tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-69395513626741985012024-03-04T20:59:33.444-08:00The Sailing SchultzesAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14162895801417409174noreply@blogger.comBlogger93125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6939551362674198501.post-25460081659308241432013-10-07T13:28:00.001-07:002013-10-07T13:28:19.391-07:00Taking Time to Look Around<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<b>October 7, 2013</b><br />
<br />
I have been searching, inquiring, and listening for direction. I feel like I've lost my dreams and my ambitions. I feel lazy. I feel like I don't want to do anything anymore, everything is just a task I <i>have</i> to do instead of something I'm passionate about.<br />
<br />
I've been running full speed for quite some time, and I've come to a realization after my recent search for new direction: sometimes it's appropriate to stop and take a look around. See what and who has been beside me this whole time, and explore the small paths leading to brilliant views that I've been skipping in hopes to get further faster. Who am I trying to impress anyway?<br />
<br />
I feel like we're trained to please people. If you don't please, you don't succeed. In school, it's up to your teacher. Even if you're doing something right or the task is subjective, you still get graded on it and you pass or fail based on what someone else has decided. You're trained to go to college, get a degree in that thing you want to do for the rest of your life, then get a job in that field. Can't get a job in your field? You fail. You find a job doing anything, then, even though you're making the bills, you're nothing. You're defined by what you do.<br />
<br />
Well, what if you're happy? What then?<br />
<br />
Who are we trying to impress when we're just living? Finding your purpose is so much greater than finding a job that impresses other people.<br />
<br />
I realized that I've got my head too much in this search for purpose, and I need to follow my heart. What do I love to do? I love to solicalize. I love to be with my friends. I love to hear what they're up to, to help them move, see a movie with them, talk about our latest shows, make films together, watch young people learn, help them get somewhere in something we're both passionate about. I like to teach; I like to team up, and I like to create things that people enjoy. I want to better myself; I want a mentor; I want someone to look up to.<br />
<br />
Now, if I can put all those things together, I think I'll have found my direction.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14162895801417409174noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6939551362674198501.post-26366005863021663672013-09-01T21:24:00.002-07:002013-09-01T21:24:28.362-07:00Epiblogue<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I suppose you could consider this an epilogue or maybe a P.S. at the end of a letter, but I finally downloaded all of my pictures from this trip from my iPhone to my computer to be backed up. While they were being imported, I got to relive each experience I found photo-worthy in 2-second intervals. It basically tore me up to the point of tears.<br />
<br />
After getting back, I felt displaced. I felt like I didn't belong here, but I figured once we moved into a house instead of the small room in my dad's basement that we came back to, I'd feel more settled. We moved into my sister's rental home which has three bedrooms and a full, unfinished basement and started the unpacking process. It was enough to stay distracted for a while, but it wasn't feeling like home.<br />
<br />
The house was huge. We had too many clothes, too many things. We went through an odd crisis mode and decided to get rid of a bunch of stuff. We became ruthless with our things and threw it out into the garage for a garage sale. We held a massive sale, and anything we didn't sell for ridiculously low amounts of money, we gave away. After selling for a full day, we still gave away 18 boxes, 5 garbage bags of things and some furniture.<br />
<br />
We came back into the house, and our jaws dropped at the piles of junk still packed in our basement. We settled into the rest of the house, and basically ignored the fact that that part of the house existed.<br />
<br />
We started getting work again, which was good because a lack of work for a month meant a lack of income for two or three. We panicked a little and said yes to everything. We looked at our open schedule and filled it to the brim. We took on too much, but we didn't realize it at the time.<br />
<br />
We poured ourselves into work, finding more conflict than usual which was disconcerting. We don't fight. We don't get on each other's nerves. What the heck was happening? We went through four months of bunk beds in a living space the size of our current closet without an issue, and now we're on one another.<br />
<br />
Things weren't settling. We were a month back, two months back, three months back, and things didn't feel right. I piled on even more work. I felt bad for people who needed the help, so I agreed to more work. This didn't feel like home.<br />
<br />
We were supposed to have answers. It was supposed to feel good to come back. What are we doing with our lives? What impact do we want to have on the world? How do we want to live out however many days we have left? Not spread too thin, that's for sure.<br />
<br />
It's time to slow down for a moment. It's time to soul-search a bit. There are many people whom we love and respect in our life that our giving us their answers, but they disagree with one another. Matt and I don't know what we want. We've lost sight of all future goals, which is so strange because we came back from the trip with a heart full of them. We've jokingly been calling this our quarter-life crisis, but I think it truly is a crisis of priorities.<br />
<br />
I'm thinking about continuing the blog. I don't know who the heck reads this thing, but it's helpful to have a place where I can lay down my thoughts in a way that I'd be willing to have other people hear them. In fact, it's one of the recommended therapies for impostor syndrome - which, I've been told to consider.<br />
<br />
Most people don't like showing weakness or vulnerability. I might say I'm one of those people, however, I also hold the trait which I will coin the "I'll-show-you syndrome". I perform best under the doubt of others. It's not really pressure to perform, but doubt in my abilities. "I'll show you," I think to myself when I'm told I can't do something. It got me playing the drums, exercising, playing sports, studying film, starting our own business, and now, I'm far too encouraged for forward momentum. Can someone stop believing in me, and help me out here?<br />
<br />
I don't want to leave Colorado. I like it here, but I'm not sure the current "here" is the most conducive place to be challenged. My current thinking is to seek out a group of creatives who will challenge me to bounce back into my old self - creatives who will inspire me to be a better everything. Let the search begin...<br />
<br /></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14162895801417409174noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6939551362674198501.post-35752161738649904412013-05-03T10:23:00.001-07:002013-05-04T15:33:11.200-07:00Happy EndingsMay 3, 2013<br />
<br />
The time has come to pack our bags and head back to the United States after four exciting, frustrating, fulfilling, hilarious, touching, life-changing months. So much has happened along the way, and I have felt the changes happening in me as they've occurred. I noted lessons as I learned them. I got to see this world, myself and the United States through different eyes, and those moments provided some of the biggest perspective changes I've ever experienced. I grew closer to our film crew and documentary subjects than I had expected. I met a new type of person on this trip: those who travel for a living. The worldly person. The global citizen. I feel like they've given me some of their drug, and I'm addicted. <br />
<br />
I'm expecting to be asked many, many times once we get home: "how was your trip?" My initial response would be in the form of a question, "how was the last four months of your life? Go ahead, try to sum it up in a single answer." All joking aside, this trip wasn't just a trip, it was my life. It's how I lived, worked and played for a third of a year.<br />
<br />
I met and hung out with people who created businesses that affect our lives on a daily basis. I met people who have started social movements and covered major news stories on the front lines. Each of them was down to earth and willing to share their advice. They were just like any other person on the ship. It encouraged me in my own future. I'm also just another random human and with the passion in the right place and the right amount of hard work and drive, I can achieve anything I set my heart to. <br />
<br />
With that encouragement and sense of excitement comes an odd sense of emptiness that both Matt and I have. Matt described it as climbing a huge mountain and coming to the summit and finding a cloudy day. We know we made it, we have a sense of success, but the view which was supposed to be an enlightening 15,000 foot view of all of the interworkings and components of our lives, how they interact with each other and how they influence one another, was instead a mushy, complicated mess of clouds, and we can't wait here for the sun to burn them off. We have to move on and allow our minds to process what we just went through, and it will come into focus as we look back from further on in our journey. <br />
<br />
Our next steps are to re-assimilate and get to processing what just happened. We'll slowly make our way down from the mountain and back to "real life". I'm sure the emotions I expected to feel now, but don't, will come. I'm sure they'll come in waves like they did as I got used to ship-life. I'm sure some old things will feel comforting and others will be unsettling that that's the way things used to be. I'm sure some relationships will be stronger than ever and others will wain as I grow away from them.<br />
<br />
One absolutely vital piece of the trip was Matt and I's relationship. It's tough to move into a world where the only alone-time escape is in a 5x5 room with fold down bunk beds. Our experiences drew us together and bonded us stronger, and I'm so thankful for that. <br />
<br />
I can't wait to see what's next, and I can't wait to face it with my best friend and amazing husband. Side by side, we're moving forward. "Keep going," as Pedro would chant. We're going to miss everyone from this trip, but in this day and age, we're no further apart than we decide to be. It's not goodbye, it's a big, fat "heeeeeello!"<br />
<br />
"...every new beginning comes from some other beginnings end." <br/><br/><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhX38YPlbFMf-qfKDyPuYwsjrghG36lMbZAlPGp0kCjkCOe0iB9f0Thr9flUOjfGQoS3AGar0Lz1c6vl-53rtdo1Ati0zhTHmyubaYcLUTO_98dca3wy6Yqht0CGh-NYwW9DHf9sFy0swA/s640/blogger-image--1334343838.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhX38YPlbFMf-qfKDyPuYwsjrghG36lMbZAlPGp0kCjkCOe0iB9f0Thr9flUOjfGQoS3AGar0Lz1c6vl-53rtdo1Ati0zhTHmyubaYcLUTO_98dca3wy6Yqht0CGh-NYwW9DHf9sFy0swA/s640/blogger-image--1334343838.jpg" /></a></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14162895801417409174noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6939551362674198501.post-29882816472131923842013-04-29T02:32:00.002-07:002013-04-29T02:32:41.433-07:00Creative Energy: The Priceless Human Commodity<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
One of my three biggest learnings from this trip comes in the form of energy management. The other two are about leadership and about not following the societal rulebook about what your life has to be like.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
When energy is flowing, harness it. Human batteries don't store energy forever, so if you feel creative potential bubbling up inside, pour it out right at that moment. If you don't, it will fizzle or come out in different, unproductive ways. Then, the batteries will need time to charge again.<br />
<br />
Once the energy starts flowing, it's important to appropriately channel it. Projects and activities that the person exuding the energy enjoys are the best places to funnel the energy. For example, if a person loves to edit, but hasn't felt like editing for days and gets a boost, put them on a project. Let them free, take away the bounds and open up the energy faucet on them.<br />
<br />
