Check this website out...

The first day in Kobe, us girls were walking around the shops and were trying on hats and sunglasses. The owner of the store took a picture of us and put it on the stores website. Once you are on the homepage and click on ''Diary'' in the lower left hand corner and then scroll down. Next to our picture it says something about the US, but the rest is in Japanese. Enjoy our fame..

http://www.casquillo.jp/

A day in Kyoto

NIJO CASTLE
On the fourth day in Kobe I decided to take a day trip to Kyoto all by myself. Now that its over, I wish I would have done more trips by myself. It was so nice to just do what I wanted and not wait for other people, plus I felt more independent. Everything kind of just worked out. On my way to Kyoto, I was having problems getting my ticket and a guy from Michigan came to my rescue. He’s studying here in Kobe working on his PhD in developmental biology. We had a good conversation on the train and when he left, I realized that we never exchanged names. Kinda sad how we shared a few moments together and we will probably never see each other again. Mystery...........

When I arrived in Kyoto, again I was lost and didn’t know which way to go and a young man from India came to my rescue. He walked me to the Nijo Castle, and here I ran into another sasser, Jeff. He was by himself too so we talked and walked around the castle together. He was using the bus system around the city so he showed me where/how to catch the local bus. He also recommended the Kiyomizu Temple so I decided to go there. The entire temple was made from wood and there was a beautiful garden behind the temple. After this, I then walked to the Gion area which is known for the geishas. I saw a few, but they walked past me so quickly I didn’t get a chance to take their picture.


Japanese Garden at the Nijo Castle

Me & Jeff

Kiyomizu Temple

Treats I bought for my brother.

Poster of a Geisha in the Gion

YMCA Service Visit in Kobe, Japan

On the third day in Kobe, I did a service trip to a few YMCA`s with SAS. There were 7 of us girls and the trip was all day. The first stop was to a kindergarten class. This is a picture of me passing out pencils and toys to the kids. They were so well behaved; they actually waited in line for me to pass out the goodies. Im sad that this was my last service visit. :[


Each age group wore a different color cap. This is a group of 4 year olds.

These are training chopsticks that the little kids used. How adorable is that?

I am lighting incense before entering the temple.

This is the group of girls I went on the service trip with. In the back you can see our two tourguides. They both work for the YMCA.

At the end of the visits to the schools and nursery, our tourguide took us to a local temple.

Baseball Game in Osaka

The baseball game in Osaka was a lot of fun! The fans were really energetic anｄ crazy! Here is a picture of me before the game started. Ethan and Jakey, you would have had a lot of fun at this game too!

I thought this was kinda neat...these girls walked around with mini kegs on their back and would fill up beer for people.

Balloons are a big deal at these games. During the 7th inning stretch, everyone releases them into the air and it looks cool in the stadium.

And TWICE I got put ont he big screen!!!!!! Naturally,I was excited!

Me and the Mascot

These are a bunch of 13 year old Japanese girls I met while walking around the stadium. They were really funny and were practicing their English with me. All they wanted to talk about was my boyfriend....

Hong Kong

HK has an awesome skyline

all the sassers out

with our vodka, classy

dim sum

street food

play in HK

Bruce Lee

streets of HK

When you all asked what Hong Kong was like, all I could think of was that it was like New York City, but with Chinese people everywhere….and it is. Luckily for me, I had Shelly who knew the ropes of Hong Kong because she studied abroad here last semester, so she was my own little Chinese tour guide. The ship only docked into Hong Kong for two days but we had the option of meeting the ship at its next port, Qingdao, which is a city northeast in China. Most people either flew or took the train to Beijing to see the Great Wall, but since my grandma and I took a trip there after I graduated high school, I decided to just spend four full days in Hong Kong.

Since Shelly was familiar with everything, she took us to all the hot spots of shopping and places to get cheap massages. On the last day I got my eye lashes permed, and I love it. So now for the next few weeks, I don’t have to curl my eyelashes. Hopefully it’ll last til my graduation so you all can see it. In HK we did some site seeing, but mostly walked around the city shopping and just absorbing in the city life.

Since all the sassers were still in HK the first night, we all got to go out and of course take over an area. Everyone migrated to a district called LKF where we chugged a bottle of vodka that was purchased at a local 7-11. Later we learned that many locals pregame outside of 7-11’s because its cheaper. As usual, the night was fun….and ill just leave it at that.
The rest of the nights, Shel took us to places where it was ladies night meaning not only free cover, but free drinks all night, or until the wee morning hours. We also got to hangout with Shelly’s old friends from the university and that was fun too. The highlight of my Hong Kong experience was definitely eating great food.

On April 21st, we flew to Qingdao in the afternoon and arrived late night. It was a pain getting to the ship because no one spoke English and Shelly couldn’t use her Cantonese skills since everyone in China speaks Mandarin. After we collected our luggage and went through customs we finally communicated with a guy to take us to the ship by showing him Chinese characters which supposedly meant the address of the port that the ship was at. Little did we know, he was bullshitting us and did not know where the ship was and we were lost for almost an hour. He ended up calling one of his friends who spoke English to talk to us, but even that was difficult since her English wasn’t very well. Finally, we saw some sassers randomly walking around and they pointed us in the right direction. I will confidently say that I think that Qingdao was one of the worst ports we’ve been to. Our ship was docked in an industrial area where there were bulldozers and ships that looked like they were digging for oil or something. It was not very welcoming and was pretty shady. Barely anyone could go out because of lack of communication and because of shadiness.

