appreciate the present hour?

sit and hear your own breathing and look out on the universe and be content.
-lin yutang

2 may 2009
1611 (4:11p)

back again!
since i've last wrote, i got some more information about the panama canal and our last few days on the ship!

i'm currently watching a pbs nova movie about the building of the panama canal; which is incredibly interesting. it's truly an engineering marvel, especially since it was constructed in the 1920s. for those not watching the on-ship movies, the wikipedia article is very interesting and filled with fun facts.

our tenative schedule for the panama canal (tomorrow) is as follows:

            0910-1000  Transit Miraflores Locks
            1050-1130  Transit Pedro Miguel Locks
            1245  Pass by Gamboa
            1445-1705  Transit Gatun Locks

tonight is a full list of activities: dinner, mandatory meeting about disembarkation, explorer's seminar about the panama canal, battle of the bands and then a marathon of all the episodes of road rules: semester at sea edition. i'm so excited for the marathon, to see what the old ship was like and to experience their adventure (and drama..)

tomorrow is panama canal day, cleaning, packing, ambassador's ball, fashion show and dance. i'm excited to get dressed up and to take "prom pictures" with everyone. it should be a great night.

it was rather rainy today, so i didn't miss out on a day of sunshine with all my studying and organizing. hopefully tomorrow will be sunny! i plan on taking lots of pictures, video-ing a ship tour and enjoying the experience of crossing the panama canal.

off to shower, amidst the laundry hung around our bathroom. mckendree and i made quite the mess, looking like washerwomen trying to rinse off our dusty guatemala clothes before we have to pack them up. strange how drawers are slowly being emptied, bags filled and the pictures are coming down off the wall.

then its onto selling my textbooks; there is a painfully slow line and i'm dreading sitting in it. alas, a few dollars towards my ship account (and a few less pounds to send home) are worth it.

panama canal webcam

so, when we go through the panama canal tomorrow, we will be on a live webcam! no idea what time we will actually be going through the canal, but if we find out, i'll let you all know. 

 

below is the information i found in the public folder :)

------- 

 

When we go through the Panama Canal there will be a webcam at the Gatun Locks and the Miraflores Locks from the Panama Canal website: www.pancanal.com

 

This way your friends and families at home can watch the ship sail through! The Canal Website has a new High Resolution Webcam at the Miraflores locks for a very clear image of the ship!

 

The links are:

 

Miraflores Locks:

 

http://www.pancanal.com/eng/photo/camera-java.html?cam=Miraflores

 

High Resolution Webcam at the Miraflores Locks:

 

http://www.pancanal.com/eng/photo/camera-java.html?cam=MirafloresHi

 

Gatun Locks:

 

http://www.pancanal.com/eng/photo/camera-java.html?cam=Gatun

 

 

 

 

 

b day exams

2 may 2009
0823 (8:23a)

good morning :)

we had a time change last night, so we are only ONE hour behind the east coast; how strange is that!? we're getting closer!

yesterday was a productive day for me, though i got a late start. we got up for breakfast around 8 and then i went back to bed. i was overtired and feeling a little under the weather. after waking up to the noon announcements, i got up and headed outside to read for nutrition and to enjoy the sunshine. the sun was very hot but it was veryyy windy, so it was easy to stay cool. at one point, having just put my notes away, the crew began washing windows, which caused all the run off water to mist over the pool deck. one would have thought it was raining! we were all pretty wet, but it cooled us down!

after a quick shower, the organizing began. i made a royal mess of the room, thank goodness mckendree didnt mind! i went through all of my clothes (to donate, keep/wash) and did my best to pack. yes, pack! i have one entire suitcase filled with clothes and books/mementos. it's really heavy! thank goodness mom is bringing some suitcases to florida! i went through all of my purchases and did my best to compile a list of spending. i'm sure i forgot a few things, but the list is thorough, which will help when i have to fill out my customs form tomorrow. i'm surely going to have to pay for some of it; i bought my camera in south africa which bumped my total up significantly. we'll see!

after packing (and sweating trying to close the zippers), i went through my toiletries, books, papers, etc. and did my best to purge the things i don't need. i'll be able to sell a couple of my books back later today, and i plan to put that money towards my overall ship account.

i'm up nice and early, to a grey sky. plans for today include studying for nutrition and taking pictures around the ship :) tonight is a mandatory meeting regarding disembarkation, family feud game night and possibly an explorers seminar on the panama canal, where we'll be tomorrow?!! crazy.

off to eat breakfast, study and be productive. see you all soon!

en route to fort lauderdale

1 may 2009
0816 (8:16a)

hi all!

