Habitat Hillbillies

Hey everyone!

How are things back at home? Hopefully good! Alright so I told you guys about my first two days in Ghana, now for the next two days, which were just as exciting as the first two I might add!

Shout Outs – Pops – Alright funny guy, they aren’t golden locks…they are just wings lol. And I’m gunna take Brazil by storm baby! They aren’t gunna know what to do with me haha. I guess you could say the waterfall was kind of like needles but it was so unique that it wasn’t like a painful needle…more like a massage! I will definitely continue to play hard and take advantage of the opportunities presented to me…no promises on the studying though haha. Chris – dude yeah you would have been in heaven chilling in Ghana. You would have fit in a lot better than I did and I can’t wait to hear how much fun you have this summer. Alright well I will hold onto that Rand for you and we can swap when I get home. My plane gets in the night of May 5th so I will definitely be bugging you to chill shortly after haha. Can’t wait to chill man…and you gotta fill me in on any and everything that has been going on at home. Love ya bro and can’t wait to chill!!

Picture – Alright so the picture I chose is from my 3rd day in Ghana. The group in the picture is the Habitat Hillbillies, wut wut!! Explanation of the will come later on. Our group was LEGIT and I won’t bother saying who was who because there were a lot of us and I honestly forgot a couple of the people haha…but I’m the one sitting on the ground in the front in the white bandana if that matters. Anyways I wrote more the day below so read on and enjoy! (click on the pic to make it bigger)

Okay so day 3 in Ghana I signed up for another SAS trip which was a service visit to a local Habitat for Humanity site. This trip was really special because instead of just sightseeing like we do every other day we were actually doing something that made a difference to the people and left a lasting impact that wasn’t limited to a candid photograph or a brief 4 minute video. We stepped out of our role of tourists and college students studying abroad and were able to work side by side with locals to produce a meaningful result. It was like any other habitat experience but for some reason this one just felt more fulfilling. It turned out to be an extremely rewarding day.

Our group left the ship around 7 am and the bus ride to the sight was about 3.5 hours. Toree, Bekah, and Sally were on my trip again (the four of us were pretty much together for all of Ghana except the first day where we actually ran into each other at lunch so we joked that we were all Ghana buddies). Jeremy and Scott were also on my trip and then I became close friends with the rest of our group. It is easy to build bonds with people when you are sweating and doing manual labor.

Upon arrival at the site we were given a brief intro and then split into 3 groups to work at three separate sites within the habitat complex. Our group consisted of 16 people I think and of course we had to make a name for ourselves. So Hillary suggested Habitat Hobos and then Habitat Hillbillies. I immediately said I favored Habitat Hillbillies (duh!!) and so did the majority of the group so that is what our group of 16 referred to ourselves as the rest of the day. Habitat Hillbillies baby!!! Of course then I had the song Hillbilly Bone stuck in my head all day but that’s okay cause it’s a bomb song haha.

So the Habitat Hillbillies were tasked with moving dirt from two large piles into the cement-base framework of a house, basically just transporting dirt into framed holes using a wheelbarrow and 3 shovels. Well real quick we realized there were 16 of us and only jobs for about 4 to work efficiently. Well that just wasn’t okay with me and two of the girls so we went and asked the neighbors if we could borrow their tools and equipment if we promised to bring it back. They said yes and didn’t ask us twice about borrowing it. We managed to find another wheelbarrow, 2 more shovels, a pickaxe to break the dirt mound up, and 3 huge pans. With a group of about 6 working the wheelbarrows and 3 of the shovels, the rest of us used 2 shovels and the giant pans/bowls to form a chain to carry dirt into the holes. We nicknamed ourselves the “bucket brigade” and not to brag but at some points we were definitely keeping pace with the wheel barrow.

I got really lucky with the group I was assigned to because everyone one of the Habitat Hillbillies worked hard from start to finish. Other groups complained about not having enough tools and just standing around but we were able to find more so that we could work. Like I said earlier, it was a nice change being with 16 people who not only were serving, but they were eager and excited about it! We worked hard despite the heat and get this, we used all the dirt. That’s right, we actually ran out of dirt because we all were working so hard. The homeowners who were working alongside us (some very cool guys I might add) looked at us and were like “Well there is nothing else for you to do…you did it all. Thank you.” Now when they said thank-you it was incredible. The look on their face was something you don’t see often. A look of 100% gratitude, and knowing that I contributed to putting that smile there made the entire day worth it. No-one cared how dirty, sweaty, or stinky they were. They just cared that we had actually done something significant.

We actually ran out of dirt about 30 minutes before we were supposed to leave anyway so it wasn’t like we just sat there forever. We talked with the future homeowners we had been working alongside and played with several of the kids. We were all pretty tired but managed enough energy to entertain the kids until we were forced to get on the bus (around 3 pm I think, like I said I was pretty beat). I don’t know if you can tell from the pic but I was definitely dirty from moving the dirt with the buckets and dumping it out and the Habitat Hillbillies nominated me as the dirtiest member when we walked back to the bus. Fine with me, I like being dirty, especially if I have a good excuse; and I’m pretty sure helping someone build a house is a good enough reason lol. Oh and my friend Sally was wearing sunglasses all day and had one of the sickest raccoon eye tans I have ever seen. She was trying to make fun of me for being dirty (which wasn’t working cause like I said I didn’t mind being dirty) when she took off her glasses and we all got a nice laugh. She is probably going to kill me when she hears that I posted this on here but oh well I think it was a funny story that needed to be mentioned.

The bus ride back to the ship was another nice 3.5 hour trek (with a short 10 minute stop for cold drinks and street snacks in one of the villages) and most of the bus fell asleep fast because they were all so beat. Well I don’t really take naps as most of you all know so I just read a book and got some time to reflect on my experience while listening to music traveling the back roads of Ghana. It was a great day and extremely rewarding. Not to mention that the ice cold shower at the end of the day was the best shower I have had on this boat lol.

I spent day four in Ghana (our last day in Africa) on another SAS trip to a Torgorme Village for a day experiencing their culture. I wanted to do something authentically Ghanaian that was outside the city and this was my best option. Toree, Sally, and Becca were again on my trip, but Cara, Trevor, and Christina were also on the trip so we had a nice huge group of us running around together all day. The trip was the shortest bus ride I had in Ghana, only a little under 2 hours!! It was a joke compared to what I had been doing the previous 2 days haha.

Upon arrival at the village we got to experience a traditional naming ceremony as the village chief’s guests of honor. The ceremony took about 2.5 hours and was filled with traditional dances, ritualistic introduction of the chiefs, music, traditional drumming, and each of us receiving a traditional African name from the chief’s family as well as a welcoming into the family.

The experience as a whole was surreal. The entire village attended the gathering and everyone was dressed in ceremonial dress and some even had on paint for the dances and rituals. The African name given to me (they base it on year of birth, day of birth, month of birth, day of week of birth, and something else I forgot) was Kuadzo Agbenyga. They also told us the literal meaning of our names and supposedly it is supposed to define our lives. Well it was a little creepy how accurate they were with mine, they got my name spot on. The literal translation givin to me for my name was “Life is Great.” Not just “good”…no no…life is “GREAT!!” Considering that has been my life motto anyway I was thrilled when they told me that is what my name when. And life is great isn’t it. I mean you are breathing aren’t you? And you obviously have access to a computer if you are accessing this…and you can obviously read this if you are this far. So I would say we are all in pretty good shape and life it GREAT!! Waaahhhhhhhhhhoooooooo!!!!

