Each day, the Dean of Students issues his memo for that day's activity and important announcements. Here is a sample.
Deans’ Memo
Sunday April 1, 2012
Issue # 69
Sunday, April 1 Agenda
1900-2000 – Meet the Stow Away Students! Does it seem like there are a ton of new people you don’t recognize? After spending the last 9 weeks dodging the security team, our interport stow aways are coming out of their life boat hiding places and will share their impressions of our community as overheard from hiding.
· 2000-2100 – Explorer Seminar: Ineffective Birth Control Options. Farrell Saunders. Although many people think spending time with the dependent children is the best form of birth control, Farrell will dispel that rumor and share other sure ways to end up with 4 kids. (Union)
· 1900-2000 – Career Spotlight: Exotic Pole-Dancing. Considering a career in pole-dancing? Come this evening to talk with professionals in the field and get a strategy to map out your career path. We’ve gotten special permission to hold this seminar in the Glazer Lounge due to the number of poles and the adult content (Glazer Lounge)
· 1900-2000 – Engine Room & Galley Tour! You’ve asked for it and now you get it. Get a guided tour of the engine room and help change the ship’s oil and top off the antifreeze. Then head to the galley and see how all the food is made. While you are there, slice some potatoes for dinner tonight. (Glazer Lounge)
· 1900-2000 – Flip Flop Club. Do you love your flip flops? Come share your best bonding moments from your voyage around the world with your favorite flip flops. (Pool Deck)
· 2100-2200 –Sick People: A Photographic Journey. Dr. Bill Yeaton will present a photography based travelogue on being a doctor and will show pictures of some of the nastiest things he has seen during his time as a doctor. (Union)
· 2100-2200 – Photo Club! Please bring your 3 best photos of sunsets, your friends doing peace signs, and puppies on a flash drive to share for a photo critique. (Classroom 3)
· Tonight’s time changes:
Deck 2
Back 1 hour
Deck 3
Ahead 1 hour
Deck 4
Ahead 3 hours
Deck 5
No change
Deck 7
Ahead 17 minutes
Anyone late to class will get dock time.
Announcements
Want Credit for Your FDPs? All records of FDP participation have been accidentally erased. Students are requested to write a 1-page synopsis for each FDP they have participated in to verify their attendance. Please stop by the Field Office to submit your FDP credit requests or no credit will be given.
Pool Bar Closure. Due to the abundance of left over pork, pasta, and potatoes, the Deck 7 Pool Bar will be closed for the remainder of the voyage. All meals will be served in the Decks 5 & 6 dining rooms.
Fresh Water Consumption. We are low on our water consumption. Please take longer showers, do more laundry, and join our community wide squirt gun fight tomorrow on the Pool Deck.
Reinventing the Wheel Competition. Come cheer your favorite staff members on as they compete in the reinvent the wheel competition. Watch as they are given conflicting information and limited supplies and are asked to figure out how to pull this off for the 108th time.
Wellness Center Sale! 50% off all spray tanning and manscaping services.
Let’s Water Ski! The Captain has agreed to one day of water skiing off the back of the ship. Sign-ups at the Activities Desk in Tymitz Square.
Sick of Those Tan Lines? The 8th Deck will be open for nude tanning for the remainder of the voyage.
Information from the Captain and Crew
We are sick of cleaning up after you.
From now on you have to make your own bed.
Today’s Quote
“Man up”
– Lynette Cook-Francis
Laundry Service
April 1: Do your own laundry.
Happy Un-Birthday!
To everyone who’s birthday is from May 2 to January 18.
Question of the Day
Are we there yet?
Yesterday's question: What color are the Captains red glasses?
Answer: Blue
Television Programming
Ch. 2: Documentary about evil corporations (2004, 96min, PG-13)
Ch. 3: Documentary about greedy corporations (2007, 45min, NR)
Ch. 5: Foreign documentary about evil and greedy corporations, with subtitles (1995, 179min, PG)
Ch. 6: Titanic (1998)
Other
field office hours – tymitz sq.
CLOSED
Dining Hours
Breakfast 0700 – 0830
Lunch 1130 – 1330
Dinner 1730 – 1930
Medical Clinic – Deck 2
Hours:
Sick from food poisoning: 0800-0900
Sick from rocking ship: 1630-1730
Sick of your roommate: 1730-1930
Counseling Center – Deck 2
Hours:
See Quote of the Day
Dependent Children’s Program– Main Dining Room
Hours:
0845-1145 Home Schooling
1345-1545 Children’s production of Lord of the Flies
exerpts from the noon bridge report (as of April 1)
Latitude: Dunno
Longitude: Not sure
Sea Depth: Very deep
Distance to nearest land: We have no idea, but we can’t see it from here.
APRIL FOOLS!
Saturday, March 31, 2012
Friday, March 30, 2012
March 14, India Gurukulam School
In the afternoon we visited the Gurukulam school for children from families affected by the 2004 tsunami. I will include a service report with details about what I did and thought about while I was there visiting. But a comment that was not included in the report was while we were leaving the school, the children demonstrated their martial arts skills. The kata that they were there doing were very similar to the ones that I have learned when I was young. Being a third degree black belt, I was really excited about this revelation. I tried to tell the other SAS students but they didn’t realize how cool this was for me.
