Tuesday, September 4, 2007

Again, this is edited out of my own journal. Sorry if it seems a little choppy.

August 31, 2007 (Friday) A2
“I know the answer to everything.”
Pacific Ocean
Theme Song: “Perfect Day” by Hoku

Classes yesterday were interesting. I think I am really going to love Natural History. The professor is so interesting. Being a former science major, a lot of what we are covering right now is review, but she’s so entertaining and engaging that she never loses my attention. It was primary a syllabus day in Art History, but I still think it is going to be very interesting.

Today was the first day of add/drop. I don’t really know what time the registrar opened at this morning, but I couldn’t sleep, so at 6:30 am I went to get in line. I mistakenly believed that the line would be relatively short at this point in the morning. People had pillows and had been there since 4. The line went from the registrar into the student union and wrapped around it. I decided to wait and come back later. They gave everyone a number so they could do things other than wait in line, but I went to breakfast with Lindsay instead of getting a number. When I got back at 7:45, I got number 206. I did some reading in the library and then went to Global Studies. The registrar shut down for Global, but there was hardly even a dent in the line by that time.

I knew I wasn’t close to being called, so after Global, I went to the library and did a little bit of planning for Japan. I came back to my time with the intent to do a little homework, but when you’re traveling on a ship, it can prove a little difficult to actually get any work done. After wasting some time, I went to Oceanography. It was a little dull today, but I don’t think it normally will be. I think it was just the content being covered today. At this point, the registrar hadn’t quite made it into triple digits yet, so I went back to my room. I did actually manage to get a little bit of work done this time, and was even so constructive as to go see Doc Nancy during her office hours.

Doc Nancy holds office hours in the piano lounge, and I talked a bit about the topic I want to use for my presentation, just to see if it was feasible. I had the intent to continue studying, but I ended up meeting new people instead. I think I’ve found a couple of people to travel in Japan with. Our ideas matched up pretty well, and one of the girls instantly got my sense of humor and sarcasm (which isn’t all that common for people to understand instantly). Instead of homework, I talked for hours. I eventually ate dinner, again with some new people. By this time the registrar had closed, and number 170 was being seen tomorrow morning.

I haven’t quite gotten used to eating on the ship. As soon as I am finished eating, my plate is cleared for me; my drinks are refilled for me. It’s so strange, because right now this ship is my home, and all of the people who work in the dining rooms call it home too. It is just so odd to be completely taken care of. When I get back to my room, my bed is made. My pajamas are folded if I didn’t put them away. This morning, I turned my alarm off, but I hit it again with something, and I think I turned it back on, so to keep it from going off while my roommate was sleeping, I just pulled a battery out of it. When I got back today, the battery was back in it, and the time was set.

Our first cultural pre-port was tonight for Hawaii. Three students who were from Hawaii and one who was born in Hawaii talked a little bit about Hawaii and answered questions. One of them did a Hawaiian dance, which was pretty cool. Then a professor gave a very interesting talk about the similarities between Pearl Harbor and 9/11. I came back to my room after that feeling pretty tired (as I still haven’t been able to adjust to the changing time, and we gain another hour tonight). No less than 4 minutes after I arrived, there was a knock at my door. When I answered it was a professor’s wife asking for me. She wanted to tell me that I was matched up to be part of her extended family. She gave me a little note letting me know when she and her husband want to have our first ‘family’ meal. It’s going to be the day after Hawaii.


September 2, 2007 (Sunday, I know because my computer tells me)
“We all bleed red…we should all live together in peace.”
Honolulu, Hawaii


I got up this morning at 5:00 am to get ready for my first day in port. Since I was one of the first two trips leaving the ship today, I knew that I was going to be going through immigration first. I wanted to watch the sunrise as we pulled into the harbor, so I was outside at 5:30. I called my parents too, since I had cell phone service (but it was a reasonable hour to them). When the dining hall opened at 6:30, I rushed in for breakfast because I was starving. As has become my usual fashion, I piled on the food: scrambled eggs, breakfast potatoes, pancakes, yogurt, and orange juice. No sooner than 5 minutes after I get through the line and sit down, the Voice announced that immigration had arrived early and that it was time for people on the trips to Pearl Harbor to get cleared. I shoveled down my breakfast as fast as humanly possible, and headed to deck 7 where I got my passport and went through immigration. The whole process took less than five minutes (maybe because I was in the first group).