After the naming ceremony, which concluded everything I listed above and even an opportunity to participate in one of the tribal dances with the members of the tribe, we were given a brief tour of the village which was mainly just the kids dragging us around haha. The kids were really cool and it was fun getting to chill with all of them. Following our look around the village we were transported in our bus to a nearby Mess Hall where we were fed lunch. The lunch was super good and the best thing was the plantains because the way they cook them is similar to a caramalization and they were delicious!! We were able to take our time eating without being rushed and it was nice because we all got to compare our African names and get to know each other a little better.
The last activity of the day was a trip to a nearby nature reserve area where we got to explore one of the famous local caves that is known for its bats. Going to the cave we were able to see a lot of impala and even some baboons running across these rocks cause they were scared of the bus. The hike to the cave wasn’t even really a hike, more like a short walk, and we were able to take turns squeezing into this little crack to get to view the bats. I was toward the end cause I had been climbing around on some rocks while we had been walking and I had also tried to find another way into the cave. Me, toree, sally, and cara where the last 4 in the cave and basically there was this spot where everyone had been standing to see the bats right inside the opening but that is as far as everyone had gone. Well I wanted to go into the cave farther, not just stand in the opening, I mean what are a few bats gunna do to me? So I jumped over and started walking farther in, although unlike Hawaii I didn’t have my flashlight this time so I had to go pretty slow.

Okay going farther in was a way better decision. It was a totally different experience than standing at the front. The ground was covered in so much guana (bat poop) that it was like walking on a sponge. The smell didn’t really bother me cause it just smelled like a natural cave, although some people definitely didn’t like it lol. So going in we could see the bats fluttering around (they clearly didn’t like us in their cave) but they were still farther in. Again I wanted to keep going so I did, but the girls didn’t really want to. I was like “Guys how many times are you gunna be in Ghana, Africa in a bat cave? Let’s go get closer!” As I was saying this I was walking farther in and all the sudden a hat flew into my head. Yeah hit me in the head. I think it was attracted to the white hat but what do I know? I was like “Whooaaa!!” and my hat flew off and that really freaked out the girls. I thought it was funny so I was cracking up…I got hit by a bat!!!...in Africa!!! CRAZYYYYYY!! We kept inching in but eventually couldn’t go too much farther, right as we reach the end I lifted up my hand to point at the opening that we could see and I got hit AGAIN! Yeah I got hit by another bat! I basically clothes-lined it with my arm. So I got hit by two bats!! Well that pretty much ended it for the girls because they didn’t want to get hit so they started to leave. Right when they turned around another bat hit Toree in the face….haha she screamed so loud and jumped so high!! It was AWESOME!!!!!!!! She didn’t really think so at the time but as soon as we got back to the bus she had no problem bragging about the fact that she got hit by a bat. Oh and I forgot, Cara got hit by one in the leg too! Basically Sally was the only one who went farther in that didn’t get hit by one, so we decided that she could take credit for one of my two haha. Oh gosh it was a fun 15 minutes in that cave man. Freaking awesome!!!

See it pays to go off the beaten path!! First in Hawaii and now in Ghana, two really good cave experiences if you ask me! The bus ride back to the ship was a short 1.5-2 hours so it went fast. When we arrived at the ship it was about on ship time so we all boarded and that concluded our time in Ghana and in Africa as a whole.

Our second to last port is now behind us and tomorrow we land in Brazil to experience our last port of call before beginning the journey home. Although in a way we have already begun the journey home ever since we left India and began the second half of our journey with Florida as the final destination. It’s weird to think that tonight is my last pre-port briefing and tomorrow will be the last foreign port that we pull into. Crazy man…everything just happens so fast!

Thank you all so much for your prayers, they are felt and greatly appreciated everyday! Love you and praying for each and every one of you guys!

T

2 Corinthians 12:7-10

4.5 Hour Bus Ride...At Least Give Me a Challenge

Whatsup Everybody?!?!?

Well we left Ghana late last night and are currently making our way across the Atlantic headed for Brazil. It is crazy to think that we have been to 3 different and unique African countries and are now on our way to the last port on this incredible voyage.

Shout Outs – First of all, Dan-the-Man, don’t know if you are reading this but I wanted to say congrats! Heard you are getting to play some varsity tennis as a freshman (or at least that’s how I interpreted what mom and dad said). Dude that is crazy cool!! Can’t wait to get back and come to one of your matches!! Esther – Girl peeing your pants would have been fine…most of the people peed in their wet suits anyway because it warmed em up in the freezing cold water. And duh I had to mention the hippo sex…according to our guide it was a huge deal so I had to pass that on. Besides it was just too funny not to mention. And yes I am NOT the planner….glad you all finally realized it. We are just gunna let that little ridiculous joke die once and for all. And my panties are never in a wad…neva! Chris – Hey man I know you didn’t comment but I have some info for ya. I have some South African currency left (it’s called Rand) and I was wondering if you wanted to buy it from me so that you can have some when you head over there. It’s not an outrageous amount but it will be enough for a meal or two or a couple cab rides. Anyways I was going to just exchange it at the Fort Lauderdale airport but if you want it I would be happy to bring it for you to buy from me. Let me know stud…just wanted to give you the option.

Picture – The picture I chose is of me in front of the Wli Waterfall I visited on the 2nd day. I gave a pretty detailed description down below so I won’t bore you with repeating it lol. Although I do want to point out that the picture doesn’t do the waterfall justice as far as how tall the sucker really was. Look how small the people are in the background and then you have to keep going farther back to try and get some perspective. It was absolutely huge and one of the prettiest things I have seen in nature. God is so GREAT isn’t He?!?!? (Click on the pic to make it bigger)

Ok so Ghana was CRAZY COOL!! Like Mauritius, I knew nothing about Ghana before Semester at Sea and had no idea where in Africa it was, let alone anything about it. No one really knew what to expect from Ghana because SAS had only been there once before and that was in the fall on the last voyage, so basically we were still a sort of guinea pig group in a way haha.Well that is not the case now. I loved traveling in Ghana and it reminded me a lot of previous places that I had visited. The people were amazingly friendly and we so interested just to talk to us and ask us a thousand questions about our lives and our views on Ghana and other areas in Africa. It was kind of intimidating because none of us wanted to say something offensive so we were pretty generic with our conversations so that we didn’t get put into any uncomfortable conversations. Anyways let me just tell you about it!

Day one in Ghana was different than most of our entrances into countries. We didn’t have to do any face-to-face immigration (I actually haven’t seen my passport since South Africa) and there was no diplomatic briefing so we basically just waited for them to clear the ship and then got off the ship ASAP! Originally Adam, Theresa, Brooke, and I were planning on going hiking in one of the major national parks but found out it was a 10+ hour round-trip depending on traffic so we had to scratch that idea…so we proceeded to do what 8 countries of experience had taught us so far on Semester at Sea…we headed into the city with no plan except to experience the country to the fullest. Wingin It!!!!!

