I'm India Zone

Before every country we have something called Pre-Port where we learn key information for our time in each country.  Pre-port is lead by students or staff on the boat that are from a given country and by the interport students. Inter port students are students that come onto the boat before each country (our India pre-port students got on board in Mauritius) and stay until we arrive in their home country and teach us about culture.  In each pre-port we go over culture, rules, activities, safety, logistics, etc. 

Usually we have one pre-port the night before a country but India is the first country where we have two scheduled pre-ports. Tonight was the first night. It was lead by Raja, the spiritual LLC and the interport students. The focus was primarily on culture, so what to wear, how to act and basic language.  I am officially the most excited about India that I have been for any country by a long shot.  It seems that India is the first place we really will be thrown into something totally new and different and we have to fend for ourselves.

For one, there are many cultural rules we have to pay attention to.  We must avoid using our left hand in interactions with other people because it is considered extremely rude and offensive. We actually had to do this in Ghana as well and it came very naturally to me, for about a week after I was apologizing to everyone on the boat for using my left hand instinctually but it didn’t come as easily to other people.  We must always wear very modest clothing and even on a beach the most you can do is put your feet in the water because your body needs to be covered in public at all times.  You can’t cross your legs in front of elders because it is just as rude as using your left hand in conversation.  Also, you must be very wary of telling people you like something (when in their homes) because then they will give it to you, and if you say you like the food they will keep serving you more (because of their hospitality).

Chennai is the fourth largest city in India and is supposed to be very congested and busy. Usually we arrive in ports on Sunday and everything is closed because of the Christian presence but Sunday in Chennai is supposed to be the most bustling day of the week so our initial disembarkation is going to be a bit overwhelming.

Just in case I don’t get a change to update my blog while I’m in India or directly after, here is my itinery

Sunday:  My only free day. The plan is to go shopping for traditional clothing to wear in public the rest of the week, buy Hindu art, get henna and visit some temples

Monday-Wednesday – SAS Taj Majal Trip. Here is my itinerary:

Monday:  Transfer to the airport for your 2 ½-hour flight to New Delhi.  Upon arrival, enjoy a city orientation of Old Delhi.  Drive along Rajpath, the ceremonial avenue, past the Rashtrapati Bhavan (Presidential Palace) the Raj Ghat (Gandhi Memorial), Red Fort and Jama Masjid.  Enjoy lunch at a local restaurant.  In the afternoon, depart on a three-hour train ride for Agra.  Once in Agra, proceed to the hotel for dinner and overnight.  (Breakfast on flight, L, D; area hotel in Agra) 

Tuesday:  After an early morning wake-up call, leave the hotel to view the Taj Mahal at dawn, then return to the hotel for breakfast.  Visit the deserted city of Fatehpur Sikri with its well preserved sandstone palaces.  Return to the hotel for check-out and lunch.  The afternoon will include visits to Agra Fort and the Taj Mahal.  After viewing the Taj Mahal at sunset, transfer to the railway station and board the express train (two hours) for New Delhi.  A packed dinner will be provided on the train.  Upon arrival, transfer to your hotel.  (B, L, packed D; area hotel in Delhi) 

Wednesday:  After breakfast at the hotel, enjoy a city tour and visit various temples like the Lotus Temple (Bahá’i), Gurudwara (Sikh), Laxmi Narayan Temple, and Mandir Marg (Hindu).  Enjoy lunch at a local restaurant followed by an optional shopping tour with your guide before transferring to the airport for your return flight to Chennai.  (B, L, D on flight)

Thursday: I technically don’t have plans for Thursday but there are two SAS service trips. One is to an orphanage and the other is to a shelter for women of all ages. I am going to try to get on one of them. I tried to sign up for one before arriving but they were both full. But Brittany, the ship photographer, told me that many times almost half of the students supposed to attend service trips won’t show up and if you go to the meeting place before they start you can often get on.  Hopefully that will work out, but if it doesn’t I may try to see a Bollywood movie, visit more temples or ride an elephant.

Friday: In the morning I have my FDP for my religion class called Ghandi’s Legacy of Nonviolence. In the afternoon there is another service project where you visit Mother Theresa’s Missionaries of Charity Orphanage that I will try to attend if I don’t get onto either of the service projects on Thursday or if I’m feeling ambitious.