As far as managing my own personal energy goes, I'm in a position in life where I'm in charge of my hours, my projects and my clients, so my biggest mistake at the beginning of that transition from 9-to-5 to self-employed was saying yes to everything. We were afraid of not having enough work to sustain us, and it turned out that we got more work than we could almost handle. I should have said no to a few things, but shoulda woulda's aren't worth dwelling on. Moving forward, I'll be able to assess better whether or not we're in feast or famine mode with work and decide whether or not it's time to pour into something or break away and recharge the batteries.<br />
<br />
Just this morning's two cents.<br />
<br />
The other two learnings are still in journals waiting to be organized into helpful thoughts.</div>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14162895801417409174noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6939551362674198501.post-2584633331852800182013-04-27T06:13:00.002-07:002013-04-28T05:10:56.143-07:00Siesta en Barcelona<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><b>April 27, 2013</b><br />
<b><br />
</b>I woke up feeling pretty rested and found Oli and Matt cooking breakfast for the team. They had made a fruit salad with our leftover apples and the strawberries and pineapple that we got yesterday from the restaurant we visited. Oli made cheese quesadillas and some mushroom and onion scrambled eggs. It really hit the spot. Then, I realized it was almost 11am. Apparently we all really needed the sleep.<br />
<br />
We caught up on packing up extra gear, editing, sewing ripped pants, laundry and other items that we had been neglecting. We decided to have lunch around 3:30pm, and Oli and Jessie whipped us up some delicious ham sandwiches. I can't imagine a better lunch.<br />
<br />
It felt really good to have a hangout day. Even though we were doing small items to catch up on loose ends, it finally felt like we had a moment to just relax. We didn't have to move, pack gear, carry anything, have meetings or try to run around a ship finding one another to get stuff done. We were all in one place working as a team. Some cooked, some cleaned, some edited, some did finances and caught up on receipts and others relaxed and watched movies until it was time to cook again. We're like a little family. It feels so good.<br />
<br />
We ended up working away the afternoon and then had a late lunch of sandwiches that Oli and Jessie so lovingly whipped up for us. I captured the delicious moment.<br />
<br />
We decided to go out for a walk and see Sagrada Familia, the unfinished cathedral in Barcelona that is only about two blocks from the apartment where we are living. The cathedral is stunning! It's like nothing I've ever seen before. Because it's been being built for almost a hundred years, and has been passed between architects and artists, there are sections that look old and gothic and realistic, and other sections that look new and sharp and surreal. It's huge and detailed. I'd love to go back and sit and stare at it for an hour.<br />
<br />
We walked to find a cappuccino and warm churros and hot chocolate. They have this snack here that's basically deep fried bread dipped in hot chocolate pudding. Magical! I'm trying something new with my diet to see if I can start feeling better, so I wasn't able to taste them, but my cinnamon cappuccino really hit the spot on this cold, drizzly day. We also found a tapas restaurant where we decided to have our final team dinner this evening and made a reservation. <br />
<br />
Mark and Larissa broke off to find fixings for some appetizers before our 9pm dinner and came back to the apartment with a baguette, stinky, delicious cheese and some unique sausage. We enjoyed the snack with some leftover South African wine that Mark had purchased at a winery.<br />
<br />
We all headed out for the restaurant for the team dinner. We had a nice walk because it had stopped raining. Such good conversations during our walk. <br />
<br />
We arrived at the tapas restaurant and ordered up a family-style dinner where we all got to try some fun and unique Spanish dishes. One of them is called Jamón Ibérico, which is a cured pig leg from a pig who only eats almonds. It is ridiculously expensive and eaten in thin, tiny slices, but it is bursting with flavor. It's soft, nutty and like no other ham I have ever tasted. It's sweet like an almond and not overly salted. Delicate and expensive tasting. We had gazpacho, a cold soup or sopa fría. It's made with tomato and cucumber. Yum yum yum. <br />
<br />
We made toasts at the beginning of the meal and each toasted using our new favorite foreign word that we learned. "Dozo" is the team's favorite and has been our ongoing inside joke since Tokyo. It means "please" as in you would open a door for someone and offer for them to go first. Please enter before me. Please take my seat. Please let me stuff myself in this tiny closet in shame because I was in your way just a moment ago.<br />
<br />
My toast utilized the bartering phrase I learned in Cambodia that begins with a high-pitched, "ooooooh!" Then follows with, "thklay naah." After someone has told you the price of an item, you use this phrase to say, "that is far too expensive." Then, you commence bartering. Another word was "Ubuntu" which is the word introduced to us by Archbishop Desmond Tutu which means something like, "I am me because you are you." Basically, the idea that we build each other up as a human force and affect one another no matter who we are or what we do.<br />
<br />
We enjoyed dinner, then went around the table saying our parting words. This was the last time that we would be all together in one place for this project. Mark and Larissa were heading to DC at 3am, and the rest of us are going to stay here and finish post-production then beginning peeling off to explore around Europe. Matt and I will be staying in Barcelona until May 5th when we take an early, early flight back to Denver. I think I've said it before, but I'll say it again, it will be so nice to have this project wrapped before coming home to restart.<br />
<br />
We left the restaurant and found a place with gelato for a walking dessert, then made it back to the media flat to help Mark and Larissa pack up for their flight. Those not helping with the packing went back to work editing, and a few people headed back out for a 2am nightcap. When we walked back, there were tons of young people out standing in massive groups talking and laughing in front of Sagrada Familia. The nightlife is very late in Spain. Many people don't even finish dinner until midnight, then begin their bar crawl in the wee hours of the morning. On weekends, churro places open around 7am or 8am to serve breakfast to those that are still up and ready to eat before going to bed. Then, lunch isn't until around 2pm, so people sleep in until lunch, then have a late dinner and do it all again. We've now adopted this lifestyle. <br />
<br />
We stayed up to see Mark and Larissa go and then crawled into bed at 3am. We're finally down to a number of people that offers everyone their own bed and couples a big bed. A good morning's sleep for the first time in a while will feel good. <br />
<br />
</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14162895801417409174noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6939551362674198501.post-24246319125296608652013-04-27T06:03:00.006-07:002013-04-27T06:03:41.869-07:00Unreasonable at Sea's Culminating Event<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<b>April 26, 2013</b><br />
<br />
We snuggled into our media flat last night after a long and busy day of settling and editing, and woke up after four hours of sleep to our 6am alarms. We had to get all our gear together, eat breakfast from our newly purchased grocery stash of fresh fruits, yogurt and milk. It was magical to eat a piece of produce that hadn't been frozen or steamed. Pure magic in our mouths.<br />
<br />
We called three taxis to tote our gear and selves over to the Axa Auditorium where the final Unreasonable at Sea culminating event was to be held. The auditorium was beautiful and big. We had to get set up with four cameras on the event, plus one roving camera to shoot the backstage happenings with the entrepreneurs before they headed on to do their final pitch before Unreasonable at State. On top of setting up for the event, we also had a meeting with the learning partner we were working on another video for to get approval on the second rough cut. It was a crazy morning, but the team handled it really well. Go team!<br />
<br />
The event was awesome! All the entrepreneurs were on their A-game and totally rocked their pitches. We had filmed their final practice pitches on the ship before landing in Barcelona, and the mentors that were on board tore them apart. There was so much that the mentors wanted them to change. It was interesting to see what they changed and what feedback they totally ignored. It's a subjective thing, so they did what they thought was best, and it turned out brilliantly. Everyone came so far from when we did the original "elevator pitches" during the first week on the ship. Those elevator pitches were so bad, that we never even posted them.<br />
<br />
Before many of the entrepreneurs pitched, the episodes that we had done along the way were shown. I think the value in that was not only that you got to see their business in action and understand more about it, but also that you fell in love with their personality before hearing them pitch. The audience got to see Tendekayi in the Hong Kong episode doing sign language with the hearing impaired people he employs there, they got to see how entertaining Pedro is then how passionate he is about eliminating deaths from unclean drinking water, and they got to see Protei getting down and dirty in Hawaii, digging through meters of plastic as they investigated how their sailing drones could help in the area.<br />
<br />
Watching the videos we had done brought back so many memories from this trip. Both from things that Matt and I shot, things I edited, but also flashbacks to the places we slept, the things we ate and the people we met while we gathered this footage. The smells came back and the sounds came back to me. The first video brought tears to my eyes because of how bittersweet the end of this journey is. I had to get it together, though, because I was one of the cameras on stage in front of the 500 people at the event and the lights were about to come up. Daniel recognized the media team and offered up a big thank you and a bow. It was a great moment. It made me feel so proud of what we accomplished in these short four months.<br />
<br />
Local entrepreneurs from the Barcelona area also pitched in-between the Unreasonable entrepreneurs which offered a great energy between new and old business ideas. One start-up that I was particularly interested in was <a href="https://www.changers.com/en">Changers.com</a> which sells an energy independence kit where you can use a solar panel to charge a battery that can charge small devices like your phone. You use the solar panel in your house or on your backpack, then use the energy whenever you want it via the battery pack. But, it doesn't stop there. They also have an online community where you keep track of the hours of clean energy that you produce and use yourself, then you can make purchases with the credits on the online community. Kind of like carbon credits, but on a small, small scale. Interesting idea, but it leaves me with many general questions about the infrastructure of energy around the world. Like, if I charged my phone using only solar power, and the little electricity box outside our house read a smaller number, and we paid less this month, would that actually change the amount of energy that the energy company produced? Just because I didn't use it this month, does that mean that they didn't burn the coal to produce it? Or, does it just get used elsewhere or just get wasted? I don't know. Experts: e-mail me (shawna (at) massfxmedia dot com) so I can ask you more questions, por favor.<br />
<br />
In Spain, they don't do regular lunch breaks. Since their lunch starts around 2pm, the event ran straight through from 10am to 3pm, and we had all eaten breakfast around 7am. Our awesome producers brought around apples and bananas for snacks, but we were still starving by 3:30 when we finally got our gear back to the media flat and headed out to find some lunch.<br />
<br />
We arrived at a vegetarian restaurant around 3:50pm, and were welcomed with some head scratching. The way this restaurant worked, like many lunch places, is that it has a set menu where you choose a starter between a couple options, a soup, salad, main course and dessert. Since they close at 4pm (as all Spaniards know) they didn't have much left to feed the ten of us. The guy said that he would make it work and seated us upstairs in a little loft.<br />
<br />
