South African Bliss...

So in all this time I have learned one thing about myself for certain. I am not a good traveler. I love it, but I am no good. Traveler’s go to a place, they experience it and then they leave. I go to a place, experience it and leave with a little less of my heart than what I arrived with. South Africa has stolen another piece of my heart. To be a traveler your journey must always come to an end, but I could stay here forever.

Cape Town has taught me more lessons, shown be so much beauty and changed me in such a special way. My time here is hard to describe, but I will give a play by play to let you all into my time here.

First let me tell you about our port. All our other ports have been industrial, they are full of machinery and cranes, the water is brown and you have to take a shuttle to get into the city. Here we are on the Victoria & Abbey Wharf, the water is turquoise and we walk off the ship literally onto a strip of restaurants and shops. The first day we decided to hike Table Mountain. After six days on the ship we needed to stretch our legs and be outside, so we did just that. We hiked, two hours straight up. I thought I was going to die about four times, but I didn’t! The view from the top was unbelievable. I wrote an e-mail to my dad saying the water glittered so magnificently it looked as if God had dropped diamonds in it. It was incredible to see all of Cape Town covered in beaches and mountains. After taking pictures and enjoying a giant cheeseburger, a group of us opted to ride the cable car down. That night we ventured out for our first real dinner off the ship in a week. Let me just say the food on the ship is edible, but I have reached a point where I would almost rather not eat than eat on ship, as many of you may know it takes a lot to get me to the point where I don’t want to eat! Anyways, we had a wonderful dinner, great conversation and then ventured into the South African night. Thanks to Chelsea’s suggestion we went to Mama Africa on Long Street, but after walking around the crowded streets and being swarmed by mass amounts of Semester at Sea students all celebrating their first night of freedom from the ship we decided to head back.

The next day was Sunday, our first Sunday in port, which meant our first opportunity to go to a real church and worship and that we did. I went to the Hillsong Church in Cape Town with three other girls, Charis, Olivia and Kate. Just walking through the doors gave new life to my soul. I was in tears for the whole service, it’s amazing how moving it is to be with the body of Christ worshipping when you have been away from that for so long. That started off the most wonderful day. We then went to Green Point Market for a little shopping. After that we stopped in a café for wine, cheese and incredible conversation. The girls I have met here are amazing and its brilliant to know people for such a short time who you connect with so deeply and are so challenged by. That night we had high hopes to go to a salsa club, but somehow ended up at this random club in Camps Bay dancing with German men who spoke barely any English. It actually turned out perfect though because we were able to meet some American brothers, one of whom was doing an internship in Cape Town and knew the city well. We ended our Sunday with a two-hour dancing session in a restaurant called Cubana before we headed back to the ship.

Monday, Olivia and I set off to do Robben’s Island. We managed to squeeze our way onto a tour. This island many of you might be familiar with. It was the prison used during the apartheid to house political and criminal prisoners. It was the home of Nelson Mandella for his 27-year imprisonment. The amazing thing about South Africa is that its history is a very recent one. The apartheid ended only a little over a decade ago, which is incredible to think about as it was debilitating for so many. It is obvious to see the effects when you venture away from the ritzy tourist areas and into the townships. The tour guides of the Robbens Island prisons are actually prisoners from the apartheid era and served sentences on Robben’s Island, but now live in the village there with their families and lead tours. Once our tour had commenced we gathered some more troops and headed for a relaxing dinner and then turned in early.

Tuesday morning I woke up to do a field trip with SAS to a service group called Operation Hunger. We were able to play with the children and get a glimpse of the poverty in South Africa. There is something so amazing about poverty and a trip like Semester at Sea gives such a new spin on it. We are able to see in such a short time how differently it looks in so many countries. In Ghana it was dust and mud-huts. Women carried baskets on their heads and they sold anything they could in the streets for money. In South Africa poverty is desolation. It is the dumps, full of trash, square room like homes covered in tin roofs. It was interesting to step away from our ritzy dock and see how so many live in South Africa. That night led us to a quick dinner and a meeting with our new friends from America, Tom and Greg. They introduced us to some of their friends Jack, Toms flat-mate and George from London. A group of about seven of us then ventured out into the South African night, ended up at a club with about 30 SAS kids, but nonetheless we managed to have ourselves a good time!

