest place I have ever been in my life. It is hard to compare it to Switzerland or Alaska because those are totally different environments but compared to anything similar, Mauritius takes the cake! Think Hawaii but more gorgeous...yeah I said MORE. We pulled into the harbor and it was just breathtaking. The water was the clearest water I have ever seen in my life, the beaches were white like you see on postcards and in books, and the mountains in the center of the island were like something out of a movie. Pictures don’t do this place justice so clearly my words can’t even begin to describe the environment I was in.

Not many people have ever even heard of Mauritius, I know I hadn’t until I saw that I was going there back in the fall. It is a small little island that is off the eastern edge of Madagascar. And I mean small, you can’t even see it on most maps without a magnifying glass. From any point on the island you can get to the opposite side in around an hour if the traffic cooperates. There is a coral reef that surrounds the majority of the island, white beaches as far as the eye can see and the middle of the island consists of mountains sporadically placed. Probably the most unique mountains I have ever seen simply because there would be like one by itself then a quarter of a mile away there would be a small chain of 3-4. Just so amazingly unique and beautiful. Over 1 million people call this island home but honestly I didn’t think it was that crowded and I was never overwhelmed by massive amounts of people. Altho I did just come from China and India so I guess I have a biased opinion currently. French is the dominant language spoken although most of the citizens speak some English, mainly as a result of the tourism industry which is a significant portion of the country’s income.

Our stay in Mauritius was just a short 2 days, actually not even that long. More like 32 hours from the time we got off to the time we got back on. Needless to say that didn’t matter to any of us. We made the most of it! Day 1 in Mauritius was extremely eventful. My morning started at 730 with breakfast, followed by immigration/customs clearance at 800 and then a diplomatic briefing from the American Consul around 845 I think. We had people going through customs so I can’t remember the exact time. After the briefing we were dismissed off the ship. I was going on an FDP with my Marine Biology professor to go snorkeling on the coral reef so we got to get off the ship first and load up our buses. There were about 45 of us in total and it was an awesome group of people. I had a lot of friends on the trip which of course makes it more memorable.

The first leg of our journey was about a 30 minute bus ride. Our first stop was at the Ministry of Agro Industry and Fisheries Division for a lecture on sustainability in the Mauritius fishing industry and in the waters surrounding the island. It was interesting to hear their take on the issue of sustainability and how passionate they are about what they do. The lecture was brief and after about an hour we said goodbye and loaded back onto the buses to head to our next location which was the highlight of our day, the Blue Bay Marine Park. After about an hour bus ride we arrived and loaded onto 2 glass bottom boats. We spent about 45 minutes traveling back and forth along the bay looking through the floor of our boat and checking out the coral and fish species that called this place home. It was crazy because the fish weren’t afraid of the boat at all and spent the majority of their time ignoring us and going about their daily lives of swimming around and eating (don’t really know what else fish do but it sounds like a good life haha).

Our boats took us to a private island for lunch where we had quite possibly the best buffet I have ever had. There was chicken, freshly grilled shrimp, prawns that were unbelievable, lamb chops with barbeque sauce, fresh fruit that was amazing, and then bananas fosters!! And the best part was that it was all we could eat, and I ate ALL that I could eat! I think I had a whole plate of the bananas fosters, gahhhhh it was freaking delicious!!

After everyone had their fill of food we finally got to snorkel!! We grabbed fins and masks that were provided for us and jumped into the boats to get out to the reef. We get to the buoy where our captain tied the boat up and the captain motioned for us to get in. Well the people who were back by the ladder didn’t hear him or didn’t notice and no one really moved to get up. I was near the front of the boat with Jeremy and we were like why is no one moving. Must have been one of those language barrier things I dunno. I motioned to the captain to make sure it was okay to get in and he gave me the thumbs up sign. So since no one moved, I just jumped off the side through the space between the canopy and the railing. I mean I wanted to snorkel on the reef man! Everyone in our boat looked at me like I was nuts and I was like “What, the captain said I could.” Jeremy was quick to jump in too and then Tom followed him; by that time the rest of the boat was starting to file off the back but I didn’t really pay attention because I was face down in the water at that point.

Okay this was the sweetest thing I have ever done in the ocean. Like I said earlier, the water was crystal clear and you could see forever under water. We were anchored off a reef about 10 feet and the depth of the area we were snorkeling ranged from about 4 feet to 12 feet in some areas. It was crazy!! As soon as I put my mask on and looked around I was in the middle of literally hundreds of fish! I can’t prove it because my camera isn’t an underwater camera but I swear that it’s true. Just to be able to float along and see the inner working of the coral reef population was awesome!! We saw fish, snails, sponges, and several different types of coral. Some fish were super tiny, like just 2-3 inches, then there were some big ones too that were longer than a foot. We didn’t see anything super big because it was a very shallow bay that was protected by natural barriers so it wasn’t good habitat for bigger fish species or marine mammals.

I don’t even know how long we were in the water but I think it was about 30-45 minutes (which only felt like 5) we were called back into the boat and returned to the beach so the other half of our group could take their turn. It was a bummer that we didn’t get to spend more time swimming through the reef with the fishes but we just didn’t have time. We were ferried back to the buses by our glass bottom boats and driven across the island back to our ship. I still can’t believe that I got to snorkel on a reef for school purposes. My classroom was literally a coral reef. How sick is that?!? I still can’t believe it!

After showering and changing out of our swimsuits, I met up with Emerson, Isaac, Shannon, and Shelly and we went out to explore the Port Louis area and grab some dinner. We decided to walk because the waterfront/city center was only about 1 km away and walking allows you to see the city so much better and get a better feel for the layout/environment around you. We ran into Kelly and Cosette at an outdoor grill near the water front and decided to join them for dinner. It was really good food and everyone thoroughly enjoyed what they ordered. The best part was just the atmosphere, we had a nice breeze coming off the water, there was great music playing in the background, and just a great atmosphere to chillax in and enjoy the evening. After dinner we spent some time exploring the city which included stopping at McDonalds for ice cream cones (it was cheap ice cream and I like cheap!) and taking pictures with a Ronald McDonald statue. After exploring the city we headed back to the ship and I decided to call it a night because we were waking up to leave early the next morning. Had to take advantage of the precious time we had in Mauritius man!

My second (and sadly last) day in Mauritius began super early with a 730 breakfast where I met up with Grillz, Emerson, Shelly, Isaac, and Shannon. Grillz worked out a deal with a tour agent who had a representative on the ship and we were able to get a van and driver for the day for just $30 a person. We wanted to go hiking so we headed off in our van to the Black River Gorge National Park in the center of the island. It was about an hour ride there which was quick because we had a 16 passenger van and there were only 6 of us so we were able to spread out and relax. I wasn’t really tired so I just enjoyed the view as we headed inland.

When we got to the park we told our driver we were going to go hiking and be back in an hour. He proceeded to tell us that we should be careful and not go on the trails without a hiring a guide because it was “dangerous.” Well we definitely weren’t about to pay to hire a guide so we set off on the trail and just decided to “risk it.” The trail was really easy to follow and started out as more of a rough road that you would take a jeep or 4x4 on. I say started because it gradually got steeper, narrower, and more difficult the farther up we went. Our group was moving at different paces, Isaac and Shannon wanted to take pictures of a lot of the flowers, Emerson and Shelly weren’t really wearing the right shoes, and Grillz and I were going too fast for everyone else. So to satisfy everyone we split into 3 groups of 2 so that we could go at our own pace and see what we wanted to see. Like I said the trail progressively got steeper and steeper, but Grillz and I wanted to reach the top so we just kept going. I should also mention that it had rained the night before so it was slick and muddy a lot of the trail, especially the higher up we got. About 75% of the way up the trail to the summit it got to the point where we were climbing straight up the side of the mountain on our hands and knees using tree roots and make-shift steps made out of plywood. We were SOOOOO dirty by the end of it and I was caked in mud. About 15 minutes from the top we ran into a group of Europeans coming down. We could have gone around them but we realized that we had to start making our way back down to meet the rest of our group and our driver and if we passed them we would get stuck behind them on the way down and it would take forever. So we regrettably started our way back down. Okay, so it was much harder going down than coming up. I’m not gunna lie, I definitely bit it a couple times and so did Grillz. I never fell really really bad but it was definitely slow going because it was wet rocks and mud especially on the part where it was straight up and down. Oh well…we eventually caught up to the rest of our group and proceeded down to the parking lot with them at a slower pace. At the bottom near the parking lot there was a river so we were able to wash our shoes and legs off before getting back in the van. Some people were giving us weird looks but we didn’t really care cause we were hot and sweaty and the water felt really good!

We loaded back into the van and headed off to a local beach called flic and flac to spend the remainder of our day and find some lunch to eat. It was about a half hour drive and when we got there we ran into Graham, Brooke, Colin, and Drew and picked a little hole in the wall bar and grill right off the beach to grab some lunch and sit for a little while. The lunch was good and it was nice to just chillax near the beach and people watch. After lunch we chilled on the beach and went to the local supermarket to load up on snacks. On the beach I met up with another group of SASers and decided to sit with them. At 3 we met up with our driver for our ride back to the ship because we had only hired him until 4. Toby was on his way back too and he hitched a ride with us since we had room in our van. The picture above was taken on our way back to the ship. We all had ice cream cones but Grillz and I had already finished ours, Toby was just “savoring the goodness” as he put it.

