Neptune Day

The neptune day ceremony when we crossed the equator was tons of fun. We were all a little unsure of what to expect, but it turned out to be a fun ceremony.  Neptune day is an old sailor's tradition. The ceremony of moving from a 'pollywog' to a 'shellback' occurs when a person crosses the equator by the sea for the first time.  Our day began when the crew all dressed up and paraded up and down all the corridors where our rooms are with drums and instruments to wake us up. It was at 7:30 am, which seemed a little early since we thought we were going to be able to sleep in.  The ceremony started at 9am. We all lined up behind the pool and had no clue what to expect. Once the ceremony began the 'king and queen' entered with their court of 'royals'.  It really was the Captain, the Assistant Dean, and the faculty and staff. They were all dressed up. The captain was even painted lime green from head to toe!!  Before he would allow us to continue into the Southern hemisphere we had to perform a ritual he required of all of us.

 

First, we had to line up by the pool and one by one a goopy- slime was poured over our heads.  After we got covered in slime we had to jump into the pool and swim across. We climed out the other side of the pool and we had to 'pay our respects' to the 'royal court'. First we had to kiss a fish (yes, a real one!), then we were 'knighted' by the royal court. We had to kiss the queens hand and bow to the king and then we were allowed to enter the Southern Hemisphere.  Then the royal court began shaving peoples heads. We did not HAVE to shave our heads, but I think about 65 people chose to!!! Some girls even shaved their heads! 

 

The whole ceremony was fun and it was nice to have the whole shipboard community involved. Of course the whole thing was just created for fun, but it was a good time. The cleanup after the ceremony looked rather intense though because the whole pool deck was pink and green and slimy and the water in the pool was dark gray! 

Photos

This photo is from the Torgorme Village during one of the drumming and dancing demonstrations.

Photos

This is a photo from one of the villages with the bubbles!

Ghana Post 3 - Villages

While in Ghana I had the opportunity to witness a few villages. The first village was an entirely unplanned occurence. During my trip to the volta region I rode on the short bus. We had  two busses (one with about 45 students, and one with about 10. My bus had to wait for the big bus, so we had just pulled over on the side of a road. We got out of the bus to stretch while waiting for the other bus and were taking pictures of a village near the road. While we were taking pictures, one of the people of the village came by and asked us if we would like to come in, of course we did not pass up the chance and walked with the man down into the village. The man we had met first spoke English, but we sooned learned that he was one of the few in the village that spoke English.  As we walked into the village kids began to poke their heads out of their huts and smile and wave, soon enough we were being followed into the village center by a whole swarm of kids!  They were super cute. One of the young girls (probably about 3 years old) just walked up to one of the students and jumped into her arms. She had no choice but to pick her up and just hold her. Soon a women of the village walked by and said to the student "that is my child". I was worried that the women would be upset, but as soon as the student began to apoligize and set the child down, the women said "no, no, sweet child".  The women just smiled and continued on with her business. I was so surprised.  I could not imagine anything like that happening in the United States and a mother being so trusting as to let a stranger hold her young child. This women though was just so kind and trusting that she knew that we were not going to harm her child, and was happy to let the student continue to hold her child.  Showing her trust even more was when the women continued walking to attend to her business even though she knew her child was in the hands of this stranger.  It was a very sincere moment, and one that I will not soon forget.  The other children in the village were a little more apprehensive of us.  SInce this village was a small village that probably had never seen tourists before, they were probably a little weirded out by how different the group of white tourists were from their family.  The kids did not speak english, but loved to giggle.  We took tons of pictures of the kids, and then showed them the pictures on our cameras. They loved to see the pictures of themselves, so it turned into quite an event of taking pictures and sharing them with the kids.  Some of us had little toys in our bags which were HUGE hits!  I had some little squishy balls in my backpack that were red white and blue, and the kids loved them!  Some other people had some stickers which also were well liked.  Before we knew it we had to return to the bus. The short look into the village though was an experience I wont forget.