Service Report #4 : India
While I was on the Semester at Sea Rotarian home stay, we visited the Gurukulam School, established to educate children who were affected by the 2004 tsunami. The school was entirely run on private donations. Upon our arrival, two young girls placed gold paint on our foreheads and handed out sugar to suck on. The two story school building was pristine with a large field and a couple of rusty pieces of jungle gym equipment. The school taught up to level seven with the intention of achieving certification to teach eighth grade by the following year.
A new system in India is being implemented to test the qualification of the teachers in several subject matters. Children’s education is the most significant medium to give them the opportunity to success as adults, therefore testing teachers guarantees that students are educated when in the classroom. However, it may discourage other individuals from joining the teaching profession. In addition, the testing does not have internal validity because the tests are not created for the specific subject of the teacher. For example, a math teacher will be tested on English subject as well as math and vice versa.
After our lunch, I spent the majority of the day in the youngest classroom partly because I was being held captive my several little hands in mine and the constant “Ma’am look, look!”. In class we have discussed the reciprocity involved in what makes service, service. I had brought crayons and coloring books for the children to use as my gift to them. After each student had finished coloring their picture, they would hand them back to me enthusiastically. After they would constantly pick their drawing out of the pile and show me that it was theirs. This was truly special and profound moment for in the past when I had given toys or candy to children they were all too happy to run away with their prize without allowing a chance for me to play with them.
As these students looked up at me with these huge, excited smiles to give me their picture I realized the joy brought about through the act of giving. There is so much joy and happiness that one experiences as they give up something of themselves to others. I gave these small things with no intention to receive anything back and I was pleasantly surprised to see the children’s desire to reciprocate. I will take every one of those pictures back with me to college to remember the lesson I learned that day: the value of pure giving.
I had an exhausting day attempting to give each of the kids all my attention. They each were easily amused by my reactions, acutely aware of their peers’ emotions and invariably able to jump up after falling. After that day I truly appreciated and admired the seemingly simple yet beautifully complex mind of a child. One boy, who had shaped his silly putty like a snake, would hold it up to me and shout, “Snake!”. After I mimicked being scared, he would give me a high five and hand shake. He must have repeated this cycle with me twenty times but the excitement and expectation on his face was too much to deny giving him that simple reaction of looking scared.
On the play set, the boys showed off to me how they could jump off the monkey bars and one boy completely face planted, hopped up and went right back on. I was completely shocked. I babysat kids in the US who sob for hours after minor scrapes. Therefore as soon as I saw it happening, I knelt expecting him to start bawling. If only adults could pick themselves and move on that quickly after metaphorically falling on their face.
During recess, I played keep away with the soccer ball and held a class wide running race. The children had very little mastery over English so when they started chanting “running race”, I was actually afraid they were chanting something negative about me. Many other Semester at Sea (SAS) students had children in Africa chanting “white person” the entire time they were with them.
When we were in Brazil, I predicted that I would have trouble interacting with the children when there was a language barrier. But when I was allowed the time and patience in the Gurukulam school, I proved myself wrong. The language barrier was a minimal problem when I was with these kids for so much is communicated through body language and facial expressions. By talking in English to them even if they did not completely understand what I was saying, they could understand my tone of voice. It was difficult when one girl started crying and I had no idea what had happened. I had to find one of the older kids, who spoke English well, to tell me what she was saying. As long as the context gives meaning to the speech then the issues of a language barrier become minimal.
I have noticed an overarching theme at each of these school visits I have done which reflects a theme that Mr. Justus brought up when he spoke to our class. The children get so enthusiastic to have foreign visitors that they are distracted from their classes and school work. If Indian students came into our elementary schools, would they get a similar reaction? Would an entire day of school be halted to allow for the children to play with the foreigners? I highly doubt either of these situations would be the case. It is simple to see that these visits are doing more harm than good as they introduce power dynamics and take children away from their studies.
All of the students were more polite and less rambunctious then other schools we have attended in Africa for example. In addition many of these schools had very strict uniform restrictions; for example all the girls have their hair in braided pigtails that are looped up so that the end in pinned to their head. Every nation we have travelled to have a public school system with uniforms. However, only being there for a limited amount of time it as well as the complicated names it makes it extremely difficult to distinguish which child is which. As soon as I start getting the hang of it, it is time to leave.
Once the younger students we visited the classrooms of the 7th grade and they told us they wanted to be politicians, engineers, and doctors. We got the girls to show us a dance they knew. The guys helped them to sing the song since we didn’t have music. We had the Brazilian student with us so she and I showed the kids salsa! They also asked us to sing our national anthem and to say our pledge and then they said theirs after. It was perfect reciprocal exchange of culture. Both of the groups present had this burning desire to learn about the culture and way of life of the other group.
On the bus back to the city, they blasted Indian music for most our leaders and guides were in their twenties and we had a dance party. It was rough when the bus stopped short and everyone bumped into the person in front.
Upon returning to our homestay, our parents, Meena and Gireeshan brought us to a hotel to attend their local rotary meeting. It was perfect because the guest speaker discussed disabilities in Indian society. The other girl with me is studying speech disorders so she and I had tons of questions for them. The meeting focused on speech and seeing impairments.
Apparently, there is not nationwide system of sign language. The rotary club where Gireeshan works has a sister group in Malaysia where they are funding a supply of fresh water to a school there. He has spent a lot of time travelling back and forth there.
