keep a lookout for flying fish!

apparently flying fish have been taking to the air to avoid the big predator, the mv explorer. i have yet to see any of these fish but many have. i'm keeping an eye out!

-------

february 10 2009

another nice day on the mv explorer. global studies was very interesting-- a professor (dee bird from providence college) gave a talk on zimbabwe and the current inflation crisis. she was born and raised in rhodesia and has since become an american citizen. she considers herself an "african american"even though she's white. she discussed the problems with mugabe's rule and the extrordinary inflation going on. the country has been rolling out currency in massive quantities and recently printed a trillion dollar note. the country is falling apart at the seams. a recent cholera outbreak is also making a big mess. it was definitely one of the most interesting presentation we've had thus far.

the majority of my day was spent doing homework, reading, and attempting to get my computer fixed. my external hard drive was not connecting to my computer and it has all of my music on it. this is a problem for me, but i'm lucky to have my ipod with music on it as well. the computer guy did his best to make it work but it's no good. so all that music, thousands of songs worth, is locked inside the little external. i'm lucky there are no papers or pictures on there and hopefully it can be fixed in may.

we tried to eat lunch outside but it began pouring! the air is SO HUMID by the equator, its crazy. i guess it should be expected but to think that we were freezing in morocco and suddenly are sweating is silly. the sun soon came out and everyone scrambled for more sun chairs. we passed the equator around 1600 and the captain made an announcement to give us a heads up. he joked that because of the clouds, the line may not be visible. and that we would experience a little bump and had to wait a few minutes for the water to all switch directions. he has a great dry sense of humor, it's refreshing.

after moping, for just a little while, about my hard drive, i made my way up to hang out with the girls. i'm liking my core group a lot and enjoy just hanging out with them. we had fun writing in our journals and emailing. after dinner i ran to catch the sunset and missed it. such a bummer. i have loved how incredibly different each sunset has been and look forward to a few pictures each night. i just have so many computer backgrounds to choose from!

after more homework-- it was a productive day-- i watched a documentary called 'cocaine cowboys.' it was about the cocaine wars in miami in the late 70's and early 80's. it was very graphic, lots of pictures of dead bodies, and strange to watch. two of the 'characters' were simply transporters who created an elaborate network to bring drugs into the united states from colombia. they had all sorts of decoys, millions of dollars of real estate and property and lots of cars. the third man was a hitman for the "madrina"(godmother) who killed over a hundred people. he is in jail to this day - he made a plea deal and is in for 3 or 4 concurrent life sentences. anyways, long story short, the sas kid who was playing the film has contacted the hitman and is planning to write his biography. i personally think thats, um, crazy!, but he's excited about it.

i made a short appearance at pub night with its decades theme and then quickly exited to my room. we had to turn our clocks ahead an hour and are now +6 hours ahead of east coast time. breakfast hours were extended to 0900 and so 0815 breakfast was moved to 0845. so nice to have an extra 1/2 hour of sleep.

february 11 2009

today began with an hour less of sleep but with extended breakfast. i am really a big fan of the breakfast on the ship, it is most definitely my favorite meal. there is always a ton of fresh fruit and yogurt, which makes me very happy. i'm a big fan of the french toast &pancakes (not as good as yours, bec).

global studies was a mix of good and bad today. we sat in the union, to keep awake, and had 2 different lecturers. the woman was pessimistic to say the least and the man was so sweet. both talked about demographics and the effect of growing populations on the world.

i then had a nice early lunch and sat outside for a couple of hours. its so hard to do work with all the sunshine! i just showered quickly and have to head off to class soon. funny how time flies when you don't do anything..

not sure what the plans are for tonight, hopefully no time change. i think i'm going to hammer out my plans for namibia and south africa, we'll be there before we know it! we arrive in namibia on saturday and then it's capetown on the following monday.

hope everyone is having a great morning! i love all the comments, especially the sentences you silly people make out of the funny words. love it :)