Photos!

It is just Davis updating here!
I finally set up a Flickr account and that is where I will post photos!
It is the only site where it is possible, and I can group them.
I put my Panama pictures up, so go and check those out!
I will update photos regularly there, so check back frequently.
Click

Talk to you later!
-Davis

Panama Port Reflections

Tonight we have left for our next port in Ecuador. Memorable moments in Panama include . . .

Interacting with the Embera tribe

Tasting the rich flavours and freshness of a 12-course Panamanian meal at Manolo Caracol (old city) with friends from Morocco, US, Scotland & New Zealand

Watching traffic go by in the Panama Canal

Swimming in the waterfalls

Catching mosquito larvae in the Gamboa Rain Forest

Boarding and riding the tender boats when we were anchored out in the harbour

Seeing crocodiles, turtles, toucans, birds and butterflies in the wild

Standing among the ruins of the 15^th century old city of Panama (Panama Viejo)

Wandering the streets of modern Panama City (in the rain) looking for the “Crème” (a nightclub where TSS folks were partying)

Watching part of a quarter final World Cup rugby match in a pub on Calle Uruguay and sharing in our New Zealand friend’s grieve (the New Zealand All Blacks lost)

Listening to the sounds of the jungle

Walking the streets of old Panama City (Casco Viejo)

Riding one of the famous city buses from the Albrook Mall to Casco Viejo

Hobbling home in a broken-down taxi with five of us crammed in

Hearing about Davis’ adventures in the Darien Jungle (read below)

Only three more days and we’re in Ecuador! I think I’ll sign up for the “healing mud bath”!

Ken

The last few days have been some of the most life changing events I have ever experienced. I ventured out deep into the Darien Jungle region of Panama with 23 students, and we had the most amazing time. Our trip started off with a four hour bus ride from the boat, and eventually had to change into jeeps since our big van could not handle the tough roads of the jungle. After about 30 minutes in the jeeps, we came to a small village which had a school, a general store, and about 5 houses. I forget the name, but I will update you when I get that information from other people. The kid’s classes were in session, and they welcomed us with a warm heart. They sat us down in their small little desks, and then performed dances for us. They seemed like they were so happy to see us. The kids ranged in age from 5 to 9. Eventually, we were all pulled up to dance by someone. A little girl grabbed my hands and led me to dance Panamanian style. It was so fun and amazing. They treated us to a meal of their own chickens, and the meal was accompanied by rice as well. After we finished that, the kids had to get back to classes, but I first got to say goodbye to all of them and get a group picture with the kids.

The company that put on the tour rented horses from the locals. Advantage Tours is big on community trade and helping the local villages. We mounted the horses and started up the mountain on what we thought was going to be a 3 hour ride. If that wasn’t long enough for you, it was actually 6 hours. My body ached from sitting on a saddle for 6 hours, but nonetheless, it was so fun. The trail was so muddy that some of the horses ended up getting stuck and falling over. Nobody got hurt, but I felt bad for the horses. We finally got to a point that was too steep for the horses, so we had to walk in thick mud and straight uphill for 20 minutes. A lot of falling left people fairly unhappy, but eventually, everyone just didn’t care about the mud anymore. By the end of the trip, we were used to sinking in knee-high mud. My white shoes did not take kindly to that.

We finally made it up to base, which had 5 rooms that each held 5 people. I took top bunk in one of the rooms. The base looked over a huge mountain-top which was so beautiful. Everyone was tired, so we had dinner and went to bed early.

The next day, we woke up at 8 and ate breakfast. The chef, Jesus _[hay-zeus], cooked the most amazing meals. He didn’t even have an oven; just a little stove top. After a big breakfast, we went on a 2 hour nature walk through the woods. We saw green and black poison frogs, monkeys, toucans, amazing birds, and the beautiful trees and forest. We also learned about the forest and the trees in the area. That hike was easy. We got back and ate lunch, and then ran down to the river. We swam in the river under waterfalls and in pools. It was incredible! It looked like a movie. We got back and sat around camp, because we were too tired to do anything else. We had dinner, and then followed up that by playing cards and the students drank the alcohol that they bought for miniscule prices at the super market. It was like 5$ for a huge bottle of anything! I went to bed fairly early that night.