So on the way back to the ship our driver starts turning down these back roads and we were like “Hmmmm this isn’t at all how we came.” We asked him about it and he explained that he received a phone call about a big wreck that was blocking the entire street and he was trying to go around it to save time. Well apparently a lot of people had been tipped off by friends because our back roads became jam packed and we were literally in stand-still traffic. It was terrible! Although at the same time kinda cool because they handle traffic situations very different than us. One reason it was so bad is because they have no sense of the “zipper system.” It was more of a free for all and whoever nosed their car out farther and/or had the bigger vehicle won out and got position. It took us 1 hour to move about 100 yards and what was supposed to be a 30-40 minute ride turned into 2 hours and 30 minutes. We arrived at the ship 30 minutes before on-ship time and there was a huge line to get on the boat. We were like running through the parking lot trying to get in line before other buses full of kids because if you aren’t back on the ship by on-ship time you get dock time in the next port and I was not about to miss time in South Africa. I barely made it…had like 10 minutes to spare when I made it inside the ship. Even if you are inline you still get dock time. You have to be checked in on the ship through security before 6. We found out later that a significant amount of people got dock-time that were coming back from flick and flac because of the wreck and bad traffic. Guess we just got lucky lol. Although we were in such a hurry to get out of our van and run into line that I lost my phone (pretty sure I left it on the back seat of the van pictured in the picture above…which is another reason I chose this pic haha).

I thought I would be more upset about losing my phone but honestly it wasn’t that bad. Sure it sucks and I’m out like $200 for my new phone but that could have been a lot worse. In the past 2 months this is like the only bad thing that has happened to me. I count this as not bad at all and I am so thankful that nothing else has happened. I mean, think if I lost my camera and wasn’t able to take pictures, or lost my passport and had to stay in a country and quit this journey. Or I could have gotten sick but I haven’t (although apparently malaria takes like 8 days to show symptoms so technically I could have malaria and not know it). Haha oh well knock-on-wood right?!? No I count myself lucky. God has definitely been looking out for me and I praise Him every day for that. Also you all praying back home has been a big part of that. Thank you so much and your prayers are greatly appreciated!!

Sorry it took so long to post again. It’s been crazy busy and I wanted to give everyone a chance to catch up from the ones I posted during your alls Spring Break. My next post won’t be until after South Africa so it will be about a week. Sooooooo until then…just enjoy this one!

Hope you all are doing amazing! Miss all of you more and more everyday!

T

John 3:29-30

Cochin - One-of-a-Kind

Whatsup everyone?!?!

I hope you all had great spring breaks! Depending on when you are reading this, I either just left India or am about to reach Mauritius. If you are reading this here around Wednesday or Thursday then I just left India about 24 hours ago. If you are reading this after Spring Break then I will be arriving in Mauritius within 24 hours (heck I might even already be there lol). I can’t wait to hear about your all’s Spring Break adventures!

Shout Outs – JT – Yeah Mocha was legit! We beat the SAS rush by about an hour and a half so we actually got to experience the chill factor and meet some of the locals. As far as not seeing as much, definitely saw everything I wanted to in Cochin. Met a lot of cool people and got to experience more of their everyday life. But you can read about that below. Oh and I didn’t make it to a McDonalds, stuck with the cheaper street food lol. Esther – Haha I actually wondered what happened to you! I bet Florida was a blast…glad you enjoyed yourself!! As far as Slumdog Millionaire…I actually never saw the movie because I didn’t want it to impact my perception of the country and give me a preconceived bias. I did however talk to people who saw the movie and they said the movie provides an absolute horrible view of India. I’m actually going to watch the movie this summer and compare but from what I hear, the movie in no way portrays India like it really is. For your two friends who are doing Semester at Sea, give them my facebook profile page and when I get back this summer I will be happy to answer any and all questions they have. JT helped me out and I owe her huge!! I would love to return the favor and I would love to give them tips!! Oh and no Asian Honeys…I’m too busy finding trouble and exploring haha. Oh you know I am going to the ranch at least a couple times this summer! Gotta get back out to the country baby!! Zac – Dude how the heck are ya?!? Can’t wait to get to see you next time you are in Edmond. Glad I could provide a distraction for you during what sounds like a class I would sleep in. You know me and politics/law…just doesn’t quite add up to a good time haha. Some of the stuff I have done I wish you were here for man! You would love the people on this ship and getting to chill with them in port! Wish you were here brotha!! Go blow something up for me (I haven’t been able to blow anything up/light anything on fire lately and I need a fireworks fix bad haha)…peace bro.

Picture – The picture I chose it from the SOS Children’s Village Service Visit I was lucky enough to participate in while in Cochin. The little guy was my friend for the afternoon. He grabbed me before I was even fully off the bus and showed me around, taught me how to play cricket, I taught him the hokie-pokie, and then taught him kickball too. He was one of the coolest little kids and it was a blast hanging out with him and his friends for a couple hours. There is more about him written below so I won’t repeat myself. (If you want to see the picture bigger, then just click on it)

Cochin was our second port in India and it was a totally different experience than Chennai. The people and landscape were similar so I won’t go through all that again (my previous post about Chennai goes into detail about the country and some of my thoughts and opinions). Cochin as a whole was a lot easier to get around in and I was able to meet more locals and see different sites within the city itself. The city is split into 3 major sections that are 3 peninsulas sitting side by side. The middle peninsula is the industrial port area and is where our ship was docked. Then one of the peninsulas was the modern area of the city and the other was the older city of Cochin that was more historical.

The first day I arrived in Cochin I had the morning free so I decided that I wanted to see the older area of the city. I walked off the ship and immediately met up with a rickshaw driver who spoke rough but remarkably good English and I went off with him and his partner. It was just me so they gave me a good deal and just showed me the areas of the city that I wanted to see. I spent the whole morning with them and saw the majority of the old city. I got to see the inner workings of a spice market and meet the people who sifted ginger and then laid it out to dry. It was really cool to get to be taken “behind the scenes” and meet the actual workers. They were like “You want picture? Take our picture!” It was super cool! I saw Hindu, Muslim, and Christian temples/cathedrals that represented the 3 major religions of the region. The area I enjoyed the most was the fishing wharfs on the tip of the Fort Cochin peninsula. The shoreline was lined with Chinese fishing nets that were these huge wooden poles extended over the water with these giant nets hanging down that they would drop into the water and pull up after a little while with fish and whatever else inside. The locals were hard at work fishing and it was cool getting to see them go through their routine. I returned back to the ship a little before lunch and ate on the ship to save my money.

The afternoon of the first day was by far my favorite experience in India. There was an SAS trip going to an SOS Children’s Village for a service visit that I was going to try and get on. I ended up getting a free ticket from a guy who didn’t want to go and it was incredible!! We drove our bus 1.5 hours outside the city to a rural area where the “village” was located. As soon as we got off the bus the kids were everywhere! They ran at us with balloons and smiles and they all kinda latched onto us. I had a little guy who grabbed my hand before I was even off the bus and was like “Come Come!” He was 7 and just had the biggest smile ever. The first thing was a welcome reception for all of us. They gave us all our own coconut to drink (coconuts are like HUGE in that part of India as far as drinking and eating them goes) and preformed a traditional harvest dance and then 2 of the boys performed a Backstreet Boys dance for us. Haha it was hilarious! We were all cheering and they just smiled and laughed at us.

After the reception the kids grabbed us and started showing us around the complex. The village consisted of a pavilion in the middle with a wide open field. Then a lot of houses scattered throughout the grounds. Each house was run by a mother and contained 8-10 kids at any given time. The mother is not the biological mother of the children but more of a foster care mother for the kids. For those of you in Edmond think of an Indian version of the Boys Ranch Town but with boys and girls, not just boys. The children go to school in the surrounding community and then return to the village afterwards. My little buddy (I couldn’t pronounce his name so I just called him “buddy” and he was okay with that) took me straight to his house and I met his mother who spoke a good amount of English and his sisters who had brought back their own SAS kids. We were served tea, coffee, and shortbread cookies while being shown around the quaint but amazingly sufficient house and learning about the family.

My little friend spoke almost no English and only knew random words so we communicated mainly through sign language and pointing. This was easy for me after some of the mission trips I had been on so we had a great time. After seeing the houses we had about 1.5 hours of free time with the kids to just hang out and play. My friend Brooke and I grabbed about 6 of the kids and taught them the hokie-pokie which they thought was really funny. I can’t even remember the last time I did the hokie-pokie but I remembered it and we were able to teach the kids and they even sang it in English after like the 3 time. I was so impressed with their ability to pick up our language. I already forgot how to say hello in their language (different regions in India speak a different dialect so “hello” and “thank you” were different every city I went to) and it just amazes me that they are so eager to learn my language. Why am I as an American so privileged? What did I do to have my language be so desirable?

Anyways, bottom line was that I had no problem communicating with any of the kids. After some hokie-pokie action we got to play cricket and then kickball. Alright definitely something that was right up my alley!! Who cares if it was hot (nothing compared to Mexico in June) or dirty (I get more dirty at the ranch) it was absolutely amazing! The kids had never heard of kickball so we had to teach them by doing an example. It really just turned into them kicking the ball and running the bases until we either pegged them with the ball or they stopped each other. I loved it! I just stayed in the outfield and let them keep bating over and over again. There was no score, no real rules! Just a stinking ton of fun!! After about an hour of kickball I was covered in dirt and it was SO worth it. The kids were smiling the entire time and just to make these kids laugh put the biggest smile on my face!

After chilling with the kids, learning as many names as we could remember/pronounce, and then taking numerous pictures, we unfortunately had to leave and return to our ship. Needless to say that none of us wanted to leave and it was really hard to get back on the bus with all the kids lined up and waiting. Gahhhhh I want to go back right now and just play some more with em!