We got a mix of soups, both of which were delicious, some boiled potatoes and broccoli with some sort of sour cream topping, an unbelievably tasty couscous and veggie stuffed squash and then piles of fresh fruit for dessert. We told the waiter that we had come from a ship and couldn't wait to eat fresh food. He brought extra fruit and said we could take it home. As we left, they were receiving the food for the next day, and the man gave us a whole pineapple and a crate of strawberries to take with us. Such nice people here!<br />
<br />
The team was exhausted and we went back to the flat thinking we would take a short nap, and all ended up sleeping until 7:30pm. We woke up and headed out to dinner at a crepe place across town that Mark and Larissa highly recommended. It was delicious. I had a spinach, strawberry, goat cheese and pine nut salad, and attempted to order in spanish. I was laughed at, but I think in a cute way and not a you-should-be-embarassed-for-trying-out-our-language way. I also got a spiced chai. Didn't even come close to India's chai, but the warm tea was good for a cool, drizzly night. We ate crepes and drank our chai's in a warm restaurant with good conversation. Oli was cute enough that she finagled two free dessert crepes out of the place, and we all enjoyed extra chocolate and banana crepes. Too good.<br />
<br />
Matt, Oli, Patrick, Jessie and I decided we would walk back to the apartment and get to know the area a little bit better since we still have a week here. We walked by a concert hall where many young people were standing outside waiting to go to a concert. They said you can just buy tickets there, and we considered doing that later this week. The buildings are old and beautiful in Barcelona and the city is clean and feels safe. We visited a couple grocery stores trying to find tortilla chips for Oli to make us Mexican breakfast the next morning, but didn't find any.<br />
<br />
We arrived back at the media flat and finished up some final work from the day before and hit the hay around 2am. I'd like to think that we're preparing for getting back to Colorado.<br />
<br />
<br /></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14162895801417409174noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6939551362674198501.post-71145574229436690852013-04-25T12:18:00.001-07:002013-04-27T10:53:06.440-07:00Hastalouego MV Explorer!April 25, 2013<br />
<br />
After three rocky, emotion-filled, work-filled days at sea where people wrapped up what needed wrapping, graduated from what needed graduating and hugged those that needed hugging, we said goodbye to our shipboard family and our home away from home for the last 105 days.<br />
<br />
Two nights ago, we had the alumni ball where everyone on the ship got dressed up and had a sit-down, four-course meal. Matt and I sat with a couple who we had met early on in the voyage and then never really followed up with until that dinner. It was interesting to talk with them and hear what they remembered about our first conversation. Apparently, I raved about rambutan in Hawaii and told them how much I was looking forward to it in Vietnam. <br />
<br />
Last night was the commencement ceremony for the students and after that was Unreasonable's graduation ceremony which is basically a circle up where everyone gets a moment to say whatever is on their heart. We first heard from the entrepreneurs, then Daniel made sure to highlight the admin team and then the media team. Following up after the articulate fellows felt a little bit intimidating, but because we had grown so close, I had some confidence to tell them how I really felt. <br />
<br />
I'm sure it came out all jumbled and nothing like I had imagined it in my head, but when it was my turn to speak, I wanted to thank everyone and to thank the program for taking me through exactly the experience that I needed right now in my life. I came into this project thinking of it as an end goal. It was a year and a half in the making, and Matt and I had to make some dramatic changes in our life and careers in order to make room for it. We made some hard decisions, made it through the big changes of selling our car, moving out of our house, putting our cat into long term kitty-care with my mom, starting and pursuing our own business, Mass FX Media, and finally saying goodbye to all of our brand new clients that we had gained during the first seven months of doing Mass FX Media full time.<br />
<br />
This trip had been the end goal for so long that once the countdown had reached single digits and we had reached San Diego, I realized we had nothing left to plan for. I got the expectation that this trip would answer the "what's next" question. About three months into it, I didn't have my answer, and I started to panic. What do I want to do? Who do I want to work for? What should we pursue next?<br />
<br />
With work as a distraction and ridiculously talented and inspiring mentors, I slowly came to the realization that this trip ending meant our future was beginning. We were in charge once again of our day to day and the projects that we'll take or turndown. We can live anywhere we want and work with whomever we want. With just three days left at sea, I started packing and felt excitement for what is to come, and it was these people standing before me that offered me excitement for the edge, not fear. <br />
<br />
I ended my, probably too long and rambly, speech and admitted that I was about to follow in their footsteps and follow my own dreams: I'm going to direct the feature film, Operation Babylift. Cesar yelled out, "tell us about the film!" and I couldn't help myself. I used the opportunity to pitch the film. I got some good feedback and one of the mentors approached me afterwards and said I had to make that film, and another mentor gave me a contact our in San Jose.<br />
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That all said, we'll be heading out to California late this summer to follow up on these leads and visit all our new friends in San Fran, San Diego and LA. I'm ready to jump in. No more excuses. <br />
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We had a fun, but late, party and headed to bed to get a couple hours of sleep before our 6:30am breakfast call to be ready to disembark. My emotions were extremely level and steady today. Nothing extreme, no tears, not really any giddiness either. It was all happening and it all felt right. I felt content and ready. <br />
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We debarked, grabbed some taxis and checked into our new home for the next ten days: an AirBNB apartment in the middle of Barcelona. We had to get four taxis to get all of our stuff and all of our peoples over to the flat, but it went pretty smoothly. The flat is really nice and there are enough beds for each of us to have one, a small kitchen, a laundry machine and a little patio. It's close to restaurants, grocery stores and public transportation. It will work out well. <br />
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We settled in and were ready for an early lunch around 11:30. Spain shuts down for lunch which is scheduled for 2-4:00ish, so we were turned down at every restaurant we went to. People had no idea why we were wanting lunch so early. We found a nice little Colombian restaurant that was willing to have us in early and we ordered up some fun Colombian delights. We worked on our Spanish and made friends with Fernando who we knew we would being seeing a lot during our stay here since his restaurant is just at the bottom of our apartment building. <br />
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While we ate, we were sought out by a random lady looking for a bunch of Americans. She was with the taxi company and we had left a bag in one of the taxis. It turned out to be Mark's clothing bag, and it was crazy how it got back to us in that restaurant. What awesome people!<br />
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After lunch, we did a gear swap, bought groceries and then hunkered down on post-production while part of the team went to shoot the Unreasonable VIP dinner tonight. It feels good to start settling down, and I'm now just looking forward to the day that we can get some sleep. Early event tomorrow all day for the culminating Unreasonable pitches in Barcelona. Should feel good to see the entrepreneurs in their final form and hear the pitches they've been perfecting for the last four months. <br/><br/><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvuQauHcmb-139ALtRzARyNE9cu1p_7DEzL5JwsuKyahlyxow3won5iPH44AjSclIQvkI8UTWwx9cG9YxZnsrZ8AWPVUGHKjiSvexgIJDQJq7PnYfujny4q1Ibdm2oWRwHIytV7S8NhAI/s640/blogger-image-292394802.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvuQauHcmb-139ALtRzARyNE9cu1p_7DEzL5JwsuKyahlyxow3won5iPH44AjSclIQvkI8UTWwx9cG9YxZnsrZ8AWPVUGHKjiSvexgIJDQJq7PnYfujny4q1Ibdm2oWRwHIytV7S8NhAI/s640/blogger-image-292394802.jpg" /></a></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14162895801417409174noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6939551362674198501.post-14361358869171714292013-04-22T00:23:00.002-07:002013-04-22T00:23:22.800-07:00Cooking in Casablanca<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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April 21, 2013<br />
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Today we had the whoooole day off in Casablanca, so Matt and I signed up for the Moroccan Market Tour and Interactive Cooking Class. It was meant to be for fun purposes only. The only camera we brought were the ones on our iPhones. Our good friends Tori and Kevin happened to be along on the tour as well, so we enjoyed spending more time with them.</div>
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Matt and I ate breakfast on the ship and then, after buying our ticket to the tour, we headed out to the bus. We were joined by some students, lifelong learners, RA's and then Tori and Kevin who are part of the communications team and work with us. We met our tour guide, Mohammed, who said that we could call him, Mo.</div>
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Mo took us around Casablanca for a little bit because he wanted to show us some places just in case we missed them while we were here. I was appreciative of the gesture since I hadn't had much free time to explore yet. He took the bus first to the Hassan II Mosque. It's technically the tallest mosque in the world even though it's not allowed to be bigger than the one in Mecca. People here just say it's pretty big.</div>
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Mo explained to us that it was built between 1987 and 1992 and it was funded by the people of Morocco. He was living in Las Vegas at the time and he was sent a letter from the Moroccan government asking if he would donate to the building of the mosque. He said that he gave $25. He explained that the Koran tells that anything built here on earth is duplicated by God in heaven, and many people will give a lot of money toward beautiful couches and tiles, but he is in love with the kitchen, so he hopes his fund counts toward that and he could spend all his time in heaven's kitchen. We all had a good laugh.</div>
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We toured around the outside of the mosque very quickly and Matt and I posed in front of it. It was a very open design on the outside with a lot of space leading up to the mosque. The architecture was interesting, but classy. Not too busy like many cathedrals I've seen. Mo said that 20,000 people fit inside and another 40,000 fit outside for worship time.</div>
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We headed for our next stop which was to see Rick's Cafe from Casablanca, then to the consulate's residence (where I had lunch on the second day here) because of the significance of Eisenhower and Churchill staying there and their impact on Morocco during the world war.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcvgysZYyYiK-5ZJ3a8DTI_Q6m_Op7tSsSIOUjl_2HtpiLfrYF3FG4wfSnvHTUjHU2B_hjSJkF7ds-N4ZX7MEUsgViNISwUiCf-RKbvUcoBf_O4Fx6CIXWM744iE7ZkkQxpC2ytpT6Xzg/s1600/photo+1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcvgysZYyYiK-5ZJ3a8DTI_Q6m_Op7tSsSIOUjl_2HtpiLfrYF3FG4wfSnvHTUjHU2B_hjSJkF7ds-N4ZX7MEUsgViNISwUiCf-RKbvUcoBf_O4Fx6CIXWM744iE7ZkkQxpC2ytpT6Xzg/s320/photo+1.JPG" width="320" /></a>After a little more city tour, we stopped off at the central market in Casablanca. The market tour was meant to show us where the chefs get their fresh meat and vegetables for cooking around the city. The farmers and rural people bring their goods here. We got to experience some new sights and smells. I appreciate the lack of rotting fish smell like in Vietnam and Myanmar, but the dangling cow, sheep and rabbit were as surprising a sight as the fish were a smell. It was fascinating to me that they leave the little feetsies on the rabbits that they've skinned. I told the man that we keep the feet for good luck in my country, and he said he didn't have any duck and pointed down the aisle.</div>