The next morning was about the same as the first, except instead of going on a 2 hour hike, we went on a NINE hour hike to the top of the mountains that look over our camp. It was probably one of the hardest hikes I have ever done. We saw all of the wildlife that we saw in the previous hike, but we saw a whole lot more of them this time around. That took us the WHOLE day, so we got back, ate dinner, and then had another night the exact same. That was our last night on top of the beautiful mountain.

The next day was earlier than the rest, because we had to pack up and ride back down the mountain. We cleaned up camp, and then grabbed our bags and left. The ride down on the horses only took half the time, and it was so fun! My horse was really aggressive and always wanted to be in front. My horse also loved to run. At the end, the guide told us to finish it off on our own, so we ran at full speed with the horses! We were going so fast! It was one of the highlights of my trip! We returned to the village with the school, returned the horses, and waited for the others, since we were so ahead from running. When we all got back together, we got back into the jeeps and returned to our van.

We rode down the road for about an hour until we got to a little locally-owned restaurant. We had a great meal of beef, chicken, or pork. We piled back into the van and kept going for another 20 minutes until we got to a native village. They only have visitors every 2 months, so they welcomed us very happily! They were wearing their traditional attire; topless, men and women. It was such a cultural experience. They danced and danced and then asked us to dance with them! They also showed us an enactment of getting married for the women. The girls get married at 15! They have to do a test for virginity; they tie a string around her neck, and if that string doesn’t go over her head, she is ok. We were nervous because somewhere in translation, that information got switched. We thought she was going to be in some trouble, but luckily, she was ok. The second test was to give her an alcoholic/narcotic beverage, and if she passes out, she is a virgin. It was very interesting and different. After the demonstrations, we had free time to talk to the children and buy handicrafts from the family. That went on for about 2 hours, but sadly, we had to leave to get back to the ship. It was a sad goodbye, because we all became quite close to the kids. As soon as we got into the van, I slept until we returned to the ship. We said goodbye to the three guides and presented the 250$ we gathered for tips to them, and the 350$ for the school at the village. They were so appreciative of the money, and we hope it got to the school OK.

I will never forget that experience in the jungle, and I bet it will be pretty hard to forget it with SIX HUNDRED pictures.

-Davis

Adventures Everyday!

Wow! Something extraordinary happens almost everyday both on and off the ship. As I’ve mentioned before we have had several guests on board giving lectures and sharing in class discussions. From time to time we have other scholars, researchers, press, partner institutions, parents, politicians and others. Today a number of University career/academic advisors are joining us from Panama to Ecuador to get an idea what the Scholar Ship is about, and hopefully, recommend the experience to their students.

Every evening I look forward to hearing from the various Academic Field Program (AFP) experiences from students and colleagues. Some work really well and others don’t quite provide what they promise. Fortunately students and staff make the most of all of these experiences and come away with some good learning.

Shore excursion experiences and independent travel are also shared when folks return from the day or in some cases several days away. Some times these experiences work and again, sometimes they don’t. Either way there is always something to talk about.

Yesterday a group came back from the Pirates of the Caribbean excursion with stories of over-promising and under-delivering or miss-delivering. It seems they spent the whole day driving back and forth in Panama not really seeing or learning much. One participant even had a reaction to the bug spray she used and had to head off to the hospital (everything is okay). Another participant said “we were captured by pirates and driven around on a bus”.

I talked to a few students today about their adventures to the east coast of Panama to the best beaches. They said they had a great time with several challenges to overcome. There are many more stories like this.

For me, I just got back from a great day canoeing (with a motor) up the Chagres river to a wonderful waterfall and swimming spot. We then headed to a community of the Embera Tribe (13 families, 62 people) where we were fed a wonderful meal of Tilapia (fish), plantain and fresh fruit. We learned about their history, were entertained with music and dancing and then had the opportunity to purchase their hand-made crafts. Oh, and did I mentioned we saw crocodiles, turtles, numerous birds & butterflies and other jungle “things”.