We returned to the ship a little after 630 and I caught up with some people who were just finishing dinner. I ate some food cause it was free and I was hungry and then we decided to head out into the city to see what the night would bring us. The group consisted of Candace, Kaylee, Grills, Emerson, and Michael. We took the ferry to the more modern peninsula of Cochin and just started walking. There were a lot of stores and market type stalls and we just kinda walked along with nothing particular in mind. We stopped at some of the shops but I didn’t want to spend any money, actually I didn’t even take any money with me except for 2 U.S. dollars. After walking around for an hour we stopped at an Indian restaurant that was attached to a cinema because some of the people in our group wanted food. Candace, Michael, Emerson, and Grills all ordered food and the portions ended up being HUGE. Well Candace only ate about ¼ of her food and Michael and Emerson about ½ of theirs. Enter Tyler. I just waited till they all said they were done and then picked up a fork and started eating. I finished Michael’s and Candace’s dishes and then made some progress on Emerson’s but I didn’t really like it too much.

Anyways after everyone watched me clean the table they payed and we set off to make our way back to the ship. We made the walk back to the ferry only to realize that we missed the last one by about 10 minutes. Well we were 13 km from the boat so walking would have been a little far (I was up for it but there was no way I was talking em into that haha). So we went to find a rickshaw that could take us back. Here is where it got interesting, there were 6 of us and so far in Cochin I hadn’t seen any more than 2 in a rickshaw. We were okay with taking more than 1 rickshaw but the trick was haggling the guys down to a cheap enough price. The first guys we talked to wanted way too much money and we were like “Nah we will just find someone else.” Then we found a group and were like “Alright who is gunna give us the best deal?” They started throwing out prices and then one guy steps up and goes “I will take all 6 of you in my rickshaw for one price.” We were like “Well it will be crammed but let’s do it cause it’s cheap!” Okay this was just a normal sized rickshaw. To fit we threw grills in this little compartment behind the seat above the engine that maybe could have fit like 3 backpacks but not much more, then the other four crammed onto the bench seat with Candace sitting on Kaylee’s lap. Now where was I going to go? Well I was sitting next to the driver; now when I say sitting I don’t mean sitting. I had one leg braced against the frame of the car holding me in while the majority of my lower body was hanging outside the car. My arm was holding this bar thing on the inside of the rickshaw that is pretty much the only reason I was able to stay in the cab. I was “sitting” on maybe a square inch of the seat because the seat was barely big enough for the driver, let alone 2 of us. That is why I say sitting in quotes because I really wasn’t sitting. We were all cracking up the whole way back to the ship and saying how this was like the Beverly Hillbillies making their way across the country. Oh and I pretty much almost died every time we made a right turn because they don’t really slow down and I would get flung out of the cab. It was so intense it made the ride way more fun!! We made it back to the ship in one piece and called it a night.

My second day in Cochin was also my last day in India. For this last day I was scheduled on a day trip to the Alleppey Backwaters. Alleppey is a region outside of Cochin that is extremely rural. The majority of the area is at/below seawater so the area is mainly lakes, rivers, canals, and rice patties. This trip was appealing to me because it showed me the country side of Indian life. First thing I noticed…the people were some of the happiest people I have ever seen in my life. Every person smiled and waved and shouted “Hello” or “Yo” at us as we passed them. We got to see people at work in the fields, attending a daily religious service, taking a swim break, and even a wedding preparation for the following day.

Our trip was smaller, only about 25 of us in total which was fine with me. I like the smaller groups, it’s just easier and you don’t feel so much like a tourist. We headed about 1.5 hours outside the city along the coast. Upon arrival we were dropped at a hotel for lunch. Alleppey is a booming tourist location for Europeans and Americans in the last 10 years with the attraction being a nice stay on a houseboat for a couple days. The hotel resort we ate lunch at was very nice and there were a significant number of Europeans around. Our lunch was buffet style consisting of entirely traditional Indian food, which means a lot of vegetables and very little meat. This would be the exact opposite of what I would normally eat but since I was in India I had to try the food. Part of experiencing everything ya know?! Oh and the best part was definitely the fresh watermelon juice, and when I say fresh, I mean fresh. I seriously think they just mashed up chunks of watermelon and poured them in the glass. The fruity part was in the drink so it was thicker than normal juice but it was SOOOOO good! By far the freshest watermelon I have ever had. (Even better than that one we had last labor day at the ranch Nat)

After eating more than I should have, we hopped onto our tour boat for the rest of the afternoon and settled in to see the backwaters. We sailed around for 2 hours and saw everything. Houseboats with tourists, people living life on the banks (like I mentioned above), people swimming, people fishing, the trees, the rice paddies, the wildlife, just everything. It was its own little world and it was awesome! It was a side of India that not many people from our ship got to experience and I was lucky enough to get to. My Marine Biology teacher, Professor Able (but he said I could call him “Doc” which I definitely do…I mean Back to the Future hellllllooooooo!) was also on my trip so I got to sit by him and discuss the marine life in the area and the impact of the locals overfishing. It was very cool getting to experience that with a teacher and talk about the stuff we got to talk about while taking in such an amazingly diverse area in India that is only recently being affected by modernization. Very very rural area. Our tour ended after 2 hours and we were driven 1.5 hours back to the ship with a stop for a “coke break” at a cantina type place in a hotel on the way back. By the time we got back to the ship it was on-ship time so we headed onto the ship and proceeded to eat dinner and unwind from our time in India.

As I am writing this it is March 17 and I have been on this ship for 2 months. It’s hard to believe that just 2 months ago I was sailing away from Mexico and starting this journey. Just 2 months!! When I look back on what I have seen and done in just 2 months it is amazing!! My journey is more than halfway done and in just a month and a half it will come to an end when we pull into Florida. This is sad but at the same time how can I be sad?!? That would just be silly! I am about to go to the 4 ports that I am most looking forward to and I CANNOT WAIT!!

After two months we all feel like we have known each other for a lot longer than we have. I feel like I have known some of my friends for years and we are at the point where we are comfortable with each other and can talk about anything. Then even the people that I’m not super close with I still feel like we are all one big group of brothers and sisters and it is amazing getting to travel around the world with this group. Everyone knows now that I always wear a hat and if I don’t wear it then I have like 50 people asking me “What’s wrong Ty” or “Dude where is your hat?” Haha wouldn’t have it any other way. Oh this will make some of you all smile. I have been givin the nickname of “Garbage-Disposal” by some of my friends because I eat so much. Yeah the food on the ship isn’t just absolutely amazing but it is in no way bad, AND it’s buffet style. At lunch and dinner I usually eat about 3 plates full of food plus dessert and everyone is just amazed. I don’t even consider it to be that much food. It’s just 3 plates? Part of it is also the fact that there is nothing to snack on between meals unless you wanna buy the over-priced snacks (which I don’t) so I don’t get to snack and only have the meals. So therefore I eat more when I get the chance to eat the free stuff! Really just simple logic. Oh and then some people think that I am like the biggest hick ever. Maybe because they have just never seen people wear camo before but for some reason they just think I am just a huge hick. I think it’s just cause I always talk about being outside and going to the ranch to get away from the city, but I try to tell them I’m really not that big of a hick and they just laugh and say "Okay whatever Tyler." Haha oh well I really don’t care because I like being a laid back, content country boy. Just a little bit of reflection for you guys. Felt it was appropriate given that today starts the 3rd month of our voyage. Crazy huh?!?

The following are the lyrics to a song by Hillsong United that have been weighing on my heart heavily. Listen to the truth in this song. It is so simple and so powerful!

“Falling on my knees in worship, giving all I am, to seek Your face.
Lord all I am is Yours.
My whole life I place in Your hands, God of mercy, humbled I bow down.
In Your presence, at Your throne.
I called You answered, and You came to my rescue and I, wanna be where You are!
And my life…be lifted high.
And my world…be lifted high.
And our love…be lifted high...higher HIIIGGGHHHHEEERRRRR!!”

These lyrics are my cry for the remainder of this voyage! I don’t want this to be for me but for God. But why should I limit this to this voyage? No, I want this to be my attitude ALL the time. I wanna see Jesus Christ to be lifted high. Not me. I am NOTHING. I want my WHOLE LIFE to be Christ’s and Christ’s alone. I bow down before Him in complete surrender. I am His!!

Think of what God could do if we had this attitude. I’ll tell you…ANYTHING!! He could do whatever He wanted. Nothing is impossible. So why do we not live like this…why do we keep ourselves in reserve? Why do we not live to the fullest?! I challenge you to take this song to heart. Listen to these lyrics and live this out. This can be simple, so why do we make it hard? Love like Jesus loved! That’s easy. Show people what Christ has done for you. That’s easy too. Share the gospel with them. Show them Christ’s love for them, by loving them like He does. Again…easy.

Thank you all for your prayers these past couple weeks, they are felt and greatly appreciated! If you can continue to pray about what I mentioned in my previous blog I would greatly appreciate it! Love you all!!

T

Chennai - Culture Shock

Yo yo yo whatup?!?!

I know you guys are on Spring Break right now so I hope you all are having a BLAST!! Congratulations to all you EMHS kids on a great job at Swine Week. I heard you all raised over half a million dollars…you make us alumni proud haha! Go DOGS!!!! Also, I want to send out a special prayer for all the Henderson Hills participants on the various mission trips this Spring Break. You all are doing great things and I envy each one of you. Can’t wait to hear what Christ does through you all these next couple days!!

