a missile or a satellite?

05 march 2009

global studies today was strange, as it tends to be these days. the topics seem to be unrelated, though i'm sure the professors are doing their best to keep our interest throughout this hectic stretch of southeast asian countries.

our first lecture was about the poetry form of haiku. the lecture was interesting but the professor tended to get bogged down in professing his love for each haiku that his portion seemed to drag. he did share examples of poetry from his class, and my friend teresa's appeared on screen, much to her suprise.

following haiku came a lecture from our inter-port guest, a professor from japan. i believe her lecture was intended to call upon the similarities and differences between the cultures of japan and the states. all i seemed to get out of the lecture was a time line of the AIBO robots, made by sony. they were robot dogs, meant as a substitute for pets.

we learned also of the japan/north korea missile issue, finally. i had heard of the escalating tensions in the news and from teresa, who's dad sent her an email on the topic. there were rumors flying through the ship, as usual, as to if we'd be stopping in japan. tonight at logistical pre-port, les made it clear that we would in fact be stopping in japan and squashed all rumors. shortly after hearing about the issue in global studies, i saw on cnn.com that north korea had in fact sent their 'satellite' into orbit. the most recent reports on cnn claim that nothing ever made it into orbit and that no debris landed on japan. the un security council is now issuing sanctions on north korea for ignoring the international community's requests that they do not send anything into space, rocket or satellite. the us department of state has not issued any travel warnings, so we are safe to enter.

i completed watching all of my gossip girl dvd's, though i'm sad to say that season two was incomplete. i know i'm not missing a disc, so i suppose the season wasn't complete when the set was made. now that i have it off my shoulders, i am going to stay away from beginning a season of friends or anything until my school work is complete.

tonight's pre-port was offbeat, as they have become over the course of the semester. we were again reminded to stay academically focused, as it is the purpose of the semester. luke jones also used a talking mannequin head to explain port safety, an odd display he blamed on his cold medicine. the best part of the evening was the medical update, in which the extended family of the nurse offered haiku about japan. all i know is that there will be western toilets, that the clinic is open from 7-730, there are no mosquitoes and that i can drink the water. i guess the approach was successful, i remembered!

tomorrow will entail a long and seemingly drawn out customs process, meaning that the ship will not be cleared until nearly noon. luke assured us that the fingerprinting, temperature scanning and person-by-person checks are the same as the ones required of people entering the united states. which made us wonder, will we get a logistical pre-port of all the dangers of fort lauderdale when we arrive in may? would certainly be funny to hear the do's and don'ts for the states.

i'm off to sleep, too late, as always. up early for breakfast & a diplomatic briefing..