Rough Seas - Feb 5-6

We are going through some really rough seas. So far, Ev and I have not been sick. It must have been all those rollercoaster rides and trips on Long Island ferry that help us.

40 people made it to Global Studies class today, with the remaining ~60 feeling ill and self-confined to their bunks, quarantined, or sea sick.

The seas are pretty rough. One student describes the rough seas- sliding from the head of the bed to the foot of the bed...feeling really heavy then feeling really light. She finally gave in and put on a patch to help with the seasickness. The researches on board have told her that each time they go on land they lose their sea legs and have to re-acclimate once back on board. They did tell her that each time the acclimation process does get shorter. The Crew made an announcement that the rough seas would only last through Tuesday (Feb 7) and that the rest of the trip to Ghana would be much smoother sailing. She seemed very upbeat and happy in spite of the rough seas.

We weren't allowed to use the internet for a period of time since they were "streaming the Super Bowl"!

Cassie's Service Trip to the Orphanage in the Amazonas Region

A group of about forty students, professors and lifelong learners took an air conditioned, cushioned bus to an orphanage in the Amazonas region.  There were fifteen children from 5 to 13. The majority of them were placed there out of their families because of sexual abuse, neglect, or physical abuse.  The woman in charge said that many of the children have psychological issues that were usually a result from the abuse. She noted that many of the problems are manifested when they are older like ages twelve or thirteen but not as much when they were young. They receive their education at the orphanage and form tight bonds with the other children.  We spent two hours there interacting with all the children and had a handful of toys, balloons, tattoos and stickers to give to them and use them for playing.

 Initially we sat down with a bunch of boys and asked the names and the ages but after that I could not come up with a way inquire about their interests or continue a conversation and they lost interest in talking to us. I felt awkward and frustrated by my lack of ability to carry a simple conversation or effectively keep them entertained. There were also too many of us compared to their numbers so I constantly moved to different kids to prevent us from overwhelming any one of them. The other SAS participants were able to connect better with the children when they got to talk and play one-on-one. When I travelled to Mexico in 2009, I fell in love with this young girl who got very attached to me. She introduced me to her mom and followed me around even when I was doing maintenance work on houses. Going into this orphanage, I expected the children to take to me like she did, but I didn’t have the time to work with any of them for a substantial amount of time.  In the future, I need to be more creative in order to break the language barrier to connect with the kids.

 I also brought my own toys from home to give to the children for them to play with. I hesitated just handing out the toys because they were already receiving so many other things and I hoped to use them as a medium for playing and bonding. I had a Cinderella doll and saw a girl with the princess on her shirt so I got to give her the doll and the two others next to her some as well. I also gave them a brush and they started to brush the dolls’ hair. This experience and their smiles made me feel a little more confident that I had done at least one thing that was significant.

When trying to interact through the language barrier, everyone tried to use different ways of connecting. I realized I usually feel more connected to the kids through humor, getting them to laugh. Without talking, I wasn’t able to do it as easily as when I am at home, so I guess it just requires more improvisation than I am used to. I also tried drawing pictures and different universal games to build a good connection. I want to work on my creativity skills when there is a language barrier because this will continue to be an issue in future projects. I can try and use more gestures or drawings to ask questions, make a child laugh or suggest activities. I also endeavor to create a connection with one child and be patient if communication is difficult.

One of the girls, Karol, drew me two pictures with her name on it and gave them to me. I had not even talked to her or seen her, yet she still felt the need to give me something. This act of charity on her part was a quintessential example of the theme of reciprocity which is a core of service learning according to Sternberger. She felt this need to give something to me as a gift and I in turn drew her a picture. The community that needs to be formed in service learning projects can only come from mutual sharing. I also was very aware of some of the different mental illnesses of many of the children. One of the girls wanted to take her tattoo off so badly she used my nail to scratch it off and then winced when it hurt her. I was at a complete loss of what to do because I could not understand her way of thinking or pattern of logic. I would have loved to spend more time to follow her patterns of behavior to get to understand what is happening in her world.

I want to explore what service was done during these couple of hours. We played with them and gave them toys but they did not really benefit from us going to play with them. We got most of the benefit because we got to play and be a part of a new cultural experience. But their lives go on the same with the same lack of stability and painful memories in their life. It is important to show these kids love and loyalty because they may not have really felt that they were truly intimate with someone or that there are people out there they can trust. I felt that we were continuing the cycle of people leaving their life. But also as discussed in class, the children enjoy the attention and enjoy knowing that we are going there to be with them.  That attention and positive emotion was what they were deprived of and I guess we gave our service to them by bringing our impetus to be with them and become their friends.