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Mo stopped in front of some grotesque slabs of pink flesh and explained how the bull tongues were prepared. I stared at them for a long moment, then realized that my gag reflex was alerting me and my eyes were tearing up. I was trying to imagine where that tongue connects in the lower abdomen of the creature. It was far longer than I thought it should have been.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhINs0LxHOk58PFHgLILnkialguwJZkTj-YdowYOcCVV-ubMveCVnqa0NWlrikjwc9Ea18zC-SOI7ZroQI_5K9i0iRN9Nkwo3a9Zh8irKDfPwfSlMlYDJXO4P_kx9vxoNmSHR7wP134ymc/s1600/photo+2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhINs0LxHOk58PFHgLILnkialguwJZkTj-YdowYOcCVV-ubMveCVnqa0NWlrikjwc9Ea18zC-SOI7ZroQI_5K9i0iRN9Nkwo3a9Zh8irKDfPwfSlMlYDJXO4P_kx9vxoNmSHR7wP134ymc/s320/photo+2.JPG" width="239" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEij6EkLM5798AdSFCeQyl2ZfTe-_t0pza96qYAkqaEZFhcgxxynFOk6nS4UfL6ORdDpDiN7W7dEieQMZjU7aEG0E8EkkCRivnblQGlAWnWJc2U3_HU8fA9ytUQosqwoR2DtVAVxLuTQaJU/s1600/photo+3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEij6EkLM5798AdSFCeQyl2ZfTe-_t0pza96qYAkqaEZFhcgxxynFOk6nS4UfL6ORdDpDiN7W7dEieQMZjU7aEG0E8EkkCRivnblQGlAWnWJc2U3_HU8fA9ytUQosqwoR2DtVAVxLuTQaJU/s320/photo+3.JPG" width="239" /></a>There were little kitties all over the market. They were hanging out on the floor, behind doors and in boxes waiting for scraps from the food vendors. The people there were very kind to them. They patted them on their heads and gave them shrimps or little sardines that looked a little funny. It was an interesting change from how we saw the animals in other countries treated like pests.</div>
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Mo picked up a tiny, live turtle and began passing it into our hands to hold. If it turned its head left or right and if it decided to move forward or backward, we were wished a different type of luck. Apparently the turtles are master givers of good fortune and they decide your fate. Just like in Hong Kong, I was wished children. Look out parental units, this trip just might bless a child out of me.</div>
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We left the market and walked to the cooking school a few blocks away. We entered a tall, white building with wonderful smells pouring down from the marble, spiraling stairway. Mo offered the lift to anyone who was old, which made us chuckle and the people who legitimately needed the lift feel offended. He went along his business not noticing the scowls from the lift-takers. He was an easy-going guy who told things like they were. I found it funny.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9BdDtsDT2CF3N5FuBtVNzk_jrEV1ZPFBqdQv95dEHcqBFYbSl5thl3Gqt5T2G0OYbLgTtSeAi8xzTYTgEaSpH-IBQTppgN2GwaqJtXEEsrrJIYQ9S4RSqG3WLsJfKH1j8w_oC0TYZ6GU/s1600/photo+2-1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9BdDtsDT2CF3N5FuBtVNzk_jrEV1ZPFBqdQv95dEHcqBFYbSl5thl3Gqt5T2G0OYbLgTtSeAi8xzTYTgEaSpH-IBQTppgN2GwaqJtXEEsrrJIYQ9S4RSqG3WLsJfKH1j8w_oC0TYZ6GU/s320/photo+2-1.JPG" width="320" /></a>We hiked up and up the stairs and wished we had taken the lift because the four stories weren't up to American building code stories.</div>
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We got to the top and were welcomed by a nice lady named Laila and a cook who spoke only French. He would be our teacher for the day and Mo would translate. They first taught us how to make proper mint tea. They showed us what to put in first and how to boil the water and wash the tea. Then, they added the sugar.</div>
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Mo asked if we wanted no sweet, half sweet or Moroccan sweet. The younger people were all for the full Moroccan experience, and the few older gennies in the room voted for no sweet, so Mo settled for half-sweet and stuck in the equivalent of two cups of sugar in sugar cubes into the tiny pot of tea. There was an audible gasp from the no-sweet side of the room. I found the drama of this particular moment highly entertaining and inappropriately laughed out loud. This encouraged Mo.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6hXTE5XeJ8kLCYzMSONbWZqh9_QssE3019gfjJpjIZDNti4TcNm1P8S6araNsX10I1Zz1qiFOcd8He4DmOVvD9EFfwCI88d7ozBr_0gOCy3-zDPdOdL6_H7wMn8Z-wsK58MsC0gAp4OY/s1600/photo+1-1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6hXTE5XeJ8kLCYzMSONbWZqh9_QssE3019gfjJpjIZDNti4TcNm1P8S6araNsX10I1Zz1qiFOcd8He4DmOVvD9EFfwCI88d7ozBr_0gOCy3-zDPdOdL6_H7wMn8Z-wsK58MsC0gAp4OY/s320/photo+1-1.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
Mo and the French-speaking Moroccan chef began their teaching. They showed us how to make traditional Moroccan pastries, how to fold them, bake them and lay them out nicely for display when presenting them to guests or hosts. They then moved on to the ever-so-complicated couscous. Then, they showed us how to make tajines which is both the pot they are cooked in and the actual food that comes out of it by being prepared this way. It would be like calling something a fish bake because you prepared it in an oven.</div>
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They showed us prune-almond lamb tajine and also ginger-apricot chicken tajine. They didn't cook anything in front of us, just taught us how to prepare it and brought it out in multiple phases because it would have taken hours to actually follow through with cooking all of these traditional items. It was tantalizing to watch all the fresh ingredients go into all of these deliciously seasoned dishes.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfIEf-zJnGiXTO7y0LMXUWDK4jWM9D_899urm98Cx_J8SDRkUyT7txlnc1rJ25CA91pNcL2JCLKXf0St2U1wZ201JbjaR-4V06J1Rvbo6w6XvK-l-MjBhzs48tVF8N9PSyGlO2UrbC6wM/s1600/photo+4-1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfIEf-zJnGiXTO7y0LMXUWDK4jWM9D_899urm98Cx_J8SDRkUyT7txlnc1rJ25CA91pNcL2JCLKXf0St2U1wZ201JbjaR-4V06J1Rvbo6w6XvK-l-MjBhzs48tVF8N9PSyGlO2UrbC6wM/s320/photo+4-1.JPG" width="320" /></a>On the ginger chicken, they often use preserved lemon. The room got so excited at preserved lemon, and we knew we couldn't bring any on the ship and finding it in the States and for cheap was difficult. We wanted the know how of how to make these ourselves. Laila scooted out of the room and came back with a giant jar of weird looking masses floating in brown liquid. She showed us how to cut the fresh lemons, stuff them with salt and then said that you just jam them in a jar for two weeks and they juice out, fill the jar with their juices and the salts and will last for a good year. You use the skins of the lemons to flavor the chicken tajines and you can also spoon out the salty, citrus liquid and put it on cucumber salads to impress your guests. Mo said we would be the most popular cooks in our neighborhood if we did that. I believe him, and I'm going to try it with our new neighbors.</div>
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After the lemon excitement died down, the cooking demonstration was over. Laila gave us her e-mail address and said we could e-mail her any questions we had. I wrote it down just in case my lemons go south.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjR0x8OaToDEPed5jVhMlSwJsKUs9V4f32Tlj8CT3wBkvg6KlnDIVw_iodXzHqsutbuPw2LRWSWwX28ReRlvICrnwQyURSSvgbHGXpUwfOJtObpj5dvMCB65xBR4lliG92aKe7n6jDLl0Y/s1600/photo+5-1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjR0x8OaToDEPed5jVhMlSwJsKUs9V4f32Tlj8CT3wBkvg6KlnDIVw_iodXzHqsutbuPw2LRWSWwX28ReRlvICrnwQyURSSvgbHGXpUwfOJtObpj5dvMCB65xBR4lliG92aKe7n6jDLl0Y/s320/photo+5-1.JPG" width="320" /></a>They led us up to the next floor where there was a dining room and four gold covers on four giant plates on a long table in the front. They had prepared us all the dishes that they had just taught us to cook, and it was time to gorge ourselves on the delicious food. They had planned to remove the silver covers all at once, and they counted down and then whipped away the covers while Mo yelled, "surprise!" It was a fun moment. I happened to capture it in action, and I'm quite pleased with the blurry photo.</div>
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We went through, buffet-style, and were served up a spoonful of each of the dishes plus two slices of orange with orange blossom water and cinnamon sprinkled on top. Matt and I sat with Kevin and Tori and thoroughly enjoyed every bite.</div>
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Once we all finished eating, it was sadly time to say goodbye to our new culinary friends. On our way out, I was gifted a bouquet of fresh mint, which I gladly took with a gracious thank you in English, then French, then Arabic. I'm working on my deca-lingual counting and thank you's. I knew we wouldn't be allowed to take it on the ship, so I gifted it to our bus driver hoping he could take it home to his Mrs. and she would whip him up some delicious mint tea.</div>
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We drove back to the center part of Casablanca where we had 45 minutes to do our final shopping. Matt and I had 42 dirham left, and we decided to spend it on whatever tickled our fancy. Mo took us to an over-priced souvenir shop, and we left for the madina where local shops and street vendors had the same goods for haggling prices. We bought a few things for the last of our dirham (which is about the equivalent of $4.50) then headed back for the bus to take us to the ship.</div>
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We arrived back at the ship, thanked Mo and our bus driver and then climbed the steps of the MV Explorer for the very last time. The next time we'll see these stairs will be in Barcelona and once we exit the ship, there will be no getting back on. We'll have our stuff packed up, and we'll be off on our 10-day Spanish adventure.</div>
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What a life I lead.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14162895801417409174noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6939551362674198501.post-41224527919751351302013-04-21T08:51:00.004-07:002013-04-21T08:51:49.552-07:00Multi-lingual Fail<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
April 20, 2013<br />
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Today was a pretty slow day. Matt woke up dark and early (there are no windows in our cabin, so we never have any clue what part of the day/night it is) and scrambled around to head out and film Protei's Hackathon today. They were supposed to leave the ship at 7:30am, so he ran out of the room at 7:15am to grab some breakfast.<br />
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I showered and got ready, looked at my watch at 7:45am and then looked down at the camera and tripod still sitting in our room. I wandered up to breakfast and found him and Jessie chatting over breakfast potatoes. It ended up they didn't need to leave until about 9am.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Matt and I sporting our Prana in port.</td></tr>
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We had a leisurely breakfast together recounting the way that we ended up coming on this trip. It was interesting to think back to all the events and emotions that led us to coming on this voyage. We talked about the people who supported us and the people who were worried for us, and we ultimately landed on the point that we couldn't imagine being at home watching the other's photos roll in as we went about the same routine we had had last summer. It's crazy to think about all the things we had to uproot in our life to make way for a four-month leave like this. After this experience, though, I would do it all again in a heartbeat. You can't live your life looking at the green grass over the fence. You have to get over there, roll around in it and find out for yourself that it has goat heads, then you can make informed decisions on whether or not you'd like to deal with goat heads or go back to the grass that causes you allergies. I suppose that's pessimistic. The optimistic metaphor would be whether or not you like smelling roses or tulips, both of which are good in their own right. One just happens to have thorns and the other one bees that sting your nose. Do you value your nose or your fingers? Ha! Okay...that random string of thoughts would have probably been funnier out loud rather than written down.<br />
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Next up...the rest of the day!<br />
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My job today was to follow Pedro. I had no idea what he was doing, but I did know that it consisted of a meeting at 11:00am. I didn't know where and I didn't know if I was allowed to tag along with a camera. I called him around 9:30am in his room, and he said to meet at the gangway at 10:30am. I did so, and we headed off for the shuttle to the end of the port.<br />