Yesterday I went hunting mosquitoes. Not really hunting. There is an international research team onboard who will travel with us and collect mosquitoes and larvae from around the world. I was research assistant along with several others. We essentially found a pool of water came up with a sample and then “sucked” up any larvae we found (of course there is lot more to it than that). Oh, and did I mention we saw toucans, sloth, numerous birds and butterflies and other jungle “things”.

As they say you really need to be here as this is only a sampling of what we see, hear, feel, smell, touch and do. I can’t wait until Davis returns from his Darien Jungle experience tomorrow. Stay tuned for his “blog” where he will share some of his adventures.
Ken

Preparing for Port!

You can tell by the atmosphere on the ship that we will soon be reaching land (after 11 days on the ocean). Tomorrow we go through the Panama Canal! And then for many of us we are either off on Academic Field Programs, Shore Excursions or Independent Travel. How do we get ready for these wonderful learning experiences?

Well it depends! Most of us have been reading through travel guides, internet sources, promotional materials and briefing sheets. In several classes students do research on the upcoming port. For example, in my human geography class we had a field trip (to the library around the corner) where we identified some basic information about Panama (e.g. population 3,320,000, life expectancy of 72.7 for males & 77.9 for females, 275 people per square kilometre and so on).

Today we had sessions on “The Ethical Tourist”, the local culture of Panama and the current situation in Central America (a presentation by Dr. Eduardo Gutierrez of the UN). Some students had meetings with their learning circle teams in preparation for their AFP’s (they review their five-day itinerary, set some goals and determine how they will maximize their learning in Panama). Tonight we get a safety briefing on Panama and Panama City.

Many students are discussing plans to rent vehicles and travel on their own (independent travel) while others have chosen shore excursions. Davis has signed up to spend five days in the jungle with 14 others. I will probably do a tour of Panama City (half day) and then a full-day trip along the Chagres River to a local village where we will learn about the native culture. In between shore excursions I will be preparing for classes as I am on an AFP in Ecuador.

We will definitely report back on our experiences.

Ken

P.S. An update, its 6:00 am and we are now entering the port. It will take the whole day to get through.

25-Hour Days!

What do you do with an extra hour almost every day? This is often a question we explore in our leisure studies courses. Crossing the Atlantic has given us the opportunity to “live” this experience (five hours in seven days). So what have I done with this gift?

Enjoyed the sunrises

Coffee with colleagues

Course preparation

Writing for our blog

Reading (e.g. “A day no pigs would die” one of Davis’ English 9 books)

More leisurely workouts in the gym

What has Davis done? I’ll let him answer that. What would you do?

What else is new? Today we finish session 4 in each of our subjects, 16 more to go! Tomorrow is a “free” day or should we say “no obligation” day (ha, ha). There is so much scheduled and so much course work to do that I’m sure we will all find something of value to do. I think I will try and do some reading on the deck. The weather has been quite warm as I’ve heard we are in the “Gulf Stream”. This morning it was 24 degrees at 6:00 am!

We have two guests on board travelling with us from Lisbon to Panama. They have interesting backgrounds and provide unique perspectives to our courses. Dr. Eduardo Gutierrez has served for 33 years with the United Nations. He is currently finalizing a paper on “Human Security in Latin America and the Caribbean”. Dr. James Rieley is an advisor to CEOs and leadership teams in both Europe and the USA. He has experience in business and consulting. I hope to have both of them come into my course on Managing Cultural Diversity in Business.

That’s it for now! On to course preparation!

Ken

Things have settled down now on The Scholar Ship and it seems that things are getting into more of a routinely fashion. I am getting more school work done now that fewer distractions are around me. I have become pretty close with a big group of students. I will definitely get some pictures with all of them and show them to all of you. The media lab is open downstairs. It is like my haven. It has 2 iMac computers loaded with all of the things I need, and they have 2 professional video cameras that I love to use. I am probably going to make a few videos that can go up on YouTube or something so I can give you a ship tour, and show you what it is like on board! Today, I sat outside in the blistering sun for 30 minutes and in that time, I got so dark. I will look out of place coming back into winter months. It is fun playing volleyball and basketball up on the top courts. The food has been amazing. I rarely make it for breakfast since I am getting up at 10:30ish. Oh well. My schedule works productively, so there is no reason for me to get up earlier! It works just fine.

