I *heart* Hong Kong

By now you probably know that we made it safely to Hong Kong. And guess what? It's amazing! Seriously I am running out of superlatives to describe each of the places I've visited and we're only on our third port. Let me know when it gets annoying. :) Once again, I feel like I was entirely unprepared for what I would experience. I had heard that Hong Kong was an incredible place to visit, but I never imagined what it'd really be like. I assumed there would be huge skyscrapers, city lights, high fashion and great food. All of which is true. I really don't know how I can go back to the ship's food after eating so well in the ports. What I didn't realize about Hong Kong is how beautiful the islands would be. The first day here I took a bus up to Stanley Market (an outdoor shopping area on the coast of Hong Kong Island). On the ride up there we passed by beautiful beaches, with locals and foreigners sunbathing, swimming and some even waterskiing and wakeboarding. The ride up the mountain lined coast was truly breathtaking. I was really surprised at this paradise I have stumbled upon. How did I not know about it before?
Later that night we subjected ourselves to the scrutiny of tourist-phobes and went to the top of Victoria Peak to look out on the city lights and capture photos of the magnificent skyline. It was lovely, and probably a must see, but the real treat was taking the ferry to Lantau island yesterday, and kayaking at sunset. Hong Kong island is a bustling city, with more shopping than you could ever imagine. It's a busy city, with great clubs, bars, restaurants, and did I mention shopping? The city itself is a bit like New York. But the outlying islands are fairly uninhabited and quite a bit more peaceful and serene. I enjoy having a little balance, especially on this trip where alone time is somewhat hard to come by. So, a few of us decided to venture over to Lantau and explore the island. Again, we did the touristy thing, hiking up to this gigantic buddha on top of a mountain, which was cool and all, but the greatest experience was getting off a bus in the middle of nowhere, and finding ourselves at a tiny little inn, where they rent kayaks and skinboards, and children play with their dogs, while running past the cows on the beach. Yes, you read that correctly, there were cows on the beach! Patrick, the photographer took a great picture of Gail and I staring out to sea with a cow walking behind us. It was brilliant, and so far, one of my favorite experiences (having grown up in cow country, perhaps it holds a little more significance to a country girl like me). We also met this sweet little local girl, who doesn't speak any English, but insisted on taking pictures with our cameras and putting puzzles together with her --- so cute!! But, for me, getting out on the water was truly exhilarating, and an experience so simple and yet so cherished, one I will never forget. Fortunately, Patrick captured much of it on film, so we'll have that memory forever. He did also crash into me with his kayak, landing a huge bruise and drawing a bit of blood on my right leg, but hey, it wouldn't be a true Danelle adventure if there wasn't some sort of injury. And besides that made seeing the shark prevention bouys that much more frightening! :)

Today it's strange but I feel just a little depressed. It's like that feeling you have when it's Sunday and you know you have to go to work the next day, but you want the weekend to last forever............ It probably seems strange that I would have any feelings like this given that I am so lucky to be here. Maybe it's a tad selfish. I just really have a hard time leaving a place so beautiful..... except that I know I am going somewhere new, and will likely enjoy it equally as much. I can't believe we'll be in Vietnam in mere days!

And besides, I still have all day today, a night out with the RD's tonight, and half of tomorrow to take advantage of this unforgettable place!

More Japanese tidbits

So, I never did get to eat Kobe beef while in Japan. But I did manage a lot of other unique, or perhaps rather traditional things while there, that I forgot to mention in my last post. And besides, there is a great little restaurant in Los Angeles, called Koi, were they serve a fantastic Kobe beef carpaccio, so I’ll just have to wait until I get back. And really, fish heads trump beef, right?