Another village I got to experience was a very short stop. WHile we were waiting to load our bus we had the chance to hang out with some kids who had congregated around our bus while we were hiking. We played soccer (futbol) with them for a little bit and then a few students on the bus pulled out little gifts for the kids. I had remembered my bubbles, which were a huge hit. THey loved the bubbles!  I will attach a picture of the kids and the bubbles.

The last village that we visited was a planned visit. The Torgorme village had been contacted by a travel agent through Semester at Sea and was hosting a few different groups to come into their village. They prepared a traditional African naming ceremony along with drumming and dancing to show us. The entire village attended the event with us. All of the kids were released from school for the morning so that they could take part in the ceremony. SOme of the kids were just there to watch, but many took part in the ceremony either by one of the dancing groups, or by being a part of the drum core.  It was so cool to see. Most of the village dressed in their traditional ceremony wear which was cool to see. The chief of the village was even present for the event.  During our time at Torgorme we were each given a traditional African name.  I was given the name Arzo Venunye, which represents the name of the weekday I was born on, and a traditional African name.  We also were expected to try some of the African dances along with the village people. We tried many times, but I am sure we just looked silly. Even very young children were a part of the dancing, and we could not figure it out!!


I will post more soon!

Mount Afadjato and Wli Waterfalls

I climbed the HIGHEST MOUNTAIN in Ghana!  It was a very strenuous hike. Much more strenuous than I had imagined it would be. They did not tell us ahead of time that we were hiking a mountain, just that we were going for a hike.  The mountain is 880 m high. That is the same height as two empire state buildings stacked on top of each other!!!  I was so impressed that I was able to make it. A lot of students did not make it to the top.  It was very hot and I was very dizzy during the hardest parts of the hike. During portions of the hike, it was so steep that we had to use our hands and feet to get up certain areas. Instead of hiking like at home, the path went directly up one side of the mountain instead of zig-zagging back and forth to make the grade less steep. Once we got to the top we could see the neighboring country of Togo.  The panoramic view from the top was fantastic. The descent back down the mountain was nearly as strenuous as the way up! It was difficult because some of the rocks were slippery, and with the grade being so steep we had to be careful not to slip and slide.  I only wiped out once, and it wasn’t too bad.  I had drank my whole Nalgene bottle on the way up, so when we got back down to the bottom I had to buy some more water. In Ghana the water is not safe to drink, so we had to purchase water. In order to cut down on some of the trash/waste associated with bottled water (all the bottles), Ghana has changed to a system of bagged water.  It is similar to those pouches of milk that some elementary schools have, but you have to just bite off one of the corners and drink it out of the bag instead of with a straw. The water did not taste great, but after the hike I was so thirsty that I was willing to drink it. 

After our hike, our guide took us to some waterfalls to cool off. The waterfall was AWESOME! It is the highest waterfall in Ghana. The water begins its descent in Togo and lands in Ghana. Since it falls from such a great height, when it hits the water at the bottom it creates such a force that there is a constant wind generated. The wind picks up all the splashed water so even from a great distance away from the falls there is a mist, and as you get closer to the water it turns into a solid sideways rain. We were able to swim in the pool created at the bottom of the waterfall! We wanted to get close to the waterfall, but you could not walk facing it because of the water flying around. We had to walk backwards towards the falls and our backs were getting pelted with all the water from the falls.  It was really interesting because it was SUCH a strong force from the water falls that the wind and water flying from the bottom were strong enough to tip us right over!  I walked back as far as I could towards the waterfall until I was not strong enough to walk any further because of the wind.  I tried to get some pictures of the waterfall, but since there was no ‘dry spot’ even within view of the waterfalls, I was not able to get great pictures because I did not want to wreck my camera.