Well, I miss you all and hope to hear from you via e-mail or comments!

-Davis

ps. I think someone should come surprise me and dad in one of the ports. Just a simple suggestion.

Farewell to Lisboa!

Tonight we leave our friendly port of Lisbon for the open Atlantic Ocean! We’ve had seven wonderful days on shore with numerous sights, sounds and other sensations! On the formal side of things I’ve been a participant leader with the International Business and Communication undergraduate learning circle students, a group of 66 very diverse and dynamic learners. More on that latter … Fortunately for me my partner participant leader was Yas, an energetic and highly capable IRC (Intercultural Resident Coordinator). AFP’s (Academic Field Programs) are coordinated learning experiences with partner Universities, businesses, tour companies and other organizations. As in most learning opportunities, some were better than others. A few samples of our learning adventures …

• Introduction to ISCTE, (business school)
• Learning about Sonae and experiencing Continente (department store)
• Visiting and learning about the Belem Tower & Monument of the Navigators
• Learning about early explorers at the Maritime Museum
• Experiencing the Jeronimos Monastery
• Sampling products and learning about Belem Pastries
• Feeling the “bumps” and “eating” dust on the Sintra Jeep Safari
• Standing “on the edge” at Cabo da Roca
• Wandering the streets and experiencing Sintra
• Experiencing and learning about mythology and history at Quinta da Regaleira
• Learning from the Jeronimo Martins (food distribution) experience in Poland from the Strategy and Development Director, Margarida Martins Ramalho
• Exploring “Entrepreneurship – Theory & Practice: A Dialogue Between Entrepreneurship and Culture” with Professor Virginia Trigo from ISCTE
• Receiving a hospitable presentation and tour about Grupo Luis Simoes, a trucking and logistic company, from Antonio and Andreia
• Learning about Audax, a centre for entrepreneurship and family business at ISCTE, from Rui Ferreira the Director
• and so on and so on …

On the informal side of things, numerous sights, sounds and other sensations were also enjoyed. These include …

• Savouring the fine port and wines (and beer) of Portugal
• Experiencing “life” in the port community
• Tasting the local cuisine (e.g. cod dishes, sardines)
• Enjoying a “real” cup of coffee (cappuccino)
• People watching at the many outdoor restaurants
• Meeting locals in their home environment (e.g. the Estonian server in the cafeteria, Valdemar the Renault car salesman from Porto)
• “Feeling” the local culture on the many forms of transportation (i.e. buses, street cars, metro, train, by foot & taxi)
• Sharing the experience of Fado music and Portuguese dancing with Dana, Shirley and Bachir at O Forcado in the eclectic and delightful Bairro Alto district
• Hearing, smelling and watching life on the streets of Lisbon during our various walkabouts
• Joining all of our students for a night of food, fado (“Tuna Academica de Lisboa”) and fun hosted at, and by, the University of Lisbon
• and so on and so on …

It’s been fun, flavourful, educational and exhausting! I need a rest.

-Ken

Portugal has been amazing. It was far more amazing than I thought it would be! Dad covered a lot, so I will make my share short. The days have been pretty laid back. The first day, we walked into town and saw the main square. It was beautiful. Musicians filled the streets, as well as outdoor restaurants and civilians. We walked around down there, until I crashed. They (Dad and Bashir) dropped me off, and then went out for dinner. I had dinner on the ship that night.

For 2 days, I rested and just chilled out on the boat. It was relaxing. On day 3 in Lisbon, we went on our AFP, which was a discovery walk/tour of Lisbon. We ventured into the Belem area of town, which is historic and beautiful. We saw monuments and statues, followed by a maritime museum. It was neat to see the paths the Portuguese took in their explorations, as well as seeing the models of their ships. Following the museum, we went to an old Catholic monastery. It was absolutely beautiful. It was decorated so incredibly inside and out. After that, we went to the legendary Belem Pastries shop in the Belem district. They have a secret pastry recipe that only three people in the whole entire world know. It was delicious. I truly think it was just sugar and butter, but it was very tasty. Following that, we got back to the ship in time for lunch.