The rotary also works with a local school and hopes to send some of the students there on scholarship to Malaysia. Another aspect of the rotary club is fellowship and our parents had hosted a rotary party on the past New Years holiday. All the members of the club were very friendly and excited to talk to us about studying on the ship and such.
Here are some of the notes from the lecture
• Main goal is Inclusion in society
• Distributing information – starting to change people’s attitudes
• Break the prejudices through media (publish a magazine), employment and training programs, and host public events
• Trying to create a society for everyone
o New law creating two more coaches (buses) for the disability but why don’t you make all of them accessible
o Same there are two coach cars for trains for the disabled when they all should be
• Need to be a part of society where everyone is welcomed no matter how we look
• They have a film festival where one category is to make a 60 sec video conveying a message of inclusion
• Trying to change people’s perception
• Talked about access to entertainment
• Those who are deaf or hard of hearing should have the option of subtitles
• Many movies have captions now anyways to increase the population watching because of the language situation in India where many people don’t understand Hindi or the local language
• For those are blind they are starting to have audio description that will provide background about what is happening on the screen
• They do not have the funding to do infrared with headphones in the theatre but instead there is a way to get an FM station that one can reach through their phone
• Hope to make this routine throughout the country
• Schools can no longer turn disabled children away
• Attitude where people assume those with disabilities aren’t educated
• They are having trouble collecting statistics because people were not counting those who were disabled in the census
• A new law is coming out that they are hoping to change this
• Those who are deaf are discouraged from signing therefore it is very difficult to communicate
• Many people lack the patience to try
After the rotary meeting, we went to a Chinese restaurant with Meena’s niece, husband and daughter. I really liked her niece because she had a lot of spunk and attitude. The daughter, Tara (which means Star) was seven and at first very shy with us. She played with me for a bit while we were at the house which was fun. It was adorable while we were at dinner because she fell asleep and had to be carried down.
While we were at the restaurant, Liz and I were looking at the menu and started discussing what we wanted to order. However our family eats their meals at the restaurant family style so they ordered several dishes of dinner for all of us to share (think Carmine’s in NYC). That difference in expectations of protocol at a restaurant reflects the different values of collective and individualistic cultures. Liz and I were simply worrying about what we had wanted to eat while the ultimate decision was a shared one with the family. I really enjoyed the Indian version of Chinese food and it was a good prep for China!
At dinner we talked about the TV show Big Bang Theory and how sophisticated the script is. Basically Meena’s niece mentioned how difficult it must be to know that much about math and science to use it for puns and jokes. It is strange to me that I was eating dinner in India and I was having the same conversation I had in the states multiple times. Talking about my parent’s favorite show also made me feel like I was at home talking to them about the latest episode.
Mohitha had turned 18 last year and has just started learning how to drive which must be a formidable task in India because of the hectic traffic. The majority of the cars are manual transmission so she is still trying to get a hang of that as well. She drove us to the restaurant and back and it was interesting to see her parents guiding her like my parents would me. In addition, they were her extra eyes because the traffic is just so unpredictable, whether people swerve in front of you or not. She stalled a couple times but other than that, she was very cautious and performed better than I ever could do in that traffic.
We were waiting at a red light at one point and there was no incoming traffic from the other side so almost every car behind of us started honking. It was the strangest thing to see four lanes of traffic to completely run a red light because there was nobody else on the other side. I mean it makes sense logically, the traffic lights are meant to regulate traffic but if there is nobody to wait for then they become negligible.
That night we went on line to Facebook and Mohitha showed me her pictures and her brothers as well. Bonding with other teens is similar whether at home or across the world: lets stalk each other’s Facebook.
Service Report #4 : India
While I was on the Semester at Sea Rotarian home stay, we visited the Gurukulam School, established to educate children who were affected by the 2004 tsunami. The school was entirely run on private donations. Upon our arrival, two young girls placed gold paint on our foreheads and handed out sugar to suck on. The two story school building was pristine with a large field and a couple of rusty pieces of jungle gym equipment. The school taught up to level seven with the intention of achieving certification to teach eighth grade by the following year.
A new system in India is being implemented to test the qualification of the teachers in several subject matters. Children’s education is the most significant medium to give them the opportunity to success as adults, therefore testing teachers guarantees that students are educated when in the classroom. However, it may discourage other individuals from joining the teaching profession. In addition, the testing does not have internal validity because the tests are not created for the specific subject of the teacher. For example, a math teacher will be tested on English subject as well as math and vice versa.
After our lunch, I spent the majority of the day in the youngest classroom partly because I was being held captive my several little hands in mine and the constant “Ma’am look, look!”. In class we have discussed the reciprocity involved in what makes service, service. I had brought crayons and coloring books for the children to use as my gift to them. After each student had finished coloring their picture, they would hand them back to me enthusiastically. After they would constantly pick their drawing out of the pile and show me that it was theirs. This was truly special and profound moment for in the past when I had given toys or candy to children they were all too happy to run away with their prize without allowing a chance for me to play with them.
As these students looked up at me with these huge, excited smiles to give me their picture I realized the joy brought about through the act of giving. There is so much joy and happiness that one experiences as they give up something of themselves to others. I gave these small things with no intention to receive anything back and I was pleasantly surprised to see the children’s desire to reciprocate. I will take every one of those pictures back with me to college to remember the lesson I learned that day: the value of pure giving.