Wednesday morning I woke up bright and early to hop on my bus for my one-day safari at the Inverdoorn Game Reserve. It was a beautiful two-hour drive through lush green mountains and hillsides covered with fresh spring water and baboons! The safari was freezing, but it was so nice to have a taste of the fall Kentucky weather I am missing out on this season. We were able to see giraffes, zebras, cheetahs, and an assortment of other animals. Inverdoorn is not home to the all of the Big 5, but I think we saw at least one out of five. It made for some great pictures and an enjoyable day. Wednesday night I had intended to spend my night with two dear friends in Stollenboesch enjoying the South African wine country, but my body had other plans and I ended up having to stay on the ship because I was too sick to leave. My last night and day in South Africa I spent in my room on the ship, except for the two hours I left to find myself some soup and enjoy one last glimpse at the beautiful Cape Town landscape.

South Africa left me with wonderfully fond memories and an incredible glimpse of the glory of God’s creation. I have found myself at a point where I miss home and the simplicity of being around everyone, but I know there is still so much to learn here. It is so hard to believe all I have experienced so far and look ahead to realize there is still SO much left. We are on our way to Mauritius now for three days of relaxation on the beautiful beaches! I miss everyone, know that I think of you all very often and love you all!

Entering the Other Half...

Today, my friends, is Neptune Day. Something unfamiliar to many of you, but for Semester at Sea students it is a rite of passage. I was woken up by the sound of drums and cymbals being pounded through the halls, this made everyone really excited, no one was upset at all! At nine we were told to be on the seventh deck by the pool for the entrance of King Neptune and his royal court. Ok, honestly everything was hokey. I mean the whole thing was goofy, but it was absolutely hilarious. The Captain, named Capt. Jeremy was dressed as King Neptune. Now let me tell you about Capt. Jeremy, he is a very serious man. Takes being captain of the ship and has a very intense British accent. He is not one to be messed with, but today the man was dressed in a pair of briefs only clothed in a grass-hula skirt and covered from head to toe in lime green body paint. The other adults on ship, faculty, life long learners and staff were dressed as his royal court.

They consider this whole thing the ceremony for passing the equator and entering the Southern Hemisphere. I then stood in a line with everyone to have a crewmember pour pink “fish guts” on over my head and then jump in the pool. The entire student body was covered in slime and ended up bathing in the pool. We then proceeded through the line to kiss a dead fish and be knighted by the Academic Dean.

All fun for everyone! Now, another key element of Neptune Day is that many people shave their heads. They placed three chairs in a row and people sit and everyone can watch. This is not just limited to guys mind you. I believe by about 11:00 in the morning, at least 15 girls had gotten their heads shaved. Something I think they will all regret tomorrow when they realize they are bald. I did not participate in the shaving head due to the fact I, and my mother for that matter, have an abnormal attachment to my hair and would spend the rest of the trip in tears or wearing headscarves. I have pictures and honestly it will help to see them to understand today’s activities, but it was goofy and fun and now I am officially in the Southern Hemisphere!

I have blogged now almost three days in a row that should be exciting for you all! Ok, well again I love you all and miss you!


Carley

Discovering Ghana Continued...

Today was the last day in Ghana…sad. I spent some time in Accra walking around, but it was difficult because we have to take shuttles to Accra and it is an hour bus ride and when you arrive the vendor’s attack and you can barely move. Anyways the end to my time in Ghana is a complete misrepresentation of the two days before.

Wednesday I had a Semester at Sea trip to the Wli Waterfall & Mona Monkeys. Now this waterfall is the tallest in West Africa and it did not disappoint. After hours of bus riding and being told by the tour guide we actually drove so far we were 20 minutes from the Ghanaian border with Togo, we arrived at this waterfall. It was a forty-five minute hike there and we walked rapidly. It looked like an exhibit from the zoo, beautiful, lush green with the sound of rushing streams. The waterfall was obviously very large and we were able to swim in it. I was one of the first in and you could only walk so far before the power of the fall forced you to turn and walk backwards. The water pressure stung but it was so amazing to feel the sheer power of that much water constantly rushing. Prior to the waterfall we had spent a couple hours in a darling village where the monkeys come up to you and you can feed them. I didn’t get a chance to feed them, but they were extremely close to me and I got some cute pictures! So that was my second day in Ghana in a nutshell.

