Spring 2015 - Day 47
I woke up to an email from the ship photographer! He wants to use my photo of a Red Panda in the China Student Gallery!! It should be posted soon so everyone should go look at the ship blog because I will be on it! Woohoo!
In Mixed Media we continued with our collage. I brought my copies that I made of the sketch I did to class. We had to take all of our little copies and make them into something else. The icon that I drew was a skull. I decided to make the hammer and sickle, the symbol of communism, out of them. It turned out AWESOME. I am so happy with it.
In logisical pre-port they pretty much told us we shouldn't breathe unless we were completely certain it was safe to do so.
Ok, that is an exaggeration. But we were told to not take pictures of government buildings or bridges or government officials. In photojournalism this morning Amber said basically the same thing. That we shouldn't take pictures until we ask first. No matter what the picture would be of, always ask.
Since the country is such a mess politically we don't want to do anything that would cause the government to think we are acting out politically. So don't talk to policemen, be careful what you ask the people, and be careful taking pictures, they could be seen as espionage.
Besides that the country is fairly same, there is minimal crime and corruption towards tourists. But their are a lot of conflicts and so if we see something forming we need to just walk away. We should not engage in protests or photograph them. And we shouldn't post about them online.
Random quiz: What have we sold more of on the ship, bottles of water or water bottles?
Answer: water bottles.
Woo for water conservation!
On that note, we really cant drink the water here, it is especially not safe. Its so unsafe that the ship is not going to be able to board a lot of water while we are here so we will be conserving water until India.
In some places they don't have the infrastructure to dispose of human waste so about 70% of it ends up in their fields so we need to be careful with what we eat.
Basically its boil it, peel it, cook it, or forget it.
There will not be postage service on the ship again. Which is just so sad. I rely on it so much.
The ship will be cleared around 10 but our passports will not be available until noon so if you are flying, staying in hotel, or possibly exchanging money, then you will have to wait for your passport.
The ship will also be changing berths about halfway through our trip but it will be shifting only about 400 meters so it doesn't really affect us.
Oh, I forgot to tell you, during pre-port for Singapore they warned us that we would be sailing through pirate waters so if we see crew members just standing and looking out at the ocean, it is because they are looking for pirates. Well a life-sized dummy dressed in an orange jumpsuit appeared strapped to the railing of the back deck. He's there to look for pirates, or to make it look like we are looking for pirates, so that if pirates come they think we are watching them. We all thought it was pretty funny but it is not a joke, the dummy is serious business.
But, if pirates actually came after us we would just crank it to full speed and sail away from them. The MV Explorer is one of the fastest ships out there. When we reach full speed we make a rooster tail off the back. On my last voyage I was lucky enough to see it happen, it's spectacular.
After pre-port we had a cookies and milk night planned with our family in momma's cabin. She also got a cheese plate and we just sat out on her deck and talked and munched on the snacks. Our second brother, Luke, finally showed up! We had been communicating with him since the beginning and started to believe that he didn't really exist because he never showed up. Poor Jason has been the only boy amongst 13 girls. But Luke finally came and … Jason didn't. Awkward. So now Luke was one among 13, but he handled it well and was really awesome. Hopefully the next time we get together they will both come!
Mom had brought us all keychains back from Tibet. They are all of little people in traditional outfits. They are hand painted and mine looks like it is going to come alive in the night. I love it.
At the very end of the night Jess, Jessi, Mom and I got into a really deep debate about volunteering in these countries and whether or not we are actually making an impact. Several trips have visited orphanages and all they have done is take pictures with the kids and then leave. They haven't made an impact or done anything to help, and probably are even making the kids feel worse. Think about it, orphan's whole lives are built around the fact that they were abandoned, whether on purpose or not, and we are going to come in for only one hour just to leave and abandon them again.
How are we helping these people by just intruding on their lives and taking pictures of them? We aren't. We are going to a school on our program in Myanmar and we all really hope that we will actually be making a difference there. Or that we will at least be able to actually interact with the kids and get to know them a little.
We all made a little pact to not bring out cameras with us or take many pictures unless we really make a connection with a person and want to take a picture with them.
It was a really great discussion and definitely brought us all a little closer. It also made me think a little more critically about the impact we are making in the countries and the impression we are leaving.
I have a picture taking problem usually, the camera tends to become glued to my face. I have decided to not bring my camera with me tomorrow and to bring it with my on my trip but to only take it out when I absolutely know I can take a photo and that the photo will be impactful. It will be hard for me but I am up for the challenge, to be more present in what I am doing.