I had an exhausting day attempting to give each of the kids all my attention. They each were easily amused by my reactions, acutely aware of their peers’ emotions and invariably able to jump up after falling. After that day I truly appreciated and admired the seemingly simple yet beautifully complex mind of a child. One boy, who had shaped his silly putty like a snake, would hold it up to me and shout, “Snake!”. After I mimicked being scared, he would give me a high five and hand shake. He must have repeated this cycle with me twenty times but the excitement and expectation on his face was too much to deny giving him that simple reaction of looking scared.
On the play set, the boys showed off to me how they could jump off the monkey bars and one boy completely face planted, hopped up and went right back on. I was completely shocked. I babysat kids in the US who sob for hours after minor scrapes. Therefore as soon as I saw it happening, I knelt expecting him to start bawling. If only adults could pick themselves and move on that quickly after metaphorically falling on their face.
During recess, I played keep away with the soccer ball and held a class wide running race. The children had very little mastery over English so when they started chanting “running race”, I was actually afraid they were chanting something negative about me. Many other Semester at Sea (SAS) students had children in Africa chanting “white person” the entire time they were with them.
When we were in Brazil, I predicted that I would have trouble interacting with the children when there was a language barrier. But when I was allowed the time and patience in the Gurukulam school, I proved myself wrong. The language barrier was a minimal problem when I was with these kids for so much is communicated through body language and facial expressions. By talking in English to them even if they did not completely understand what I was saying, they could understand my tone of voice. It was difficult when one girl started crying and I had no idea what had happened. I had to find one of the older kids, who spoke English well, to tell me what she was saying. As long as the context gives meaning to the speech then the issues of a language barrier become minimal.
I have noticed an overarching theme at each of these school visits I have done which reflects a theme that Mr. Justus brought up when he spoke to our class. The children get so enthusiastic to have foreign visitors that they are distracted from their classes and school work. If Indian students came into our elementary schools, would they get a similar reaction? Would an entire day of school be halted to allow for the children to play with the foreigners? I highly doubt either of these situations would be the case. It is simple to see that these visits are doing more harm than good as they introduce power dynamics and take children away from their studies.
All of the students were more polite and less rambunctious then other schools we have attended in Africa for example. In addition many of these schools had very strict uniform restrictions; for example all the girls have their hair in braided pigtails that are looped up so that the end in pinned to their head. Every nation we have travelled to have a public school system with uniforms. However, only being there for a limited amount of time it as well as the complicated names it makes it extremely difficult to distinguish which child is which. As soon as I start getting the hang of it, it is time to leave.
Once the younger students we visited the classrooms of the 7th grade and they told us they wanted to be politicians, engineers, and doctors. We got the girls to show us a dance they knew. The guys helped them to sing the song since we didn’t have music. We had the Brazilian student with us so she and I showed the kids salsa! They also asked us to sing our national anthem and to say our pledge and then they said theirs after. It was perfect reciprocal exchange of culture. Both of the groups present had this burning desire to learn about the culture and way of life of the other group.
On the bus back to the city, they blasted Indian music for most our leaders and guides were in their twenties and we had a dance party. It was rough when the bus stopped short and everyone bumped into the person in front.
Upon returning to our homestay, our parents, Meena and Gireeshan brought us to a hotel to attend their local rotary meeting. It was perfect because the guest speaker discussed disabilities in Indian society. The other girl with me is studying speech disorders so she and I had tons of questions for them. The meeting focused on speech and seeing impairments.
Apparently, there is not nationwide system of sign language. The rotary club where Gireeshan works has a sister group in Malaysia where they are funding a supply of fresh water to a school there. He has spent a lot of time travelling back and forth there.
The rotary also works with a local school and hopes to send some of the students there on scholarship to Malaysia. Another aspect of the rotary club is fellowship and our parents had hosted a rotary party on the past New Years holiday. All the members of the club were very friendly and excited to talk to us about studying on the ship and such.
Here are some of the notes from the lecture
• Main goal is Inclusion in society
• Distributing information – starting to change people’s attitudes
• Break the prejudices through media (publish a magazine), employment and training programs, and host public events
• Trying to create a society for everyone
o New law creating two more coaches (buses) for the disability but why don’t you make all of them accessible
o Same there are two coach cars for trains for the disabled when they all should be
• Need to be a part of society where everyone is welcomed no matter how we look
• They have a film festival where one category is to make a 60 sec video conveying a message of inclusion
• Trying to change people’s perception
• Talked about access to entertainment
• Those who are deaf or hard of hearing should have the option of subtitles
• Many movies have captions now anyways to increase the population watching because of the language situation in India where many people don’t understand Hindi or the local language
• For those are blind they are starting to have audio description that will provide background about what is happening on the screen
• They do not have the funding to do infrared with headphones in the theatre but instead there is a way to get an FM station that one can reach through their phone
• Hope to make this routine throughout the country
• Schools can no longer turn disabled children away
• Attitude where people assume those with disabilities aren’t educated
• They are having trouble collecting statistics because people were not counting those who were disabled in the census
• A new law is coming out that they are hoping to change this
• Those who are deaf are discouraged from signing therefore it is very difficult to communicate
• Many people lack the patience to try
After the rotary meeting, we went to a Chinese restaurant with Meena’s niece, husband and daughter. I really liked her niece because she had a lot of spunk and attitude. The daughter, Tara (which means Star) was seven and at first very shy with us. She played with me for a bit while we were at the house which was fun. It was adorable while we were at dinner because she fell asleep and had to be carried down.