A few observations about my experience in Japan. I had realized about ten days into this trip how entirely dependent I am on my cell phone back at home. I think I talk to my best friend Kat at least 6 times a day, and I call my parents several times a week. There have been several times I’ve sworn I felt the vibration of my cell phone in my purse, or went to reach for it because I was longing to hear the voice of a good friend. But the necessity of a cell phone became evident when I made plans with my friend Brian to meet up at a big ferris wheel in the center of Kobe at 3pm, incidentally to go get some Kobe beef on our last day in port. By this time, I had a fairly decent idea of how to get around Kobe, but I was running just a few minutes late, and had no way to let him know. Asking for directions was fun, too, because I could ask in Japanese how to get to the wheel, but of course, I couldn’t understand the response! I did arrive a few minutes past three, and no Brian. 45 minutes later, still no Brian, and again, no cell phone, and no way to communicate. I did write a nice little haiku about it, and left it for him at the wheel, but that’s something I probably shouldn’t post here. Fortunately I ran into some other friends later and we had a fantastic meal (most of which was purely by luck). Another observation about cell phones. Japanese people are far more polite than typical Americans and you never hear them incessantly talking on their cell phones. Even on the trains and subways, you might see people text messaging, or sending e-mails, but you will never hear them chatting away in public, and you certainly would never see two people together each talking on their phones or worse yet, talking on their phones in a restaurant! Contrast that with LA where people are literally attached to their phones and will hold an entire conversation with their significant other, or even hold a business meeting while grocery shopping at Ralphs! (Ok, I am guilty of this too). But, Japan was so quiet. Even in the cities, there was always a calm peace. It was pretty refreshing.

One little challenge were the toilets. My first experience was in a train station, when I walked into the restroom and found these lovely little toilets were holes on the floor. Yikes! How am I going to do this? The toilets were surprisingly clean (everything in Japan was, by the way), but presented a bit of a challenge since I’m not used to squatting unless of course I’m at the gym. The first few times were quite amusing. I tend to be rather clutzy as it is, so I was a bit nervous I might fall in. It took me much longer to figure it out because I was afraid. Finally we did find some “western toilets”, which were more what I am used to in the states but interestingly enough, some of them had heated seats! A very funny thing happened though, when we had a group of Japanese students visit us on the ship. I walked into the ship restroom and found two young women dressed in Kimono looking rather nervous and confused. They were staring at the “western toilets” as if to question, “How can I do this?” I really wanted to help her but I couldn’t figure out how? Taking the kimono on and off is an intense process and requires a lot of time and assistance. I’m not sure how she did it, but I felt a shared compassion over this toilet experience, and realized I’m going to have to learn to use these eastern toilets because I don’t expect to find many western ones in most of our upcoming ports.

Just as toilets in Japan were a unique experience, I found that the Japanese take the concept of bathing to a whole new level. After a day of walking around town for hours with backpacks, and a few of my friends riding around on bicycles, we decided to have a traditional Japanese experience and go to a public bath. So, we dropped off everything at our hotel and headed to a nearby bath in Kyoto. Having never done this before, we brought with us only a change of clothing and nothing else. Upon paying our 500 yen (less than $5) at desk, we were given these teeny tiny little blue towels. Hmm, how are we going to dry off with these? I guess we’ll make it work, we thought. So, we entered the bath, walked into a room full of Japanese women, and looked around to see what we were supposed to do. , Immediately, three little Japanese women approached us with little bowls for washing, stools to sit on, and showed us to our respective showers. The ritual is essentially to wash everything off first, and use these little blue towels as washcloths. Aha. Since we had brought nothing with us, we were happy to find that soap and shampoo were provided. So, we followed the example of these Japanese women and scrubbed and scrubbed, removing all the dirt, residue, and every remaining dead skin cell from or bodies. Some of these ladies scrubbed for a good half hour or perhaps much more. I don’t think I have ever been so clean in my life. The next step was to soak in one of several hot tubs of water, opening up the pores. After a day of walking around from temple to temple in the heat, carrying a backpack, this was the most relaxing experience and a great way to rest and clear the mind from any stress from the day. I spent a good 10 minutes just relaxing in the first bath.

The ritual continued with moving on to one of many other hot tubs, then back to the shower and scrubbing again, rinsing off again, and then back to the hot tubs to relax. I think you could repeat this as many times as you wanted. We weren’t sure, so we just tried to imitate what we saw. Finally, after scrubbing and soaking and relaxing, we were then to submerse ourselves in a very cold pool of water, which was incredibly refreshing. It really was one of my favorite experiences in Japan.