Lindsay and I both came back to my room to wait for the rest of the ship to be cleared, because no one could leave until everyone had gone through immigration. It took about 2 hours to get everyone through, but I actually think it went fast. Lindsay and I were among the first people to get to leave, since we were on an early trip. We boarded our bus for Pearl Harbor, and I sat next to a girl from Japan. On the way we were talking about what I should do while I am there. She told me I should go to Tokyo, Kyoto, and Hiroshima.

When we arrived at the Arizona Memorial, we had to wait about an hour and a half to actually board our boat out to the memorial in the water. I walked through the museum, and while I was there, I noticed a Japanese man taking a photo next to the picture of the person who planned the attack. I felt a little strange about it. It was a feeling that I will never forget, yet it is impossible to put into words. The memorial was filled with Japanese people; I know it’s a piece of their history, but it is a piece of their history in a very different way than it is to Americans. The feelings I experienced were not experienced by me alone. I know that a few others felt the same way about it. This brought about a thought about Hiroshima. The girl on the bus told me to go. She’s from Hiroshima, and said that I shouldn’t miss it. But it really made me wonder how Japanese people feel when Americans show up to their memorial and take pictures of the only building that was left standing after we dropped an atomic bomb there. Is it really ok for me to visit Hiroshima? How can someone be so encouraging about having Americans go to a memorial for those killed by Americans? I realize it is a piece of American history, but like Pearl Harbor, the significance is different to me than it would be to someone from Japan. How would I feel if 50 years from now I’m sitting at Ground Zero in New York, and the children of Al Qaeda are taking photographs of a memorial there? Would I feel that it was acceptable for them to be there? I don’t know. How is possible to know the answer to that question? At the same time, how is it possible for me to ignore how I felt today when I saw the smiling Japanese men having their pictures taken next to the portrait of the attack planner? I didn’t expect to get this particular emotion, and I’m not sure that there is a way to explain it; I’m not even entirely sure what it is.

We went into the theater and watched the video about the attack on Pearl Harbor and the events leading up to it. It was very moving. The park ranger reminded us before the film that around 1,000 men were entombed in the USS Arizona and to be respectful of that, to stay quiet and reflect while you were actually at the memorial above the Arizona. When got to the memorial, two guys from the ship were talking about getting wasted when they were the only people in the bar and just how cool it was, and a couple of girls were talking about what they were going to be wearing to the beach. It made me very angry. Of all the things to think about while you’re standing above the tombs of 1,000 men that died young, in a surprise attack against the U.S., all you’ve got is bathing suit styles and liquor? You can’t think of anything better than that? Why bother even going when all you can think about are inane things at a place where there is something much more substantial to contemplate? It still makes me angry to think about. It was one of the most blatantly disrespectful things I had ever seen.

After my group left the memorial, we boarded a bus to take us on a tour of Honolulu. We went past Iolani Palace, the State Capitol, and Punchbowl National Cemetery. When we arrived back at the ship, Lindsay and I boarded a free shuttle to Wal-Mart. I picked up a few things I needed, and I got some snacks since the only meal I really eat on the ship is breakfast. We brought our things from Wal-Mart back to the ship and then went in search of lunch. I got distracted and did a little bit of shopping on the way. I bought a gorgeous Hawaiian dress. It is absolutely beautiful. We found a place for burgers and fries, which I have been craving for a while. It seemed silly to be in Hawaii and just want a cheeseburger, but it’s what I wanted, so it’s what I ate. Then Lindsay and I decided that it would be a good idea to change into our new dresses, so we did. Then we walked around downtown Honolulu. We ran into my oceanography professor, who gave me some information about some of the plants and things around where we were, which was pretty neat. His wife pointed out a great place to see fish in the harbor, so we took her advice for that too.

Lindsay and I walked back toward the ship to look for smoothies before we boarded. In the end, she got one, but I just had a diet coke, which to tell you the truth, is really what I wanted. We went back through security at the dock. One of the workers asked me how my day was, to which I replied, “It was amazing. How can you have a bad day in Hawaii?” We joked around a little bit, and then he x-rayed my bag. He opened it and pulled out my hairbrush and told me that I couldn’t take it back on the ship. I started freaking out because it was the only one I brought with me, and where in the world am I going to get another hairbrush in the middle of the Pacific? After a few minutes, he gave it back to me and said, “Ha, ha. It was just a joke. Have a great evening. Aloha.”

