Home at Last

May 9, 2008

We’re back! The ship docked in Miami at 8am, and US Customs and Immigration processed everyone on board in about three hours. Then we all had to remain on board while the collected luggage of 1000 passengers was hauled into a huge terminal building by forklift and unceremoniously dumped. We were able to leave the ship by 12:30 (hungry, with no more food on board!) and participated in a free-for-all scramble to find luggage. In addition to our four suitcases, the faculty also had to personally transport the boxes of books and teaching material they had used during the semester. Jim had 6 boxes, but we only ever found 3 of them. We hope the rest get returned someday!

We missed our flight home due to the disembarkation delay, so got a hotel room in Miami Beach for the night. A nice swim and an ocean walk restored our good humor, and we had dinner with Sam and Theresa, who were our closest friends on the ship. They were staying several days in Miami before returning home to Tacoma, Washington.

We went back to the airport at 4am Saturday to get on standby for a flight to Norfolk, and got on a 6am flight to Dallas that eventually took us home. Only 3 of our 4 suitcases made it back with us, but the fourth was recovered and delivered by the airline later in the evening. Now we only have to wait for the missing boxes…

So, the journey ends, and real life goes on. Back to work for me on Monday, and for Jim on Saturday. Was it worth the expense? Tenfold. Would we do it again? In a heartbeat! If you ever get the opportunity to travel anywhere – take it! You will be amazed, appalled, afraid and astonished, but you will not be disappointed!

Thanks to all who read this blog! Contact us anytime - karenfranza@gmail.com, and beinghere@hotmail.com. We'd love to hear from you!

On Our Way to Miami

May 6, 2008

A Man, a Plan, a Canal, Panama!

Today we crossed from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic via one of civilization's engineering marvels. We arrived at the first lock, called Mira Flores, at sunup this morning. The canal cuts right through a mountain, and we can see the bisected mountain on either side of our ship. As we approach the first lock, it doesn't look like the Explorer will fit – but we have several feet of clearance on each side.

There are two lock stations side by side, so two ships, heading in the same or opposite directions, can proceed through the locks at the same time. There are train tracks running on either side of the lock, with a train engine that connects to the ship to guide us through the narrow portion. After the water level is adjusted, a gate opens and we move slowly into a lake, which serves as a reservoir for the lock.

It is hot, even early in the morning, and Panama looks like a jungle from here. (The Pan American Highway doesn't go through southern Panama, as the jungle is too dense.) Although we are within spitting distance of land, we will not be getting off the ship at all today. The kids and their bikinis are lying out on every inch of deck space, to watch our progress while simultaneously working on their tans. In honor of our crossing, the food service staff moved lunch outdoors and gave us barbequed ribs, hamburgers and ice cream on the pool deck so we could stay out all day.

We cleared the third set of locks, dropping us gently back down 31 feet to sea level at 6:40 in the evening, and resumed speed on our way to Miami. It won't be long now!

May 8, 2008

Well, we are all packed, and the luggage has been removed to the gangway down on Deck 2, where it will be offloaded first thing tomorrow morning. We've received instructions on how to best get 1000 people through US Customs in an orderly fashion. The kids have been repeatedly warned about drug-sniffing dogs. UPS will be waiting for us when we dock (Jim has 6 boxes of books and school supplies in addition to our four suitcases and two PCs). The faculty and staff are the first to disembark – yippee!

Many moons ago, we were told that our ship (actually the identical sister to the Explorer) was used to film a move, and last night we finally got to see it. It's a very bad movie, about Cuba Gooding Jr. getting on a gay cruise ship by mistake, and I DO NOT recommend this film for its artistic merit, but if you want to see what each deck of the ship looks like, put it on your Netflix list. It's called "Boat Trip." (Even the title is bad!)

The Captain got on the intercom this afternoon as we passed Cuba, and let us know that he was letting out the throttle and taking the ship up to full speed. We usually cruise at about 19 or 20 knots, but he put the pedal to the metal and got us up to 26.4. Wow!

Tonight, Convocation was held for the forty graduating seniors, who chose to spend their last college semester at sea. In lieu of caps and gowns, the graduates donned orange life vests and Vietnamese straw hats – fitting tribute for the world travelers they have become!

Postcard from Puntarenas, Costa Rica

May 3, 2008

It's been ten l o n g days at sea since Honolulu, and the ship has been a whirlwind of term papers, projects, study sessions and final exams. The weather has been getting warmer, and 700 girls have been sunning themselves out on deck in little bikinis so their tans will look really good when they get home!