Of course one amazing experience of mine would not be complete without a bit of humor and humility. You may remember that we neglected to bring towels and had just used our little blue towels for washcloths. All the other women of course brought their own towels. They were locals and knew the process quite well. We, on the other hand were the only foreigners there and marveled at how we’d have to drip dry. At this point, a few women tried talking to us, perhaps telling us we needed to bring our own towels, I’m not really sure. Eventually, they gave up and looked away and I suppose they thought we’d figure something out. Fortunately Japanese people are extremely polite and never stare. So, when we found these little hair dryers and fans on the wall, no one laughed or pointed at us when we realized it was our only way to get dry. I am sure they thought, what are these crazy foreign women doing here, and how silly they are drying themselves like that. But, no one stared, and eventually we did get dry and go on with our day.

Next time, however, we’ll remember to bring towels.



In case you are wondering, we also managed to outrun the typhoon and are now in calm waters, approaching Hong Kong in one day. It was very rocky for awhile and everyone was walking around the ship from side to side, looking a bit like zombies. Now all is well, and I cannot wait to see what mysteries and surprises await in China and Hong Kong.

Typhoons, temples, and Japanese delicacies

Breaking news: We left Japan last night, in a bit of a hurry, upon finding out that there’s a typhoon in our path, and we’ve been thrown off course (well, perhaps not literally thrown off but it sure felt like that last night!) So, instead of going to Qingdao, China we’re going straight to Hong Kong, and will arrive there in five days. So, now we are currently trying to outrun the typhoon and avoid the 36 foot waves that are at the center of it. I think we managed to avoid the worst of it, but I don’t think anyone could have slept through last night. The ship was rocking so much that I almost fell out of bed! All is well, now though. There is still quite a bit of rocking, but everyone seems ok with being back on the ship for the next five days. Perhaps that’s because we had such an amazing time in Japan.


I found Japan to be a place of several little surprises. First I must admit that I had quite the stereotypical view of what Japan would be like; tons of little temples and pagoda-like structures, geisha floating down the streets and sushi restaurants everywhere. Boy was I wrong. While I did see my fare share of temples and shrines, caught quick glimpses of glamorous women in kimono, and managed to find a few restaurants serving sashimi, I mostly found Japan to be quite different than what I had expected, and I was pleasantly surprised.

First, the people in Japan were amazing. I thought it was going to be so difficult to find my way around the cities and to travel throughout the country, considering that I do not read, write or speak Japanese. But I quickly found out that the people were so helpful and polite, and it turned out to be quite easy to communicate and to get around.

The first night we actually went to a baseball game. It was one of my favorite nights there. Perhaps it was because we were so excited to get off the ship, or maybe it was just the first time I really got to enjoy hanging out with the students, away from the ship. I found a fun group of students to travel with to the game, and we stopped along the way to pick up snacks. First fun little surprise was biting into potato chips that looked like they could have been Lay’s chips and finding out that they were in fact, wasabi chips! Yum!! Note: most of the surprises were with food.

The second day I journeyed to the beautiful city of Kyoto with three of my fellow staff members, Joy, Joe and Gail. We had planned to stay one night in Kyoto and the next night climb Mount Fuji. As it was, it happened to rain all day on Wednesday and I became quite aware that I was not prepared with the gear to climb a mountain in the middle of a storm. Instead we walked all over Kyoto, stopping at various sites to visit some really beautiful temples and shrines. We then spent about two hours trying to find a sushi restaurant, to no avail. We were literally tripping over noodle houses, however, and finally decided to concede and go for the noodles. Ordering food by pointing at pictures and/or plastic replicas of food became the unfortunate norm for us in Japan. But, once again, I found the food to be both surprising and delicious. That night we stayed at a Ryokan (a traditional Japanese inn), where they gave us kimono like robes and slippers to be worn inside. We all slept in the same room with soft, comfy mattresses on the floor. The one thing that caught me slightly off guard was how incredibly quiet everything was. Japanese people are much much quieter than Americans, and everywhere we went we practically had to whisper to avoid being rude or impolite. For those of you who know me well, this was of course, a bit of a challenge.