That was my day in Hawaii. We are heading out into the Pacific again soon, and the water is supposed to be ten times rougher than it was when we left Mexico. I have to admit that I am not looking forward to it. I guess I should also note that I was seen for add/drop after roughly 24 hours of waiting for my number to be called. Of course, there was an overnight break, and I ended up getting the class that I wanted, so no worries.

~*Life, or its eternal evidence, is everywhere.*~
Ansel Adams

You miss out on a lot of news on the ship. My little sister is now a licensed driver and repeat captain of the volleyball team, and I had no idea.

September 3, 2007
“What are you, the Vietnamese Chamber of Commerce?”
Pacific Ocean

Today seems so uneventful after spending a day in beautiful Hawaii. I went to my new class (Explorers, Missionaries, and Traders) for the first time today, at 8 am. The professor is really interesting, though he only talked for about 15 minutes, because he showed a movie for the rest of the class. I’m not sure what was so important about what he said today though. It was weird. None of it really seemed like it was noteworthy. The movie was interesting. It was about this Chinese explorer who some think circumnavigated the globe long before Magellan’s crew did.

Global Studies was not exciting at all today. I’m not sure there was a point to it. The first speaker was supposed to talk about the similarities of countries in Southeast Asia. The second was talking about the Philippines. The first speaker really didn’t seem to talk all that much about the similarities, though she did name a few. She mostly rambled on about one time when she lived in a village and her ankles were showing. I think it was to make some kind of point, or at least I think it should have, but I must have missed it. I probably did, as I was exhausted because I didn’t sleep well last night and was up early this morning. The second stayed pretty well on the point. I don’t think the presentation was as good as the one he had given previously on the history of the hula, but it wasn’t terrible. I think that there are some professors that can handle teaching in the Global Studies environment and some that can’t. I wish they would stick to just the first group. The actual official professor for Global is very good. I enjoy him every time he teaches, but it seems that is rare. The assistant Global director is also very good, but it seems her teaching is even more infrequent than Dr. Mack’s.

I was worried about how oceanography was going after the last class, but I think that after today I feel much better about it. It was far more interesting today. Pearl Harbor actually counts as an FDP for that class. I’m not sure what to write for the paper that I have to turn in, how exactly I am going to apply oceanography to Pearl Harbor, but I have until the class before Japan to figure it out.

I had my first extended family dinner tonight. My ‘dad’ (he said we can call him that) is hilarious! He and his wife adopted 6 of us, all girls. One of the girls is from Akron.



7 days until Japan!

I send you all my love.

5 comments:

Megan said...

Sounds like you're having a great time! Ship food sucks - EXCEPT breakfast and Taco Day. Don't ever miss a Taco Day or you'll never forgive yourself. I love being able to read this while you're traveling because it takes me back to last year... oh add/drop day. Our line was about that long as well. Glad to hear you're enjoying your time - I hope you can make it to Hiroshima to compare how Pearl Harbor felt vs. Hiroshima. Its interesting to get to see both sides of the spectrum right after each other.

Don't worry - you're not missing too much at Northern. Nothing as exciting as living on a ship, at least.

Hope you've found your sea legs - it takes a while, and the storms in the Pacific make it worse but it gets better, I promise.

PS - I was 4077 :) You're close to where I was. Except, I was Caspian. You might actually be in my friend Jays old room - he was down the hall towards were yours is.

-Megan

Anonymous said...

little- are you checking your email? you should.

-big

Anonymous said...

Hey there! By now you're probably in Japan...I hope that the part of the storm that you guys were supposed to get wasn't too bad... things here are going okay...they seem extremely busy but I think I just need to get back into the swing of things. I miss you lots, and hope that you are having a lot of fun!!

- Your little
P.S. do you know if I have to do anything special if I want to send you a letter since it's airmail only?

Anonymous said...

I got your postcard today!! I hope that that test you were cramming for went really well! I'm pretty sure i wouldn't want to study if I were on a ship around the world. Anyway, thanks so much!!

-little

Anonymous said...

dearest jessica... i am very glad that you are enjoying yourself however i miss you quite terribly


love you big sister,
Katy