Our ship was docked in a city called Tema which is actually about a 45 minute bus ride from Accra which is the capital and main destination of our ship. There was a complimentary shuttle that was “supposed” to run every hour on the hour between Tema and Accra. Let’s just say that besides the first shuttle every morning it was never on time and you were basically just stuck guessing and hoping you got lucky with timing the shuttle departures right. The other thing that SAS didn’t bank on was every student getting off the ship as soon as we could; although why wouldn’t we? We were in Ghana, Africa!!...of course we wanted to get off the ship!! Duhh!! So there were about 500 students standing next to the ship and the shuttles had only taken about 90 something on the first run. So we said forget this and started walking to the front of the port and were just going to snag a cab. There were about 19 of us with this idea and at the port entrance there was actually a tro-tro (basically an old van converted into rows of seats) that took all of us into Accra and basically just dumped us in the middle. We were all crammed and we had no clue where we were but that was part of the adventure so we didn’t care!!

We wandered around where we had been dropped off because none of us had any money so we all needed an ATM. We eventually found one that wasn’t out of service. By the time we had our money it was around noon so we were like “Alright lunch time!!” Now it was a Sunday and Ghana is a fairly religious country so nothing was opened around us. We hailed a cab and asked a nearby security guard to help us tell the cabbie that we wanted some traditional Ghanaian food at a place that was opened on Sundays. The cab driver understood and drove us to a different part of Accra to a restaurant that was opened. Well just about every other SAS group had run into similar trouble finding a place to eat and all of their drivers had taken them to this place too. There were about 20 SASers there when the 4 of us arrived and while we were there another dozen or more showed up too. The place was called Papaye and the food was amazing!! The menu was simple (kind-of reminded me of Cane’s back in Norman…dang that sounds so good right now…oh great, now I’m drooling cause I want Cane’s…great haha) but the food was so good! We all ate all our food and then headed out. Brooke and Adam wanted soccer jerseys so we went and found a guy selling them at his shack and they picked out some cool ones.

Afterwards we heard there was a local Ghana league soccer match at 3 so we were like “Uh yeah we are totally going to that!!” On the way we were able to stop at some of the Independence monuments in the middle of the city and some sort of huge political rally center that we didn’t really understand but it was still cool to see.

Okay the soccer game was definitely the highlight of the day! It was insane! We paid the general admission fee and entered the “stadium” through a little side gate. It was basically just like a high school stadium with wooden bleachers on the ends and some shaded seating on the sides if you wanted to pay more. We didn’t mind the heat (and it was hot…Ghana is like right on top of the Equator) and we ended up having seats with a bunch of the locals in the end zone so we got to sit in the middle of all the cheering and chanting. Gahhhhhh it was SICK!!! The match was between the Olympics vs. Arsenal (and no not the English Premier league Arsenal…just the same name). As soon as we walked in a local yelled “Hey Americans, come sit with us!” His name was Kevin and we ended up sitting with him and his buddies. We were like “So what team are you all cheering for?” They were like “Olympics…we hate Arsenal.” So we were like “Alright then we are cheering for Olympics too! Wahoooo!!”

The game was close the whole way through but our team ended up losing 1-0…oh well it was still fun! At one point we got into a yelling match with some of the fans from the other team that walked by and even though we have no clue what they said it was just fun to scream “Go Olympics” and hoot and holler whenever we did something good. The Ghanaians we sat with were awesome and it was a blast getting to know them and just relax (well kinda…in between the yelling) at a soccer game for the afternoon. Made me miss watching you play Court…which reminds me, level someone at your next game for me.

After the game we wanted to check out one of the local beaches because that is supposedly one of the highlights in Accra. We asked our buddy Kevin and he told us that we needed to go to this one local beach because it was a huge local hangout spot on Sunday nights (ironic but whatever). We grabbed a cab and headed off for the beach. Well Kevin wasn’t kidding about it being the place to be. You had to pay an entrance fee to get onto the beach and there were literally thousands of locals chilling on the beach, playing in the water, and of course, soccer on the beach. The best part is that there were like hardly any other SAS students around. We only saw like 10 others besides the four of us so we were pumped that it was just us and the locals.

We ended up being at the beach from like 530 till 9 because we found a spot where we could also eat right there on the beach (literally like chairs and a table in the sand watching the sun going down about 10 feet from the water coming in). We met a group of locals who were playing soccer on the beach and they all absolutely loved Brooke and Theresa…must be the long blonde hair appeal like in Nicaragua and other foreign countries. Anyways they both got like 2 dozen email addresses so they are going to have some serious emailing to do haha. Two of the guys ended up eating dinner with us, Shammoo and Mike, and we talked to them for about two hours while we ate and asked them all kinds of questions about their daily lives and families etc. They in turn asked us about everything from Beyonce to Barack Obama…for those of you who didn’t know, Obama recently visited Ghana over Nigeria and South Africa so the people there are literally in love with the guy and that is all they want to talk about. Let’s just say that I bit my tongue a lot when I was talking to the locals and they brought him up. Oh and by far their greatest interest is British Premier League Soccer. Man U played that day so that is all they were talking about. They wanted to know who I cheered for and who my favorite player was and when I told them the truth that I didn’t follow it and didn’t have a team they were shocked. They were like “You don’t watch futbol? Then what do you do?” Haha Mike and Wes you guys would have had great conversations with them but I however wasn’t able to talk about soccer. That is when all the other stuff I just mentioned came up.

After dinner we made our way to the shuttle bus stop to catch the bus back to the ship and got lucky enough to get there while one was still sitting there so we didn’t have to wait in an abandoned parking lot for too long. We waited about 30 minutes for the bus to fill up and then headed back to the ship…arriving a little after 1045 I think. I called it a night because I had an early trip the next morning. As a whole day 1 in Ghana couldn’t have been better. We got to experience a soccer game which was one of the sickest things ever because they are crazy about soccer. It is on every add and all they talked about. Then we got to walk around the streets, interact with the vendors, find some locals on a beach, and talk to them over a nice African dinner. Couldn’t have been a better day and to think we had no plan when we stepped off the ship…that would have driven my parents nuts hahahahahaha.

For the second day in Ghana I went on an SAS trip to see the Wli Waterfall and the Mona Monkeys. Now the road system in Ghana is one of the worst I have ever experienced…actually very similar to Nicaragua when you get outside the bigger cities. So to get anywhere takes a significant portion of time. That was the case with this SAS trip. The bus ride to the waterfall (our first stop) was 4.5 hours. Now some kids definitely didn’t like this but again Henderson Hills has trained me well. After you drive to Florida and back every summer on a bus, 4.5 hours is a joke. My friends Sally, Bekah, and Torrie were on the trip with me so I also got lucky because that made the ride better. Torrie and I had known each other but after a 4.5 hour bus ride there wasn’t much we didn’t know about each other lol. Like I said earlier, the road system is not in good shape and most of the time we weren’t even on paved roads so it was so bumpy that sleep was definitely not an option. That left talking and riddles to pass the time as we made our way to the waterfalls.