On day 4, we had an amazing adventure. We went on our Sintra Jeep Safari. We got in jeeps and ventured off. We first went to the most western point of Europe. The people of Europe used to think this was the furthest west you could ever go. If they went any further, they thought they would have fallen off the world! I lost my sunglasses at the end of the world. What a story to tell. We got back into the Jeeps and then rode down a narrow, windy cobblestone and dirt path that led us through the bush and into a little village. It was so amazing! They had a little marketplace, colourful buildings, narrow cobblestone streets, and local inhabitants. It was the true Portugal. It was so beautiful and cool. It is what you see in those movies. We didn’t stop there, but we got a pretty neat ride through. We kept going and ended up in a nice park. No vehicles can go in there, but the jeeps were exempt. It was a nice ride, as well! We ended up at a beautiful viewpoint of the area. We sat there for a bit and nibbled on our lunch, and then went on our way to Sintra. Sintra was a beautiful town full of cobblestone streets, back alley shops, and amazing foliage and sights. I could definitely live my life there. We were left to explore freely in Sintra. After an hour or so of exploration, we were regrouped and walked to a palace. It was astonishing. The garden was massive. Everything there was so picturesque and perfect. We got a very informational guided tour and walk around the area. We got to the top and walked down ‘the 9 stages of Hell’. It was a 9 story hole that you could walk down. The fall wouldn’t be pleasant. Rituals used to be held at the bottom of the grotto. We waked down, and then escaped through a little, pitch-black passageway. Scaring people around the dark corners was quite a laugh. We walked to the end and then got a tour of the actual palace. It was beautiful as well. Tired and sore from walking, we left Sintra in a tour bus. We got back to the ship after a long day. Sleeping wasn’t hard after that day.

The next day was a rest day. By the evening, I was quite bored. So the video crew, the two other kids, and I went out for a night filled with Fado music, food, and Sangria, which is absolutely delicious, by the way. The night was beautiful. The music was so pretty. I passed as 16 so it was all good. =)

The next day was a breather day. Stephanie, the coolest faculty member on this ship who is from London, and I went out to the center of the city again. We pretty much just wandered around. We looked for new sunglasses for me, but were unsuccessful. It was fun anyways. That night, we got dinner actually served to us. It was really weird and random. The university held a dinner and entertainment night, but I was so tired so I stayed in that night. I went to bed early. So now we are on to today. Today, we got up early (9:00!) and went back to the city again. I got all of my hair cut off by a local barber! It was really funny. Communicating was so hard but funny. A great ‘cultural experience’, right? I also got a whole bunch of clothes. It is so cheap in Portugal! I got 3 nice tees from H&M for 9€! I spent probably 120$ cad. It was well worth it though. =)

Now we are awaiting our departure for a 12 day excursion. It will be pretty cool! I am looking forward to Panama.

I am becoming friends with a lot of cool people. The students and staff are so nice and cool. I really got to get going on school work, though. I doubt that will be a problem with a 12 day sea voyage, though.

Well, that is all for now.

Time for our Titanic voyage across the Atlantic! Let’s just hope that we don’t sink.

Wish us all luck!

-Davis

Sights and Sounds of the Sea!

Day 8 at sea! We’ve definitely experienced a variety of sights and sounds of the sea! Sunrises and sunsets are spectacular! Yesterday we felt, heard and saw what rough seas could be. Although it only lasted a few hours we were tossed around and rocked to sleep. White boards tipped over, students sat on the floor in the classroom and “barf bags” were handed out and placed strategically around the ship (e.g. along corridor rails).

This morning we were treated to the Rock of Gilbraltar and views of Morocco. Tonight we were entertained with a pod of dolphins! Tomorrow we hit the shores of Lisbon. Can it get any better?