While we were at the restaurant, Liz and I were looking at the menu and started discussing what we wanted to order. However our family eats their meals at the restaurant family style so they ordered several dishes of dinner for all of us to share (think Carmine’s in NYC). That difference in expectations of protocol at a restaurant reflects the different values of collective and individualistic cultures. Liz and I were simply worrying about what we had wanted to eat while the ultimate decision was a shared one with the family. I really enjoyed the Indian version of Chinese food and it was a good prep for China!
At dinner we talked about the TV show Big Bang Theory and how sophisticated the script is. Basically Meena’s niece mentioned how difficult it must be to know that much about math and science to use it for puns and jokes. It is strange to me that I was eating dinner in India and I was having the same conversation I had in the states multiple times. Talking about my parent’s favorite show also made me feel like I was at home talking to them about the latest episode.
Mohitha had turned 18 last year and has just started learning how to drive which must be a formidable task in India because of the hectic traffic. The majority of the cars are manual transmission so she is still trying to get a hang of that as well. She drove us to the restaurant and back and it was interesting to see her parents guiding her like my parents would me. In addition, they were her extra eyes because the traffic is just so unpredictable, whether people swerve in front of you or not. She stalled a couple times but other than that, she was very cautious and performed better than I ever could do in that traffic.
We were waiting at a red light at one point and there was no incoming traffic from the other side so almost every car behind of us started honking. It was the strangest thing to see four lanes of traffic to completely run a red light because there was nobody else on the other side. I mean it makes sense logically, the traffic lights are meant to regulate traffic but if there is nobody to wait for then they become negligible.
That night we went on line to Facebook and Mohitha showed me her pictures and her brothers as well. Bonding with other teens is similar whether at home or across the world: lets stalk each other’s Facebook.
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Singapore, March 22
Singapore is a huge futuristic city that has the most unique building architecture.
It was impeccably clean with the majority of the people dressed in business casual connected to their phones. I felt that the people there were very work obsessive and because of the strict rules that they have little freedom of speech.
It was very humid while we were there and Ev and I actually got caught in a thunderstorm. After the storm cleared up, it was a lot cooler.
It was impeccably clean with the majority of the people dressed in business casual connected to their phones. I felt that the people there were very work obsessive and because of the strict rules that they have little freedom of speech.
It was very humid while we were there and Ev and I actually got caught in a thunderstorm. After the storm cleared up, it was a lot cooler.
Starry, Starry Nights
Back in the earlier explorer days, the stars played a huge role in navigating the seven seas. Times have changed, and thankfully the crew on the MV Explorer's bridge has much more advanced technology. But the stars are still there.
If you enjoy star-gazing at home, just imagine the skies out on the open ocean where there's nothing else around to block your view. Once or twice a voyage, the ship's captain declares an official star-gazing night to fully appreciate the ship's celestial setting. The crew cuts the lights, students flood to Deck 7 port-side, and the show begins. The reflection of the moon wobbles on the rolling tides and hundreds of students find a space on the deck to stare skyward. There's no better option for a late-night study break on our floating world campus.
When I was younger, my dad used to take me to Young’s Park in Branford when the astronomy club from New Haven would meet with telescopes set up throughout the park to look at the stars and planets. The park was great because there were no lights to distract from the view. We actually met an author and purchased his book on how the city and shopping center lights affect the view for star gazing. So seeing the stars with no distraction of lights or trees was really incredible and meaningful to me.
If you enjoy star-gazing at home, just imagine the skies out on the open ocean where there's nothing else around to block your view. Once or twice a voyage, the ship's captain declares an official star-gazing night to fully appreciate the ship's celestial setting. The crew cuts the lights, students flood to Deck 7 port-side, and the show begins. The reflection of the moon wobbles on the rolling tides and hundreds of students find a space on the deck to stare skyward. There's no better option for a late-night study break on our floating world campus.
When I was younger, my dad used to take me to Young’s Park in Branford when the astronomy club from New Haven would meet with telescopes set up throughout the park to look at the stars and planets. The park was great because there were no lights to distract from the view. We actually met an author and purchased his book on how the city and shopping center lights affect the view for star gazing. So seeing the stars with no distraction of lights or trees was really incredible and meaningful to me.
Sunday, March 25, 2012
Languages of India
Field assignment #3
Out of all the countries that we have travelled to India has the most diverse and complicated language system. There are twenty one languages recognized by the government but over eight hundred exist within the country. Each region or state has their own official language. For example, the port city where the MV Explorer docked, Kochi, is in the state of Kerala where they speak Malayalam. However, the neighboring state, Tamil Nadu, has a completely different language which is Tamil. These languages share a couple words but for the languages are not mutually intelligible which is characteristic of all of the state languages in India. English and Hindi are also widely spoken throughout India but there are also many who do not know one or both of these languages.