When we got to the waterfalls it was about a 45 minute hike (would have been faster but we stopped to look at random stuff on the way) to the waterfall. On the way we were supposed to pass over this river 11 times so each time we took a picture holding up the number of the bridge we were crossing. It started out as a joke between Sally and Bekah but turned into a must-do at every bridge. Okay you guys this waterfall was insane. I thought the ones in Hawaii were cool…yeah not anymore. We were like walking through the jungle and all the sudden there is this giant waterfall that literally took our breaths away. It was huge! This specific waterfall is the tallest one in West Africa and just the amount of water was impressive! The scenery around it was also really cool! It came out of these cliffs with vegetation growing on them and there were hundreds of bats flying around where the water came out. Someone joked that it was just like the movie Avatar and it definitely was. There were huge plants and then the bats were kinda like those flying creature things. It was absolutely gorgeous and so cool to get to experience. Like I said the picture doesn’t really do it justice cause it looks smaller than it was so just kind of think of it bigger.

We were given about 30 minutes at the waterfall so of course we all got in and headed toward the waterfall to get under it. The water was really shallow and it never even got above our waists, but I still got soaked cause you better believe I charged right into that sucker. About 15 feet away there was a pretty strong mist like what you see in movies and once I was under the water it was way cool. Best free massage I have ever gotten. Although it was so much water there was no way you could look up and some people didn’t like how hard the water was falling. Like I said, I just acted like it was a really good massage but it was definitely the most powerful amount of water I have been hit with. Ahhhh it was just so cool!! Our 30 minutes went by WAY to fast and we were all really reluctant to put back on our shoes and start the trek back to the bus. It was just so surreal that no one wanted to leave.

After making it back to the bus we drove another hour and a half to the Mona Monkey sanctuary located in some random little village. The Mona Monkeys are considered sacred to the tribe of people living in the region of Ghana and many of the monkeys inhabit the jungle surrounding the villages. We were able to buy bananas and the monkeys would come up to us, peel the banana while we were still holding it, then run off with the fruit back into the safety of their tree. They were quick little rascals too…they would just run up and within seconds they had about 2 inches of the banana peeled away and the fruit stuffed into their mouths. The monkeys were about the size of a big cat (uggghhh just saying the word cat makes me wanna hurl) and really cool looking. I had never seen monkeys that looked exactly like these (not even in pictures) so that was cool to see and experience for the first time. We were only able to interact with the monkeys for about 10 minutes, mainly because they ate the bananas so quick and once they are gone they really have no reason to stay around so they just run off haha. We walked around the village for about 20 minutes but weren’t able to stay because this was just a small part of the tour. Although like I said, we pretty much saw everything at the monkey “sanctuary” (really not much security) and I felt like we had a really good experience.

We loaded back onto the bus for our trek back to the ship which took about 4 more hours because the monkeys were kind of on the way back from the waterfall…although not really. We ended up back at the ship around 7 and ate dinner on the ship and just decided to stay on the ship for the evening. It took effort getting from Tema to Accra with the shuttle irregularity so we just decided to rest and recover because we all were on other SAS trips the next morning as well and wanted to get some sleep. Fine with me and I was tired…actually ended up being a really good decision to sleep but you will have to wait until my next blog for the reasoning behind that haha.

That sums up my first two days in Ghana and I will tell you all about the next 2 in my next blog which will hopefully be sometime in the next couple days before I get to Brazil.

I really wanna pass the following on to you guys cause it has been on my heart for the past couple days…

Now the day light flees…now the ground beneath…quakes as its maker, bows His head. Curtain torn in two…dead are raised to life…finished the VICTORY CRY!!!!!!!! This the power, of the cross! Christ became, sin for us. Took the blame…bore the wrath…we STAND forgiven at the cross!! Oh to see my name…written in the wounds…for through Your suffering…I am FREE! Death is crushed to death…life is mine to live…wraught through Your selfless love. This the power…of the cross. Son of God…slain for us. What a love…what a cost…we stand forgiven at the cross.

For the past week and a half since Easter Sunday this song has been on my heart and every time I hear it I just get chills. I have heard the Easter story a hundred times but it NEVER gets old. Death no longer matters to us…we are free you guys…FREE!!!! Free to live! Free to love! Free to pass on the knowledge of this new life! We are victorious through Christ…we have already won! Doesn’t it just make you wanna cry out in praise! Just couldn’t help but pass on this feeling! Join me in crying out to God!!

I love you guys so much and, as we are getting closer to the end of this voyage, I can’t wait to see you guys and chill! Miss you guys and can’t wait to hang out here in a couple weeks!! Speaking of hanging out…there are a lot of American foods/restaurants I am craving so we will need to hit up a lot of those ASAP!! Praying for each and every one of you! Hope all is well!

T

(oh and ps mom – my hair is the longest it has been since middle school and I definitely have “wings” as my friends on the ship are saying haha)

I'm Allergic to Not Hving Fun

Hello hello hellooooooooo

Long time no talk huh? Haha don’t really know why I said that…oh well. How is everything going?!?! Hopefully good! We are almost to Ghana…we actually arrive tomorrow. Gahhhh it’s just one port after the next. I still haven’t caught up on sleep from South Africa. Oh well haha.

Comments – First off I just have to say that this is a place that almost every one of you would have loved (some of you not so much, but I won’t name names lol). I kept thinking how much my friends back home would love this place and I really with you guys could have been here to experience it with me. Really miss you guys and I can’t wait to get home and chill!! Kayla – well sorry I don’t watch the Beverly Hillbillies haha, I’m sure I could quote movies you don’t know too. Yeah I miss Henderson Hills more and more everyday…I can’t wait to get back to it!! Shopping = blahhhhh!!! Oh my gosh it was so amazing being in the water with the Great Whites! LOVED IT!!! Oooooo look at you being funny…missed you too dork haha.

Picture – The picture I chose for this section obviously had to be an animal picture! I got really lucky with the quality of this shot and am fortunate that it turned out the way it did! These elephants were part of a big group of around a dozen that we saw on our first trip out and the male on the far right with its ears flared definitely got annoyed with us and started charging the 4x4. Definitely scary when something that big decides it doesn’t like you and starts being a tough guy…oh well that added to the excitement. Made the whole experience feel more real when we really are out in the bush with nothing between us and the animals. (click on the pic to make it bigger)

Alright so Africa round 2, there is just so much to write about!! This post is all about a 3 day safari that I was fortunate enough to go on during my stay in South Africa. Don’t really know where to start so this might be all over the place haha. I already told you guys about days 1 and 5 in Cape Town so this will focus on the 3 days in between…here goes!

My second day in South Africa started extremely early with a 3:45 a.m. wakeup (we had to be in the Union at 4:00 for check-in with our group). Needless to say that was an experience in itself…you guys can only imagine haha. After our entire group showed up (of course there were stragglers) we loaded onto a bus and headed to the airport. The first leg of our journey was a 2 hour flight from Cape Town to Johannesburg (referred to as Jo-berg by South Africans). We arrived in Jo-berg around 8:30 I think? I don’t really remember because I slept on the plane and was still waking up lol. The next leg of our journey was a charter flight that went from Jo-berg to a place called Hoedspruit which is just an airport. Okay well our experience in the Jo-berg airport was definitely one to be remembered. There was some confusion between the charter company, the airport, and then our SAS group which resulted in a 30 minute layover turning into a 2.5 hour layover including losing boarding passes and switching gates. I personally didn’t think it was that bad (nothing like our layover experience in Atlanta on our way to Israel…remember that Dennis and Mom? Oh wait…I forgot. You guys were under the influence of sleeping pills so that probably didn’t seem like that big a deal to you all. Haha sorry couldn’t help it) but there were some pissed off people in our group. Oh well I just kinda went with the flow.