The school semester is now officially over, and we docked this morning in Puntarenas, for our last shore excursion. Like many of our other ports, Puntarenas is not in one of the nicer parts of the country. In fact, the travel guide we consulted called it "the armpit of Costa Rica", and advised that turistas should spend as little time there as possible! The town is very poor, the beach is polluted, with dark dirt instead of sand that sticks to your feet, and the main street is a long row of bars with rusty corrugated metal roofs. Prostitution is legal here too – the perfect place for a shipload of college students to have their last hurrah!

Most of the kids took off immediately to the sandy beaches of Jaco or beyond – we'll see them in two days, about a half hour before the ship to due to sail.

We took a trip to Poas Volcano National Park, to see one of the several active volcanos in Costa Rica; a bus trip about 2.5 hours away from the port. The mountains were green, lush and beautiful, and as we gained elevation the weather went from tropical to chilly. By the time we reached the rim of the volcano, we were shivering in our shorts and had all donned our raingear. We were up in the cloud forest, surrounded by mist. We walked to the edge of the volcanic crater and peered down through the fog, but there was nothing to see but gray. However, we could hear the roar of the fumaroles below, and smell sulfur, so I'm sure there really was a volcano down there.

The cloud forest, always misty, is a great place for the growth of ferns and other shade loving plants. There is one plant called "poor man's umbrella" that has big leathery leaves up to 6 feet across, and could keep you dry in a storm. We ate lunch at a very nice "Tico" restaurant, with the obligatory rice and beans, accompanied by hummingbirds all around. One of the professors who is an avid birder says he saw twenty species today that he has never seen before.

May 4

For our last day on shore, we decided to take it easy and experience the little town of Puntarenas with some of the other professors. Pura Vida! We took a walk early (it was still hot, even then) and found a little "soda" (small restaurant) where we ordered café con leche (coffee is VERY good here). Then at 10 o'clock, it being Sunday, we went to church.

The Cathedral de Puntarenas is a tan and white stone building with stained glass windows, open and comparatively cool. We got there a little early, and were sitting waiting for the service to begin when the deacon (or whatever you call the layperson who helps out the priest) spotted my yellow hair and walked back to give us a missal in English, opened to the proper page for Ascension Sunday. There were no other missals, hymnals or books in sight – everyone knew the prayers and songs by heart. The service was easy to follow, and I was even able to sing one of the hymns (Seek ye first the kingdom of God – came before the reading of the Gospel). Instead of organ and choir, there was synthesizer and drums, a totally contemporary service!

We had lunch at a nice restaurante (rice and beans of course with choice of seafood – I had shrimp and Jim had squid), found la Groceria for some coffee and Salsa Lizano to bring home, then shopped at the souvenir stalls set up for tourists along the beach. The last of our lovely days in port – I'm getting very nostalgic already for all the things I will miss once the ship docks in Miami on Friday…

Postcard from Waikiki, Honolulu

4/22/2008

Question: If you had only one day to spend in Hawaii, what would you choose to do?

Answer: Why, of course, you would want to visit a Psychiatric Hospital!

Yes, friends, we only had 12 hours ashore in Honolulu, while the ship refueled and took on provisions, so Jim took 8 students to tour Hawaii State Hospital. This was a different experience for the kids, as HSH is a forensic hospital where one has to commit a crime and be declared insane or unfit by the courts to get in.

HPPA laws nonwithstanding, we encountered the highest security / confidentiality practices here – not only could we not take pictures of the patients, but also couldn’t take pictures of most of the buildings or the chickens in the yard! (The administration is embarrassed that they can’t seem to keep the feral chickens out, so didn’t want us to photograph them.)

This hospital was cited in the textbook for Jim’s class as being one of the worst hospitals in the US back in the 80s, so we were interested in the facilities. Happy to say, most of the hospital has been rebuilt as a result of the public black eye it received back then. If you’ve got to be crazy somewhere, I’d recommend this place!

HSH has over 600 staff for 200 patients, and a patient to nurse ratio or 5:1. One of the social worker we spoke with told us the patients say HSH stands for “Home Sweet Home!” We spent much of our time out in the Aloha Garden, where patients maintain vegetable and flower gardens, practice ikebana (Japanese flower arranging) and cooking classes with the produce that they grow. We held hands and the social worker sang a Hawaiian Aloha chant to increase our harmony… what a nice morning!

After lunch, we took a city bus to Waikiki Beach, and then a taxi to Diamond Head crater. This is a huge crater formed when a volcano exploded many moons ago, and is the highest point of the island. It is a tourist attraction to climb to the summit, so the path was cement and had hand-rails and steps… hardly a challenge for mountain climbers like Jim and me! We were all breathing hard by the time we got to the top, but the view, as always, was worth it!

After descending and grabbing a cab back to the beach, we walked around Waikiki like proper tourists, admired the clear blue water and the bikini-clad, did some shopping, and had dinner at a revolving restaurant that overlooks the city – lovely!