Shout Outs – Mike if you are reading this, I saw that the Giants made a nice move to get Rolle as a free agent. Guess it will be even more impossible for the Cowboys to complete a pass now haha. Also saw that Flacco got a significant receiver upgrade by obtaining Boldin, dude Ravens are gunna be legit next year if that defense stays healthy. Don’t know if you are reading this either Wes, but dude the Bears seem to be upgrading. Peppers AND Chester Taylor!! Dude not good news for the Pack. Your thoughts…Mike and Wes?!?! Miss talking football with you two. Chris – dude yeah we had an awesome time!! I already miss it haha. That is tight you got to see Nate! I can’t wait to get to see him when we are both back and hear what God has done through him while he is there. Haha you and your chacos! You would fit right in on the ship, people here love their chacos and flip flops. They always look at me crazy when I tell them I don’t own a pair of flip flops or chacos. Oh well I’m used to it from you all back in Edmond giving me flak for the same thing. Dude thank you for the continued prayer. The opportunities are presenting themselves more and more as friendships are developing more on the ship. It is amazing what God will use to start a conversation. It’s crazy cool and I greatly appreciate your prayers. Can’t wait to get back and chill with you man!! Love ya bro!

Picture – The picture I have chosen for Chennai was taken in a rickshaw our first night there. Our driver was definitely sketchy and I am still impressed that we were able to reach our destination lol. Austin is the one on the far right and Natalie is on the far left. Then the handsome lad in the middle is your’s truly…ME. Haha jk. But it is me, wasn’t kidding about that part. Oh and I know the image is small but if you want to see a bigger version just click on it.

Ok so India so far is definitely the most unique country I have ever been to, although not in ways that I would have expected. People always talk about how India is extremely filthy and that poverty is the worst in the world. These are both true but again not in ways that I could have expected. India was dirty but there were clean areas. The dirtiest place I ever was happened to be the port where our ship was docked. It was clear that Chennai does not get many tourists via ship so there was no terminal or passenger area. We walked off the ship and were smack in the middle of an industrial port with railroad tracks and shipping containers on both sides. It was about half a mile walk to the port entrance where the rickshaws and taxis were waiting and you definitely got dirty walking there. Especially with the trucks and trains stirring up the dirt and filth, you could literally taste the dirt.

The smells were likewise overwhelming. I have experienced extreme poverty on occasion before but never to this extent. This was not simply one or two areas; this was the majority of places we went. It was extremely humbling and it gave me chills on more than one occasion. I witnessed numerous people living on the street and was bombarded by beggars on more than one occasion.


One thing that greatly surprised me was the layout of the city. I was expecting it to be easy to move about Chennai because of the poverty level but the opposite was true. The layout of the city streets was extremely confusing and very few sidewalks existed within the city. At one point we had arrived at our destination and had planned on walking back to the ship. Well the streets weren’t labeled, the sidewalk like I said was only in select areas, and there was no real method for crossing the busy streets. Crosswalks don’t exist and the traffic lights were only on the major roads. I wasn’t afraid to cross the streets and did so on a few occasions but it was time consuming. Basically we were stuck with taking rickshaws everywhere which was fine, but you just had to barter the driver down to a reasonable price because they were intent on ripping us off for too much money.

There are a lot of cultural practices unique to India, one of which is using your right hand to do everything. You eat your food with your right hand, there is no such thing as using silverware in India. When you pay for something or shake someone’s hand, you always use your right hand; to use your other hand is a sign of great disrespect. This is because your left hand is intended for other practices. An example is using your left hand to wipe yourself after you have relieved yourself. The vast majority of people in India are extremely poor and there are many more important needs than toilet paper. This may sound disgusting but in reality it makes perfect sense. Why waste what little money they have on toilet paper? I don’t know but it makes sense to me. Just another example of something we take for granted. It is also culturally acceptable to relieve oneself in public. It is common to see this. Oh and the beaches in Chennai are not the beaches you would expect. There was no one swimming, no one lying out, work is done on the beach, and the people use the sands as a sort of giant litter box. We were told to not go to the beaches for sanitary reasons and you never know what you might step in lol.

The food in India is also extremely unique. The majority of the country is vegetarian so it was hard to find meat in the city. I understand because it is part of their culture but I am definitely more of a carnivarian than a vegetarian. I mean who doesn’t enjoy a nice piece of meat or some fried chicken?!?!?! Guess that is just the laid back country boy in me haha. The food I enjoyed the most was called DOSA. It was basically a really thin fried crepe with a variety of things in it. The one I ordered was filled with potatoes and some sort of cheese, although some how this turned out to be some sort of green mush; but it tasted good so who really cares lol.

The first day in Chennai I attended an FDP that took a visit to the American consulate in Chennai. This trip was led by my American Politics professor. We got to see the inner working of the consulate and learn the differences between an embassy and a consulate. It was semi interesting and I learned a lot that I didn’t know. The trip happened in the afternoon after lunch.

Upon returning to the ship, I met up with Austin, Kevin, Natalie, Abby, Katie, Rebekah, Flicker, Jimmy, and Scott. It was Bekah’s birthday the next day and we went out to dinner and to see the town for her birthday. We went to a local spot called Mocha that was recommended by my friend JT (thanks girl!!) who took this trip a couple semesters ago, and was also recommended to us by one of the inter-port students. It is not a very big tourist spot and is more of a spot where the locals like to chill. We relaxed at Mocha for a couple hours and by the time we left the place was packed with SASers who had heard about it from rickshaw drivers or the inter-port students as well. Chennai shuts down earlier than most cities. The majority of the city is in bed around 9ish and the few restaurants that stay open past then are shut down around 1130. We were back on the ship before 11 and were able to get a good amount of sleep before our second day.

Day two in India was spent seeing what little there was to see in the city and wandering through one of the local street vendor districts. I hung out with David and Adam for the day. We saw the Chennai Snake Park where they had a variety of local snakes, crocodiles, and other marine life. We enjoyed lunch at a local restaurant and then spent some time wandering through the Perry’s Corner District of the city in search of trinkets or other knick-nacs. The most popular items were definitely pirated DVDs which were the main focus of many of the shacks. The quality of these DVDs is not as good as the ones we found in Vietnam and the vendors were focused more on quantity than quality. While making our way through the shops we met a local man who helped us find certain things that we were looking for and helped show us around and help us not get ripped off by the locals. He was extremely helpful and we enjoyed spending our time with him.

Our time in Chennai was short and we left port the 2nd night to sail to Cochin. If you remember from Japan, we have the option of sailing with the ship between ports in the same country. I chose again to save my money in India so that I can better experience upcoming countries like South Africa and Brazil that I am looking forward to more and where there are more options for things to do. There are less than 120 total students, faculty, and staff on board right now and the past 48 hours has been spent watching movies and reading out by the pool in 100 degree temperatures. We rounded the tip of Sri Lanka late last night and are proceeding up the west coast of India on our way to Cochin. We arrive tomorrow morning and will have 2 short days in our 2nd India port. The majority of people who chose to travel independently in India are making their way to the Taj Mahal. This will be very cool for those people but I made my choice to save my money and spend it on things I will better enjoy in future ports. We enjoyed a nice 5 course meal last night and in about 45 minutes I will be getting another 5 course meal tonight, and the food at these meals is AMAZING!!

I know this was a shorter blog but I really didn’t do too much in India. It was harder to get around and I wanted to save some of my money. The emotions I experienced/felt cannot be described with any degree of accuracy in this blog so I will be more than happy to tell you about it this summer.

Hope everything going well with all you guys back home!! By the time you all are reading this you will probably be getting back from Spring Break and I hope you had a great time with whatever you did. I also have a prayer request for you all back home. I was recently asked about a possible internship this summer. I won’t go into detail but I really need some prayer. I want to make sure that this is God’s plan for my summer and not just what I personally want to do. If you remember or get the chance I really need you all to pray for me to make a Christ-centered decision and make sure that His will alone, not mine, be done. I am currently praying about this and trying to discern the Lord’s will. Thank you all and I greatly appreciate your prayers!! I don’t know what I have done to deserve friends and family like you all, and I thank God every day for each one of you.

Love you all and praying for you!

T

Romans 6:15-18

Sea Olympics!!!!!

Yo yo yo!

Well we have been at sea for 8 days since we left Vietnam and tomorrow we will arrive in India!! A lot of stuff has happened in the last few days so I thought I would do a short little blog to say hey and tell you about it. I know Swine Week is going on so I want to give a special shout out to you all. As well as all the Henderson Hills teenagers and college kids going to either Ecuador or Arizona here in a couple days. You all are being used by God and it is awesome!! Be His hands and His feet and just let Him use you. I guarantee you that it will change your life. Just let go and LET GOD!! Love you all and praying for you!!

Dad – Yeah the lawyers would probably throw a fit if we tried to get that okayed in the States. Honestly it really isn’t that big a deal, just restrict it to people that know how to use a gun haha. Yeah my friends know I’m a big hunter/outdoors person (which has actually sparked some interesting debates with some of the vegetarians/tree huggers on the ship haha) but they were still surprised that I was so comfortable shooting/handling a gun. Don’t worry, riding an elephant is definitely on the “to-do” list. My best shot will probably be in South Africa because the safari place I am going to said that there is extra curricular stuff we can do in the afternoons if we are willing to pay for it. Haha yeah the great wall was sick…mom would have been very upset though. Oh well its over so she can’t get mad now!! Have in Ecuador pops! I am way jealous FYI!

Picture – The picture I chose is definitely of my Sea Olympics team! Mediterranean Sea babay!!!!! I’m over on the back right somewhere. My dad also informed me that you all can click on the pics to make them larger so from now on I will be uploading smaller pics to save some of my internet time so that the upload goes quicker. So I know it is a smaller pic but just click on it and it will be larger.

