Life on the Ship and Myanmar (Burma)

Life on the Ship

This particular ship, “The World Odyssey”, is new as of last semester to ISE (Institute for Shipboard Education), which runs Semester-at-Sea. This is only the second semester that this ship has been part of the program. It is incredibly fancy. From what we have heard, it is very different from the last ship, which was bigger and not a luxury cruise line. A challenge has been to create enough classroom and meeting spaces in the various rooms on the ship without crowding out places for people to gather informally. In the summer, another company rents the ship.

Here is a video with pictures we have taken on or beside the ship so far to give you a sense of what it is like:

Myanmar   Rick's ppt

We recently spent five days in a country that has been categorized as one of the most "closed off" and brutally run by a military dictatorship since the early 1960s. If anyone had asked us about our interest in traveling to Myanmar prior to this voyage, we would have struggled to even find it on a map. It turned out to be one of our family's favorite stops so far on this voyage. The country's military allowed for a free and fair democratic election this past fall, largely to appease human rights advocates and to encourage more foreign direct investment. In a surprise to the military, the pro-democracy/Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi won or, more precisely, her pro-democracy party won a landslide victory. This has given the country a significant boost of both optimism and tourism. We stayed along the coastal region of Panthein. Here are some pictures below:

China and Vietnam

Vietnam   Rick's ppt on Vietnam War  and   Vietnam/Singapore ppt

We’re currently sitting in the corner of a café in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam (aka Saigon) enjoying a great Internet connection. We look obnoxious with our computers, but oh well, it’s our first time on-line in weeks:

I am pretty sure that you’d rather hear from Rick about our visits to China and Vietnam, given all of the research he has done for his classes and, more generally, his knowledge of these two countries. However, I will write first and let him add to this. Feel free to scroll right down directly to his comments. :)

• Vietnam is absolutely wonderful, so vibrant and lively. The economy here has been growing at an average annual rate of 6.5% for three consecutive decades and it shows. 

• Olivia, I have been thinking of you very much! 

• We arrived in Ho Chi Minh four days ago and spent the first afternoon walking and exploring the area in the vicinity of the ship. That night we took off for a two-day exploratory trip to Nha Trang, a coastal city further north that is a popular destination among the Vietnamese. We went with a group of SAS students from the ship and had the opportunity to do some snorkeling and to visit a local orphanage run by Vietnamese Buddhist nuns where we helped paint a building with them and the children for whom they care.  Here are a few pictures of our time there:

•  We are visiting Vietnam during Tet, which is the lunar New Year and by far the most festive time of the year here. It is like a combination of all our biggest holidays – Christmas, New Year’s Eve, Thanksgiving, Halloween, the Fourth of July, etc. – wrapped into one holiday. Most of the people take a week vacation and go to their homes in the villages, so the cities are not as busy or crowded as usual. It is a fun time to be here with all of the lights and festivities.

•  Prior to our time here, we heard the Vietnamese people described as “the hardest workers in the world”. We have seen this to be the case, and we also find them incredibly spirited and fun-loving. Many years ago, one of our favorite UR students told us that he likes to “work hard and play hard”. This seems to be the general motto of the Vietnamese people.

•   If you have the time and interest in learning more about these countries, please do scroll down and read Rick’s description of Vietnam and China. He presented to the entire shipboard community on the Vietnam war prior to our arrival and did a lot of research in addition to his background knowledge. He did an excellent job. Hopefully we can upload his presentation to the end of this blog entry. I will just add my few thoughts after our time here: 1) war is awful and should be avoided at all costs; and 2) the similarities between people around the world far outweigh the differences. It’s too bad we can’t focus on this more.

China  Rick's ppt

We thoroughly enjoyed our visit to China, starting in Shanghai and making our way to Beijing, the Great Wall, and then down to Hong Kong. It was incredibly eye opening for us. We learned a great deal about the history, culture, and people of China, and, as often happens when traveling, found that many of our preconceived notions were incorrect or exaggerated. Here are some pictures from our visit:

 Tiananmen Square

The Forbidden City

The Great Wall

 Power Pose at the Lama Temple

   Temple of Heaven with our wonderful trip guide, Lillian

•  As a quick aside, they just built a sports court on the ship and it is a huge hit already with all of the students and children. Here is a picture of Tim and Ben playing volleyball with two students the other day:

China and Vietnam (from Rick)