Once we actually got to our plane it was a smooth 35 minute flight to Hoedspruit which was an old military base that is now used for charter flights to drop people off for safaris in the nearby areas. It was absolutely huge but it was also kinda weird because we were the only plane in sight. Had the whole place to our self! Just a really cool experience getting off the plane and being all alone on an airport tarmac with our 4x4s waiting for us! The lodge had sent the vehicles to pick us up and transport us to the lodge for check-in. We loaded up and headed off within minutes of arrival. It was sick!! We were in the African bush…and it was AWESOME!!!!!

The safari that I was on was located on a private game reserve called the Kapama Game Reserve. It encompasses an area of more than 24,000 acres and provides a natural environment for animals to live in and remain safe from outside influence. The reserve actually has 3 separate lodges located within its boundaries and the one I was fortunate enough to stay at was the Kapama River Lodge. Okay this hotel was by far the nicest hotel/resort I have ever stayed at. Everything was open air so you felt like you were actually out in the bush but it was all super nice at the same time. Everything was wood so it had a nice rustic feel…man I was right at home! Loved every minute of it!! We had to travel about 20 minutes into the park to reach the lodge so we got a nice little intro safari on our way there. Man we were all so pumped…I’m getting excited just typing about it!!

We arrived at the lunch around noon I think. We were given a brief intro about the layout of the lodge and safety measures. You see there are fences but wild animals can still get inside the perimeter of the lodge and they are free to roam around. For instance, on the path from the main lodge to where our rooms were located, there were constantly kudu (a type of African deer that are bigger than what we have in the states) and one kid even saw some little monkeys. Crazy huh?!?! So we checked in and dropped our backpacks in our rooms before hitting up lunch. Our schedule for the next 48 hours that we were there consisted of the following:

5 a.m. wakeup
5:30 coffee, tea, and pastries
6:00 game drive
9:00 full breakfast
1:00 lunch
4:00 afternoon tea and dessert
4:30 game drive
8:30 dinner with our guides

This schedule was absolutely amazing! The highlights were clearly the game drives but the huge chunk during the day was so nice to relax and just chill in the open area lodge. We really bonded with each other and spent a lot of time playing cards and other random games. Oh and how about getting tea twice a day?!? And it was good tea…not the crappy cheap stuff, actually good quality tea…yeah I was in heaven!! And it wasn’t just tea…it was like a full buffet of sandwiches, snacks, and desserts as well. So in a way I was eating 5 meals a day and loving it!! Oh and on our game drives we stopped for snacks in the middle so that was like 2 more small meals on top of the other 5! Gahhhhh life was so good!! Who cares about the 5 a.m. wakeups?!? We all woke up quick when we remembered that we were in Africa living it up!!

Alright so clearly you all want to hear about the game drives because I mean that is the reason we were all there. I don’t know where to start but here goes. I am just going to outline for you all some of the basics and list everything I saw and then tell some of the more unique stories. Then I will save the other stories for you guys when I get home and can tell you in more detail. Deal?

So for each game drive we were with the same driver and tracker so that we didn’t focus on the same animals over and over and we made sure to see as much as we could. Our driver’s name was Frikkie (yeah coolest name ever right?!?! I was definitely jealous) and our tracker’s name was Enock. Two very cool people and if you ask me we had a great pair to work with. The group in our car consisted of Dr. Robbins (our trip leader), Melinda, Melissa, Brittany, Kathleen, Caroline, Rebecca, Kevin, and me. Our group was stinking awesome and we had a great time horsing around and seeing so much cool stuff. The 4x4s were totally open air and we basically just drove off on random trails and searched for game. All of the drivers used radios so that if they saw something cool then they would radio other people so that they could come and see the same thing. You know like the rarer stuff. It was actually a very successful system and there were some other restrictions and stuff but that can wait till later.

Funny story about the title of my blog - on our first drive our guide asked us if any of us had any allergies because we would be exposed to alot of bugs, plants, and trees. No one said anything so I just shouted "I'm allergic to NOT having fun!" Everyone laughed (which was the point...duh!) so for the rest of the trip everytime we saw someone Frikkie would turn around and ask me "So Tyler you having an allergic reaction or are we good?" Haha it was a little joke in our 4x4! Just thought you guys would like to know!!

The Kapama Reserve is set up in the way that nature is allowed to run its course without human interference. With the exception of the cheetah program (a species rapidly becoming extinct) the animals are left alone and the only human intervention is keeping poachers out to protect the animals. The animals aren’t fed, they feed themselves. Our guide, Frikkie, described it like this, “You know all that stuff you see on the Discovery channel? Yeah you can find it here. This is the circle of life. Animals eat other animals and the herbivores eat the grass.” Crazy huh?!? We were even told that the night before we arrived one of the cars had witnessed 4 lionesses take down a water buffalo and then eat it. I mean we literally had the potential to see any and everything and we couldn’t wait to get started!

Throughout our various drives we saw so much stuff. We saw Kudu, called the black ghosts of the bush….basically just really big deer with horns. Giraffes…lots of both males and females. Warthogs…every time we saw one Caroline yelled “Pumba” (well not yelled because then we would scare them away but loud enough so everyone in the car could hear it). A pair of Terpins in one of the watering holes. A mongoose on top of a termite mound snagging some dinner. A couple random wildebeest. Several termite mounds that were centuries old…one was even bigger than an SUV…definitely bigger than our 4x4. Cape Buffalo…several dozen…known as the most temperamental of the animals in the bush and considered the most dangerous of the Big 5. A chameleon climbing on a tree. Over a dozen African elephants including an albino baby (creepy looking) and an enormous male who did not like us and was extremely aggressive. Never charged but Enock and Frikkie were clearly uncomfortable. A cheetah in the wild…our guide said this was the rarest thing we could see and we got to see it on the first night…didn’t get to see it run but it was still super cool!! Hundreds of Impala that were everywhere!! Definitely the most common animal we saw. We saw the “Zazu birds” as our guide referred to them as…you know the blue bird from the Lion King…so that was cool! Plenty of zebra…they were everywhere…and they interact well with other animals so on multiple times we saw warthogs, giraffes, and zebra all together with each other. A couple random jackals…they don’t really like attention. A really big porcupine…like freaking huge!! So yeah we saw so much stuff!! Now I will tell you about some of the really special highlights of the trip.

On our first morning game drive (so really the second day we were there), the weather was off and on rainy…nothing like a down poor, more what you would call the occasional spit. Some people were complaining but Kevin and I were like “Yeah buddy!! Bring it on!!” The rain wasn’t anything significant enough to give us trouble and it actually turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Because of the clouds and that feeling of rain in the air, a lot of the animals were more active and in more “playful” moods as Frikkie put it. So we are driving along and we round this bend and there are three lions staring at us about 25 yards from the 4x4. It was a female lion that Frikkie estimated being about 6 years old, and then her two 9-month old cubs! That’s right, I got to see two little lion cubs playing in the wild! And when I say playing I mean playing. One of the cubs was female and one was male so it was a little brother/sister combo just tagging along with their mom. Like I said, the weather was causing them to be more active so we got to see the little cubs jump on each other and wrestle around, then they would both try to jump on mom and she would just hit them off and keep walking. Haha it was so sweet seeing this little family group, and the coolest part was that it was so random! No one had seen them before us and we literally just rounded a corner and caught them playing. The female lion cub was definitely the coolest to watch because while the male was messing with the car (he had serious little lion syndrome), she would hide in the bushes and then jump him from the side when he wasn’t looking. It was so funny!! Definitely one of the cooler things we saw.

