i have always believed..

...we are all more alike than we are different.
-bill nye (the science guy)

05 april 2009
0030 (1230am)

(april 04 2009)
a quiet, sleepy day on the mv explorer. so is now the routine after our asian ports, everyone is exhausted and sleeping whenever possible.

i attended class from 0800-1200 and enjoyed a chilly lunch outside. global studies was interesting today, perhaps because the lectures were about world war 2 and subjects i've previously studied.

i felt as if i was in sophomore history class, learning about mao & the boxer rebellion of china in the early part of the 20th century. we also heard about the battle at midway, when the americans defeated the japanese to gain the strategic island of midway. the lecture was technical, lots of details about carrier ships and destroyers which went over my head. i was impressed, though, with how easy the time line was to follow, as battles are sometimes hard to explain.

after my lunch, i retreated to the room. and i was quite lazy! i typed a portion of a paper for class and have been working on my china blog. it's getting there!

dinner was spent with some of the girls from china, who i hope to spend more time with in the coming weeks. they are fun!

i also copied all of kelsey's photos onto my computer-- she always takes photos when we go out at night, so i needed copies! its so much fun to look through all the photos i've taken (or acquired) since the onset of this trip. it feels like so much time has passed! we all look so different now compared to our terrified faces at the beginning of the voyage.

the majority of my evening was spent watching bride wars with mckendree, kelsey and rennika. after being apart from ren during china, it was like a piece of our little group was missing. we are a little family, its strange when someone is missing. the movie was so funny, though the ending was utterly predictable. yay for bootleg dvds -- no problems yet with any of the ones i got in vietnam.

i am working on plans for japan, hopefully making a day trip to hiroshima with ren. i'm not sure how to go about it but i feel like i need to see it. perhaps a trip on a high speed train?

we lose an hour of sleep tonight, so i'm now THIRTEEN hours ahead of the east coast. this is getting complicated! i wonder what my computer will do when we cross the international date line and have two april 12ths. we'll just have to wait and see!


--

i received some wonderful mail in hong kong and shanghai, from nancy & leicester and home. thank you both for the mail! it's so nice to come back to the room and have a little something waiting for me. i was glad to finally see photos of the new cars and to hear about the happenings at home. i know nancy & leicester are on vacation now, so i hope you two enjoy your time at the beach! hi to marcia, bill, don & matthew! thank you so much for all the love! i appreciate it more than i can say.