For the majority of my stay in India I did a home stay where I was to have extensive conversations trying to wrap my head of the nature of language in their country. For example, Gireeshan, my home stay dad, born and raised in Kerala spoke Malayalam growing up. He then moved to Chennai, in Tamil Nadu, for work and because that region speaks Tamil he was forced to learn it. He said he had difficulty picking it up at first because it is a completely different language. He could understand a couple words but for the most part is was unintelligible to him. He also grew up learning Hindi and English in school. His wife, Meena, grew up in Chennai (therefore she knows Tamil), however her mother tongue is Malayalam because her parents were from Kerala. Meena knows English from school but barely any Hindi, because Tamil Nadu does not promote the education of it. Their daughter, Mohitha’s native tongue is Malayalam which she speaks at home. She has never received any formal education in Tamil so she has trouble reading bus schedules and other signs. The Gireeshan family though is able to travel to other Indian states and internationally because of their mastery over English and (for at least two of them) Hindi.
Gireeshan stated that Hindi is the national language of India. But there are some provinces or states where they actually discourage the use of the Hindi language. For example, the state “Tamil Nadu”, which literally means the “land of Tamil” , has pride for their language and does not want the government to force them to learn Hindi when they have their own. For that reason, many of the people in this region cannot understand or speak Hindi. Also, English is spoken by a large portion of the population, but the level of fluency is very diverse depending on the social level of the individual in India.
I found that many of the taxi drivers, maids, drivers and beggars spoke very little or no English. However, the business men and managers had grown up learning English and use it in their international travels. I was able to discuss politics, cultural difference or any other topic with these individuals.
I attended a rotary meeting with my family that was entirely conducted in English. This shows that the English language is alive in upper social status while in other regions in the North the speakers may not be as proficient. They explained that when they travel to other states in India where they may speak another language they are usually able to communicate through English to other Indians. Meena actually made a comment to me about how the Chinese stated it was very difficult for them to learn English and she was frustrated about how difficult it made their holiday when they went there.
At this kindergarten class the kids knew barely any English. All I heard them say was “maam”, “crying”, “snake” and “running race”. The children sang “Old McDonald” and “Bingo” for me but I only knew it was that song because of the beat. It was hard to understand their words. The teachers knew limited English as well, which was hopefully why they were in the younger classrooms. Some of the older children were farther along in their studies and we were able to have conversations with them. The best part was that the language barrier did not stop these kids from chasing me and playing!
Words in Tamil
- Tara: star
- vannakum: greeting
- nandhri- thank you
- nadu: place
- nallairuku: very nice
- Nadu: place
Indian names for food
Appum – rice pancake
Dosa- rice and lentils pancake
Sambah- brown stew
Puri- oily fried dough
Malayalam
madayan - fool
bhosku "lie"
dustu impurity
eebhyan good-for-nothing fellow
Tree maram
Elephant āna
Human manuṣyan
Dog paṭṭi
Out of all the countries that we have travelled to India has the most diverse and complicated language system. There are twenty one languages recognized by the government but over eight hundred exist within the country. Each region or state has their own official language. For example, the port city where the MV Explorer docked, Kochi, is in the state of Kerala where they speak Malayalam. However, the neighboring state, Tamil Nadu, has a completely different language which is Tamil. These languages share a couple words but for the languages are not mutually intelligible which is characteristic of all of the state languages in India. English and Hindi are also widely spoken throughout India but there are also many who do not know one or both of these languages.
For the majority of my stay in India I did a home stay where I was to have extensive conversations trying to wrap my head of the nature of language in their country. For example, Gireeshan, my home stay dad, born and raised in Kerala spoke Malayalam growing up. He then moved to Chennai, in Tamil Nadu, for work and because that region speaks Tamil he was forced to learn it. He said he had difficulty picking it up at first because it is a completely different language. He could understand a couple words but for the most part is was unintelligible to him. He also grew up learning Hindi and English in school. His wife, Meena, grew up in Chennai (therefore she knows Tamil), however her mother tongue is Malayalam because her parents were from Kerala. Meena knows English from school but barely any Hindi, because Tamil Nadu does not promote the education of it. Their daughter, Mohitha’s native tongue is Malayalam which she speaks at home. She has never received any formal education in Tamil so she has trouble reading bus schedules and other signs. The Gireeshan family though is able to travel to other Indian states and internationally because of their mastery over English and (for at least two of them) Hindi.
Gireeshan stated that Hindi is the national language of India. But there are some provinces or states where they actually discourage the use of the Hindi language. For example, the state “Tamil Nadu”, which literally means the “land of Tamil” , has pride for their language and does not want the government to force them to learn Hindi when they have their own. For that reason, many of the people in this region cannot understand or speak Hindi. Also, English is spoken by a large portion of the population, but the level of fluency is very diverse depending on the social level of the individual in India.
I found that many of the taxi drivers, maids, drivers and beggars spoke very little or no English. However, the business men and managers had grown up learning English and use it in their international travels. I was able to discuss politics, cultural difference or any other topic with these individuals.
I attended a rotary meeting with my family that was entirely conducted in English. This shows that the English language is alive in upper social status while in other regions in the North the speakers may not be as proficient. They explained that when they travel to other states in India where they may speak another language they are usually able to communicate through English to other Indians. Meena actually made a comment to me about how the Chinese stated it was very difficult for them to learn English and she was frustrated about how difficult it made their holiday when they went there.