Okay then we got to see Hippos having sex!!….that was definitely an interesting experience cause the male is pretty much drowning the female lol. This was definitely a really cool site because in 10 years Frikkie had only seen this once before and Enock had never seen it. They were just excited as we were so that is how we knew that we had really stumbled onto a treat. Something that very few people get to see in the wild.

Perhaps the biggest treat that we got to experience on a 4x4 game drive was the second night we were at Kapama, or the last evening game drive that we took. We had already seen a lot of stuff but we had no clue what we were about to see. We were driving along when all of the sudden Frikkie heard something over the radio and floors it. Like instant acceleration and we were like “Oh this has to be something really good cause he is hauling!” We are buzzing through the park when we get to a spot where another jeep has his spotlight on something. We pull up next to it and realize that they had found the big male lion that lives in Kapama!! This might not seem like a huge deal to you guys but here is the back ground story. We had been told upon arrival that we weren’t going to be able to see the big male lion because he was on his “honeymoon” and they hadn’t had a visual on him for the past 5 days. They knew that he was somewhere in the river area because that is where he goes on his honeymoons but there was no way they could get the 4x4s back there and they didn’t want to disturb the “honeymoon” because that is considered human intervention. So from the beginning we had been sure that we weren’t going to see the big male and we had been okay with it. So just imagine how happy we were when we come over this hill and see this giant lion laying on the ground! Oh my gosh he was HUGE!! I mean you see pictures but getting to see one of these giant males in real life was absolutely amazing! He was gorgeous. His mane was so cool and his paws…let me just tell you…there were stinking massive! I have no doubt that he could easily rip my face off with one swipe of that huge claw! Pretty cool man, pretty cool! So then the 4x4 who round him left and another one showed up but we were in charge of maintaining the visual so we got to stay and watch him. Okay then something even sweeter happened. Mufassa (that is what we were referring to the giant male as because nothing else seemed appropriate) heard something in the bushes and jerked his head up. He looks toward whatever he heard and started to roar. I mean like legit roar. Gah it was SICK!! I got to hear a big daddy male lion roar in the wild!! Yeah it was indescribable. The lion was basically like “Yeah I own this area…back off!” How awesome is that?!?! We watched this guy for like an hour and never once did we get bored…just something that we tried to take in as much as we could before it was over.

That was obviously a vague list and then some random stories but don’t worry there are plenty more. Including our wild attempt at trying to find a leopard, elephants charging the car, water buffalo challenging us, flat tires in the middle of nowhere, getting stuck in the mud, and so much more. Don’t worry I will just save those stories for this summer cause it would take too long to tell them all now! And I will retell the above stories in greater detail with pictures and videos!

Now everything I just told you guys refers to the first three game drives I went on (first day night, second day morning, and second day night). Now I will tell you about the third day morning game drive because that was a totally different experience and a once in a lifetime opportunity! We were given the option of taking an Elephant-baked safari the last morning (if we paid more money for it of course…nothing is ever free anymore lol)! Well I mean how many times will I get the chance to be in the middle of the African Bush and ride around on the back of an African Elephant for 2 hours…the answer…not many! So of course I did it! Couldn’t pass it up man…it is super rare to get to ride African Elephants because they are more temperamental. If you see pictures of people on elephants it is usually an Asian Elephant (which I neglected to do in India because I was holding out for Africa!) because they are more common. We were also told that there are very few places in the world that offer the chance to ride these giant African elephants and this was one of the them. We were assigned two people to an elephant plus a trainer. So really all we had to do was enjoy the ride and take pictures! My elephant’s name was Somapani and his trainer’s name was Isaac. Somapani was one of the bigger males of the group and it was sweet to get to ride an animal that is so massive. We rode around for like 2 hours and got to see the elephants do tricks before and after. I will tell you guys about that later though. Getting the opportunity to see these massive animals was absolutely incredible and then being fortunate enough to ride them was even better!

Here is the deal…we saw so much cool stuff and I have so many stories that I really can’t even begin to describe it…I did my best but this is something I really don’t know how to describe in just this blog. I know I have said this before but this was by far my favorite experience so far on Semester at Sea and I will tell you a much better version of this when I get home in May. What I just blogged about was like 1/10 of what we saw so just wait and I will tell you so much more in person! So whatever questions you have just save them until then!!!

The scenery we got to experience was absolutely amazing. With the exception of the lodge we were literally in the middle of nowhere and I was right at home! There were no city lights, no car noises, just us and the bush! Gahhhhh it was awesome!! Loved being out in the country again and just getting to experience nature. Driving around and seeing everything that we did, I really saw nature praising God. I know that sounds weird but everywhere I looked; I consistently saw the evidence left by God’s hands. How great is our God?!? Look around! Even at home in the states look around. The trees, grass, flowers, animals, smells, sounds, everything! What a gift from God. Seeing nature undisturbed by human influence and the way God intended it was breathtaking. Seeing the circle of life and how God literally thought of every individual detail during the steps of creation…I mean how sick is that?!?! Something that is so simple that we take for granted every day. Nature!! Walk outside…look around…and just take it in. Remember who created the earth around you, the same Creator who made you and me individually.

Love you guys so much and I hope everything is going awesome!

T

Bikes, Boats, and Sharks Oh My!!

Howdy ya’ll!!

How are you guys?!? I hope you all had a wonderful Easter weekend and I am sad I didn’t get to experience it with you. How is good old Oklahoma? Hopefully awesome…don’t know why it wouldn’t be haha! As I begin to write this it is April 5 and we are actually still stuck in South Africa due to weather but we aren’t allowed off of the ship because we don’t know when we will be cleared to leave and there is no other way to keep track of us. This day is also significant because exactly 1 month from today I will be home. Crazy huh? I feel like I just got here…but at the same time I am really missing home and all of you guys! So much has happened to me in the last 78 days that it is just weird to think that there is just 1 month left!