Overall it’s going to be a hectic week! One thing I KNOW about traveling however is that nothing ever turns out the way you think it will or want it to so I bet that when I come back here next week and write y’all about what went on it will look nothing like this itinerary, but I am excited to see what India has to teach me.

Speaking of itineraries, the next month is going to be a whirlwind. Tomorrow is the halfway point in the trip (woah) but looking at my schedule for the next month I feel like it’s almost over.  We will be in India for 6 days, 4 days on the boat, Singapore for a day, 2 days on the boat, Vietnam for 5 days, 2 days on the boat, China for 6 days, 2 days on the boat, Japan for 5 days. The 4 days to Singapore is now the longest stretch we have until the beginning of April where we sail from Japan to Hawaii.  I have been stressing about all of the work I’ve had this last week which will go until tomorrow but after that I really only have readings until finals.  Yes, I still have half the trip left but on paper it already seems like it’s on fast-forward.

Anyway, I’ve rambled long enough. I have a lot of studying to do so I’m going to go now.  I love and miss you all very much and hope the cold weather ends soon! I’ll be thinking of you from the equator =P

OH! One more thing I totally forgot.  India is not all beautiful temples and beaches and saris.   1/3 of the people in the world living below the poverty line live in India with 456 million not having the basic necessities of life (food, water, shelter).  Think about that number. Imagine your high school class, or maybe your class and the one above yours. Or better yet, imagine a UW Science Lecture. For each person there on any given day there are ONE MILLION people in India starving.  The 8 poorest states in India have more people in poverty than the 26 poorest countries in Africa.  For this reason I am participating with a number of students in a fast for the next 24 hours to raise awareness of the people starving in India and to remember the basic necessities they live without every day. 

And not that I want to be a downer but while I’m on the topic of service and education I may as well tell you about Brittany. Brittany is one of the coolest, most amazing people on this boat.  She is the ship photographer and also sailed in 2008.  A girl in my journalism class actually wrote a feature story about her and when it’s gone through the editing process I’ll post it so y’all can hear a little more about her.  But anyway, one of the biggest issues we discuss here on the ship is water. We’re on a boat, after all, and in many of the places we visit lack of clean drinking water is one of the biggest issues. It effects us because it’s hot and we’re tired and we don’t have currency because we can’t find an atm and we need to buy bottled water so we don’t get sick, and it effects every person in that country because if their water isn’t drinkable they can get very sick and possibly die.

884 million people currently don’t have access to safe water. This equals to about 1/8.    1.4 million children die every year from diarrhea caused by unclean water and poor sanitation. This equals out to about 4,000 child deaths a day or 1 child death every 20 seconds. In the time it has taken you to read this paragraph, a child has died because of unclean drinking water.

Sadly I can’t remember the statistics but in the United States we waste a lot of water. A lotttt of water.  It takes over 1,000 pounds of water to produce one pound of beef. It takes around 800 pounds of water to produce 1 pound of pork and around 770 pounds of water to produce one pound of coffee.  So not only does not everyone in the world have safe drinking water, but we are running out of water and using a lot of it for our meat industry. Oh god, and to tie it back to world hunger, did you know that there is enough food in the world for no one to be hungry? No one. There is enough food for every single person to have 2700 calories of food a day.  The problem is that many people don’t have access to it or the money to pay for it. 

Anyway, the reason I mention Brittany in association with this problem is that just a few months ago, she decided to do something. I went to see her lecture last night and heard the full story firsthand. I’ll spare you the details for now because I need to study, but Brittany and a friend of hers raised $15,000 for WaterAid by riding secondhand bikes from San Diego to Florida.  I haven’t been to her website but the link is www.cyclingforwater.com if anyone wants to check it out. Her presentation was phenomenal and extremely touching. I laughed, I cried, and mostly I began to really care about water. Although the majority of her presentation focused on her adventures, on the rivers she saw, on the people she met and the amazing photographs she took, her slideshow photos changed every 20 seconds to remind us that every time a new picture came up, another child died because of a lack of clean water.

I’m not trying to sit here and preach to y’all and I’m not going to pretend that I have immediately applied all of these facts to my life. I will however tell you what I know and let you make your own decisions.  To just pay attention to your shower time, cut your meat intake in half, to think about what you can do… it will make a difference sometime to someone even if you can’t see it.