China’s economy is set to surpass the economy of the U.S. in total size (not per capita) in the next ten years or so. It shows. The nice parts of the Chinese cities we visited were the equal of many affluent areas in Europe, Australia, and the U.S. The country’s airports and infrastructure (i.e., public transportation) are modern, clean, efficient and easy to use. China has to confront major pollution and other environmental problems associated with rapid economic development. Yet if the last several decades of accomplishments are any guide, China will likely find ways to improve its environment, reduce corruption, and provide a better-and-better standard of living for its citizens. The country is still run by one-party rule -- the Communists -- without elections or free speech, which leaves human rights advocates (and my students and Jen and I) wondering how long this can last before the country’s middle-class demands more say and increased freedom of expression. Nevertheless, China serves as an interesting counter-example to what the U.S. urges, that developing countries pursue free elections and political liberties. The standard thinking is that free, multi-party elections will lead to responsive and accountable governments that attend to the needs and wants of the majority of a country’s population, all leading to a big middle-class. Yet lots of countries, like Haiti, have repeated (sham) elections won by politicians who simply become corrupt and rob their countries (and who often stay in office for decades thereafter). So China is fascinating to study for many reasons, including how powerful it is becoming in international affairs.

Vietnam is similar to China in that it still has a Communist regime, but the economy is very capitalistic. It has been this way since the mid-1980s after it followed China’s lead in moving away from traditional socialism. Vietnam seems even more aggressively capitalistic than China. Two-thirds of the country’s current population has been born after 1975, so the “American War” as they refer to it here is something many Vietnamese never think about anymore. They’re too busy starting businesses and behaving entrepreneurially. Three decades ago, 75% of the population lived in poverty and Vietnam was one of the poorest countries in the world. Today less than 20% live in poverty. Mopeds and motorcycles are everywhere and the tourism business is growing exponentially. The weather and natural beauty of the country attract many tourists who find that their money still goes further here than back home. We hope to return here someday.

Wrong Bus and Staying Flexible

If there is one thing we have heard over and over on the ship about travel – and we know from our own past experiences – it is to stay flexible. Things sometimes don’t go as you plan or expect. With this in mind, we had our first test right off the bat:

Wrong Bus (and the Mayes Family’s Moment of Zen)

On our first day in Yokohama, Japan, we were supposed to go on a half-day tour called the "Tokyo Temple & Drums Experience”. We went over to the tour buses, gave our tickets to a person leading the program, and she must have misread them -- focusing on the word "temple" -- and sent us to the wrong bus. We didn't pick up on this until too late, after the buses had all pulled away. As it turned out, we were on the "Zen Temple & Meditation Experience" bus. When we arrived at the temple 25 minutes later, there was a Buddhist monk who greeted our group (mostly people 40 years old and older – and then Tim, Ben, and Ali). He explained that he would be teaching us how to meditate and that there would be three 15 minute sessions. 15 MINUTES OF ABSOLUTE SILENCE. THREE CONSECUTIVE TIMES! I (Jen) was pretty sure that this would be challenging enough for me, let alone Ali who was sitting on a separate pillow next to me and then the boys next to her. Rick somehow had conveniently found a spot across the room. The monk walked around the whole time, watching and helping each of us with our posture and breathing technique. You should have heard Ali working on her breathing: in for 5 seconds, out for 10 seconds. I had the giggles to start and was so fearful that I was going to lose it in front of everyone (all facing toward each other, mind you) that I had to keep pinching myself. Thankfully, I didn’t, and lo-and-behold, Ali embraced the experience and rose to the occasion. Tim and Ben were good sports, too, though they still don’t know that it was a mistake. 

Japan!  Rick's ppt

• We found the people in Japan to be incredibly helpful and patient. The language barrier was definitely an issue for us, but there were many people who spoke English -- or at least more than our Japanese which is limited to “hello” and “thank you”. 

•  We were told in advance that Japan is one of the cleanest and safest places in the world and definitely found this to be the case.

• We visited the Ramen Noodle Factory with two new friends of the boys and learned about the history of the Cup of Noodles. Very interesting. Being there brought back memories of our poor college and graduate school days when this was a “go-to” meal on a regular basis.

                                                                 

Crossing the Pacific and Konichiwa from Japan!

Before boarding the ship in San Diego on 1/2/16:

First (Real) Stop: Japan

A big thanks to Erica Y. (U.R.) and Erika N. (S.P.E.S.) for the information that you gave us about Japan. We are very excited to visit and learn more about this wonderful country. We just arrived and will be here for 4 days before heading to China.