The ship was extremely dead after Vietnam because everyone was so exhausted. Looking back, from the first day in Japan to the last day in Vietnam we had experienced 3 countries in 3 weeks with 2 very short 48 breaks in between. No one wanted to waste any time in port so these 3 weeks were filled with little sleep, close to no breaks, and numerous stories and adventures. So needless to say that is finally caught up to everyone by the time we were done with Vietnam.

After 4 days of class, which was weird cause we hadn’t had that much class in one stretch since before Japan, we got to experience the best day on the ship so far. Not the best day in port, the best day on the ship! SEA OLYMPICS!!!!!! You all already know about the ship being divided into seas so those were our teams for the day. Each sea has a color (mine was green!!) and you wear that color all day and cheer on your team at events. When I say all day, I mean ALL DAY! The first event started at 9:30 and the last event didn’t end until around 6:30, and most of the time there were 2-3 events going on simultaneously all over the ship. Okay well luckily Henderson Hills has prepared me well, it was nothing compared to a week of rec. Main difference is that it was nonstop for like 10 hours which was exhausting in 95 degree heat but it was awesome!

Okay so my sea was AWESOME!!! We are the Mediterranean Sea…what what!! We actually did really well! We ended up getting 3rd overall (out of 10 seas) by a very small margin. We didn’t care though because we won in the Spirit Contest and the Singing SASers!! Yeah it would have been nice to win overall but the Singing SASers was the most anticipated event and we WON!! It was basically kind of like a music video/lip syncing show that each show put on. Our song was a thriller remix and our sea killed it! I wasn’t part of that event because I competed in 4 other events but the people that won it for us were awesome and our whole sea really showed up to support them!

From the very beginning at the opening ceremony our SEA established itself as the team to beat on the SPIRIT front. Our team was INSANE!! At the opening ceremony every team got a chance to do a cheer in front of the whole ceremony and ours was SICK!! Actually I need to back up first. For the past week our sea has been planning events and practices our skits excetra. People signed up to be in charge of things and it all started coming together. Well the day before we realized that no one had been putting together a chant. Someone mentioned it while we were chilling one night and I was like “Shoot that’s easy, I’ll make one up if no one else will.” (Again thank you Beach Week and Middle School Camp) So I remembered one that I had used a couple years ago at Beach Week and we altered it a little to fit the Mediterranean and told it to 3 of our teammates. Right before the opening ceremony we all met up to learn our chant and walk in together and the girls I had told the chant to were like “Hey guys Tyler made a chant.” So I told everyone the chant and they were like dude HECK yeah! So we walk in and sit down as a team. Once everyone was in the Union they started the Opening Ceremony. Each team had two captains who walked in with the team’s banner and then that team got to do their cheer. A lot of teams had really good spirit but didn’t really practice their cheer or it was just really basic. Well let’s just say when it was the Mediterranean’s turn we knocked their socks off. Our ENTIRE TEAM got into it! There wasn’t one person wearing green who didn’t participate and we carried the momentum with us all day.

Our team bonded in a BIG way! We constantly had an enormous presence at every game cheering on our team and whenever we had enough green members (remember our color was green) hanging around I would start screaming the cheer and everyone would just go nuts! People would try to compete with us but it would just motivate us to cheer louder and longer and we would overwhelming drown them out! Ahhhhhhhh it was awesome because our team was just SO solid!! We bonded so much, it was like we were all instantly best friends which was the coolest part for me. Since then we will see each other and be like “Yo Med!! Whatup?!” It was just really cool.

Sea Olympics was by far the best day we have had outside of port. No questions asked, everyone on the ship will tell you the same thing. It was cool because everyone really got into it. People were dressed in their sea colors all day so it was cool seeing like the different seas of color running around. It was gorgeous weather and everyone was just in the best mood. Ok then one of the best surprises came after the last event right before the Closing Ceremony. We got a good ole fashion American Bar-Be-Que out by the pool! They had all the hamburgers, pork ribs, baked beans, corn, and cake we could eat…and did we EAT!! I ate so much it was awesome!! Everyone was stacking their plates SO high! All that was missing was Apple Pie haha. As we were eating we got to see an awesome sunset and it was just the perfect ending. Everyone was still in their sea colors and sweaty but we had great food, better company, and a picture perfect sunset. Everyone was just chillaxing and it couldn’t have been better. It felt like a perfect summer, country barbeque! Perfection!

The Opening Ceremonies were at 9 p.m. and that is when we found out who won the events such as Synchronized Swimming, Singing SASers, Spirit, and Overall. Our sea went nuts when we found out we got 1st in Singing SASers and 3rd overall. But we went absolutely CRAZY when we found out we won spirit. We did our chant one last time and it was the best time of the whole day! Our team was AWESOME and I was on the best sea in my opinion! It was way fun getting to be super crazy and spirited all day. I almost lost my voice but I chugged so much water before bed that I somehow managed to keep it. Again I have to give credit to Henderson Hills youth camps every summer cause I am used to screaming for Rec lol.

Sea Olympics were awesome and everyone on the ship is upset that it was only one day. Everyone was just so chill! The past 3 days have been consumed by 2 midterms and recovering from the Sea Olympics (my entire body is sore from hoootin and hollerin and jumping around all day, so worth it though!!). Some other things that have happened in the past week since Vietnam includes seeing dolphins a couple times, passing the Nicabar Islands, doing a man overboard drill (them actually throw a dummy in the water, I wanted to volunteer but that didn’t really work out haha), seeing sea snakes, and witnessing numerous flying fish. I ate dinner with 3 professors the other night and it was really cool getting to talk to a teacher outside of class about everyday things like missing stuff back home or what a privilege it is to be on this adventure. Very cool experiences that just don’t happen back home with teachers. It really is a one-of-a-kind experience living with them on this ship. As I am sending this we are exactly half way around the world from Oklahoma, or at least we were before our 30 minute time change last night. That’s right, I said 30 minutes. India didn’t like the whole idea of their country being on 2 separate time zones so they made one time zone for their entire country and it is 30 minutes difference that the time zones on either side of it. I know it’s confusing and a little weird but it’s whatever. One more thing to add to the list of things I have done. Now I have been in a “half time zone” haha.

The following is a quote taken from a popular Casting Crowns song. Every time I hear this quote in the song I get chills. Think about it for a second. Take a minute to digest what it is saying. It is absolutely unbelievable and something that is forgotten far too often.

The bible was inscribed over a period of 2,000 years. In times of war and in days of peace. By Kings, Physicians, Tax Collectors, Farmers, Fishermen, Singers, and Shepherds. The marvel, is that a library so perfectly cohesive, could have been produced by such a diverse crowd over a period of time which staggers the imagination. Jesus is its Grand Subject, our good its design, and the Glory of God its end.

Chilling huh? Ahhhhhhhh God is so AMAZING!! Nothing even compares!! Hope you all enjoyed the blog!

Miss you all and have a great Spring Break!

T

Vietnam - Let's Do it Country Style

Greeting from somewhere in the Bay of Bengal,

How are you all?!? I hope you guys are doing awesome! We are currently approaching midterms here on the ship so everyone is pretty focused on school right now. I have done a pretty good job of keeping on top of my work so I found some time to write
this blog again.

Shout-out Comments – Nat – Girl that is so cool! It’s crazy thinking about such simple things in these new ways huh?!?! I love it!! Oh I know!!!...We are going to have to make so many panera runs when I get home to catch up on everything! Can’t wait girl! Haha and yeah I have actually been wearing a bandana a lot lately, it helps with the sweat in these humid countries lol, and I really like it I just rarely get to wear one except in the summer. But it is summer for us right now in terms of weather. Hasn’t gotten below 80 in the past 2 weeks and it is only getting warmer from here on out! Be jealous lol. You’re the best! Can’t wait to chill!! Kayla – Congrats on VR girl!! Glad you girls could make it happen!! Really?...I thought you like losing? Maybe I’m getting you confused because I could have sworn that you hated to win haha. Ohhhhh I see. Well I am not going to bungee jump in Africa anymore because I am doing too much there. But that’s okay because I can find somewhere else to do it eventually. I forgot you were doing Kanakuk, that is going to be SO awesome!! Hey I can’t wait for summer either! I’m pumped to go back to camps again! It’s gunna be awesome!! Your summer is going to be AWESOME!! Can’t wait to hear how God is going to use you!! Haha I love how you just said “pencil me in.” I’m not going to be that busy you dork!! Love ya friend!!

The picture I chose for this blog is of me on my Mekong Delta Trip. Read below for more information on the delta itself. I chose this picture because I kinda got in trouble for taking it. We were walking along with our tour guide when she stopped in the middle of the bridge to tell us about the boats and life using the river below as a highway through the islands. Well, all I could think about was what a sweet pic it would be if I was up on the railing of the bridge with the trees and river in the background (and you have to admit it is a cool pic, right doc?). So B.B. and me waited for the tour guide to continue and casually hung back, I climbed up real quick while she took the pic of me. Well right when I climbed up I heard the tour guide yelp, apparently she had turned around and saw me. She didn’t really care because I mean Quinnie was tight, but Stacey, the SAS sponsor on the trip wasn’t exactly thrilled. She was like, what if you had fallen? What would your parents say? I was like “Well my dad would have been taking the picture and my mom would have been yelling at him not me.” Those of you who know my family know this to be true. It happened in Spain exactly like that actually, except that is was Court, Me, AND my dad. Stacey didn’t exactly believe me but she ended up not caring. This was my same tour leader from my China trip so she kinda expected me to be doing the crazy stuff. So that is the story behind this picture.