We made up for it the next night when I caught up with a different group of friends and we went out for Karaoke! First the six of us, went on yet another quest to find some sushi. Instead we found a tiny little mom and pop restaurant, and quickly filled the place up, as there were just enough seats at the bar. Here the menu was entirely in Japanese characters and there were no pictures, so we really had to be adventurous and trust in our hosts. Again there was no sushi, but we cleaned out the rest of their sashimi (salmon, toro, octopus, and several others I couldn’t identify) and drank a fare amount of asahi and sake. We were having such a good time with the owner that he offered us the first of two little presents. Six little pieces of cold fish liver. Hmmm… how do I swallow this without grimacing and how quickly can I chase the taste out of my mouth with a splash of sake? Whew! I managed it, and I guess it wasn’t too bad. We all smiled and nodded as if we relished it, it was after all a gift. Our hosts were do delighted in fact that they offered us another. Six fully cooked little fishes, head, tail, eyes and all. There is no way I can eat this, I thought. But this lovely and gracious woman stood staring eagerly behind the bar, waiting for us to enjoy our presents. There was no way out, we had to eat them. Catching our quizzical looks, wondering how were supposed to eat these little fishies, the owner took one and popped it head first right into his mouth and started chewing. Yikes! I have to eat it head first!?! Be polite, Danelle, be polite. I popped the fish head in my mouth and smiled. Usually I order some mochi or perhaps a little green tea ice cream for dessert at the Japanese restaurants in California. Here I had a fish head. And tail. Hmm.

Kyoto was gorgeous, and I really loved it there. I am a huge fan of lush green parks, and of beautiful and/or unique architecture. Kyoto delivered. It is a very old and lovely city with tons of history. For many years it was actually the capital of Japan, and the blend of the traditional and the modern are apparent throughout. I could spend a week in Kyoto alone and it wouldn’t be enough.

The final two days I spent in Kobe, where I found out I have no talent for origami, and a new appreciation for those who do. Again for the last night, I had a quest to sample some Kobe beef. While I’m not typically a red meat eater, I figured, when in Kobe, eat the beef. But surprises being as they were, I missed not one but two parties I was supposed to meet up with, and found myself with very little time to grab a bite and head back to the ship. I ran into two shipmates and we hurried into a crowded little restaurant (always a good sign – the food must be good). Again we looked a menu with pictures of food for which we had little clue of what we’d find inside. And again we were delighted to find that everything we ordered was fantastic! Perhaps my only disappointment, was that I didn’t have more time to spend there. Until next time, I’m off to explore the world!

Flying fish!

So, I decided that in my next life I want to be a flying fish. These are apparently the things you think about when you’ve been at sea for nine days and all you can see for miles upon miles are masses of water and ocean waves, until you finally see a hint of life – these tiny flying fish zipping by, and popping in and out of the soft blue waves. The past few days the ocean has literally looked like silk. I’ve never seen such still calm waters, more reminiscent of a lake, than what I imagined the middle of the ocean would appear. The crew said that this is the calmest they have ever seen the seas. And all I can think about is how much I want to dive off the 6th floor deck and swim with the fish. The past few days I almost felt like I was on vacation. I found a break in my schedule yesterday and took a couple hours to read out on the deck, while soaking up some sun. Today I even took a nap! Did I mention that we crossed the International Date Line and lost an entire day? I’ll never have a September 7, 2006. Isn’t that wild? And the other crazy thing is that we keep gaining time. There will be 23 days on this voyage that we actually have 25 hour days. I guess this will make up for skipping Sept. 7th? :) At first it was great, an extra hour of sleep! But eventually it started to take a downward turn. Getting up early for me is typically no problem. So, getting up even earlier seemed fine. I could work out before everyone else, or I could even take the extra hour and sleep in. That worked out just fine until I started falling asleep at around 7 or 8pm. After about the sixth or seventh day of turning our clocks back, my body had not completely adjusted and 8pm felt like it was 1 or 2am. We all got a little screwed up. Good news, though. I have been off the “chaperone” duty for the past three nights! Which has been awesome, because I got to participate in other fun events that didn’t involve a bunch of drunk people trying to hook up, or get into other forms of trouble. Friday night was Open Mic Night, where several acts performed in kind of a “coffee house” venue. Some of the students are really talented (some not so much, but bless their hearts - they tried!) And we even have a senior passenger who is about 85 years old, who plays the sax beautifully. The highlight for sure was when one of the students in my sea (Evan) gave a spontaneous interpretive dance performance while Judy, our senior adult coordinator sang her third John Denver song in a row (let’s just say that Evan’s performance lifted an otherwise subdued crowd). The following night was Karaoke. It was a bit slow to start off (Celine Dion songs should be banned from all Karaoke lists, IMHO) but when two guys sang TLC’s “No Scrubs” (that one is for you, Kat), and everyone joined in on “Friends in Low Places” and “Sweet Home Alabama”, we knew Karaoke was a hit. With all these activities going on, it’s sometimes hard to remember that this is actually a university on a ship, and you might begin to wonder how or when the students have time to study. All I can say is that is just one of the perks that comes from being staff. I do have to sit in on one class, and can choose to sit in on others if I like, but I don’t have to take any tests!!