The Pacific Ocean and “Ship Time”
We intended to write an update from Hawaii, where we stopped for a day to re-fuel, but did not have the opportunity. Since leaving San Diego on January 5, we have slowly been making our way across the Pacific Ocean. Here are some observations, updates, and photos from our experience so far aboard the World Odyssey:

·      The Pacific Ocean is MASSIVE. It’s one thing to think about this in looking at a map or globe, but another to travel on it by ship -- i.e. similar to driving or taking the train versus flying across the United States. It has taken us 16 full days of non-stop travel, a total of 4,500 nautical miles, to cross the ocean.

                       

·      Getting our sea legs: We hit some rough waters upon leaving San Diego. Ben and Ali both had an issue with seasickness, thankfully short lived, but certainly unpleasant. The ship is usually rolling a little, occasionally swaying considerably, so we are all getting used to doing normal daily activities with this reality (walking, eating meals, talking with people, studying/teaching, taking showers, etc.). That said, it has been much less of an issue than we expected.

·      Constantly Moving West (and getting extra sleep): One of the nice benefits of moving west is that we have pushed our clocks back an hour many times during the trip. The only issue we are having is that we are now tired by about 7:00 p.m. and struggling to stay awake until 8:00 p.m. (not unheard of for Jen anyway). We crossed the International Date Line last week and lost an entire day: January 16, 2016 never happened in our lives. Hope it was a good one for you!

Life on the Ship

·      The boys have made friends and are thoroughly enjoying themselves. Their school days vary, depending on when they finish all of their work, but they tend to have school from around 8:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. (with breaks mixed in) and then participate in activities with other children their age. There is a ping-pong table, shuffleboard, giant chess set, board game room, and several organized activities for them each day. They have a lot of freedom to eat with their friends and play cards and board games in a special game room, which they love. There is no Internet connection, which we thought would be difficult. At this point it is “out of sight, out of mind” and we don’t really think about it anymore.

              

Boys and Ali doing school work in our room:

·      Ali is enjoying being part of our “school routine” every morning (thank you again, Mrs. Cook, for all of the terrific activities you sent for her to do!). Fortunately, she self-entertains well and is (generally) content playing, coloring, etc.

·      We are getting to know the students. We have signed up to be a “host family” to 9 students, meeting with them regularly, and also are grateful for two particular students who have been helping to tutor the boys, particularly Tim in Algebra II and Biology.

·      In general, we are all appreciating the simplicity that life on the ship provides.

Teaching:

Rick’s classes have gotten off to a good start, albeit without Google available (the Internet, when it exists at all, varies in speed between weak dial-up and carrier pigeon). Everyone is adjusting to what studying and classes were like in the pre-Google era. Students actually have to go to the ship’s library to find information in books and journals and to read various assignments. On “A” days, Rick teaches “Intro. to Comparative Government” and on “B” days he teaches “Public Health” in the mornings and “International Public Policy” in the afternoons. With 3 preparations, he is always either teaching, grading, or planning the details of his next class. His Comparative Gov’t course is on the top deck of the ship near the bow, which means that he literally has to sit down or hold the lectern during the entire class to keep from falling over (the ship pitches and rolls so much).

More about Japan after our time here! We are thinking of all of our friends on the East Coast after the blizzard!

Some more pictures of life on the ship:

"Code Words" for Group Travel and "Watching with Glittering Eyes"

Why Pictures Can Be Misleading (see below)




Rick and I started using some some "code words/quotes" when we were young in our marriage that were helpful as we started living (and traveling) together. We still use them  and have added a few, so our children are familiar with them. We are trying to repeat them even more now as we prepare for 1) tight quarters, and 2) LOTS of family time in the coming months. Here are some:

1)  "My fuel light is on" -- when you are hungry and REALLY grumpy and need some extra space and grace until you get food; happens in everyday life, but especially when you travel.

2) "I'm in Transition Mode" = "I'm really distracted." (i.e. we're catching a train, leaving a hotel, going through airport security/customs, etc.) 

3) "Blessed Family Happiness" -- those moments when everyone is falling apart and you need to step back, realize the absurdity of what is causing the meltdown(s), and have a good laugh together.

4) "Choose to be kind." No explanation necessary, but something each of us -- at least in our family-- could do a little better some days. (Or for those Cinderella fans out there, Bill Pilc, "Have courage and be kind.")

So while the photos (like the one above) and stories we share on this blog in the coming months will surely not be of our "meltdown" moments, they will inevitably happen. But hopefully as we travel, more often than not, we will all be watching with "glittering eyes":