Arriving back at the ship, we were surprised at the long line of students having their bags searched – the kids spent their one day at Wal-Mart and Costco, stocking up on chips, salsa, peanut butter and sugary cereal. With only 3 weeks left of the cruise, they brought enough junk food on board to last another 6 months! One of the boys said, “It feels so good to be back in the US, it makes me want to go to Wal-Mart and buy a gun – just because I can!” He turned around to see the look on my face, and hastily added, “only kidding Mom!”

On Our Way to Honolulu, Hawaii

4/15/2008

Most all of us made it back to the ship on time, and we are now on a 9 day journey to Honolulu. (There are rumours that we have lost several students throughout the voyage due to alcohol poisoning – another one had to be hospitalized in Kobe - once they recover they are not invited to return to the ship.) We also had a student who lost his passport, so could not get back on the ship. He left his knapsack, with wallet, passport and expensive camera in a restaurant, and by the time he noticed its absence, the restaurant was closed. He went the next morning to the American Embassy in Osaka to report the loss – the knapsack and all its contents had already been turned in. The official assured him that this was the norm in Japan – crime is just not an issue. He will catch up with us in Honolulu.

We crossed the International Date Line on Tuesday April 15^th, so the following day was also Tuesday, April 15^th – sort of like the movie Groundhog Day, it was so nice, we did twice! Remembering that this is Tax Day in the US, we might want to consider always doing it twice to give those last minute procrastinators one more chance to pay their respects to Uncle Sam!

We have been one day ahead of you for quite some time, so now I think we’re back on the same schedule. We’ll continue to reset the clocks and lose an hour of sleep every day until we reach Hawaii.

Whoever named this the Pacific (peaceful) Ocean had a good sense of humor – it’s been rocking and rolling on board since we set off. At dinner, the food sloshed all over, the cabinets opened and all the cups fell out, and some of the diners ended up on the floor!

4/18

Today was a free day – no classes – so Jim held an all-day meditation retreat on board for his daily meditation group. We started at 09:00, and alternatingly sat, walked, and chanted until 17:00, including a silent lunch and hot tea breaks in the Vipassina Buddhist tradition. We had about 10 students, many staying for the whole experience, and a few coming by for just part of the day to see what it was all about. A quiet time was had by all.

4/19

Today was Crew Appreciation day, so I will tell you a Customer Service story. We have almost 200 crew members on board – room stewards, waiters, busboys, cooks, spa attendants, sailors and officers. They are hired in the Philippines on an 8 month contract, which means they will complete at least two back-to-back semester tours before getting time off to go home.

Mezraim Josephs is a waiter from Jamaica. He works in the Dining Hall, attending to the needs of 700 teenagers (think school cafeteria to a power of 10 – yuck!). He started learning our names on the very first day of the voyage, and greets everyone with a smile in his lilting Bahamian accent – “Good morning to you Mr. Jim, greetings Lady Karen!” He meets us at the buffet and insists on carrying our trays for us – “here is a nice table for you, right by the window the way you like!” or “Ms. Nancy is eating alone this morning, would you like to join her?”

He learned what we like, “two coffee with cream, am I right?”, and then went above and beyond, “I heated up the cream so your coffee will be nice and hot”. He sings to us, sometimes songs that we know, and sometimes songs that he makes up for the occasion. He is always gracious, upbeat and totally attentive to the needs of every person with whom he comes into contact.

Now, Mezraim is no longer young, a bit grey at the temples, and has overcome physical problems – he walks with a slight limp and wears one built-up shoe. His wife, grown children and grandchildren are home in Jamaica where he cannot see them for eight months. He has had his share of trouble; one son on drugs, grandbabies to raise, yet he smiles. Yet he sings.

One morning I asked the meaning of his name Mezraim. He said it was from the Bible, but he really didn’t know where. Me being me, I logged onto the computer right after breakfast, and Googled “Mezraim”, expecting the biblical reference to come up and point me in the right direction. Imagine my surprise when practically the whole first page of citations were for “Mezraim on Semester at Sea”. I opened each link to read the blogs of current and former voyagers, extolling the virtues of Mezraim Josephs – how he helps the kids who were homesick, how he reminds them of father, uncle, friend, how he takes such good care them, warms their hearts and makes sure they are doing all right.

I did find the biblical reference after a while – Mezraim was the son of Ham, grandson of Noah in Genesis. He is credited with bringing chemistry to Egypt. I brought this info back to Mezraim the next morning, along with the news that he was famous in the blogs of the students. This brought a tear to his eye – he had no idea that he was so highly regarded, but he was happy to know that the students understood how much he cared.

So, who makes your day? Who makes you smile? Who sees the extraordinary in the ordinary? Appreciate them. Thank you Mezraim!