Shout outs – Shirley – bro we are gunna have the sweetest stories after this summer. It is gunna be EPIC!! And yeah I hadn’t heard of Mauritius but man am I glad I got to go there! It was crazy fun and I definitely wouldn’t mind going back. How is good ole Memorial going? Bet you are just itching to be done with it huh? I remember that last stretch after Spring Break…all I wanted was for summer to come and then college to start lol. Esther – ummm excuse me how was I wrong? We have pictures to prove it ya dork…you were definitely stuck and without Evan, Jarrett, and I using common sense and simply engaging your four wheel drive to simply drive away, you would have been stuck there until you realized that your car had four-wheel drive. Hahaha gah that story NEVER gets old…and it’s not that bad. I mean I got the ranch suburban buried once…that was a fun walk back lol. Heard my parents got to see you the other week…wish I could have been there! Can’t wait to see ya this summer! Natalie – Yeah girl it was an AWESOME day! And no one even thinks twice about any of the girls with no hair. It is just normal for all of us on the ship! Some of my really good friends on the ship did it and they have no regrets!! You wouldn’t have regretted it…you would have LOVED it!! Wish you were hear chica!! Can’t wait to come bug you in Norman and distract you from studying when I get back!! Chris – Dude bro I really wish you could have been with me in South Africa...you would have absolutely loved it!!!!!!!! I am so jealous that you are going to get to spend an extended amount of time there this summer!! You are going to absolutely LOVE IT brotha! Haha your summer sounds like my last couple…it’s alright, there are always small jobs that pop up and God will open doors. Besides you have so many contacts in the church that I bet you get more small job offers than you want lol. Dude I wanna chill with you so bad! You are definitely one of the first people I am calling when I get back and I will do my best to distract you from studying as well haha!! JT – yeah Neptune Day was tight! Definitely understand why you liked it so much!! Yes Mauritius is definitely a tourist economy…but the coolest part is that you can definitely still experience the local culture if you try hard enough! The people were super chill which I really enjoyed and it was so cool to chill with them. It is also kind of a melting pot of people as far as local origins so it was cool seeing so many different influences in music, dress, food, etc. I really enjoyed myself! And yeah there are definitely other foreigners that visit and it is an annual tourist industry! I can totally see why too with the beaches and forests and mountains! Very cool place! Esther again? – Well you definitely called it because I was totally shaking my head and mumbling that under my breath when I read your “p.s.”….that takes skill girl cause you totally called it. Too bad you are wrong!! I am not the planner girl and the more you guys call me that…the less I wanna plan stuff. Which would include the ranch…so I would stop calling me the planner…haha you crazy girl! Hope all is well!!

Thank you guys so much for posting!! Gives me a nice taste of home and it is nice to talk to you guys!! Love you all and hope you all are doing awesome!! Can’t wait to see and hang out with all of you guys!!

Oh and this is a random story that you Henderson Hills people will appreciate (especially Brett Middleton if you are reading this). So we are sitting at dinner on the ship the other night and we actually had fresh bananas which is rare on the ship so my table had grabbed a bunch of them. Emily was sitting next to me peeling her banana and she started singing (it was one of those things where it was super quiet but a little louder than she thought) the following: “Form banana, form form banana. And form banana, form form banana.” So naturally I was like “Peel banana, peel peel banana. And peel banana, peel peel banana.” Then Shannon who was also at the table was like “Go bananas, go go bananas!! And go bananas, go go bananas!!” (All of us are like dancing and going bananas in our seats at this point, because I mean Helllooooo…that is what the song tells you to do!) Then we all just died laughing, oh my gosh it was so funny!! It was just so random but no one missed a beat and we all just started laughing when it was over. Hahaha gah I love this ship!! It’s just so laid back and everyone is so spontaneous! Love it!!!!

Okay so South Africa was by far the best 5 days I have had on this adventure so far. It was absolutely AMAZING!! It was so hard to get back on the boat knowing we had to leave. I did so many different things in the time I was there and had some many unique experiences it will be impossible to tell you guys everything. I will do my best but there is just no way it is possible…oh well gotta save something for the summer right? And the stories will be easier to tell you all when I have pictures to go along with it. So if I am not clear on something or you want to know more just ask me when I get home this summer.

Picture – the picture I chose for this blog is definitely from Shark Diving. I mean I had to include one about it…duh!! This pic was taken on our way out to the cage from the top of the boat. From left to right it goes me, Courtney, Steph, and Shannon. We were so hyped up on adrenaline when this picture was taken, all we wanted to do was get in the water lol. (click on pic to make it larger)

So day one in South Africa was a day of extreme sightseeing if you will. We arrived in Cape Town and had a guest speaker upon arrival before being allowed to get off the ship. As soon as I was allowed to I was off the ship…I mean we were in Africa hello!! The port area where we were docked was absolutely gorgeous with the open ocean and then Table Mountain looking over the port area. Oh and for those of you that are interested (particularly Chris Wilson) one of the brand new soccer stadiums built specifically for the World Cup this summer was about .25 miles from our ship so that was cool to see. We weren’t allowed to go in and I only saw it in passing but it was definitely a very cool stadium from the outside.

Okay so very quick after arrival I met up with the group I would be Shark Diving with that day. That’s right Shark Diving!!!!!! I willing got into a cage in the water with GREAT WHITE SHARKS!! Oh my gosh it was SICK!!! I still can’t believe I got to do it!! How crazy is that?!?!? Anyways we met our tour agency guides on the pier and as soon as everyone showed up we were off. Our group consisted of about 35 people so it took two big vans to transport all of us. We were taken about 2.5 hours outside of Cape Town to a little town called Gansbaai which is known as the Great White Shark capital of the world. If any of you have ever watched Shark Week on the Discovery channel, yeah most of that footage about Great Whites is filmed in the waters outside of this bay. Ahhhhhh it was so cool cause we were actually there!!

Upon arrival at the place we were given a light lunch and then split into boat groups. One boat took 11 of us and the other boat took the other 25. I ended up on the 11 person boat which I was kinda bummed about at first but it ended up being WAY better. For one we were able to be in the water more because there were fewer of us to cycle through, AND our boat ended up seeing more sharks and getting better activity than the other group! Guess someone upstairs was looking out for us or something lol.

It was about a 20 minute boat ride out to the actual dive spot and we were all so pumped up on adrenaline that it didn’t feel that long at all. Once we got there they attached the cage to the side of the boat and started chumming the water while we all started putting on our wetsuits and getting dive masks. The water was 55 degrees Fahrenheit so it wouldn’t have been possible without the wetsuits. Within minutes (literally like 2-3) of the first bucket of chum hitting the water, the first shark of the day showed up, a medium sized male. Six people could get in the cage at a time and man they jumped in fast once that shark showed up. The guides on our boat did a good job of making sure there were constantly people in the cage and even when it was time to rotate, one person jumped in as soon as someone came out.

The cage was set up to where the top was on hinges to allow easy entry and exit from the boat. The top foot was always above the water, except for the really big waves, so we didn’t have scuba gear or snorkels. We would just keep our heads above the water and when the shark spotter saw one coming close he would yell “Divers down!” followed by which direction and we would hold our breaths and go under to see it. It was so intense!! Sometimes we would go down and the shark would be swimming right alongside us and other times we wouldn’t see it at first and then it would all of the sudden swim out of the gloom and be right there. Intense huh? It was like Hollywood special effects…first you don’t see anything, then all of the sudden this massive shape appears. Ahhhhhh I still can’t believe I was in a cage surrounded by Great Whites!! It was just so cool!!

Like I said earlier, my boat got really lucky with the number of sharks we saw and the quality of our viewings, in the 2.5 hours we were floating with the cage we saw 5 different sharks. The coolest was this really big female. We knew we were lucky because our guides got really excited when she showed up. These guys do this 364 days a year (nothing on Christmas or New Years) so when they get excited about the size of a shark you know that it really is a good sized shark. I mean this baby was huge!!!!!! They said it was around 3.2 meters…that doesn’t sound like much but think about what a meter really is. Then think of a shark that big with rows of teeth that comes right into the cage and thrashes against it.