Thursday was the best day though. I woke up late and ran down to breakfast hoping to get a spot on a trip with the music teacher to a Ghanaian village where they did drumming and dancing. Ghanaian drumming is a really cool thing to hear. There are so many sounds that are happening and the dancing requires so much energy, the Ghanaians danced for almost two and a half straight hours. Americans train for years for that, the Ghanians are just born doing it! So the village was exactly what you would imagine and African village. Remote, dusty, and full of people interested to stare at you. The children would come running up to us at random asking to take pictures and holding our hands. They were so wonderful and everyone was beautiful. The whole village joined us to watch the dance. They were so enthralled by our reactions to what was happening. We spent all day with these people, getting to talk and love on them. It was so touching. They made us lunch that consisted of noodles, rice, beef and chicken, but for dessert they served the most wonderful pineapple, it literally tasted like candy it was so sweet. At the end of the day the “drum masters” had a workshop where they attempted to teach us Ghanaian drumming and dancing. I was so bad that the drum master took a personal interest in me and had to stand in front of me to keep me on beat. It was two beats, ba-ba, I went too quickly every time. Once we started to dance he went ahead and placed himself directly in front of me so I could see his dance moves. Thirty uncoordinated Americans doing West African dance in a circle is a sight, the village people were practically bent over laughing. At the end of the day the woman gave us hot, home-made plantain chips and embraced us before we loaded the bus. The men were quick to make sure we would return to Ghana and got our e-mails before we left. One twenty year-old named Samuel asked me if I could fly him to America because he didn’t have the money. Little does he know I’m using my dad’s frequent flyers mile to get home because I have zero dollars, Sorry Sam!

All in all Ghana was a huge success and for all who haven’t been or never intend to, change that. The people will warm your heart and you will be sure to be touched deeply. It’s amazing to watch love and communication in all nations and this is a nation where love abounds.

Tomorrow is Neptune Day, which means we don’t have class because we are having activities to celebrate crossing the equator! Woo Woo, life on ship….rough! Well I miss everyone and think about you all often, you are in my prayers. Love Love Love…


Carley

Discovering Ghana...

So my Ghana blog is going to be different than the others to date and here’s why. I stepped off the ship completely excited about this country, but having no idea what it held for me. Within the first 15 minutes of driving down the road I came to the realization that a piece of my heart will forever be here in Ghana.

Let me just tell you about Ghana. It is an extremely peaceful nation. There is no disharmony between people, or religious groups. Christians and Muslims live peacefully together, but about 80% of the population appears to be Christian. Coming from Morocco where there is a 100% Muslim population and prayers blast over loud speakers, it is amazing to watch people live in freedom to worship. These people have so much love it is humbling just to watch out a car window. Everyone waves and smiles or yells “Awkwaaba” which means, “welcome”.

So day one started out by leaving the ship as soon as we were cleared by Ghanaian customs, a process we have grown accustomed to on this ship. I then loaded a bus with about forty other students to go to a school called Morning Star School, this school is run by a Christian woman and her brother and sister. It was their mother’s dream to have a school that gave children a biblical education. I was practically in tears from the time I walked in the door till the time I walked out because I was so touched by this woman. I know I say that with so much drama, but it’s true, the only problem is I can’t really remember her name or how to spell it, but she is an incredible woman!

So this school teaches kindergarten through ninth grade and it teaches everything from graphic design to scriptures to English to science and on and on. Many of the children I spoke with are a decade younger then me and speak three times as many languages. It makes you feel really good when an eleven year old is gawking at the fact you only speak one language. Anyways, the whole day was full of seeing the school, meeting the students and teachers and staff. We were told that the teachers whose classes we didn’t see were upset that we couldn’t get around to see them. They had drummers for us and some students prepared a dance. They practically turned their whole day upside down to accommodate us. The music class played a type of African flute for us while they gave us drinks and then at the end of the day they fed us plates and plates of the most amazing beef spring rolls and these buttery-crusty veggie things. My goodness I can still taste the food four days later that’s how good it was! The woman explained that the schools motto for this year was about Jesus’ blood and His grace and love. I about lost it in the middle of her speaking. The girl beside me probably thought I was having a medical episode I was so touched by the whole day.

