Spring 2015 - Day 46

I am sunburned from yesterday. It isn't bad but alas, I am. I was going to give myself a day break but right after I got up Jessi called me and asked if I wanted to lay out. Of course I said yes. 

 

When we got out to the 7th deck we noticed a weird phenomenon happening in the water just off the ship. It looked like there was a line in the ocean, stretching as far as the eye can see, parallel to the ship. The line looked like it was made up of white caps, like the ocean was just a lot choppier in that area. We thought it might have been a current or something. 

 

At lunch we saw that there was the exact same line on the other side of the ship. It was like we were sailing down the middle of them. Jessi asked the Marine Biology teacher about it and he told us that is was a giant under water wave.

 

What. 

 

Apparently there was warm water on the top and cold underneath. There also was most like a rock formation or something on the bottom of the ocean pushing the cold water up. Once it reaches the temperature gradient it creates a giant internal wave. The lines we saw on the surface we were the waves were breaking. The waves can be huge, sometime even up to a kilometer. 

 

That is crazy. 

 

My mind is blown. And we thought it was something lame like a currant. 

 

The ocean is a cool and scary place. 

 

In drawing we went outside into the blazing heat and drew a model, Gary, wearing a traditional vietnamese outfit. She wanted us to do the drawing in pencil and it was in that moment that I realized I prefer drawing with charcoal because it is messier and less precise. When I draw with pencil I feel like I need to be really accurate and include many details but when I use charcoal I feel looser and less controlled. 

 

But drawing Gary was fun. 

 

In the evening we had cultural pre-port. Before all of our other ports after Japan we have had cultural and logistical pre-port on the same night because we only had two days between ports. But since we had three they split them up like they are supposed to be. But apparently I have gotten used to having all of my pre-ports together because when cultural pre-port ended it felt like we should be in Burma tomorrow. 

 

The most important thing I learned in cultural pre-port was why the country is called both Burma and Myanmar. Burma was the name given to it by the British when it was ruled by them from 1825 to 1942. The official name of the country is The Republic of the Union of Myanmar. But the people and language are still called Burmese. Our state department also still calls it Burma but it is officially known as Myanmar and most of the people in the country call it Myanmar. 

 

One of the most famous people to have lived in Myanmar was Eric Blair. He moved there in 1922 to become a policeman and ended up with Dengue fever. He published a book called Burmese Days and ended up feeling guilty of his work in the empire as he truly loved the land and the people and returned there many time. He ended up publishing another book called Animal Farm, and is better known as George Orwell. 

 

The country has a history of unrest politically. Aung San is credited with being the architect of modern Burma. He pushed for independence and was assassinated 6 months before the country gained their independence from Britan in 1947. 

 

Even though the country gained independence they still had a very oppressive society. From 1962 to 2011 they had a military regime. When the regime was first put into place they cracked down, closing the borders and doing away with the constitution. 50% of the national revenue went to the military at that time. In 1988 there were student protests against the regime, over 3000 people were killed by the government. 

 

Eventually the protests from the people had an effect and in 1990 the government allowed an election. When they announced the election over 170 new political parties were formed. The people elected Aung San Suu Kyi, the daughter of Aung San. 

 

As soon as the election ended the regime decided the election was wrong and put Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest. She remained under house arrest for 15 of the 21 years between her arrest in 1989 and her official release in 2010. 

 

Because of her imprisonment she became a symbol for rights and freedoms. 

 

In August and September of 2007 there was the Safron Revolution where monks protested peacefully against raising food and gas prices as well as for better living conditions for the people. The government killed or beat at least 300 monks. The result of the revolution was the tightening of sanctions by the U.S. and Europe. 

 

When the government freed Aung San Suu Kyi in 2010 they decided to allow another election. Since the election in 2011 there have been improvements in freedoms. They still limit freedom of speech and freedom of assembly. 

 

Semester at Sea had sailed to Myanmar for years until early 2006 when Arch Bishop Desmond Tutu, who has a large involvement in the program, asked that SAS no longer go there. He was not comfortable with the government and how things were going within the country. 7 years later, in the Spring of 2013, he agreed that the program should return there since Aung San Suu Kyi was released. He sailed on that voyage and when they were in Myanmar he met with Aung San Suu Kyi. It was the first time the two had met. They showed us a picture of them together and it was the sweetest things. I really hope Desmond Tutu comes back on the ship in South Africa, he is the coolest guy. 

 

Anyway, back to Myanmar's issues. 

 

This week the country has returned to conflict. Although saying returned is very loose because the country has almost always been in conflict when it comes to the government and the people. But the country entered a state of emergency this week for multiple different reasons. 

 

First, there have been ethnic clashes in the north, on the border of China. The clashes have been between the ethnic Han and the government resulting in between 30,000 and 50,000 refugees fleeing to China. 

 

There have also been more student protests in Yangon and some red cross convoys have been attacked. No one has come forward to claim responsibility for the attack. 

 

Most of the conflict is in the very far north of the country, which we are not going to, so we shouldn't have any issues. 

 

Myanmar seems like a mysterious place and I am excited to travel there and experience the culture. 

 

Tonight we go back only 30 minutes because Myanmar needs to be different. So after tonight we will be 11 and a half hours off of the east coast. 

 

Tomorrow is not our first day in Myanmar, no matter how much I think it is supposed to be.