Oh did I not mention…on multiple occasions we had the sharks attack the cage and thrash around. Yeah it was probably the most exhilarating thing ever. My first rotation in the cage I was on the end of the line in the corner when the first shark hit the cage. He came in for the bait and the guide maneuvered the bait so that it was closer to the cage…yeah the shark got the bait and then decided he wanted the whole thing and not just a little bit. Well that involved thrashing and he came face first into the cage on my corner. So I am holding my breath under water looking at this shark when it took the bait then headed toward me with an open mouth and started ramming the cage and thrashing. We are talking its jaws were opened around the cage literally less than a foot from my face. Less than a foot…from a Great White with an open jaw snapping open and shut!!! What?!!?!? Talk about an adrenaline rush! There were bubbles everywhere and all you could see were teeth flashing and the body moving from side to side….it was SICK!!

This happened multiple times with our boat group and I kinda felt bad for the other boat because we saw some really cool stuff. During one of the thrashes by one of the sharks the tail actually slapped through the cage and hit Steph so she was pretty proud of that…I mean she did get slapped by a Great White! I would be pumped too! It was also funny because at one point I was next to Courtney and this shark surprised us by coming out of the gloom right for us and she screamed underwater which was absolutely hilarious!! The best part was after all of the good hits and passes we would come up to catch our breath before going back under and we would all be like “Whooaaa!!!” and “That was so sick!!” and “Holy crap can you believe that just happened?!” There were obviously other really cool parts but it would just take too long to describe everything! Oh and two of the girls on my boat got sea sick cause the seas were pretty rough but that just meant that I got to be in the water more so I didn’t mind lol.

Despite being in 55 degree water (which is soooooo cold!) and having to hold our breaths, you didn’t even think about either when we were underwater looking at these sharks. I held my breath so much longer than I thought I could and the only time I was ever cold was when I was on the boat letting the other group have their turn. Being in the water with them was just so captivating that we weren’t thinking about anything but watching that animal and waiting to see what would happen next. Seeing these animals in the wild was absolutely indescribable. They were so graceful swimming through the water it was absolutely gorgeous! The really are beautiful animals and it was cool because never once did I ever feel like they wanted to hurt me. They just wanted the tuna heads we were using as bait and were attracted by the smell of the chum. Definitely gave me a new perspective on an animal that is so publicly feared. Don’t get me wrong I still wouldn’t want to just be floating in the water outside of the cage because seeing those teeth right in front of my face was definitely a scary, exhilarating, freaking awesome experience all at the same time! It was definitely worth every penny.

After returning to shore we were given some hot chocolate and coffee and then we were able to watch the video of our experience. Now I know I did an awful job of describing this but I did buy the DVD of the dive with all of the highlights so that I could show you all this summer! So if you wanna see something wicked sick then ask me this summer and I will be happy to show you the video and you can see them coming into the cage and thrashing right on top of me and in my face. Sooooo…sorry this was a bad description and I know I left out a lot of details and small stories but I promise I will tell you all everything this summer lol.

After buying DVDs and T-Shirts we loaded back into the vans and headed back to Cape Town for the evening. By this time it was close to 6 and we didn’t arrive back to the ship until after 830. We were all super hungry and wanted an authentic African meal so Shannon, Steph, Grillz, Mikey, and me jumped in a cab and told our cab driver to take us somewhere authentic. Our driver was awesome and he was super nice about driving us around and making sure we were good to go. I don’t remember the name of the restaurant but it was super cool! There was a live band playing traditional African music which added to the feel of the place and the food was absolutely amazing!!! I had a venison burger (which I think was Springbuck maybe?) and a chocolate shake for desert. Some people had ostrich, others had pasta, it was just a great variety of food. After our excellent diner we returned to the ship and called it a night because all of us had to be in the Union at 4 a.m. the next morning to leave for our safaris!! Whoop Whoop!!

Alright so that was day 1 in South Africa, now I am going to tell you about day 5. I know that is weird and I am sorry for skipping but I will definitely tell you about days 2, 3, and 4 in my next blog…promise. Okay so day 5 in Cape Town was also sadly my last day in South Africa. Bummer I know but I guess it had to end sometime right. For my last day I was on an SAS sponsored trip that was a bike tour through the wine lands outside Cape Town. The trip left at 9 a.m. and it was a little over an hour drive to the place where our tour started. Our trip consisted of 17 people which was a perfect number because it was an easy group to control, and there were a lot of adults which was okay because they were able to keep up and it didn’t slow us down or anything.

Okay the wine lands were absolutely gorgeous!! The town we started in was very small and it reminded me of a little town in Colorado or something because it was tucked into a little valley with these mountains and hills on all sides. Gahhhh it was so cool! And the temperature was perfect! Not too hot but not too cold…just perfect! We spent about 45 minutes walking through the town while the guides prepped our bikes. Eventually we were assigned bikes based on bikes…okay these bikes were so nice!! There were actually mountain bikes because part of the tour was on a gravel/dirt road so road bikes wouldn’t work too well haha. I couldn’t believe the bikes were so nice…it was a nice surprise. The tour started out with a 24 km ride up through the hills and down the valley behind the town and eventually dumped us out on the outskirts of town at a winery where we enjoyed lunch. Honestly the lunch was kinda small and I would have preferred some more food but it was delicious and the scenery couldn’t have been better. I mean we were in the middle of a vineyard!! Very very cool setting to enjoy some lunch!

After lunch we finished the ride with a 6 km stretch that was mainly up and down hills so it was a nice challenge to end the day. When it was all said and done we had biked 30 km which we were told translates to a little less than 22 miles. I don’t know if the conversion is perfect but 22 miles?!? That is a pretty good chunk if you ask me… and it was through some of the prettiest country I have ever seen. Gahh it was just stinking incredible!! It was nice because we got the scenery and a really good workout which is rare on the ship. Sure there are like 3 elliptical on the ship but it is so boring running indoors. So outside of short sprints on the port side 7th deck it is hard to get much exercise except for in port so I personally really enjoyed this trip! It was a great way to say goodbye to South Africa! After everyone reached the end of the bike stretch we made a brief 45 minute stop in another little village (that I also can’t remember the name of) to get some drinks at a little bakery and just sit and chill. The ride back to the ship was about an hour and then a little more because of rush hour traffic, Cape Town style. We arrived at the ship right before on-ship time so we got in line and boarded the ship. Saying goodbye to South Africa was NOT fun and I already wanna go back haha.

After getting on the ship there was an Easter service in the Union which was really nice. I definitely missed Henderson Hills and it was weird not being with my family but at the same time I was with a different body of believers. It was a simple service and it was so cool to get to experience Easter Sunday with fellow shipmates. Being reminded of what Christ has done for us is absolutely amazing! I know everyone has been hearing it for the past week but gah how lucky are we? Christ died for us!! What did we do to deserve the greatest gift of all? Nothing…we did nothing, and we are still nothing without Christ. It still blows my mind thinking about it! The best part – HE IS RISEN!! HE IS RISEN!!! He conquered death for sinners like me. Think about that…what love! How He loves us! “When all of the sudden, I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory! And I realize just how beautiful You are, and how great Your affections are for me!!” (David Crowder) He loves us so much that words can’t describe it!!!

I hope you guys had an amazing Easter! Remember the love that Christ showed us through His death on the cross and the AMAZING gift He gave us! Have a great week!

T

Luke 24:1-12

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