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Once we got to the end of the port, we walked over to a nearby hotel, and it turned out that this was where we were meeting a university student who is doing research in water purification. He spoke a tiny bit of English, Arabic and mostly French. Pedro speaks English, mostly Spanish and French. I sat and filmed their quadri-lingual conversation wondering if we'd ever be able to use this footage. I could pick out all of the English, a little bit of the Spanish, but only the yes's in French. It fascinated me how they used their vocabularies from all three languages to help one another understand. If they said something in one language and the other didn't understand, they'd try it in another language. Pedro said that if two people have passion for something, language is no problem. That man has so much passion for purifying drinking water, he could do anything. I have so much respect for him.<br />
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They said goodbye and Pedro and I finished our Red Bull and espresso (respectively) and decided to see if Evan wanted to get some lunch with us. Evan has been trapped on the ship our entire time in Morocco editing the video we took on for one of the learning partners. We thought we could give him a break. Pedro wanted an hour to go and try to sell his iPad "on the black market" and I didn't want to partake in such activities. I decided to head back to the ship and check on Evan, and because we were so close to the port, I thought it would be okay to walk to the port entrance then take the shuttle back to the ship.<br />
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Within two blocks, I had been followed by one man wanting me to come to lunch with him and hassled by the port attendant who said I didn't look like my passport photo or ship ID photo. He made me take off my glasses, take out my ponytail, turn my face side to side (which definitely didn't make sense because the photos on both of those IDs are straight on). I tried to act happy and nice, and I assertively laughed and took my ID's back and walked under the car gate, thanking him in Arabic. I muttered under my breath some non-thank you's in English as I walked away.<br />
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The shuttle was not waiting at the port entrance, and there were three local men chilling next to where the shuttle picks people up and no one else around. I decided I would walk rather than wait with them. I picked up the pace and walked past cat calls from the ships nearby and honks from the cars and motorcycles that drove past. They are NOT kidding about the fact that women shouldn't walk alone. I did not witness a single woman walking by herself anywhere in the city in the past two days. They are either with their kids, husband, other women or the places I've been are literally all men. It blows my mind to think that America had female discrimination like this during the lifetime of people I know. We humans are so silly with our need to be superior to other humans.<br />
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I made it back to the ship, sweating and tired, and found Evan enjoying sloppy joes on the fifth deck. I joined him, Tendekayi, who doesn't have a visa to Morocco, and Daniel, who is working on the ship today. We ate and talked about the future of Unreasonable.<br />
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After lunch, I decided to hang around the ship and catch up on everything I've been neglecting for the past few crunch weeks, and it really felt great. In fact, just a little bit of downtime really goes a long way. Tomorrow will be our 7th official day off on this entire voyage. The nature of being locked on a ship and having deliverables as you go means the work is never done. In documentary, you shoot everything your subjects do when they are out and about. When you live, eat, play and work with your subjects, your work is never done. There is no separation. As much as I absolutely love the Unreasonable entrepreneurs, I'm looking forward to my next documentary subject not being my housemate.<br />
<br />
Evan and I worked on the edit a little bit together and I worked on the outline for my feature film. It certainly feels more attainable after all of my talks with these awesome mentors and watching these entrepreneurs follow their dreams.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-MFWaKuCuX1rtbTdpDCzxcNLce1rgi9vNTqbbdWk6FziixBY6V0fWSXPAKu2sJTS6bFjEdCATfCaQt_uuVUPdYwQolnwf-VcwBWluiLlDAmbBBjGoWNqXJ146c14C9mmv9LmNOQprPfE/s1600/photo+4.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-MFWaKuCuX1rtbTdpDCzxcNLce1rgi9vNTqbbdWk6FziixBY6V0fWSXPAKu2sJTS6bFjEdCATfCaQt_uuVUPdYwQolnwf-VcwBWluiLlDAmbBBjGoWNqXJ146c14C9mmv9LmNOQprPfE/s320/photo+4.JPG" width="239" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The door to the restaurant.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
We found out that there were ice cream sundaes for dessert down in the dining room, and went down to eat those for dinner. We found Daniel there who convinced us to scarf our sundaes and then go workout with him. I've been partaking in the "deck of cards" workout where we flip, one by one, through a deck of cards and perform whatever exercise that symbol or color represents and do the number of them on the card. I've chosen squats instead of pull-ups because I'm unable to do a single one and push-ups just about take me out after 50.<br />
<br />
We showered and then headed out on the town to a restaurant that Daniel had found on TripAdvisor. We arrived to a totally decked out Moraccan restaurant with delicious food. I had to order up a #selfie of Daniel, Evan and myself (which means you take the picture yourself), and we got this lovely gem.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitdySIO6kAikbfd5dV9fxhSdCnihKOZFDCTSmzCpViBcUkqMWWLTi6sGNRxn6orC6ECeLhSeHCL8NB3F3O584lp3EqGkY_axO10lGv9mWz52E0BXaH_3pjabF5xcD_GfPgdQuw-TN_CfQ/s1600/photo+2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitdySIO6kAikbfd5dV9fxhSdCnihKOZFDCTSmzCpViBcUkqMWWLTi6sGNRxn6orC6ECeLhSeHCL8NB3F3O584lp3EqGkY_axO10lGv9mWz52E0BXaH_3pjabF5xcD_GfPgdQuw-TN_CfQ/s320/photo+2.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">#Selfie!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />It was a neat restaurant, and we met Mara and Tom, both from the Nike Foundation, and our new learning partner, Daryn from Microsoft Xbox. It was entertaining to get to know one another better by playing a version of "hot seat" where each person asks the group a question, and everyone has to answer it truthfully. We bonded. <br />
<br />
We walked back to the ship in the cool Casablanca night. All around a slow, but good, day.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14162895801417409174noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6939551362674198501.post-57662545678635817242013-04-19T16:10:00.001-07:002013-04-19T16:59:34.666-07:00Governmental AffairsApril 19, 2013<br />
<br />
In the morning, Matt and I had breakfast with one of the new mentors who joined us on the ship here in Morocco: Pascal Finette and his wife Jane. Pascal was the founder of the open source little ditty Mozilla (you know, Firefox?). We had a lovely breakfast with him picking his brain about the audience for our Unreasonable Media. We talked about how there is an identity crisis with the media we're producing. Because we haven't defined our audience, we have made videos for multiple groups, none of which we have directly targeted. He gave us a lot to think about, but it's too bad the advice came with five days left in the voyage. <br />
<br />
Matt, Patrick and I had a long breakfast and continued chatting about the trip and our future plans. it's been the topic of many, many discussions as we wrap up our voyage, and it has been exciting to hear all of the things people have been inspired to pursue after this trip ends, and we leave our new shipboard world for land. I'm highly encouraged by everyone's passion for their new projects. Mine is my feature film. If I haven't pitched it to you yet, let me know, and I'll practice on you as if you're my future investor. I'll take $30,000,000 please. (Just a medium-budget feature). Okay, just kidding about the investor part, but serums about the pitch practice. <br />
<br />
After breakfast, I packed up our camera, showered then grabbed a snack before heading for the day's luncheon at the US Consulate's residence in Casablanca. He offered to host Unreasonable as a gesture toward supporting the growth of local entrepreneurs.<br />
<br />
We broke up into a bunch of taxis and drove along the coastline to see the biggest mosque in the world. It is a beautiful mosque, and it was neat to see it on our way. I might like to get closer, but I don't think I'll have the chance on this trip. <br />
<br />
We arrived and our taxi driver charged us 50 dirham even though the meter said 32. It's time to get used to being taken advantage again. We had a male in the car, so I think that helped keep the price down. People have been peaceful and kind so far, but this country still has a very sexist culture. I'm not a fan of that part. <br />
<br />
Our cameras and bags were searched in order to enter the residence area. We entered to a stone walkway in a beautiful garden with a nice, white home in the middle. This was the home where Roosevelt acknowledged that the US was for Moroccan independence. It's a symbol of the good relations between Morocco and the United States. It was interesting to hear the history of the place and walk around the garden. We met the wife who was holding little Pepper, a black Pomeranian. He wasn't allowed down because he bothers Winston Churchill, the peacock who lives on the grounds. <br />
<br />
We got some beverages and shot some video of the home before filming the luncheon. There were great speeches made from the locals and from our Unreasonable people thanking one another for the time together. A man was barbecuing lamb chops, chicken kabobs with jalapeños and hotdogs. It smelled delicious. And it was delicious. <br />
<br />
They had fresh salads with corn, avocado, tomatoes and kidney beans, and if you had been eating frozen ship food for as long as we have, you would know how amazingly pleasing fresh fruits and vegetables are to our pallets. I'm going to eat an entire bag of apples when I get home. <br />
<br />
They brought out the mint tea and traditional pastries for dessert, and we gabbed and munched until they kicked us out. I met a man who wants to hire us to film in Morocco in the future. I gave him my card. We'll see what happens with that. <br />
<br />
We snagged a taxi back to the port which cost us 100 dirham, I'm thinking because of the all female cab tax. At the consulate they told us not to pay more than 30. Sigh.<br />
<br />
Jessie and I were the only two that weren't heading off to film traveling entrepreneurs, so we decided to drop our gear on the ship and go out for an adventure. We walked from the port back to the tram stop we were familiar with and wandered through a couple cat calls and an offer to get in a white, windowless van to a cafe where we found Jeff HoffmN and his girlfriend Ghada having an apple shake. We said goodbye to them because they fly out tonight and then found our techie friend from the ship, Dan. He had just gotten scammed out of $70 and needed some cheering up.<br />
<br />
We all walked around the market place for a little while, then Jessie and I decided that we needed a sit. We found a cafe where people were drinking coffee and tea and we made ourselves comfortable. We ordered up two mint teas and joined the dozens of men with their seats turned to the street, sipping their beverages and watching the world go by. We took some selfies, chased off some street kids and then received our piping hot tea. Our waiter poured it for us, but it's important to begin the pour, then life the pot as high as possible to create bubbles in the tea. We learned that if there are no bubbles, the tea has not been prepared properly and should not be consumed. Good lesson. This tea had bubbles. <br />
<br />
It was interesting how many people that we met who asked where we were from offered their condolences for what was happening in Boston. The bombing has made international news, and people all over the world are paying attention to America right now. I don't want to start anything political, but I feel embarrassed by the people who are posting on Facebook incendiary, blanket comments about Muslims. I sat in a cafe today in a predominantly, predominantly Muslim country watching their city run like any other city I've been in on this trip. There's hustle, bustle, people meeting one another again, others meeting for the first time. I sat in a group of Muslims yesterday painting together and dreaming with them about how to change our world for the better. You can NOT make a blanket statement about any group of people: Republicans, Democrats, Christians, Muslims, Atheists, Blacks, Whites, Men, Women, the rich, the poor, Mexicans, New Yorkers, people who like shellfish. People are people. They love. They hate. They play. They react. They fight. There are extremes in every group of people, but the -ism's that hurt so many people and ruin so much potential for good, productive relationships are fueled by comments that I'm watching pour out of my American friends' computers. Be mad at the two men that killed and injured so many, but stop blaming every person that shares an attribute with them.<br />