On the last day I went on an SAS trip to a home visit and it was also probably one of the worst SAS trips I have been on, but I guess they are just hit and miss because most of the SAS trips I’ve been to have been excellent. The tour guide was not very informative and it was definitely not organized well at all. We hung out at a local family’s house for about 45 minutes where we asked them questions and they asked us questions. The family had great hospitality; they served us tea, fruit, and other snacks. No one in the family spoke English, but our tour guide translated for us. Later that day I met up with the girls back at the ship. We had our last authentic Chinese meal and then did some shopping at another market. We were only there for a short while because the quality of everything was poor and nothing at this point could have beaten the shopping in Vietnam or Hong Kong. So we went to Wal-Mart and stocked up on ramen and water, haha. I think its safe to say that SAS should change it’s port of call when Wal-Mart is the highlight of everyone’s trip.

Overall, HK definitely made up for the lack of Qingdao’s tourist opportunities. I wish the ship could have just stayed in HK longer, but supposedly it costs 20K for us to port there for one night. One last thing to mention about Qingdao, it was cold! The first port where I needed a sweater! And it was cold on the ship the days between China and Japan. It’s supposed to be warmer after we leave Japan, lets cross our fingers so I can work on my tan before I head home. I can’t believe we’re at our last port already =o( So sad……

Lost Pics from KL

around the pool

The view of KL from the poolside at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel

VietCong Continued....

in the CuChi Tunnel

Shooting that AK

Buying my bullets

at the CuChi Tunnels

me in front of a US tank from the Vietnam War

proving the strength of the monkey paw

jenna,me,lauren (aka lulu)

During the last two days in Ho Chi Minh, Lauren and I went to a few museums around town. We hit up an art exhibit and also the War Remnants Museum, which was very interesting. Here in Vietnam, it’s not the “Vietnam War”, but it is known as the “American War.” At the museum there were a lot of US aircrafts and other artifacts pertaining to the war, including tanks and jet fighters. There were stories about how the Americans sprayed agent orange in the air and how it affected the lives of many Vietnamese, including the children of those affected. The children end up growing with many physical deformities, especially shorter or even no limbs. This museum was intriguing because we were seeing the war in the perspective of the Vietnamese.

A group of us also went to the Cu Chi Tunnels where we toured the tunnels and saw different booby traps that the Vietnamese used. They were pretty tiny, I almost didn’t fit into them. Here at the tunnels we shot guns, and I shot a gun for the first time and it was kind of scary at first. I shot an AK 47 and also an AK 1 (machine gun). I still can't believe I actually shot them. Even though the guns were held still on a stand, they were so powerful that I jumped back after shooting and we all felt a little hood after that. For the rest of the day we did a little more shopping and then had some authentic Vietnamese food. On the last night we celebrated Lauren’s birthday. First we drank cheap beer at the night market, checked out Gossip (a techno dance club), and then to Apolcolypse Now, the hottest club according to Lonely Planet and we took over this bar every night we were in Vietnam. For late night, we were at Go Two til the wee morning hours. I think Lauren (aka Lulu) had a great birthday. I also got her an ice cream cake on the ship. On the last day in Ho Chi Minh, Lauren and I relaxed at a spa and got more massages, then we picked up our tailor made dresses for the Ambassadors Ball. I also got a pin striped suit made and when I picked it up and tried it on, it was too small!!! I don’t know how it was too small since they measured me and it was supposed to fit my body, but they fixed it in an extra hour. I must have gained a few pounds those three days in between.

gettin ready for our massages

Students at the Handicapped School

Second day in Vietnam: After about three hours of sleep last night, it was a struggle to wake up at 730 am to make my trip at 8. A group of about 15 sassers and I went to the Da Thien School for the handicapped. There were children ranging from 8 to 14 years. When we first arrived, the principal informed us about how the school works and about the students. At this school there are a total of 57 students, 14 of which are deaf. They had so much energy and were so excitd to see us. SAS provided us with toys and games to interact with the children, and I brought toothbrushes and stickers to give to them. They went wild!!! I had a brief tear moment and had to bite my lower lip to keep from crying because I felt so bad for these children, but I was strong and didn’t (flashback to El Salvador mission trip). The kids loved to pose for the camera as do I so I think you will all be entertained when you look at these pictures. It was great interacting with these children; they have so much joy!

Later on, Lauren and I spoiled ourselves and when to a spa. I got a head and shoulder massage, pedicure and manicure, eyebrow shaping, and ear wax all for $19 usd!!!! How amazingly cheap is that? I definatey am going back there one more time before I leave. The ear wax was a little painful, but at least my ears are dirt (from India) clean free! Now it’s Tuesday night and I am using this internet café which is across the street from the port. I plan on sleeping early tonight because I have another service trip tomorrow morning to a blind elementary school. On Thursday I have an all day trip to see the CuChi tunnels which are tunnels underground that the Vietnamese used during the Vietnam War. These tunnels are so intricate and huge that theres even a hospital! When Im at the tunnels Im going to be shooting a gun for the first time….an AK 47! I’ve got an exciting few days ahead of me.