Ghana Post 2 - Tafi Atome

Tafi Atome and the Sacred Monkeys-

One of the villages on our itinerary was the village of Tafi Atome. This was a planned stop because Tafi Atome is unique in their relationship with the monkeys surronding their area. The village views the monkeys as sacred, and has created a monkey reserve around the village so that no one can harm the monkeys.  The village made the decision to protect the monkeys because of their ancient history and the monkeys that surrounded their lands ever since the began their immigration through Africa. The people of the village believe that the monkeys followed them all the way to their location.. The monkeys now are so used to the people, that twice a day they come into the village. Once in the morning to get fed breakfast, and once in the evening to get fed dinner.  During the day they retreat into the jungle. We got to venture into the jungle in search of the monkeys.   Luckily, we spotted a whole group of the monkeys.  The monkeys are the Mona Monkeys. They came right onto the branches over our heads to grab bananas. Our tour guide prepared us and brought bananas for all of us to give to the monkeys.  We would just hold the bananas over our heads and the monkeys would hang down from the branch and peel the banana right in our hand!! They are particular about their monkeys though, and the monkeys will only eat them if they are not overripe. They peel the banana before they eat it because they can tell the scent of the human on the peel, and see it as 'dirty' and wont eat it. If you take the banana out of the peel and then toss the banana to the monkey, they will catch it out of thin air, and then clean the banana since your hand touched the banana instead of the peel. Once they are done cleaning they will eat the banana.

In addition to our monkey expedition, while in Tafi Atome we got a tour of their village. The village people live in huts with thatched roofs. THey have a seperate hut for their kitchen so that if the kitchen burns down it does not burn the whole house down. Their kitchen only consists of an area to cook food over an open fire.  The village that runs through Tafi Atome is where the community bathes. The women also do their laundry and washing in the river as well. The river runs near the village and is also used as 'fresh water'.  The women fetch the water from the river and carry it on their heads. The big bowls of water looked so heavy, they had to be at least 10 gallons of water! The young children learn the act of balancing the water on their head as young as 3 years old. They start with just a dinner bowl full of water, and our guide said that the first few weeks they almost never return to the village with water still in the dinner bowl. As they get older they get better though. By the age of 7, they are expected to be able to fetch water (in much smaller amounts than the adults) for their mothers. We saw a child probably about 6 years old carrying a 2 gallon bucket of water on his head. There is one well in the city that has water that is considered better than the river water, this water is drawn directly from the water source below the river.  Their is a school in Tafi Atome for all the children.  The town 'supermarket' is an area where each of the different crops of the village is sold. They sell fresh fruits and vegetables as well as fish. There were goats and chickens roaming freely throughout the village as well. The chickens I assume are for eggs, and the goats are for meat. We thought that the goats would also be for milk, but our guide told us that they do not milk these goats.

Prior to our arrival in Tafi Atome, our tour guide taught us a song in Eve, the language of this region. WHen we arrived we walked over to the school and began singing the song, the children came outside and joined in our song. It was so much fun to sing along with them. They started clapping and even dancing a bit. I was so glad that Sam had taught us the song!

Ghana Post 1

Hello-??I am back on the ship from my stay in Ghana. It was AWESOME. The people here are what made the whole adventure above and beyond my expecations. They people are probably the friendliest people I have met. When we would drive through a village, people would stop what they were doing and wave to the bus as we drove by!! We got the opportunity to stop near a village while waiting for another bus and the people of the village (although not expecting us) came up to the road and wanted to show us their village, we walked through the village with them and all the kids came out onto the walking path to smile and wave to us.  It was a great experience!  The tour company that we used also exceeded my expectations, they were great. The tour guide that I went with for the overnight was the best! ??My posts from Ghana are going to be out of order and just postings on each topic/ experience I had. You can email me at amdryer@semesteratsea.net with any questions or comments.

The picture is of one of the Mona Monkeys eating a banana out of someones hand. This monkey is a very small monkey. It was not this years baby, but probably about a year old. It also looks much smaller because the bananas here are only about 5 inches long instead of the ones we usually eat at home that are much larger.


Look for more posts soon!