Okay so I told you guys about my first 2 days in Vietnam. Now let me tell you about the rest of my time! On day 3 I went on an SAS trip to a Cao Dai Temple and the Cu Chi tunnel system. The day started with a bus ride about 2 hours outside the city for our first stop at the biggest Cao Dai Temple in Vietnam. On the way we were given information on daily life in Vietnam, cultural customs, and tips for tourists by our tour guide, Quinnie. We also passed an old U.S. airbase from the Vietnam War, referred to as the American War by the Vietnamese. The airbase is now used as an airport and the new international terminal was finished just 3 years ago. I should also mention that this day trip included parents that had come on the parent portion of the SAS trip to Vietnam. For those of you that don’t know, every semester, SAS does a parent program where they pick a country and offer a special trip for parents to go on. They are there by themselves for a couple days and then they meet the ship and get to hang out with their kids for a couple days and do things with them. So that was cool getting to meet some of my friends’ parents. Candace’s mom was on our tunnel trip and it was cool getting to know her. Just added a different element to this specific trip.

At the Cao Dai temple we were given about 45 minutes to walk around the grounds and experience the culture that was so evident around us. The temple grounds consisted of a couple acres and there was a significant amount of people there on the specific day we were there. It was a weekend so our tour guide explained that since people didn’t have to work, it was common for the temple to be crowded on the weekends.
After touring the grounds, we got the rare privilege of witnessing a Cao Dai service. It was cool seeing how a different religion held a service and the customs associated with the gathering. The temple had a wrap-around balcony and that is the only area tourists were allowed to be. The floor was reserved for the members of what I would call a clergy and then the participants in the service. We got to see the lighting of the incense, the traditional chanting, and the procedures the participants went through. It was cool but I couldn’t help thinking what they must have thought about so many foreigners observing them from a vantage point for a 30 minute service, and it wasn’t just SAS kids, there was a significant number of European tour groups there as well.

After the service we took a short bus ride to lunch at a traditional Vietnamese restaurant. Our meal was in a second story open-air room in the only restaurant near the Cao Dai Temple that was big enough to accommodate tour groups. It was a nice family style coursed meal that was absolutely delicious! The food is just so good I can’t even describe it!! I was sitting with Andrew, Che Che, and one of the Chinese Professors from the ship. It was cool because Che Che is from Nigeria and then the professor lives in China so we had some really cool cultural discussions. We were asking him all these questions about China and he was very curious about our homes and family lives etc. Definitely a great experience!

Then for the highlight of the day, the Cu Chi tunnels!! This was what I was looking forward to the most in Vietnam and the first thing that I signed up for on the ship! Cu Chi was an area in Vietnam that contained the most significant portion of the Vietcong tunnel system. This area was never controlled by American forces due to the persistence and cunning of the local Vietnamese in the area. Our guide told us that 30 years ago after the war there were no trees left because of the B-52 bombing runs and you wouldn’t even know it today. It is dense, thick jungle that you can’t see into. They said it is getting back to what it was like before and during the war. It was eerie walking through the jungle and knowing that literally where I was walking people had died. We walked through varying stations above ground and they showed us a number of things preserved from the war. There is an American tank that has been left where it was destroyed, it was hit by a delayed mine and destroyed by Vietcong. We were allowed to get up close and see the burn marks and AK-47 holes in the weaker parts of the armor. I got the shakes pretty bad because I mean the Americans in the tank literally died right there. After the tank we were able to see the crater left by a B-52 bomb. Okay stinking huge crater, the grass has grown back and there are trees around it, but the crater is just the way it was 30 years ago. It’s crazy seeing the end result like that man. Crazy. After the crater we saw replications of homemade traps used by the Vietcong in the jungle to maim enemy soldiers and make their progress difficult. Basically like the stuff you saw in Rambo, literally. They sharpened bamboo and put them in pits and made swinging traps and stuff.

After the above ground stuff we go to explore the underground section…the tunnels themselves. So we got to crawl through these tunnels, and I mean literally crawl, for about 100 meters is what they told us. Okay I was so dirty! My friend Andrew and I were the tallest two on the tour and we were scrunched so small working our way through these holes. Some of the people in our group really freaked out about halfway through because it was close to pitch black and the most claustrophobic space I have personally ever been in. You wouldn’t have made it mom, your claustrophobia would have kicked in quick! So after we do it they were like “You thought those were pretty small huh? Well those are the tunnels we enlarged for tourists, here are the real ones.” I was like WHAT?!?! You call that enlarged?! So they showed us the real sized holes and they weren’t kidding, it was a tiny little entrance! We got to take turns trying to fit in, don’t worry I made it, but my legs were bent in like 4 different directions trying to cram down into this little bitty space in the ground. After our crawl through the tunnels we got to see a replica of what the underground kitchen looked like and then the air holes they used to ventilate the entire tunnel system. They did a really good job of disguising them above ground too, it was impressive.

Ok so then my guide turned around and was like “Hey, so who wants to shoot an AK-47.” I was like “Does a bear crap in the woods?!?! Yes I want to shoot an AK!!!” He was like ok well come over here and we have a shooting range set up. We walked through the jungle and sure enough they had a shooting range set up for people that wanted to pay to shoot guns used in the Vietnam War. They had AKs, Thompsons, an M-60 (freaking huge mounted gun), and then M-16s. The M-60 would have been sweet but I mean c’mon…how often do you get to shoot an AK in Nam?!?!?!!?! Ahhhhhhh I was pumped! It was like “Here Tyler, come shoot a gun for fun at some targets.” Uhhhh “Yes please!!” I wasn’t the only one either. About 8 people in our group paid to shoot the AK. I paid for my clip and walked down to the range. I was one of the last people to go and it was entertaining watching some of the kids shoot a gun for the first time. When it was my turn I walked up to the guy in charge and handed him my clip (they were very picky about safety measures which was cool because I would have done the same thing with a bunch of tourists.) The guns were mounted to a cinder block type barricade so we couldn’t fully pick them up but you could still aim them at the targets and get a little range of movement. Kind of a bummer but I can still totally understand why they do it that way. They guy turned off the safety and motioned for me to step forward and started to show me the proper way to hold the gun. I say started because he didn’t really get the chance to finish cause I just walked up, picked it up like any other rifle, and took aim. I got a feel for her with my first three shots then put the rest of the clip into the target on fully auto. Dude it was a rush! Oh and you would have been pround pops, I missed the target once. Hit it 9 out of 10 times at 100 yds. I stepped back and was like “Ahhhh that was awesome!!” Then I turned around and some of the SAS kids were staring at me. I was like “What?” They said they were just really surprised that I was so comfortable with a gun. It was weird because the Vietnamese dudes were pretty surprised too. My friend Natalie was taking pictures for me and she was cracking up after because the way she described it: the guy was absolutely shocked that I knew what I was doing. She said that he was like getting ready to help me when he saw me walk up and it was clear I knew what I was doing, then she said he just stepped back. It’s weird that something that I didn’t even think twice about, other people were shocked about. I still think it is so cool learning about differing points of view not only across the countries we visit, but also just between people from different states in the U.S. It’s okay “Cause I am who I am, that’s the man I’m gunna be!” I still can’t believe I shot an AK in Vietnam!! Crazy!!!!!

After experiencing the different aspects of the Cu Chi tunnel area we loaded up the buses for our ride back to Ho Chi Minh City. We got back to the ship pretty late and I was like, “Food time!” I ran into Bridget and Ali (B.B.) as they were getting back from a different trip and we decided to head out to eat together! We walked out of the port area and found 3 of the motorcycle guys I told you all about last time. We gave each of them 2 bucks and they took us right to the front door of the restaurant we wanted. Those “motorbikes” or “motos” as they were called were so fun! It was a great way to see the city, especially at night! Probably not very safe tho lol. Oh well, already did it mom, can’t get mad!! Haha love you! We ate at this Vietnamese restaurant that I forgot the name of, and enjoyed yet another good meal. (I bet you guys are getting sick of me saying that but I can’t help it lol…it’s that awesome!) I ate some sort of meal that I think was a type of Pho but with like every possible type of meat in it and a lot of veggies…that’s right, I’m still eating those veggies. I know you all don’t believe me because I hate things that are green, but what can I say, I’m broadening my horizons haha. Although you will still be happy to hear that I am constantly wearing Crimson and Cream and Texas Still Sucks! Guess somethings just don’t change no matter where you are in the world. After dinner we walked around the city for awhile before calling it a night and heading back to the ship to get ready for the next day.

Day 4 in Vietnam was my trip to the Mekong Delta! With the exception of The Great Wall, this was by far my favorite day on SAS so far!! It was incredible! Our day started with an 8 a.m. departure (pretty normal for SAS day trips). One thing that was cool was that I had the same tour guide as the day before…Quinnie!! So that was cool because we had talked on one of the bus rides the day before and so it was nice having a familiar tour guide. The first stop on our way out of Ho Chi Minh City was to a Buddhist Temple. It was pretty much like any other Buddhist temple so I won’t go into detail there but the one unique feature about this temple grounds was this huge Buddha statue next to the temple. The most entertaining part was the fact that for some reason the architects/sculptors decided to give him a GIANT butt. Like HUGE booty. I thought it was entertaining and we all had a nice laugh when we first drove up.

After touring the grounds for about 30 minutes we headed to the main attraction…The Mekong Delta. The delta is located at the mouth of the Mekong River and is composed of a number of small islands. To get to the islands we were loaded onto these little boats and crossed the river amid the massive amount of river traffic. The reason this was so stinking cool for me was the fact that it was like the country side of Vietnam. Don’t get me wrong there were still plenty of people but it was a simpler, more rural style of living and it was awesome! The people were so friendly, there were kids running around with dogs and chickens, and we got to see SO many cool aspects of their daily lives. As we were touring the islands (we went to 3 of them) I really couldn’t help but thinking about Nicaragua and Mexico and the striking similarities. I actually was mentioning it to Ali and one of the girls in our group overheard me and was like “Oh my gosh I was thinking the same thing!” She had been to Nicaragua about 2 years ago and she felt like she was back there too. Weird how two countries on literally opposite sides of the world can be so amazingly similar!