<br />
That's going to stir up some debate. <br />
<br />
Anyway, onward with our lovely evening: Dan found us again and we made friends with a local enjoying a cup of coffee who recommended a place to get some couscous. It was Friday, so we would be able to get it. Apparently couscous is limited to Fridays.<br />
<br />
We sauntered down to Ramses, a nice little restaurant and ordered up three plates of couscous. It came with steamed veggies like squash and cucumbers and a sweet raisin concoction in the middle. It hit our little Moroccan food spot. We were happy. We decided to remember the moment forever. <br />
<br />
We finished dinner and walked back to the ship with a man named Medi who was part Moroccan and part Spanish. He claimed that his body was Moroccan and his left arm Spanish. We went between French, Spanish and English as we walked and talked. It has been eye-opening to see how many opportunities we miss as mono-lingual (If that's even a word) Americans. There is such a communication barrier for a culture that expects the world to only speak its language. Yet again, I wish I were fluent in another language. French would have been helpful here. <br />
<br />
We got back to the port entrance and said goodbye to Medi. We didn't see the shuttle I sight, so we walked back to our ship talking about philosophy and ethics on odd topics. Jessie's philosophy minor compliments my obsession with philosophy. Dan didn't seem to mind the wacky thoughts we had. <br />
<br />
I got back to our room to find Matt crashed out after his b-roll day. I can't wait to hear about his adventure, but it will have to wait until morning, I think. <br/><br/><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7Ehe3slclwIrOoCuYtGfrd4hkNtmjvRlWu52aWTJiPa3lwsN5iX4Qaqepg9y0tJizHpJINBXMMKi7RoGFWbuVqpBSGVAlRsDLv0K5hnkiL3DXOZDh2CMSKcF9BU0T6TByw7LySQ6qPfw/s640/blogger-image-2071630928.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7Ehe3slclwIrOoCuYtGfrd4hkNtmjvRlWu52aWTJiPa3lwsN5iX4Qaqepg9y0tJizHpJINBXMMKi7RoGFWbuVqpBSGVAlRsDLv0K5hnkiL3DXOZDh2CMSKcF9BU0T6TByw7LySQ6qPfw/s640/blogger-image-2071630928.jpg" /></a></div> <br/><br/><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjszrEkjeuEGKnaPubJ0JC3ocY2-w__dmSEqrM5on4zbq-zwv7Tjh2myFdfscE94GA5QN9necryK6wQgkzjDScmsAf6TxPD89LxTlzOpQNvFBfrlv1Y7LxekUA14hyphenhyphen8LmzT2Bie9Ec3784/s640/blogger-image--975583380.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; 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text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLmxuTlE2TBfXMIPes8XAiDaAwi6Wv5tKzLDM87Qz5EeYGsFpyHKY2gWOt-4XTUxtkWYlfWpKwDoark1ozP8esYYj8qua42oLd1gYvzADhHDi5MmtRt6SpV0fHkkxNHEKED-2friGU7TA/s640/blogger-image--862693631.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLmxuTlE2TBfXMIPes8XAiDaAwi6Wv5tKzLDM87Qz5EeYGsFpyHKY2gWOt-4XTUxtkWYlfWpKwDoark1ozP8esYYj8qua42oLd1gYvzADhHDi5MmtRt6SpV0fHkkxNHEKED-2friGU7TA/s640/blogger-image--862693631.jpg" /></a></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14162895801417409174noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6939551362674198501.post-71810847991474143242013-04-19T15:39:00.001-07:002013-04-19T15:54:57.836-07:00Moroccan Mint Tea = Magic in a GlassApril 18, 2013<br />
<br />
We pulled into Morocco early this morning, but didn't end up leaving the ship until about 2:30pm to go with the entrepreneurs to a round table event in the middle of Casablanca. We walked from the port area to the tram that runs through the city. <br />
<br />
Casablanca is a nice city. Many if the buildings are painted white and the streets are much cleaner than other places we've been to on this journey. It's predominantly Muslim, so we must dress very conservatively and many of the women have scarves over their heads. I'm glad that I had both a scarf in Cambodia. I brought it along just in case I needed to cover my head, but it was also good to cover my neck.<br />
<br />
The people seemed pretty nice, and there weren't a ton of street vendors. As we waited for our volunteer local escorts to get us all tram tickets, there were a few children that appeared to be selling tissues. They would place the little travel pack of tissues in your bag or your pocket then refuse to take it back and hang around, I think, waiting to be paid. Mouhsine speaks Arabic, so he told us that the young boy was offering a blessing to keep a handsome face. People, I guess, would tip the children if they got a blessing. Interesting. <br />
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The kids weren't as aggressive as they were in India, so we learned that they would accept our "la" (which means "no" in Arabic) and head to the next person. <br />
<br />
We all got on the tram after waiting for some Unreasonable stragglers and arrived about an hour late to the event. The event was held in a really nice office building where many events are held. There was a cafe just inside and people flocked for a shot of espresso. Now, what they didn't know was that there is something better than espresso waiting behind the little orange counter: Moroccan mint tea. <br />
<br />
We went into the event and were warmly welcomed by three people who are trying to start up a business accelerator similar to what the Unreasonable Institute does in Boulder, but for local Moroccans on weekends. The main woman was bubbly and fun and a brilliant host. They rolled with the fact that our entire group was late and we jumped into the round table networking event. <br />
<br />
When we rolled in with all of our film gear, we realized that there were other cameras in the room. There is a French television network that is going to be joining us on the ship to document Protei's journey from Morocco to Spain. Protei has arranged a hardware hackathon (Protei.org/hackathon) that will take place in Casablanca on the 20th. The French media team consists of two people, a man and a woman, who are our kind of people. I think no matter the country, media people are media people. We liked them right away. Matt and Oli are following Protei for this port, so they have made the French film crew a part of the story, and they film them filming Cesar and Gabby. It's great. <br />
<br />
The first thing that our local host does is invite everyone back to three tables where they are to split up into three teams. The crowd at this event consisted of larger business owners, local start-ups, the Unreasonable mentors and the Unreasonable entrepreneurs. They happily divided and were coached to paint what the word "unreasonable" means to them. The first group will have blindfolded painters with seeing coaches. The second group can't speak, and the third group wasn't allowed to use their hands.<br />
<br />
The painting ensued and we were all thoroughly entertained. It was a great reminder that we shan't forget to play in our old age. Play is healthy and it Kickstarts you creativity.<br />
<br />
After the painting time, the entrepreneurs did a quick version of their pitches to introduce themselves to the group, and then the locals asked questions about life aboard the ship. They had hilarious, authentic conversation as a whole group, and it was really fantastic to see the two groups getting along so well. I met many of the locals and really enjoyed chatting with all of them. They are excited to encourage Moroccans to follow their dreams. A few of then told me that it isn't as encouraged here as they would like. I'm pleased to see a group encouraging it. <br />
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They provided mint tea, traditional pastries that were interestingly more fragrant tasting than sweet, and mini burgers and what looked like samosas and egg rolls. It was a delicious close to our mingle time.<br />
<br />
After we wrapped, most of the group headed out to dinner with the locals, but with all our film gear, we decided to take the tram back to the ship. It was getting late anyway. we grabbed the tram and met a nice Moroccan man who was riding the train with his sister and her fiancé. His name was Osama, but not like Bin Ladin, he stressed. We all laughed. He really took to Jessie. He felt that her name was as beautiful as her face. I suppose a nice compliment coming from a person with English as their fourth language. He was very kind and we had a nice chat all the way back to our stop. We all exited the tram, and he gave his phone number to us in case we needed anything, including coming over to his mom's house for couscous. Danny had given him a business card, and he was so impressed that he called Danny the businessman for the rest of the ride.<br />
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We walked back to port then back to berth 5, realizing why there is a shuttle that runs from our berth to the port entrance. It takes a good 20 minutes to walk that thing. We were exhausted by the time we got back to the ship, but we all changed and headed up to the tipsy toucan for a nightcap. I went and found Matt who had been stuck on the ship working on motion graphics all day and we all chatted upstairs with the executive dean as we enjoyed our imbibeable beverages. After losing in a game of bones, I decided to turn in for the night. <br />
<br />
What a lovely country with lovely people. So far, I'm liking Casablanca. <br />
<br/><br/><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYWhJwiWfPPFoxoZlx5-0Jt2QdFGDhzypZHmCO3wJJHdQO2bZgyk99Dtv_9HnILrJKuKXlOfvz2UQCSltwVvklG7BGrGp7z_pFAybTXzJWzg9byZlF-maYtKaM9au4PkgoWtMom4rPA1g/s640/blogger-image-130935331.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYWhJwiWfPPFoxoZlx5-0Jt2QdFGDhzypZHmCO3wJJHdQO2bZgyk99Dtv_9HnILrJKuKXlOfvz2UQCSltwVvklG7BGrGp7z_pFAybTXzJWzg9byZlF-maYtKaM9au4PkgoWtMom4rPA1g/s640/blogger-image-130935331.jpg" /></a></div> <br/><br/><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicpeo2DQ2fbXhHfsxF1SSamcuRELH7B4cdY2YV8IdlbU0ndFdLceo2PfO1V3IvniMKOi0ybLEQULV1F96nn69srOQc-NmBOARtmyqCF0HBYaO9yF76APo3ymz3Uyp59rNDv9BTfXoy2Js/s640/blogger-image--182552840.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicpeo2DQ2fbXhHfsxF1SSamcuRELH7B4cdY2YV8IdlbU0ndFdLceo2PfO1V3IvniMKOi0ybLEQULV1F96nn69srOQc-NmBOARtmyqCF0HBYaO9yF76APo3ymz3Uyp59rNDv9BTfXoy2Js/s640/blogger-image--182552840.jpg" /></a></div> <br/><br/><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0EX127DJEahBEd5IlgMVTpZCha0H2r3N_Tdrs_Mfbso4uGoHsjXsrBZDRLe0E3E_bMFv2XGHrCvfGKqL3I-NnC6QgvDgNww0bwsyaAUQV2XFDOJpWHiGZLYjUIYlUVSoZdU5iXyqC2s8/s640/blogger-image-478146580.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0EX127DJEahBEd5IlgMVTpZCha0H2r3N_Tdrs_Mfbso4uGoHsjXsrBZDRLe0E3E_bMFv2XGHrCvfGKqL3I-NnC6QgvDgNww0bwsyaAUQV2XFDOJpWHiGZLYjUIYlUVSoZdU5iXyqC2s8/s640/blogger-image-478146580.jpg" /></a></div> <br/><br/><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIs4lC30TzdAOfd8Q-6ELlYN08gsPdtQk-OkPmygBKgYBB9lE7_i4l7hrBZMcaTGHdM1pZ-kvBJ_1j6LZCkzZWiTmY9PDDEe-fr8bxZ-7LJ-S3xhkDw-LhVVJTgAWBIThUMJd1MPd4KeY/s640/blogger-image--2066613380.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIs4lC30TzdAOfd8Q-6ELlYN08gsPdtQk-OkPmygBKgYBB9lE7_i4l7hrBZMcaTGHdM1pZ-kvBJ_1j6LZCkzZWiTmY9PDDEe-fr8bxZ-7LJ-S3xhkDw-LhVVJTgAWBIThUMJd1MPd4KeY/s640/blogger-image--2066613380.jpg" /></a></div> <br/><br/><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiY4M9CS5WEzwwFwmmGHlk40dhJlCARgECSBhZ_8ql2VRm1IykD-6cntPVwCy9IYrBKe_X94gsyFhKHLsVioSiWOcc4_YoQnBppQgmJHHHbwY0P3il-S4iVYDovgXSJpdmyWSpXHYfKjMk/s640/blogger-image-758957752.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiY4M9CS5WEzwwFwmmGHlk40dhJlCARgECSBhZ_8ql2VRm1IykD-6cntPVwCy9IYrBKe_X94gsyFhKHLsVioSiWOcc4_YoQnBppQgmJHHHbwY0P3il-S4iVYDovgXSJpdmyWSpXHYfKjMk/s640/blogger-image-758957752.jpg" /></a></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14162895801417409174noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6939551362674198501.post-89026647054749772212013-04-17T16:21:00.001-07:002013-04-17T16:21:56.021-07:00Sailing, sailing, sailingApril 17, 2013<br />
<br />
We have been sailing for five days, and they have been an absolute blur. Not only is the ship preparing for the last port before debarkation and the students are taking finals, but our team is trying to wrap up final interviews and videos that need editing still. We've taken on the extra project which has also put extra strain on an already pretty full plate.<br />