Back to Land

Tomorrow we arrive in Ghana!  We have been preparing for this next port of call in our global studies class as well as in cultural and logistical pre-port information sessions. Yesterday we had a cultural pre-port regarding music in Ghana and West Africa. It was very cool. The world music professor teamed up with our interport professor (a professor from our next port of call who sails with us just for the duration of the voyage directly before the port, so this professor has sailed with us since Morocco) to present both typical music and instruments in Ghana as well as traditional drumming and dancing. It was pretty cool.  Before the professor had finished there were probably 30 students who had jumped up on the stage to dance along with the professors. It was very fun.

During our stay in Ghana, I have a few trips planned during the day. I am actually quite booked full for the duration of our time in Ghana, but will be spending most nights here on the ship. Tomorrow I will be visiting a school near Accra. This trip is organized as a field trip from my psychology of learning and memory class. We will be traveling with the professor of the class and visiting this school. Although the professor would have preferred to get us a taste of a more rural school, our visit tomorrow will be to one of the more affluent schools in Ghana.  The teachers of the school are going to meet with us and discuss how education varies throughout different districts of Ghana. We have heard that there are some schools who cannot even afford pens for all the students, so instead pens are shared (and highly valued) amongst the classroom. After our visit tomorrow to the school, I will have a better judgment of the education system and the access to education by students in Ghana.  I believe the school is a K-12 school.

In the evening tomorrow I am going to a 'welcome reception' hosted by university students here in Ghana. This will give us an opportunity to meet students in Ghana and compare their experiences with ours.  I think this will be a very good opportunity. I hear there is also traditional food, so that should be fun too. 

The following day I depart for an overnight trip to the Volta region.  Although I do not know much about this trip right now, I know that we will be hiking and climbing quite a bit. It will be a very nature filled adventure. We will even make our way to the base of huge waterfalls, and I hear that we even get to swim there!  DUring the evening we will be staying in a hotel and the following day  (our 3rd day in Ghana) I will be visiting a village which has practiced conservation as a culture by keeping the monkeys sacred. We will have an opportunity to see the monkeys as they are in the wild!  This evening I will return to the ship.

The last day in Ghana I am doing a village experience. I will have the opportunity to take place in an African naming ceremony, to observe traditional drumming and dance, and to learn (and maybe even try!) traditional pottery making or kente-cloth weaving.  I will also visit a game reserve and hopefully see some of West Africa's wild game including: antelope, bushbucks, kobs, birds, baboons, and monkeys!  En route back to the ship we will also visit the Obonu Tem and Se Yo caves to observe the traditions of some of the traditional African Krobo people.

So, my time in Ghana is packed full! I am really hoping to get to do a little shopping while I am in Ghana too, but its pretty busy!!  I will have access to my semester at sea email on and off while I am in Ghana as I will be returning to the ship for most nights. 

Ship life -WEEKEND

Today was our first NO CLASS DAY while at sea. It was almost like our first weekend, but only one day long.  Everyone seemed really excited to sleep in, but of course around 9 am the crew decided to have a practice drill. That meant all the ships alarms and the loudspeaker were almost constant.  It seemed so unfair to practice on the only day without class, but I guess they really could not have practiced if we did have class, and I would prefer them practiced and prepared if we came across any troubles.


 It seemed like everyone took advantage of the 'weekend' by laying out and getting some sun on the seventh deck. I even laid out in the sun and jumped in the pool. It was my first time in the pool. I was really surprised how much the pool water moved around. It seemed like you could not stay in the same spot. We were in the deep part because the pool was so full, so where we were standing was beyond where I could even touch my tippie-toes!  It seemed with every big wave that we were pushed across the pool.  It was really fun. The pool though was just about full to capacity. It was almost shoulder to shoulder!  I have seen the whole student body in one place, but it looked like there were even more than the entire student body by the pool (even though that is not possible).

Last night in honor of our 'weekend night' we had a ship talent show.  It was tons of fun. It went from 9 until almost midnight. There were some students who were very talented, and some that really had no talent, but were fun to watch.  The events that bring the whole ship community together are really fun. 