Our day consisted of fruit tasting, tea drinking (delicious by the way), witnessing the process of making Coconut Candy, sampling the candy, a horse drawn buggy ride, seeing water buffalo, holding a python, taking a smaller boat ride on the many estuaries, and an amazing lunch. Oh and of course my little picture taking incident that I mentioned earlier haha. Again I could write a paragraph or more about each one of these activities but there just isn’t time for that so I will just tell you some of small bits and pieces. I spent the majority of the time with Alyssa, B.B., Christina, and Jamy. Adam was on the trip but he was on a different bus so we weren’t ever together. The lunch was really, really cool personally because they took an entire Elephant-Ear Fish (about 2 really big Large Mouth Bass for a reference), fried it, then put it on a stake in the middle of our table. I was like “Hecks to the Yes” but some of the people at my table were not thrilled at all. One of the girls was a vegetarian and another didn’t eat fish. Fine with me because I got to eat their portions!!!! I ate so much fish it was awesome! Like a good ole fish fry in the jungle! The little boat ride was an experience because it was only 4 of us and we were literally being paddled down the river with giant trees cowering over the water. It was like a scene from a movie…SOOOO cool!! The snake was of course cool, and again really funny because some people did NOT like snakes and kept so far away. All the food was good except for this one type of fruit, but we tried like 8 different kinds so I mean not liking 1 is ok. We were all just amazed at the amount of things we got to do. We all thought we were just going to be walking around the islands; we had no clue all the little bonus activities we were going to be privileged enough to participate in. It was by far the 2nd Best Day I have had on this trip yet (#1 being the Great Wall, I mean that’s just going to be hard to beat lol). I was just mad I didn’t have my cowboy hat! But it’s all good, I still Rocked it Country Style!!

After experiencing life on the delta and seeing in my opinion the better half of Vietnamese life, we took our boat back across the river and loaded the buses for our return to Ho Chi Minh City. We got back to the ship and relaxed for a little bit before heading out for our last night in Vietnam. The group I was with for the night was Kevin, Bridget, B.B., Stephen, Aaron and myself. We all wanted to have PHO again because it was just so good. We went to a restaurant called Pho 24 which serves only different Pho dishes and it was incredible!! I had the Chicken Pho because I had only had beef up to that point and it was delicious! Great meal and again for less than $5, everything was SO cheap in Vietnam it was awesome! After dinner our group split up and it ended up being Steven, B.B., and me. We explored some of the night markets, met 2 Australians who were taking a break and doing some traveling (very very cool people that were fun to talk to for a little while), met an 8 year old Vietnamese girl who spoke perfect English and came up to us because she liked Steven’s shirt, took a Moto Ride throughout the city (almost got hit by a bus, but no worries it missed me by like 2 inches (not exaggerating) which is more than enough room), checked out some cheap DVD’s, and then ended the night by finding a cheap Gelato place. It was actually really good Gelato!! After gelato we walked back through the city and slowly made our way back to the ship.

My last day in Vietnam was relatively short. I slept in a little bit (not too much, I mean I was in Vietnam, can’t be wasting time!!) then headed to an internet café for a little bit to do some more research for some of our future ports. I walked to the internet café and then walked back so it encompassed the majority of my morning because I had to be back to the ship around noon to grab some lunch and then I had an FDP at 1 for my American Government class. For those of you that forgot, an FDP is a Faculty Directed Practicum that is just a trip led by a teacher that relates to class work. Kind of like a Field Trip for college students. Our trip was about Sustainable Development in Vietnam and consisted of a visit to a college in Ho Chi Minh City that specializes in Economic Development with a focus on Sustainability. We listened to a short lecture by the President of the School and one of their teachers before getting a chance to interact with some of the students and ask/answer questions for about an hour. The students were brilliant and we were privileged to get to spend time with them. It was cool cause they were our age and it was nice getting to interact with them. After receiving a short tour of the campus, we loaded back onto the shuttle and arrived at the ship just in time for on-ship time.

My time in Vietnam was much shorter than I would have liked. I definitely did NOT want to leave! I am sad just writing this because I want to go back so bad!! Yesterday we made a stop at an off-shore filling station off the coast of Singapore to refuel the ship because apparently we didn’t do that in Vietnam. The station we were at was at the mouth of the Strait of Mallacca which is what we are sailing through right now. If you have been watching CNN, apparently there has been recent pirate/terrorist activity in the area and there was an active threat on ships in the area. The ship staff tried to keep it quiet, but word eventually got out and we all knew about it. We had our own military gun boat escort all day and into the night as we refueled and began our journey up the straight toward India. So apparently we were in a little bit of a “hot-spot” yesterday but it’s all good now, nothing to worry about. (Bet my parents are loving reading this part haha) Oh well just one more thing to add to the list of situations I have been in and experienced.

The Sea Olympics are tomorrow and then I have a mid-term the next morning so the next 24 hours I will be extremely busy so your all’s prayers are felt and much appreciated!! I love you guys and I hope everything is going well!!

T

Vietnam - Walk with Confidence

Whatup everybody?!?!?!

So Vietnam was so awesome! I honestly don’t even know where to start haha.

So I will take the easy way out and do some shout outs to you guys first! Kayla – Well I’m glad that I could entertain you from so far away…I do my best lol. Sorry but this guy isn’t a McPhearson, he is a MaCasland so I don’t think that is what you are interested in, my bad. Dang you sound like you are having a majorly jam packed semester. You are crazy girl! Hey I want to go bungee jumping just as much as you, but there isn’t really much I can do about it right now because I am on a boat with really expensive internet, so why don’t you take advantage of free internet and find us something to do this summer lol. You know I’m down…just tell me when and where!! Gahhhh that is so cool about Big Weekend, you and Chris are making me very jealous right now. Yeah I gotta give you all something to look forward to this summer, and it won’t all fit in the blogs (I already feel like I write too much). Can’t wait to chill this summer, speaking of, what are your plans for the summer?!?! Love ya girl!! Nat-Attack – Haha don’t worry about me chica! We heard about the earthquakes and tsunami but it didn’t affect us at all. Although the seas are pretty calm and boring right now so we could use some waves to liven things up lol. Thanks for your concern though! I guess you probably shouldn’t read about some of the stuff I have been doing because safe isn’t the best word I would use to describe some of my adventures haha. Miss ya girl, can’t wait to catch up!! Chris – Dude you crack me up, I laughed out loud in the middle of the computer lab when I read your comments. Heck yes about the Mulan thing!! Kevin and I were actually talking about that when we were hiking up the steps on one part cause we felt like hooks were all the sudden gunna come flying over the wall. Dude I am sooooooo jealous of you getting to be a part of Big Weekend! I would totally prefer it to be at the church instead of the Wellness Center…just like the good ole days! That’s awesome that you had my bro in your group! That is a solid group of boys and they definitely got the best leader if you were in charge of them. I wish I could have been there to see the youth leading worship in big church. We were seeing that more and more this summer and I think it will do only good things for the church as a whole. Those kids have a passion for worshipping Christ and it is very contagious! Again I am jealous of you going on the Mission Trip, you are gunna have a blast bro! God is gunna use you in crazy ways man, I have already seen Him do it through you and He isn’t done yet! Love you bro! Oh and no landmines for me, so I’m all good lol!

The most important shout out of this blog goes to my favorite bro!! Happy Birthday Daniel!!!!!!!! For those of you that don’t know, my brother turned 15 on March 2nd, so yesterday I think. Don’t really know what day it is back home, or here for that matter. So if you see him tell him Happy Birthday! Love you brother and I am sad I couldn’t come see you for your B-Day!! Hope it was great and make sure Mom and Dad treat you to a nice dinner, although I’m sure they already did by the time you are reading this haha. Hope all is well my man!!

The picture I chose was from one of the nights in Vietnam after dinner when we were walking around the city taking a round-a-bout way back to the ship. It was just Ali, Bridget, and me that night and this was just a random pic we took while walking back to the ship. Bridget is on the far left, I’m in the middle, and then Ali (or B.B.) is on the right, or more like the front of the picture.

When Americans hear something about the country Vietnam, the first thing that pops into our heads is “Oh yeah we fought a war with them a little while ago.” While this is true, it is sad that this is the prominent thought process held by Americans. Vietnam is an absolutely amazing country and it is extremely hard to believe that this major city was once reduced to nothing as a result of the war. I walked through forests that 30 years ago contained no trees and now it is so thick you can’t even walk through all the vegetation and growth. Probably the most shocking thing to me was the Vietnamese attitude toward Americans. They were so welcoming to us and you would never know that any hostilities had ever happened between our two countries. People smiled and waved at us, they called us friends after talking for only a couple seconds; it was incredible to see such acceptance when they have every right in the world to hate us. Seeing what Vietnam has overcome and accomplished in the last 20 years is mind-boggling and something that has truly changed my outlook on not only Vietnam, but other countries and people groups that I have previously held a bias about. I will no longer solely think of Vietnam as a country that we fought in a war and is our enemy. No, from now on I will remember the people I met and their determination, friendship, hospitality, and optimism exemplified in the way they live their lives.