Tomorrow we arrive in Japan. All around me, I can hear students buzzing about who’s doing what, going where, whether to meet up in Kyoto or Tokyo, who wants to go to Hiroshima, etc, etc. I think we are all really excited about getting to our first international port, and everyone wants to squeeze in as much as possible. As for me, I’m looking forward to sushi, Japanese culture, the arts, hitting up a festival, and just enjoying being an entirely new environment. For now, I’m off to swing dancing, and tonight we have an all-staff party. No chaperoning for any of us tonight! It’s our night. I just hope I can stay awake!

P. S. Shout out to the GPN. I miss you guys! Oh, and believe it or not, I won the faculty/staff poker tournament. Of course, there was no money on the line, and all I could legally win was bragging rights, but whatever. I won, hehe. Hope you're all doing well. Miss ya!

Cabin Fever!

Ok, so maybe I spoke, or rather wrote too soon when I said nine days at sea didn’t seem so long. Don’t get me wrong, life on the ship is pretty cool, it’s amazingly beautiful everyday, and everyone is pretty cool, so I’m with a lot of great people. But, anyone who knows me knows how easily I get bored if I am stuck inside, and I always need to be out doing things. I miss being able to ride my bike, go on long walks down to 3rd Street Promenade, jogging in the mornings down by the beach, and going out with my friends in the evenings. I am getting a little restless, and very much looking forward to Japan.

Between now and then, there is quite a bit to keep me busy (maybe even too busy – I brought several books that I am wondering if I’ll ever get a chance to read!) Yesterday was another crazy day for me. Took a yoga class at 6:30am, and spent the rest of the day in meetings, classes, and prepping for other meetings, including my “speed dating social” for my sea – that was pretty fun, though. There are two things about the job that I really don’t like. One is that we have to pre-sale tickets to the happy hours, and after hours parties that the students have almost everyday. The ticket sales concept is in complete disagreement with my philosophy that students should be permitted a choice of whether they wish to drink or not, and how much they would like to drink, on the day that the event occurs. The pre-selling of tickets is a waste of everyone’s time (we sell them for two hour periods each day, and students are stuck in a line, a day ahead of the actual “event”). I would very much like to see this changed. The second thing is the “chaperoning” out on the decks of these happy hours, and after hours. I suppose I am and will get used to it, but it definitely isn’t fun. We have to patrol the decks from about 9pm midnight each night that alcohol service is provided, basically making sure that the students don’t leave the area with alcohol. I try to make it fun, by hanging out with some of the students or inviting others to come and play cards or board games, but in the end, it often feels like babysitting, and it’s a bit of a pain. At home, I rarely ever stay up past 10:00 or 11:00pm on weeknights, so that is an adjustment as well. And to tell the truth I’d much rather be hanging out with the students inside who are doing fun things like playing cards and board games or playing their guitars, watching movies, etc, than hanging out with the drunk kids on the deck.

Honestly though I can’t complain. I have met some really wonderful students and faculty and they make this voyage truly enjoyable. I try to focus on those people, and spend as much time as I can with them. I know I only have three months with these people, so it’s an opportunity to learn a lot from them, and in general just have a good time! I think I need to remember to take a little time for myself, too. Instead of passing by the students who are laying out on the pool decks, rushing to another meeting, I’m going to try to spend a little more time enjoying the beautiful ocean breeze and the moments of calmness that are present each day when you are out in the middle of the sea.

Land!!