Moroccan Food

I know these posts are going to be all out of order.. sorry.


The food in Morocco-

The food was very good. Prior to arriving in Morocco though, Dr. Dave gave us some rules to keep us healthy. He told us not to eat any fruit that we did not peel ourselves, and not to eat anything raw (including vegetables). We were also to be careful with milk and milk products because for the most part this milk is unpasteurized and our bodies would not tolerate it as easily.  Of course, as soon as we arrived the food we were served almost always did not follow Dr. Dave's rules. This photo is from one of our first meals. The meals are always served family style (placed in the middle to share amongst all at table).  Of course the bread was always safe, but the majority of the first course usually was not. In this photo we were served a carrot dish, a tomato and onion dish, beets, a bean stew thing and a tomato dish thing. Although there was very little we were supposed to try, I tried all of it!  After a course like this we were always served a second dish involving a tangine of some type of meat. Those were always what Dr. Dave considered to be safe to eat. 

The dessert in Morocco was usually fruit of some sort. Although this also was not usually Dr. Dave's suggestion, most of it was very good. We also were given pastries for dessert some times. 

After a meal we would be served mint tea. Mint tea is a tea that tastes just like wintergreen gum! I think it is the only type of tea that I have liked so far. Its very very sweet, but its also quite good.

Morocco Post 2

Sorry, these are a little out of order, just been adding them when I have time.

Hello-
I am back on the ship from our stay in Morocco!  It was awesome. The food was very good, and my trips were awesome.  First I did a trip to Marrakech, Zagora, and a camel trek.  This was awesome. We left the morning that we arrived in Casablanca and immediately headed towards Marrakech. We stopped at the big market upon arrival in Marrakech and it was crazy. There were so many people walking every direction, and cars and mopeds, and donkeys and mules with carts, and stands with snake charmers, it was just a mess!  We almost felt like we had to hold hands!  Unfortunately our first day in the market was cut very short by a torrential downpour. It does not rain very frequently in Morocco, but while we were there the skies opened up!  Of course the market is an outdoor market, so we ended up getting drenched. At first we were able to avoid the downpour by ducking into a little passageway that was dry, as more and more people discovered our dry spot though it got really full in there.  We were getting a little nervous when the shop owners surrounding our little area decided to turn off all the lights, but we realized this was because the flooded streets were a hazard to the electrical supplies that ran along the floor of the markets.  We ended up dashing back to where the bus was supposed to pick us up because we felt a little uneasy being the only women, and the only tourists in the area.  Unfortunately, just because of the downpour the bus did not decide to come early and we ended up waiting in the pouring rain (really heavy rain) for nearly 45 minutes for the bus to come. There was nowhere to hide waiting for the bus either! 

We slept in Marrakech that evening at a hotel and then continued the eight hour drive to Zagora the next day. The bus ride was crazy! It was through the High Atlas Mountains. The mountain passes were VERY windy and the bus seemed to take them way too fast. We were like falling out of our seats many times! Water bottles and backpacks were sliding across the bus!  Once we arrived in Zagora we left the busses and got on camelback! There were 85 camels, but 170 students so we had to share a camel. We decided one would walk and one would ride and we would switch off.  The camel riding was fun. It was pretty bouncy, and VERY tall.  We traveled about 45 minutes into the Sahara where a nomad camp was waiting for us. This camp had been set up just for our arrival. It was set up with an entrance with an area of Moroccan rugs all laid out perfectly with an area in the middle for a campfire. Off the middle section were the 3 large dining tents and about 30 small tents for sleeping.  We had nearly 2.5 hours to waste before dinner (until after the sun went down for Ramadan), so we just hung out and explored near the camp and watched the sun set. Dinner was very good, we had a beef stew tangine and vegetables. The Berber women also made fresh pita-style bread over the campfire for us that was hot and fresh and delicious!  After dinner we had melon for dessert. After the dessert there were some demonstrations by the nomads in singing and dancing, and everyone got involved. Once those were done people hung out and chatted. We explored outside the camp and found a huge sand dune with a great view of the stars. There were about 20 SAS kids laying out there watching shooting stars. I learned the following day that some of them ended up sleeping there!  We returned to our tents to go to bed but Kate’s bed had bugs in it. They were beetles that were like 2 inches long. It was gross, so we all decided to stay together near one of the dining tents. This was better anyways because the dining tents were not entirely enclosed so we were able to half sleep under the stars in the Moroccan dessert. It got really cold that night, and we froze over night, but it was still worth it.