i made it back onto the ship (for the LAST time?!) yesterday evening from our LAST port, guatemala. bring on the USA! as excited as i am to be back in the states, the reality of leaving is hitting fast & everyone is beginning to feel it. we received an email detailing the luggage, customs and immigration information for the day we disembark, a mere 6 days from now.

we have to declare all purchases and we've been told that our bags are not going to be handled delicately; so to pack accordingly. hopefully, if all goes smoothly, the first off the ship will be around 1030, and the last around 1400 (2:00p). once we get off the ship, there is no getting back on. no matter what. the ship won't be "ours" anymore.

with thoughts of packing, lists to make and still one more final to work on (nutrition), i'm off to get my day started.

see you all soon :)

buenos dias ;)

28 april 2009
0728 (7:28a)
puerto quetzal, guatemala


the familiar rattling and shaking of pulling into port woke me up rather early this morning. it's bittersweet because i know that the next time the ship rattles, it will be time to get off in florida. yikes!

we're now in our last port! reality is setting in; only one week left! (from tomorrow)

the port is industrial, as evident by the giant shipping containers out my window. there isnt much in the area, but we'll check it out. plans for today: a visit to a coffee farm! i got one of the last tickets yesterday and i'm excited. seems as though everyone is going!

off to get dressed and grab breakfast before our diplomatic briefing!

a day finals!

27 april 2009

0750 (7:50a)

 

good morning! its final exam day for our "a" day classes, meaning i have finals for my 'languages of the world' and 'english as a global language' classes. shouldn't be too difficult, they are essays and we've discussed the topics thoroughly in class.

 

last night's sunset was amazing, i need to make a point to catch as many as possible from here on out. they are worth every second! i think everyone has begun 'scheduling' the sunset into their day, as the decks were filled last night.

 

pre-port was an insightful look into guatemala, things to do and where to stay; all presented by one of our own students who has back-packed in the area. i'm excited to go. looks like antigua and monterrico are on the game plan, and i hope i can make it to both! there is also a coffee farm visit, which sounds awesome to this coffee shop girl.

 

off to write essays, more later!

 

 

live life fully while you're here

“live life fully while you're here. experience everything. take care of yourself and your friends. have fun, be crazy, be weird. go out and screw up! you're going to anyway, so you might as well enjoy the process. take the opportunity to learn from your mistakes: find the cause of your problem and eliminate it. don't try to be perfect; just be an excellent example of being human.”
-anthony robbins


26 april 2009
1227 (12:27p)

again, busy days on the ship!

we are now just 2 hours behind the east coast standard time, where we will stay until we leave guatemala. it's so strange to be so close, its made emailing much easier!

our global studies exam was yesterday, i don't think it was too bad. we also filled out semester evaluations, which included what ports we like the most, how difficult it is to study, the crew, etc. my evaluation was positive; semester at sea is a well-oiled and very put together program. my only issue was the lack of study space! there is just no where to escape and find absolute quiet.

last night we stayed up far too late, trading stories and talking about life with our favorite guy friends. we realized that we only have about 8 nights left on the ship, not including guatemala. that's enough to get everyone a little emotional. we plan to sleep on the deck, stay up late and just enjoy our last bit of time on the mv explorer as we can. it's only our home for another 10 more days and then a whole new batch of kids will take our spots! its rather depressing.

today is a study day, or a sleep day for many. i don't have too much test-prep to do, so i took advantage of a little sleeping. i'm off to print up some papers and then enjoy a little sun before reviewing one more time. i have essay-tests tomorrow, so i need to review my facts!

tonight's plan is to watch the sunset, as it is finally getting warm again! we had a dreary few days after hawaii, which no one expected. it has something to do with the currents of the pacific that all converge in the area, cooling the water. i'll be bringing my camera and hoping for the best. i generally have it when the clouds are too thick and never seem to have it when the sunsets ar spectacular. tonight, i'm going to stalk the sunset; hope its a good one!

we have cultural pre-port tonight, in preparation for guatemala tuesday. it's our last pre-port! we joke about having a pre-port for fort lauderdale; maybe i'll suggest it. i suspect that attendance will be high, especially with all of this talk about guatemala's safety.

hopefully people start getting out of bed and poor joel and jesse can clean. it's nearing 1230 and the poor guys have been sitting around waiting to clean rooms! maybe mckendree and i will pass on the room cleaning and simply ask for a couple towels. then they won't have to wait outside our door any longer.

word has it, in the form of emails, that connecticut has been quite warm lately; some summer temps to warm everyone up? enjoy it!

 i'm going to run upstairs, grab a little lunch and enjoy the 6th deck. as hard as it has been to study and accomplish work, boy am i going to miss the distractions!