At this kindergarten class the kids knew barely any English. All I heard them say was “maam”, “crying”, “snake” and “running race”. The children sang “Old McDonald” and “Bingo” for me but I only knew it was that song because of the beat. It was hard to understand their words. The teachers knew limited English as well, which was hopefully why they were in the younger classrooms. Some of the older children were farther along in their studies and we were able to have conversations with them. The best part was that the language barrier did not stop these kids from chasing me and playing!
Words in Tamil
- Tara: star
- vannakum: greeting
- nandhri- thank you
- nadu: place
- nallairuku: very nice
- Nadu: place
Indian names for food
Appum – rice pancake
Dosa- rice and lentils pancake
Sambah- brown stew
Puri- oily fried dough
Malayalam
madayan - fool
bhosku "lie"
dustu impurity
eebhyan good-for-nothing fellow
Tree maram
Elephant āna
Human manuṣyan
Dog paṭṭi
Saturday, March 24, 2012
South Africa through the Lens of SAS
570 students. 60 programs. 6 days. Watch this amazing video to get a sense of the culture, community, wildlife, and landscape of Cape Town during the Spring 2012 voyage’s stop at the southern tip of Africa. Music by interport lecturer Sheriff Ghale.
South Africa - Through Our Lens from Semester at Sea on Vimeo.
South Africa through the Lens of the Semester at Sea students 2012.
March 14, 2012 - Chennai, India Homestay and Temple
At 4:00, the four of us left for the train station to pick up their 18 year old daughter, Mohitha. Everyday Mohitha takes a bus then a train, for an hour, to and from her university. Her university encourages people to commute instead of live in the hostels (dorms) on campus because there is not enough housing for everyone. There is little opportunity for Mohitha to hang out with friends outside of school because of the distance and travel.
Mohitha is enrolled in an Engineering College where she attends classes from 8- 5, five days a week. In her first year she has to pick a specialization in Engineering and that will be the subject of the majority of her classes for the rest of the four years. She stated that you cannot change your type of engineering if you don’t like it because when you switch to a new topic, you have to start all over again. I asked her to explain her specialization and she had trouble putting a brief version into layman’s terms because of the way teachers explained it to her. I believe that this intensive education level provided to Indian college students gives them a huge advantage in the foreign job markets.
Mohitha also remarked that she did want to study in the US like her brother because she could not be that far away from home. It is interesting to see the different sentiments of the two siblings. She does a classical Indian dance known as Bahaka which was very intensive and involved a graduation ceremony where they danced for hours on end and the entire family attended. I got to see the pictures of her wearing jewelry, make up, and in costume. They did a worship of the dance god before they started which really interested me.
That night we attended a Rotary meeting with the other students of the homestays and got a chance for all the families to get together and socialize and discuss what each of the groups was involved in. Before we had left, my homestay mom gave me a local outfit to wear including a bindi for my forehead. She told me bindis were used for beauty and decoration. We had high tea there with some food and dessert.
After the Rotary meeting, our family brought us to the Skywalk mall to go shopping. The mall was huge there was a walkway on the top floor near the cinema. They brought us to a store known as Westside which is separated into a part known as “Indian Wear” and then another with “Western Wear”. Apparently the stores prices are going up because it is getting notoriety in India.
I bought a lot of kurtas which look like tunics with bright leggings/ pants. I went to the shoe section and my feet could not fit into the biggest size that they had. The employee helped me find a pair of sandals that are wearable. I also shopped for sunglasses because mine had recently broke and four salesmen surrounded me. Apparently shop lifting is a serious problem so they had to unlock each rack. They kept handing me pair after pair. I felt very awkward to be catered to like that in addition to have each of them watch me as I tried each one on. I had thought that they were 279 Rupees which is about $5 US, then I saw him write in the amount and they were 2799 Rupees which is about $40 so I had to decline buying them. After we had finished our purchases we headed back to their house. I took a nice shower and I had passed out in my king size bed.
Just a quick note on the interesting way that Indian people communicate; they do a head bobble side to side while you’re talking to agree with what you are saying. It almost looks like they are saying no or it is just distracting to watch them. They also have some very distinct hand movements when saying yes, end phrases with “ya ya” and when they want you to follow them they repeat “come come come”.
On the third day (the 14th of March) after our sophisticated home cooked breakfast with dosa and chicken and potato stew, we met with the rest of the SAS (Semester at Sea) homestay people to visit this area of Tamil Nadu ( the state Chennai is in ) with ancient Hindu temples. I discussed the Hindu religion a lot with my family. They explained that unlike other major religions, Hindu doesn’t observe any strict guidelines about when and how to worship. My family usually does not go that often to temple and would only go when there is a social event. For example, they would go with other rotary members when invited. Even the restriction on beef is not strictly observed. While I was with them, Meena ate beef one night at dinner.
The religion has a huge pantheon of gods and in that way can accept and explain other major religions. For example, they will worship Jesus as a god because it is not a big deal to add another god to worship. There are three major gods, the creator, the preserver and the destroyer. The creator god had an elephant head for a head and there was an associate story to explain it. This was prayed to before any major projects that one endeavored to do. The god Shiva will never exist in statue form because he was cursed that nobody would be able to worship him in that way. Because the religion believes in incarnation, many people will not eat meat. The restaurants distinguish on the signs whether they offer non-vegetarian (meat) or vegetarian meals. Meena’s niece does not eat non-vegetarian (meat) on Saturdays when she used to go to temple, which was difficult for me to understand or translate the double negative.