The next day we boarded our camels and trekked back through the Sahara to where we had left our busses. It was about an hour and a half this time because we took a longer route.  The camels were pretty bouncy, but it was a lot of fun. The camels were tied together in strips of about 5 camels each led in the front by a nomad. After we got back to the bus unfortunately it was time for that 8-hour trek back through the mountains. It’s a beautiful drive, probably one of the prettiest I have ever been on, but it’s just not as fun in a 40-passenger bus!  Good thing we were all so tired, we got an extra nap on the bus!  We stopped for lunch and had tomatoes and potatoes for the first course (chopped of course) and then we had a tangine of chicken with dates, and then for dessert we had melons. It was pretty good. Then we reloaded the bus for some more drive. When we finally arrived back in Marrakech we were sick of the bus!  We went to a market and I did a little Christmas shopping!  Then we had dinner on our own (Pizza Hut!) then returned to the hotel in Marrakech.


More Soon...

Morocco Post 1

These posts from Morocco are going to be out of order, but I just have a little bit of time to hit on some important points right now.

I spent one of the evenings here in Morocco with a family. It was really cool. It was a highlight of my time in Morocco. The family consisted of a mom and a dad with three kids. The kids were Charouk (12 years), Iness (8 years) and Adam (3 years).  The two girls and the parents all spoke three languages! They speak English, Arabic, and French. The little boy (Adam) currently only speaks Arabic, but will be learning French and English soon in school. All three of the kids currently attend George Washington Academy. GWA is an expensive private school that is an American Academy abroad.  From the age of 3, when the first year of kindergarten begins (they have 3 years of kindergarten), they begin their trilingual education!  What I found incredibly interesting when I was talking with the kids is how similar they are in many ways to American students. For one, the go to school from 8 to 3:30 five days a week just like the students in America. They watch American movies (in English) and can carry on a conversation about many new releases. The little boy Adam was even watching ‘The Jungle Book’ when we arrived to his house. Charaouk hopes to study abroad on Semester at Sea one day (we gave her a tour of the ship), and plans to go to college to become a doctor!  She loves the twilight books and has read all of them and has seen the movies!  She likes roller coasters and theme parks. She works really hard in school and gets good grades.

I think meeting with the family and spending time understanding their daily life was such a unique experience. It was great to get a better picture of the similarities and differences in the families close to home, and far away!

Camels

Tomorrow our Moroccan Adventure begins! I will first be spending tomorrow morning on a bus to Marrakech. In Marrakech there are amazing markets and side streets to explore. It is slightly more dangerous than Spain, but I will be sure to stay in a group.  The following day we are going to take a bus to the Sahara desert. We will be spending the night in a desert camp with nomads. We will have campfire dinner with the nomads as well. The following day we will start to explore the Sahara by camelback!  It will be awesome. After our camel ride is complete we will return to Zagora, then to Marrakech, then finally to Casablanca.  It will be a 4 day trip in all. I found some information online about camels I thought was interesting. Did you know that the dromedary camel is known for its healthy low fat milk? Or that the average life expectancy of a camel is 40 to 50 years!!  Or did you know that at the top of the hump of the camel they are on average 7 ft 1 inches tall!!  How about that camels can run at a peak speed of 40 mph!  Wow.. I learned a lot about camels today. I sure hope my camel doesn't decide to run at that speed though, that could be quite a ride!