<br />
Most of my days have been spent editing either in our little cabin on deck three or in the Eagle's Nest on deck 6 behind the Union. I've finished the episode for South Africa, which you can see on Unreasonable.is/atsea (if you'd like to keep up with the entrepreneurs' journey), and I edited the Fireside chat between Daniel and Jeff Hoffman, the founder of many companies, including Priceline.com, currently colorjar.com, producer of horror films such as Cabin Fever and all around great mentor.<br />
<br />
I actually took notes while I edited Jeff's fireside chat because he had such great advice. I actually really related to his childhood story of being told no. He wanted to drive a Ferrari and his friends and mom laughed and said that he never would. Why? Because there's only a very small percentage of the population that drive ferraris and he would never be one of them. Why not? He decided that if someone was being successful, then why not it be him? If he wanted to do something and didn't now how to do it, he'd learn it and surround himself with teams of people who knew how to do it.<br />
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I remember when I was little that there was no bigger motivator for me than people who told me I couldn't do something. "Girls don't play the drums." "Film school is a waste of your potential." Working hard and following my passions has gotten me to a very happy place in life so far. Jeff was very big on the fact that there is no rule book. There are rules in life that our society made up, but they aren't to be followed by everyone. <br />
<br />
He also talked about finding a good mentor. He noted that the best mentor is someone you, of course, look up to or admire, but they also need to share your values and live a life and live in a way that you want to live. Why would you take advice from someone you don't want to be like? Even if they're rich or highly successful, if they don't value family and you do, their advice and road to success isn't going to lineup with your values. You'll find yourself miserable. <br />
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He had great advice on leadership and how to build a team. I felt very inspired to continue my studying of leadership. I've been reading Drive on this journey and Matt got me a book called Leadership and The New Science which compares managing people to chaos theory and quantum mechanics...right up my alley. I'd love to be a good leader someday. All of my aspirations: directing, owning a business and being a momma (someday) require me to know how to be a good leader. The advice i took to heart was that integrity is one of the keys. You've got to practice what you preach and know your values so that you can live them out and people won't question your motives when push comes to shove. <br />
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Anyway, I didn't mean for this blog to be all about my learning, but it's really been great to glean so much from great people who weren't meant for me, but offer me advice anyway.<br />
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This last leg of the trip has also included some fun. There was a ship-wide talent show, a drag show (which was fantastic), a media junk food thank you dinner, and a closing time themed reception for the faculty and staff.<br />
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This is the last long sail, and once we get back on the ship to get to Barcelona, we're thrown into a whirlwind of shooting, wrapping editing, and packing all of our stuff. There are just three days on the ship before we are kicked off in Barcelona. The Unreasonable team launches straight into an event, and the media team will shoot for two more days before moving into a flat where we will all hunker down and finish our deliverables,<br />
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Matt and I have decided not to go to Unreasonable at State, so we will be a part of the team staying to finish deliverables, then finish our extra video, then we'll be flying home bright and early on May 5.<br />
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Wrapping up this time is definitely bittersweet. I don't want to leave. This is where we've settled and it's comfortable, predictable and scheduled. All of our resources are here and all of our work is lined out for us. It's been a nice break to focus on a single project for so long and to get to know our interview subjects intimately because of how deep into their lives and businesses they've allowed us. It won't feel right not to interview them weekly and follow them on their adventures in a new country every few days. It'll also take some getting used to to be away from our bonded crew. We've built a family with this vide team, and it'll be sad not to see one another at breakfast every morning and happy hour in the afternoons. What are we going to do with ourselves?<br />
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It's new shipboard reality has coasted a spell on us. We've got a travel bug, we've got more confidence and we've been inspired to reach for our dreams. My emotions are all over the place and I'm mostly sad to leave, but I'm also excited about what's next. The world is our oyster, as someone not of my generation might say, and we're ready for it. Well, maybe after a couple weeks off to reset our lives.<br />
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Tomorrow, we land in Casablanca, Morocco and begin another bout with culture shock. I can't wait. Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14162895801417409174noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6939551362674198501.post-65132284116502185732013-04-11T16:31:00.003-07:002013-04-11T16:31:46.288-07:00A Lapse in Travel-Confidence<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<b>April 10, 2013</b><br />
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We assessed today that as a team we had gotten what we needed from Ghana. Matt and Jessie were assigned to shoot the African drumming and dancing field lab for Semester at Sea, so they had their last day full. The rest of us decided that we would head over to the swim beach outside of Accra and take some time to relax and play in the ocean.<br />
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We gathered together and rode the shuttle from the ship to the outside of the port where there was a huge group of taxis waiting for the people from the ship. We had asked our driver to negotiate us two taxis to the beach and so he headed over with us to the group and got it worked out. We agreed on 20 for each taxi, and the seven of us split between the two of them.<br />
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Our taxi was the crappiest car I have ever ridden in. The seatbelt bolts had been pulled out of the wall of the car, so they were dangling with the bolt and scrap of metal daring us to get in an accident. There wasn't much upholstery and the ceiling had no cloth. None of the gauges worked and the windows were all stuck in various positions of down. We giggled a little at the state of the vehicle, but it became less funny once we realized it shook back and forth once it got to speed. It wasn't a pleasant half hour in the car especially because it was more than 100-degrees and we were squished together in the back seat.<br />
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The driver took a u-turn on the highway to get to the entrance of the beach, and as we turned something clunked out of the bottom of the car and we started dragging the metal down the highway. The man pulled over and he and Evan jumped out and assessed the damage. Apparently it was still drivable because we took off again at a slower speed dragging the metal along the road. We pulled into the beach area and each paid our fee to get in and they let us through the gates to a large dirt parking lot behind a couple buildings. We could hear the ocean and were excited to unfold ourselves from the car.<br />
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Rosa was the only person who had cedi left, so we had agreed to pay her back with American dollars later. She handed him the 20 cedi that we thought we had agreed upon, and the man flipped out. He started yelling at us that we were offending him with such little money and something about 1,800 cedi is an insult. He wanted 20 US dollars. We made the mistake of arguing back. Why would we have agreed on US dollars when their country's currency is cedi?<br />
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He wouldn't take the money. He went around the back of his car and said he wasn't moving an inch until we paid him $20 and started trying to fix the dangling pieces of his vehicle. Meanwhile, the other cab driver saw the commotion and came over. He was fine with the 20 cedi because he knew we had agreed upon it, but once he heard that his friend was upset, he decided to be upset, too. He gave back the 20 cedi he was paid and said he wouldn't take that either. Neither of them would take any money we were trying to give them and they had now ganged up on us. Larissa got stern and put the money on the car and said that they can either take it or leave it because it was what we had agreed upon. This set them off.<br />
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Our taxi driver, who had the worst temper, lunged for Larissa grabbing her backpack and screaming profanities and saying, "give me my money!" We had gathered a crowd of locals at this point, and they were trying to figure out what was going on. Some were on our side trying to help, others heard that we were trying to get a free cab ride so they were yelling at us. It became a huge group of people, and then many of them turned on us. They started using excuses about the fact that there was traffic and that meant we had to pay more.<br />
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Our taxi driver was still grabbing and pulling on Larissa's backpack, so I tried to gently touch his hand that was on the backpack and I said, "calm down." "I won't f**ing calm down! You f**ing thieves! What?! Do you think I'm a little man? I can take all of you," he screamed in my face. At this point he had let go of Larissa's backpack, and we had two of the gate officials who were trying to calm the situation. There were at least 20 people in this huddle of screaming madness at this point.<br />
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The two officials from the beach had moved between us and them and started trying to reason with them. Our taxi driver lunged through them again grabbing Larissa, and they pulled him back again. The people finally turned to us and said we needed to pay them something. We were so scared and fed up with the whole situation, but we didn't have enough money to pay what they wanted. We had just planned to go to the beach and get some lunch, and we hadn't pulled out more cash than we thought we needed. We scrounged up 10 more cedis per cab driver, and they finally settled down and stormed back to their cars. This apparently sufficed.<br />
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We hurriedly walked away from the madness and the locals dispersed. We walked for the beach and then were bombarded with the beach sellers who wanted to sell us their necklaces and shirts and little drums. After our encounter, I had nothing but disdain for these people. I was very shaken, and I know it was visible because my face was all twisted up attempting not to cry. My knees were shaking and I had a rush of adrenaline that I was trying to get under control. It felt so terrible to be in that situation not knowing how far this guy would go to get his ten more dollars.<br />
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Maybe we should have just given him his money, but part of the frustration is the fact that this only encourages the racist, asinine behavior of these people taking advantage of foreigners. He absolutely knew that we had agreed on 20 cedi at the beginning. We all stood around in a circle and we confirmed with both drivers that it would be 20. We learned from this experience that it's important to specify which currency you're negotiating in even though I feel like it was an excuse to have an altercation. I suppose he was also mad about his car falling apart and maybe he was just taking this out on us, and wanted the extra money because he knew he needed to fix it. Regardless, a 250-pound man doesn't physically assault a small-statured woman and try to steal money out of her backpack outright.<br />