After being at sea for six days, we finally reached our first port… and it was beautiful! I woke up at 4:00am, to the sound of my vibrating cell phone, letting me know we must be close to land. After that, I was so excited, I couldn’t go back to sleep. So, I got up around 5:00am and joined a bunch of students and staff out on the back deck, waiting for the sun to rise over the ocean, and be the first ones to see Hawaii. My camera was having a good day, so I even got a few pictures. Everyone was so excited to get to Hawaii, and it was certainly worth getting up early to see.

After a rather grueling debarkation process, I was ready to hit the town in search of a new camera. Luckily for me, I made friends with the photographer and hooked up with him and another new friend, the video editor, who was also in search of a new camera. I know nothing about gadgets, so I needed them to help me out. ;) Plus, these are two of the most entertaining people on the ship, so I knew I’d have a good time.

Mission accomplished. We got the cameras, and next on the list was a shave ice and a swim in the clear blue waters of Oahu. We found a nice little quiet area where mostly locals were hanging out with their families. It was nice to get away from the crowds, and it felt so good to finally be in the water. It reminded me yet again how lucky I am.

Since we only had one day in Hawaii, we had a lot we wanted to do. Next up was lunch at a great little Hawaiian burger joint (I had the mahi-mahi sandwich) which was amazing. I thought the food on the ship was good, but maybe that’s because I’ve gotten used to it, and we have no other choice! This was delicious! After that we strolled through downtown Waikiki and the International Market (lots of memories with Kat there, really miss you, Kat!), and finally met up with our SAS friends (the other RD’s), for another plunge into the sea, and some body boarding and surfing. It was so relaxing…… I don’t think any of us wanted to leave.

But, alas, we had to come back to the ship (really crazy story, actually we were almost late, trying to hail a cab in the rain, which is illegal to do in Hawaii, but thank God a nice cab driver took pity on our poor souls and picked us up – was kinda stressful there for awhile). Finally, we made it back to the ship just in time to greet all the students returning from their one day in port (many of whom were quite drunk and/or trying to smuggle alcohol in water bottles, but that’s another story that I’ll save to tell when I get home)

Now, we’re back on ship for another 9 days before we get to Kobe, Japan. Funny that 9 days doesn’t sound so long right now. I guess the little stop in Honolulu held us over. Or maybe the ship is finally starting to feel like home. :)

my first break :)

Things are starting to settle down a little bit. Yesterday was the first day I didn’t have meetings and commitments all day long, so I actually got to join the students out on the deck and catch some sunshine! I’m actually starting to feel quite spoiled. It’s amazing when you look out from any deck on the ship and all you can see is water for thousands of miles in every direction. It’s so peaceful and beautiful. The water is such a deep dark blue. I wish I could swim in it. Today is gorgeous, the sun is shining and it’s really warm. All the skinny white kids are out on the deck trying to get a tan while they study. (Don’t worry, Mom, I brought sunscreen!)

The activities fair was Thursday and Jennifer and I had 175 students sign up to be ambassadors. That’s over 1/3 of the student body! Wow. We decided to split up the group, and I’m now in charge of the Ambassador’s Ball. We had a meeting last night and already elected our two co-chairs and all the subcommittee chairs. I was pretty excited that my two co-chairs both have event planning backgrounds (does high-school prom count? lol) and they both want to be event planners, so from both a career counseling perspective and logistical sense, we definitely chose the right people. So far the theme they came up with is Bollywood, which ties in really nicely with our trip to India, especially since some of the students are film majors and will be meeting Indian actors and studying Indian filmmaking while we’re there. Plus, the decorations we can buy in India will be amazing…

Tomorrow we port in Hawaii for just one day. I think we are all looking forward to land (even though we are all pretty accustomed to the movement of the ship by now). No big plans for Hawaii, just want to get out and walk, do a little shopping and play around in the water. Tonight we are playing Texas Hold ‘Em up in the faculty/staff lounge (finally we have a break from chaperoning the after-hours parties that the students have nearly every night on the back decks!) Last night we played catch-phrase up there; it’s a great place for us to get away and also to bond with the other staff – there are some really amazing, fun people on this voyage (students, too, but they’re not allowed up there). And it just kills them that there might be something going on up there that they can’t do. Hehehe.