The temples we visited were built 2,000 years ago and were carved out on one piece of stone that had been dragged from a very long distance. It had not even been finished. It had very intricate carvings inside and outside of the main building and there was only a small hallway inside with small rooms coming off of it. We visited two other ones with similar carvings. There were a lot of other tourists there and the sun was beating down on us so it was uncomfortable.
There were young girls walking around on the temples that were ten and twelve that were chatting with us. I was suspicious about why they were there without adults but as we left, I understood why. They had goods to sell to us and that’s why they were talking to us before. I had a lot of terrible stories about the street kids in these second and third world countries and I refused to buy anything from them. However, it is sad to see children that young already losing their childhood because of poor social conditions.
Mohitha is enrolled in an Engineering College where she attends classes from 8- 5, five days a week. In her first year she has to pick a specialization in Engineering and that will be the subject of the majority of her classes for the rest of the four years. She stated that you cannot change your type of engineering if you don’t like it because when you switch to a new topic, you have to start all over again. I asked her to explain her specialization and she had trouble putting a brief version into layman’s terms because of the way teachers explained it to her. I believe that this intensive education level provided to Indian college students gives them a huge advantage in the foreign job markets.
Mohitha also remarked that she did want to study in the US like her brother because she could not be that far away from home. It is interesting to see the different sentiments of the two siblings. She does a classical Indian dance known as Bahaka which was very intensive and involved a graduation ceremony where they danced for hours on end and the entire family attended. I got to see the pictures of her wearing jewelry, make up, and in costume. They did a worship of the dance god before they started which really interested me.
That night we attended a Rotary meeting with the other students of the homestays and got a chance for all the families to get together and socialize and discuss what each of the groups was involved in. Before we had left, my homestay mom gave me a local outfit to wear including a bindi for my forehead. She told me bindis were used for beauty and decoration. We had high tea there with some food and dessert.
After the Rotary meeting, our family brought us to the Skywalk mall to go shopping. The mall was huge there was a walkway on the top floor near the cinema. They brought us to a store known as Westside which is separated into a part known as “Indian Wear” and then another with “Western Wear”. Apparently the stores prices are going up because it is getting notoriety in India.
I bought a lot of kurtas which look like tunics with bright leggings/ pants. I went to the shoe section and my feet could not fit into the biggest size that they had. The employee helped me find a pair of sandals that are wearable. I also shopped for sunglasses because mine had recently broke and four salesmen surrounded me. Apparently shop lifting is a serious problem so they had to unlock each rack. They kept handing me pair after pair. I felt very awkward to be catered to like that in addition to have each of them watch me as I tried each one on. I had thought that they were 279 Rupees which is about $5 US, then I saw him write in the amount and they were 2799 Rupees which is about $40 so I had to decline buying them. After we had finished our purchases we headed back to their house. I took a nice shower and I had passed out in my king size bed.
Just a quick note on the interesting way that Indian people communicate; they do a head bobble side to side while you’re talking to agree with what you are saying. It almost looks like they are saying no or it is just distracting to watch them. They also have some very distinct hand movements when saying yes, end phrases with “ya ya” and when they want you to follow them they repeat “come come come”.
On the third day (the 14th of March) after our sophisticated home cooked breakfast with dosa and chicken and potato stew, we met with the rest of the SAS (Semester at Sea) homestay people to visit this area of Tamil Nadu ( the state Chennai is in ) with ancient Hindu temples. I discussed the Hindu religion a lot with my family. They explained that unlike other major religions, Hindu doesn’t observe any strict guidelines about when and how to worship. My family usually does not go that often to temple and would only go when there is a social event. For example, they would go with other rotary members when invited. Even the restriction on beef is not strictly observed. While I was with them, Meena ate beef one night at dinner.
The religion has a huge pantheon of gods and in that way can accept and explain other major religions. For example, they will worship Jesus as a god because it is not a big deal to add another god to worship. There are three major gods, the creator, the preserver and the destroyer. The creator god had an elephant head for a head and there was an associate story to explain it. This was prayed to before any major projects that one endeavored to do. The god Shiva will never exist in statue form because he was cursed that nobody would be able to worship him in that way. Because the religion believes in incarnation, many people will not eat meat. The restaurants distinguish on the signs whether they offer non-vegetarian (meat) or vegetarian meals. Meena’s niece does not eat non-vegetarian (meat) on Saturdays when she used to go to temple, which was difficult for me to understand or translate the double negative.
The temples we visited were built 2,000 years ago and were carved out on one piece of stone that had been dragged from a very long distance. It had not even been finished. It had very intricate carvings inside and outside of the main building and there was only a small hallway inside with small rooms coming off of it. We visited two other ones with similar carvings. There were a lot of other tourists there and the sun was beating down on us so it was uncomfortable.
There were young girls walking around on the temples that were ten and twelve that were chatting with us. I was suspicious about why they were there without adults but as we left, I understood why. They had goods to sell to us and that’s why they were talking to us before. I had a lot of terrible stories about the street kids in these second and third world countries and I refused to buy anything from them. However, it is sad to see children that young already losing their childhood because of poor social conditions.
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