Ship life has settled into somewhat of a routine. We’ve had two sessions of each of our classes. I teach two classes on “blue” days and one on “green” days. Most students have two classes on each of the days although I’ve talked to some who have three on one day. Classes resume in about nine days. I should say formal classes resume.

Academic field programs that last five days will soon be starting up in Lisbon. These include everything from lectures at a University, visiting a winery, touring castles or the country-side or meeting with international businesses. Now that’s what I call an education!

Included in our education are many extracurricular activities. Emma (one of The Scholar Ship photographers) and Davis hosted a photographer workshop with over 30 in attendance. Tonight we have salsa lessons following our safety briefing on Lisbon. There are many other activities starting to appear (e.g. palates class, model UN, student government, basketball, foosball, soccer, table tennis, an “ab” workout group and so on). Again, that’s what I call an education!

Thoughts – I can definitely see community being developed: more interactions; more student leadership emerging; norms being established; traditions being discussed; ceremony becoming part of the culture; and a definite “spirit” of community. What impresses me most is the positive and accepting attitude, or spirit, of students and staff. Although we’ve experienced inconveniences and small setbacks through our eight days together, there remains this refreshing “spirit” of cooperation and community and virtually no “complaining” and negative attitude. I wonder what it will be like at the end of the voyage? I really do need to pay attention to this and try to capture what makes it work – is it the “nature” of the people, the confined living space, the values of The Scholar Ship or overcoming obstacles together?

On a personal note – I continue to enjoy my morning workouts followed by a coffee, breakfast and conversation. I also am enjoying connecting with students “in”, and “outside of” the classroom as well as getting to know other staff. And of course I’m enjoying my roommate, Davis. Today, with the rest of the students, we started to develop a “roommate vision”. No problems so far, although he continues to come in late and sleep in.

We are definitely looking forward to Lisbon! More on that later…

My days have been pretty unorganized, but that is the fun part of this whole experience; just enjoying the moment and doing things as they come. This morning, I slept in till 10, got up, went to the gym, and jumped into the pool. After I got out, I walked up to lunch. The food is amazing. Words cannot explain it. Tonight at dinner, I tried guacamole and it was amazing. There, mom! I am trying a lot of different things! Tomatoes and onions are even becoming a personal fave. Me and Dad started taking pictures of our cabin. We will take pictures all around the ship, and then post them up somewhere! We will give you a peek at our lives on board. 2 people have already been evacuated for medical reasons! They weren’t related. One had appendicitis, and the other had some bleeding issue. We rode up the coast of Sardinia to drop one off, and the other, we had to ride up the coast of Spain! Me and a few other students came to the conclusion that this is all a MTV Real World season, and they are secretly filming us. All of these evacuations are people getting voted off. Well, that is just my two cents.

We are off to a safety briefing for Portugal.

Talk to you later!

Dave.

Okay.

Me and Dad wrote this yesterday, so we have a bit of updating to do. This morning, we docked in at the Lisbon port at 8. Lisbon is beautiful! We walked around today and saw the city. We didn't see that much, because we didn't want to spoil our tours. Speaking of tours, I signed up for (and payed for) some excursions that will be happening in Portugal! I just chose the ones Dad has included in his AFP (Academic Field Program) so I will tag along with him. We are going on Lisbon and the Discoverers, which is a tour of the city and sights, mainly the marine explorers and their impact on the area. We are also going on a Sintra Jeep Adventure! I am so excited for that. We will be going into the countryside of Lisbon, Sintra, and we will get a Jeep ride to a nice remote location where we will enjoy a nice picnic lunch! It will be amazing. I am so happy right now, because there is an area that you can access free internet from the port while still onboard the ship! The signal is limited, so I am here at 11:15 sitting on the deck of the ship, trying to keep a decent signal. Dad went back out for dinner with some of the teaching staff, but I decided to stay behind and have dinner on board. I didn't feel like going back out again. My feet were dead. We walked for so long! Dad should be back soon.

Well, I am done writing for tonight.

We are missing all of you and wish we could experience this with all of you!

Gooood night.

-Dave