That night I went to a welcome reception at Aseshi University and met the students. A group of ten of us followed five guys to a pub in the middle of Accra before we called it a night and headed back to the port. See, this is all day one! I think I can summarize day two better, oh yea I know I can actually…

20 Days of Moroccan Rain...

Ok everybody this might be a long one so hold on! Morocco has proved to be amazing and the beautiful thing it would be nothing but a country if it were not for the people who have so enriched every experience! I spent the first day in the Moroccan markets in Marrakech, also known as the Souks. So fun! Imagine Mexican markets hopped up on steroids and filled with Arabians. It was unbelievable. As soon as we arrived the prayer was blasting over the loud speaker throughout the whole city and it was an intensely eerie thing to hear. The skies were dark, I mean pitch black and the irony of it all is that our tour guide told us that it only rains 20-25 days in Morocco. Well wouldn’t ya know we hit one of those days! After about an hour of wandering and winding through the Souks I found myself with a group of SAS kids one of which speaks Arabic, an incredibly handy friend to have in Moroccan markets. So with about 20 minutes left to find our way backs to the bus it starts POURING down rain and we discover we are twisted extremely far into these crazy streets. We end up eventually finding our way out and running to the bus, all the while the Moroccan men in their shops are cheering us on, like some bizarre foreign mini-marathon! Hard to relay through the Internet, but it was unbelievable. Nothing really compares to being soaking wet in rain, realizing you are running through the filthy streets of Morrocco.

The next day we loaded the buses for a terrifying eight hour bus ride through the Atlas mountains. I say terrifying because the Morrocans have very little sense of traffic safety. We actually saw a wreck in the highway and the injured people were just laying in the middle of the highway with no help. Bizarre. Anyways, we wound through mountains with nothing between the road and the plunge to our death, literally. The roads were hundreds of yards up and the curves so sharp the driver would honk to warn opposing traffic we were there and coming around the bend. Visibility around curves was 0%. The terrain was beautiful. The mountains were green and lush, full of tress and shrubbery, then next thing you knew it was desert, completely dry with mud huts and adobe type houses. We finished the bus ride and rode camels about an hour and a half to our campsite for the night. The camels were led by extremely friendly nomads, one of whom offered me the camel I rode to stay with him, he then proceeded to tell me his yearly earnings and ask me to meet his mother and sisters. Berber men are extremely friendly! The night was wonderful, full of great conversation, getting to know wonderful people-my sweet neighbor Leigh Anne! The stars were innumerable in the desert with no lights, so we laid for hours talking and laughing, sharing stories and all the things you do in the middle of nowhere with 170 of your closest classmates!

Today we arrived safely home, a lot sandier, dirty and more cultured. A group of us met up and decided to travel out into the Casablancan night, which led us to Rick’s Café-just like in the movie! It was amazing, so nice and they had the movie on repeat in one corner. Probably 25 SAS kids all ended up there and we stayed until the place closed listening to jazz music and sharing our stories from our separate excursions.

Oh I wish I could share every detail because there is so much to say. I wish I were a better writer to convey my stories properly, but nonetheless, there is an update. Tomorrow holds one last trip to the market before departing for Ghana. Six days on ship of class and then we will be in Ghana on our own stumbling into the next adventures!

LOVE LOVE LOVE…

Carley

Espana...

It is the last day in Spain and I have found myself a park bench in Plaza del palillero with about seven other SAS students. We figured out that the plazas have free wi-fi, so we have hauled our computers and our Facebook starved bodies down the streets of Cadiz just to see whats going on in our worlds! Spain has been wonderful, relaxing, appetizing, historical, everything you would hope a visit to a foreign country would be really! I have tried to upload pictures, but for some reason I am having a very hard time. Hopefully soon I will be able to share something visual.