Cassie Dancing in Manaus, Brazil Jan 31 - Feb 2

Cassie-After we returned to the ship, we went with a big crowd of people out to a local club. I was really tired but I wanted the opportunity to dance with Brazilians and hopefully find a place to do samba. I found that was not the experience. We went to a Crocodiles club and when we got there, there was no cover charge and the body guards spoke English. The bar took American money and the primary music was the songs played on the radio in the US. The worst was the Brazilians that were there were standing off away from the dance floor not dancing or anything. Some of the local guys were dancing but the other SAS students for the most part ignored them. I was really saddened by my peers that were continuing the stereotype of Americans. Many had drunk way too much especially being in a foreign country.

I did get to meringue with a Brazilian which was I wanted to do, that made me happier especially because he was excited to see I knew how to dance.  I did dance and jumped around with everyone but for the most part that cultural separation that was imminent in the place impeded my enjoyment of the night. However, on the third night I ended up going to the same place because that’s where the group of people were going at the time, and there were more Brazilians there and they were dancing. One of the girls would pull each one of us to dance and I got to dance with the same guy from the first night. That guy however was following me too much when we weren’t dancing so I decided to go home since Ev hadn’t gone that night.

Everett - Manuas, Brazil Jan 31 - Feb 3

Ev-We’re just now leaving  Brazil (Feb 3), and finally I’ve scraped together a quiet moment to write for the blog.  We arrived at the bustling port of Manaus, Brazil on Jan 31, ¾ of the way down the Amazon, at late at night.  The city, home to some 2 million people, is completely cut off from the rest of Brazil, with dense rainforest surrounding it save for a sole road (and it’s more than a 10 hour drive to the nearest city on said road).  Much of our first day in Manaus was spent wandering around the city, adjusting to the crowded streets, navigating rows of nearly identical street vendors, and protecting our valuables.  

We had lunch at a small place in the back of a lingerie shop (it was very good) and it truly sunk in how serious the language barrier was.  I had simply assumed that with my 11 years of Espanol, and with Cassie as a Spanish Minor, we’d be able to communicate at least moderately effectively.  I mean how different could Portuguese be?  But as I later found out by both listening and reading along to the national anthem in a museum, many words that look etymologically similar due to their romance language origins were actually pronounced completely differently.  A simple word for thank you in Portuguese, ‘obrigado’, must have sounded completely foreign to them when I pronounced it as I would had I read it in espanol.  But regardless of the difficulty communicating, we managed to get by (with hand gestures aplenty) and had a great lunch.  The food was much less fruity than the island-fare of Dominica, but with similar emphasis on fish dishes in accordance with our location on the Amazon.  After lunch we went to a supermarket and saw dozens of fruits and juices we’d never even heard of, and I even bought a few to bring on the ship with me.  Cassie spent the remainder of the afternoon at an Orphanage.

That night we participated in a Caiman hunt. A caiman is a fresh water relative to the alligator and crocodile, although larger than the former and smaller than the latter. We got into small 10 person motor run canoes with a top and scanned the edges of the marsh with flashlights until we saw a reflection of the light in a Caiman’s eye. We even saw the light of owls’ eyes that were farther away.  Our guide was a ~14yr old native boy who grew up on the water maneuvering the boats. The village he was from, which is where we went, was built on the water. They use canoes to go to neighboring houses, the bar, the restaurant and the school. They can move their house by undocking it and dragging it to a different location. When it rains,  the water level and the houses rise as well.

Our tour guide, who was from that area, almost treated the caiman like pets. His mom would throw the remains of the dinner into the water for them and he used to catch them for fun. He told us how the older kids would maneuver the boats and spear the fish while the younger kids would sit in back to balance. It was a cycle of learning and passing on traditions. We also saw 3 boys in a canoe, one was holding a sloth and the other had a anaconda, those were their pets. These people have such a connection with nature and their environment that I really admire. The kids in the US are using and adopting the skills to succeed in our society by using tablets and the internet, but for the Manaus kids interact with the plants and animals. Their society mainly gets all of its money from tourism and doing tours.   Also, I saw a lot of children around and asked why but apparently they have a 3 month break. Their school year goes from Feb- November.