After the camel ride I will be spending the evening with a Moroccan family. I think this will be a really cool experience, and totally unique to SAS. I am excited for that too!


Just thought I would let you know all I learned about camels.  Also, I will probably not have email for the next 4 days, and I do not plan to bring my computer with me. I would love to hear from you, but I will not return it until the 14th or 15th.


Talk to you later
Al

SPAIN!

Hope everyones first week of school (and first long weekend) went really well.  I am in Spain! Today is my last day in Spain and then we are headed to Morocco. I already boarded the ship for our next segment at sea. While in Spain I visited 2 cities: Cadiz and Seville.  In Cadiz I explored the city by wandering through the side streets and getting really lost.  I started to learn the city this way though, and by the end could kind of find my way around.  I spent a day at the beach in Cadiz as well.  It was nice to swim in the atlantic ocean and spend some time relaxing.  In Seville I visited an ancient royal palace. Part of the palace is still in use today. It was awesome, some parts of the old palace were still functional, although not used (including a bath house powered by rain water).  This palace is the location of where Christopher Columbus's voyage was planned and put in action.  I also visited the Cathedral in Seville. The cathedral is the largest gothic cathedral in the world!  It was very cool, and was also the location of Christopher Columbus's tomb!  The last thing I did in Seville was attend a bullfight.

The food- Something that I really enjoy about traveling is experiencing the food in different cultures. In Spain they really love their ham. Their ham is different than ours though. It is sliced very thin (like bacon) but not crunchy.  It is very different than anything we have in the U.S.. It is very common though and is considered quite a treat.  Also, the time scale of a typical Spanish day is very different than ours.  They have breakfast a little later than us and then start work/school a little later than us also.  They have lunch around 1-2pm and then return home for a Siesta (nap). Most of the city closes down during the siesta time (including stores and restaurants).  After siesta the restaurants open for 'Tapas' which are small plates of food. They are sometimes the same meals you can get during meals, but are smaller versions, and sometimes are different than other meals. These tapas are relatively inexpensive and are usually served from about 4-6 pm.  At this point many people return to work for the evening. Dinner is not served until about 10 pm!  It took a little while to get used to the new schedule, but once we did, it was pretty nice.  Other meals that I ate while in Spain include : Calamari (fried squid), potato and egg sandwich, marinated bulls tails, and helado (ice cream!).

I will update more later, but I would love to hear from you in the mean time. It would be especially nice to know which teachers are using the blog, and how you are incorporating this into your classroom. Please email me at amdryer@semesteratsea.net.

Spain Tomorrow!

Tomorrow morning we will be arriving in Spain!  I will be really glad to see land!!!  I am planning on traveling to Seville with some friends for a few days, then spending the rest of our time in Spain in Cadiz, Spain.  We are planning on visiting the Alcazar, the Cathedral of Seville, a BullRing, and more historic sites in Seville.  I will be out exploring and eating Spanish Food and practicing my spanish skills.  Do any of the classrooms learn or use any Spanish?  If so, I would love to hear what you know!  Once again, you can email me at amdryer@semesteratsea.net with any questions or comments, and I would even just love to know what is going on in your classrooms. There is a possibility that I will not have access to this email until I return to the ship after our stay in Spain, but I will try.



Thanks so much!

At Sea!

Hello-
Hope everyone is having a really good start to the school year! I am more than half way to Spain. We have traveled more than 2,000 nautical miles since August 28th!

Our current coordinates are:
38 degrees 47.8N
017 degrees 22.9W

I am preparing for our time in Spain!  We will port in Cadiz, Spain on Saturday morning. I will be leaving by bus or train to Sevilla, Spain on Saturday. I will be spending 2 nights in Sevilla and then returning for 2 days to Cadiz, Spain.  Following Spain we will only have 1 day at Sea before we arrive in our first African Port, Morocco. 

If you or your students has any questions, or you would like me to check anything out while I am in Spain for your classroom, please email me at amdryer@semesteratsea.net.

Thanks, hope to hear from you soon!

Allie