I am going to tell you all about Vietnam a little differently than the other countries. It was so stinking cool! I don’t know where to begin. Don’t get me wrong, China and Japan were awesome, but Vietnam was a different kind of sweet!! Instead of huge cities with everything in English and subways and shopping malls, Vietnam was the total opposite. It was still big and all but definitely on a different scale; the closest thing I can compare it to is Managua, Nicaragua. The city was formatted like a big city but with very few huge building and the majority of the shops were just little holes in the wall, literally. Much more the kind of city I like to hangout in. I was getting pretty tired of the big cities and Vietnam was just so much more my style. The people were amazing, the kids were running around outside and would say hi to you, and the layout was just so much simpler. Oh and the weather. Every day in Vietnam the temperature peaked around 95 degrees Fahrenheit and then dropped to a comfortable 80ish at night. It was nice change for me after China and Japan. Some people complained about the temperature a lot but they didn’t really have good reasons, they were just being babies if you ask me. Don’t know about you all in Oklahoma but I have an awesome tan going right now (didn’t burn thanks to my Indian blood) and have been wearing shorts, t-shirts, and cut off shirts for a little over a week now, and it’s only gunna get better!! Nothing but tropics and warm weather from here on out!

One interesting thing about Vietnam was the unique smells we would encounter as we moved through the city. In some areas there was a lot of people selling stuff right on the street corner. Everything from sea snake in a fish tank to exotic fruits to coffee. Now imagine all of those smells in 3 stalls lined up touching each other and your sense of smell is in for a serious shock. Then there are the Mekong River and Saigon River which give off their own interesting smells. Again just another very unique aspect of Vietnam. One of the coolest places I stumbled upon in Ho Chi Minh City was this little district under an overpass that was a poorer part of the city but at the same time so much more interesting. I was by myself at the time because I didn’t want to shop with everyone else so I just walked off. I stumbled upon the district and oddly enough I felt more at home walking through it than in the touristy parts of the city. The people were all smiling and laughing; there were kids, dogs, and chickens running around everywhere (although I doubt the chicken knew that the kids would probably be eating it the next day lol). Oh and hammocks!!! They were everywhere! Wherever there was a stall, there was usually a hammock that the owner would chillax in while he/she waited for their next customer to come by.

The preferred modes of transportation in Vietnam are mopeds and motorcycles; actually preferred isn’t really a good word. I mean, they are preferred, but it’s more like a necessity in some ways. Literally the only other things on the street are buses, trucks for transporting cargo that is too big for the motorcycles, and then the very rare care (one of my tour guides said that only the people that work for the major car companies are the people with cars). Okay so when you cross the streets it is absolute chaos! There are no traffic lights and the flow of traffic is unlike anything I have ever seen anywhere else in the world. Sure there are lines on the road but they are more of guidelines than really meaning anything. There are also “crosswalks” but because there are no traffic lights there isn’t ever a time when you can just walk across while the cars are stopped. So, the saying goes “When you cross the street, walk with confidence!” Two key words in that phrase: “walk” and “confidence.” You literally just start walking (not running or jogging, walking) and the traffic will weave around you based on your pace. The confidence is just the process of getting past the mental block in your head of, “oh crap I’m walking into a death trap.” I personally thought it was kinda fun because I mean you never know what could have happened. The American diplomats that came on board for pre-port also told us that the #1 accident or incident that occurs to visiting Americans is getting hit or clipped by buses or motorcycles. I thought it was cool because it made walking around the city that much more interesting and we all got really good at just walking and hoping that everyone was paying attention and wouldn’t hit us lol.

Ok so the food in Vietnam was incredible!! There was only one thing that I didn’t like and that was this papaya drink thing but everything else I tried was awesome! The dish that is most popular in Vietnam is called Pho and it is basically broth with noodles, chicken or beef, and then some random vegetables depending on the place you are eating. They had Pho restaurants and then you also had people selling Pho from a cart on the street corner. Like I said just picture Mexico or Nicaragua and you have a pretty good idea of some of the people selling food on the sidewalks. Oh gosh the food was amazing! Everything from the street fair to the fresh fruits was just so good! I even tried Vietnamese pizza which was interesting, oh and they have a Vietnamese style yogurt place that was basically just like Orangetree but with different flavors and topping so we tried that just to say we did. Little taste of home, but not really because the food was so different on some many levels lol. I was talking with one of my buddies on one of our day trips and we both mentioned how half of the stuff we were eating we would never even think about eating in the states, mainly because we have so many options that we know we like and are comfortable with. Well you all are in for a shock because I told myself in January that I would try everything cultural that I could get my hands on; and I HAVE! You all are gunna flip when you see the pictures of all the vegetables I have eaten (I have taken a picture of every meal I have eaten in port, and every snack) and then the weird stuff I told you about in China. Now there wasn’t anything too too extreme like in China, except for this one thing I had but just to spite Kayla I will make you guys wait for the pictures and story for the summer haha. Oh and I still haven’t gotten sick thanks to my little buddy Pepto, although I probably just jinxed myself haha. With the temperature we were CONSTANTLY drinking water although we had to be careful because the tap water is NOT sanitary. Even the locals don’t drink it cause it will make them sick. There was just too much pollution in the rivers where they get their water supply from.
My first two days in Vietnam were completely random so I am just going to tell you all about them in one fail swoop and try to give you a rough idea of everything that I did, saw, and experienced in a short 48 hours. This will no doubt be impossible because I have about 200 little stories I could tell you and there is just no way I can do that sufficiently in this blog. So again, just wait for this summer when I have pictures and hours of stories to tell you all!

So the first day we arrived in port, we spent the morning going through our normal customs routine and receiving a diplomatic briefing, which was actually very informative and brief because the girl from the U.S. consulate in Vietnam had a friend do Semester at Sea and he had told her what we wanted to hear and didn’t want to hear which made it more enjoyable lol. We got off the ship around noon and started walking into the city. One of the big things to do in Vietnam is get a custom suit made so some of the guys I was with wanted to do that first. No way did I want a suit, I mean hello do you know who you are reading about?!? Me buy a suit…YEAH RIGHT haha!!

The rest of the day was spent walking around the city and experiencing the different areas of the city the way a Vietnamese local would experience it. We took a taxi at one point, rode a rickshaw at one point, and then definitely took a ride with some locals on the motorcycles or “motos” as they are referred to in Vietnam. The moto rides were definitely an experience cause you were just weaving in and out of traffic, in the wrong lane and the right lane, it was just crazy! But they were so cheap and it was way quicker than a bus or taxi so we actually used them a couple times. Despite the occasional use of moto, we spent the vast majority of our time just walking. Yeah sure it was hot but we didn’t care, we were in Vietnam!! We saw the touristy sections of the city with the famous landmarks and markets, then at one point I went off by myself and experienced the poorer sections of the city near the docks and that was really cool to be able to experience that. Oh, and Wes if you are reading this, I got hit on by a Vietnamese woman as a was walking down the street. Just waved and kept walking but I still thought that would make you laugh.

We visited the Vietnam War Remnants museum which was eye opening because we got to see the Vietnamese side of the story. It was a touching experience and one I will not soon forget. The museum had a lot of artifacts and even simulation prison systems used by the Americans and South Vietnamese that really open your eyes to the way in which the war was fought and handled. Just a very interesting opportunity to get to hear a drastically different perspective on something that I have grown up hearing a one-sided story. We also spent some time visiting Reunification Palace which is very significant to the Vietnamese people because it signifies the unification of the country after the war and the beginning of a new era in their history. The palace has been left exactly how it was in the late 60’s/early 70’s so when you walk into it, it is like you are walking back in time. Some other sights that we visited were the Notre Dame cathedral located in Vietnam, the Opera House, the Central Post Office of Vietnam, and of course the giant market in the middle of the city, the Ben Thanh Market. Located in a central area of District 1 of Vietnam, this market is the main market of Ho Chi Minh City. They sold everything from food to silk clothing, all types of souvenirs, and ripped DVDs. Vietnam is known for its pirated movies and TV shows, and they were abundant in the market. The market catered to tourists and Vietnamese alike so it wasn’t too touristy but at the same time it wasn’t an authentic, Vietnamese only market. All of the stuff was really cheap though, and if you know how to barter you could get stuff at an amazing price!!

One night while walking alone through the streets of Vietnam, the words from a Jeremy Camp song came to mind. Don’t ask me why or what prompted it, but all of the sudden I could not get the following lyrics out of my head: “All my life, I have seen, where You’ve taken me, beyond all I have hoped, and there’s more left unseen. There’s not much, I can do, to repay all You’ve done, so I give my hands to use. This is my desire, this is my return. This is my desire, to be used by YOU.” In the little more than a month that I have been on Semester at Sea, I have experience people, places, and things in ways that I never even considered back in the United States. God is teaching me new and exciting things each and every day and it is absolutely incredible. I am learning to be mindful of other people’s opinions (students on the boat, teachers, and the people we interact with in these countries) despite the fact that I may or may not agree with them. I am experiencing different viewpoints from these countries that are halfway around the world and realizing that we aren’t too different and have way more in common than people think. God has taken me places I never dreamed I would go; He has shown me things in a different light, the most prominent being that His children are scattered throughout the country and every person on the planet was created and loved by Him. This is also true in the United States, especially in Oklahoma. Look around today, every person you come into contact with was created by God. Who are we to judge them, reject them, or ignore them? We are called to love them like Christ loves them. Unconditionally and without reserve. I challenge you to think about that as you go through your daily routine. Love, Accept, just like Christ has done for you. God is absolutely amazing and I can’t wait to see what he has in store next.

I know this blog was a little different than previous ones, but I just loved Vietnam so much I had so many random things to tell you all. What I wrote doesn’t give Vietnam and my experiences there justice, but I will be able to make up for that this summer. This is only my first Vietnam post and I will tell you all about the other half of my time in a second blog that I will post here in the next couple of days.

I hope you guys are doing awesome! I’m praying for each one of you!

T