Cadiz is beautiful, there are two parts of the city-old and new. New is like Miama, kinda sleezy, but fun. Old is charming, the streets are cobblestone and narrow with tall buildings filled with tiny balconies and window boxes full of flowers. You do alot of walking and eating and exploring here. Yesterday I went on a trip to Sevilla, it was wonderful, so rich in history. We saw La Catedral and La Alcazar, so ornate, but so busy. Full of tourists, and hot hot hot.

Our final night in Cadiz I ventured out with two other darling girls, Olivia and Kate. We wandered around in search of a final dinner of Tapas and Sangria and not only did we find just that, but we managed to get two Italian men and one Russian as well! They were exceptionally entertaining. Before we knew it we had spent three hours having the most confused conversation. SO FUNNY...between my broken spanish, hand movements and their tiny amount of english we managed to understand each other and had a delightful time. I sound like a very dull old person, "delightful time"!

I wish my pictures would work so i could show you pictures, but as soon as I figure it out they will be up I promise. We have three hours left in Cadiz before we board ship and head to Morocco, then (get this!) we have one day onboard and then five days in Africa...Life has been really hard! The first six days of class were so exhausting, I'm really glad we got twelve days off! I can't wait to camel trek with the nomads in the Sahara. Don't miss too much!

LOVE LOVE LOVE....
Carley

Endless Blue Days

Oh my goodness...

Finding free internet is a hard to thing to do, but none the less I Carley Randall Brooks, have done just that. I believe I am catching the signal from a run-down soup kitchen looking cafeteria in Spain! Anyways, I have been dying to update people on the way things happen here. Everything is so interesting. I am actually in Cadiz, Spain and have spent the last two days walking around, but that blog will have to wait because I have to tell you all about the ship. Many of you I have e-mailed and try to tell, by the way thank you for your e-mails it really is so wonderful to hear from you all, you have no idea! The ship is beautiful, apparently it used to be an old cruise ship, my bathroom is literally nicer than the bathroom I used in Meredith Hall at Western. The room is cozy, I have pictures and if the internet pulls through for me I might just get to share them with you.

The first eight days have been so crazy. Everyone spends their time trying to get to know each other. Literally I eat every meal with a different person or group, sit by a different in class, talk to a different person at night. It is crazy. The water was insane, everyday it was a different color, navy blue, somedays brighter and at night, the ocean is unbelievable. Living on water is very funny. For the first three days everyone had to get acquainted with the rocking, which was hilarious for me, some of those with a lesser sense of humor did not find it so funny, but I laughed out loud. People were jolted all over. The rocking is severe enough that people were thrown into walls, so funny. Or the more awkward thrown into the laps of their fellow students, which makes getting to know people either really easy or really awful depending on the person in whose lap you fell. My first day on the elliptical I became insanely sea sick after because along with your normal running motion the elliptical rocks back and forth with the ship, kind of like using an elliptical on a giant see-saw. The treadmills face the opposite direction though and move side to side, every once in a while you hear someone yell and you see a body come flying off the machine behind you. All very entertaining, but now such is life! I have met some really fun people, everyone is eccentric and quirky, from so many places which lends itself to an incredibly collective mix of personalities and habits. Alot of times i find myself just wandering around hoping to happen upon a new best friend or intriguing conversation. Everything is so sporadic. You make friends by walking up to people and introducing yourself. It's very throw yourself in or you won't come out alive. Thank goodness I'm an extrovert or this experience would be a very isolated one. It is a group of bold personalities, overwhelming opinions with the common desire to travel and see the world. Makes for an interesting time! It's hard to believe it is only beginning, but I cannot wait for the coming months to unfold.

I'm sorry this post is so long, but I miss you all! Oh yes one more thing, I have met with two bible study groups. So encouraging to find believers in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. I am so thankful for all the encouragement and prayers, the Lord has definitely put in a place with Him I have never been and it is becoming a very beautiful thing. I love you all dearly and think of you often wishing you could share in this crazy adventure, but I am so thrilled about this season for everybody! ok Love Love Love

Carley