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I liked Ghana, and I liked many of the people, but the disdain for people who are white is palpable. I know it will take generations and more global business being done there and giving them more positive experiences with foreigners for any of this to change. We had heard from two different people that they believe that the US needs to give reparation funds to repay what the country lost during the slave trade in population. They believe their country is behind because of this dip in their population and if the US paid a bunch of money, they could kick-start their development and catch up with a lot of the world. An interesting point of view that I had never thought about as an American.<br />
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We found other members of the film crew already there swimming and joined them at some covered tables at a restaurant. We confirmed ahead of time with the owner that we didn't have to pay them to sit there so that they didn't have to hassle us when we decided to leave. They said it was free. We started to settle in and put on sunscreen when a fight broke out about three tables away from us.<br />
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People gathered around two men who were whipping each other in the face and chest with small sticks with ropes on the end and yelling at one another. Women would jump in and they would get slapped or pushed away. People who were surrounding them were fighting and yelling at one another. It escalated to the point where we were ready to grab all our stuff and head down the beach further, but then, they apparently worked it out because one of the men walked away, and the group dispersed still talking loudly and yelling at one another. I was done with aggressive activities for the day.<br />
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I headed out to the ocean and bobbed in the waves for a good hour. Don't worry - I lathered on the sunscreen.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTmZRkO0r8WRVxZwd5JwBXbU5_SSMaSHTf8Ian-lrBPvhzD-B3BQi7D2rVjBBr6hr2jmccqqEVkIWkJP6ACqjt_PE-Pi3bgMb1B-jtZ_gLx8ERu-VeC-fy0wnsCqrjp2QE4-x_wHYdCbM/s1600/photo+1-1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTmZRkO0r8WRVxZwd5JwBXbU5_SSMaSHTf8Ian-lrBPvhzD-B3BQi7D2rVjBBr6hr2jmccqqEVkIWkJP6ACqjt_PE-Pi3bgMb1B-jtZ_gLx8ERu-VeC-fy0wnsCqrjp2QE4-x_wHYdCbM/s1600/photo+1-1.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A view of the ocean and fishing boats<br />from the window of out taxi.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
After bobbing, we decided to go and get some lunch at a nice hotel down the beach. We were all out of cash, so we couldn't find a local spot on the beach for grub. I was glad that there was a nice hotel that would take credit cards and have foreigners. I had kelewele and french fries for lunch, mostly as comfort food and to say good-bye to my favorite fried treat: plantains.<br />
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We talked about what was next for everyone, and it's crazy to think how close we are to the end of this trip. It feels like a year ago that we were walking on the beach in San Diego looking out to the West talking about the fact that we were about to embark on a journey around the world in that direction, but it also feels like just yesterday that I was homesick and wishing the trip wasn't four months long. People have many emotions, but on average it's a fulfilled excitement ready to set foot back home. I know this last push to finish all of our videos and shooting will help wear us out completely to the point where we'll want nothing more but to be home. I feel like anything's possible, though, when I can see the light at the end of a tunnel. We'll get it all done.<br />
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Reflecting a tiny bit, this has been an amazing, perspective-changing project. I think it's going to take me a while to let it all soak in and be able to articulate exactly how it's changed me, but I'm sure I've been changed.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14162895801417409174noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6939551362674198501.post-82212152680714601392013-04-11T04:00:00.002-07:002013-04-11T04:00:39.269-07:00Binging on Plantains in Accra<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="line-height: 24px; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>April 9, 2013</b></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>Falling in Love with Plantain</i></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Ghana, oh Ghana You have not a clue</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>That I've fallen in love w</i></span><i style="font-family: inherit;">ith your plantains, but not stew</i></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Your stew is so slimy and snotty and fishy</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>But your plantains are sweet and salty and crispy</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>I've had them grilled, fried and also </i></span><i style="font-family: inherit;">seasoned with ginger-pepe</i></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>So good I've had four servings a</i></span><i style="font-family: inherit;">nd gotten a food baby</i></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Take me away, you underestimated little fruit</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>I'll miss you so much once I go back to ship food. </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Today began with a comedy of errors. When people flush something other than the very blunt three P's (pee, poo or paper) everybody suffers on the ship. Our toilet was backed up and our shower drain was clogged for our morning duties, which threw a bit of a wrench in getting ready. Regardless, Matt and I made it in time to catch the 8am breakfast and got a little caught up in fun breakfast conversations. With the delay and delay, we had 15 minutes to pack our gear and supplies for the day in Accra and get out to catch the 9am shuttle.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Matt needed to find a working bathroom, so we split up to get ready to go. You would be surprised how difficult it is to find a person on the ship once you've parted ways. I went to our room which was being cleaned by Jesse, our awesome cabin steward and barged in to grab my stuff. He was working on the issue with the plumbing, so I had to work around him a little to get all my things. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I had five minutes to get to the bus which is notorious for leaving early, and I booked it down to the gangway. I didn't see my day's team, Mark and Larissa, and Matt was nowhere to be found. I saw Matt's subject for the day, Tendekayi, who was headed out to the bus, then found Mark and Larissa. We decided to jump on the bus and hope that Matt would make it. We had the bus wait a couple minutes, but at 9:02, it was time to go. The irony here is that nothing else in Africa keeps a schedule, but they were insistent on keeping this one. The bus made its hour-long, bumpy way to Accra from our Tema port.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Meanwhile, Matt had been doing laps around the ship looking for a working bathroom, ran to our room, grabbed his gear and popped out of the ship at 9:03. The bus was gone, we were gone and we hadn't made a plan B. </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Tende didn't have to meet his people until </span>11am<span style="font-family: inherit;">, so we figured that if Matt caught the </span>10am<span style="font-family: inherit;"> shuttle, he might just be able to arrive before Tende goes. Otherwise, we would send Mark and his camera with Tende and then have Matt as our b-roll escort for the day whenever he arrived. Without communication, though, each of us just had to figure out the logic of the other and hope that our assumption we were to act on was correct.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbpuuzs7fY6ROUohZ7iiWZTTcSupBpJL6_m1pmlLFXHmQddCLJJbaluE_DJfj-_JELjHH7jZGCherXSoa8FT2W9LvrBX6mmRBWgYChtX5TjxqXfwIZTQt9v9ZNR1qz962SBf-yZb81Ni8/s1600/photo+2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbpuuzs7fY6ROUohZ7iiWZTTcSupBpJL6_m1pmlLFXHmQddCLJJbaluE_DJfj-_JELjHH7jZGCherXSoa8FT2W9LvrBX6mmRBWgYChtX5TjxqXfwIZTQt9v9ZNR1qz962SBf-yZb81Ni8/s1600/photo+2.JPG" /></a><span style="font-family: inherit;">All in all, we waited long enough to go with plan A and left Matt with Tende and headed for b-roll. We first climbed the Citizen Kofi building to the top balcony to film some high angle shots of the city. We took a couple photos of one another while we were up there. Here I am modeling over the city of Accra.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The building is under construction, so the club isn't running, but it was being used by a film crew to hold auditions for a narrative feature being shot in Accra soon. We met some of the actors and actresses lined up to audition and also met the film's producer. They let us in to the side of the building that led up to the top balcony and we made our way up there through paint buckets and cloths. It felt scandalous to climb through the closed building. Quite fun.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">We climbed down the stairs and headed for the streets to find a taxi to get to the market in downtown Accra. What we didn't know ahead of time was that the taxi driver took us to the local market rather than the more touristy crafty market where we would have been more welcome. We drove and drove and he let us out in a mass of Ghanaians who were selling everything from vegetables and fruits to housing goods and toothbrushes to clothing and shoes. The women carry their goods on their heads. There are some that seem straightforward like bags of fried plantain chips on a platter. They seem light enough and also easier to balance than the women who are carrying bags of water on their heads. Other women are carrying soaps, toothbrushes or clothing on their heads. One woman was carrying three tomato-crates stacked up on her head.</span></div>
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Walking through this crowded market was very difficult. Most of the people were balancing their goods on their heads and trying to squeeze through all of the same places we were trying to get through. We were definitely the only foreigners there and we got many stares and many people grabbed us. One man grabbed my arm and stopped me completely to have me look at the belts he was selling, then got offended when I pulled away. He was very aggressive and it seemed like he was looking for trouble. I got another older woman between us, and she allowed me to hurry away. Another group of three men stopped us and asked Mark if I were his sister. Mark said no, and he eyed me up and down and said that he liked me very much. He shook my hand, asked my name and told me how much he liked me. I kindly thank him and said that my husband liked me very much, too, and the three of us hurried away from them.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzxIrQ1grAFqCIbXIDaN5313IBrVeMUMY315WvHgDt0Q7M_z5DvODkLGLVHlfvstdky1g_AM1uovwNtTbZVQogqumdhndqlfT3WN-sWOv-4hsuR4j6rC8hIw1mOWUhEqNz1uGStm7q85w/s1600/photo+3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzxIrQ1grAFqCIbXIDaN5313IBrVeMUMY315WvHgDt0Q7M_z5DvODkLGLVHlfvstdky1g_AM1uovwNtTbZVQogqumdhndqlfT3WN-sWOv-4hsuR4j6rC8hIw1mOWUhEqNz1uGStm7q85w/s1600/photo+3.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We got high enough to see the market<br />from above. It was so crowded!</td></tr>
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We found a nice-looking woman with fried plantains on her head. We bought three bags to snack on and to have something to do because it felt so awkward being there. She asked if we were part of a big group, and we said that it was just the three of us. She looked concerned, looked around and said, "be careful." It was all over a disconcerting place to be.</div>
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It didn't help that we had brought the tripod for our camera. People in Ghana have decided that a white person with a camera is a form of oppression. We come and get photos and video of them and then make money off of it in our country. There is now a very widespread disdain for any person, especially white, to take their photo. If someone doesn't notice their getting a photo taken of them, a person nearby will yell to them and warn them. The children will scream at you if you have a camera out, "no photo, no photo!" We were extra unwelcome because of our professional-looking gear. We asked a couple people if we could take their photo, and all of them declined.</div>
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One woman was selling grilled plantains with little bags of peanuts that you're supposed to eat together, and we decided to get some of those, too. She frowned at us as we walked up to her, and said, "no photo." We assured her that we just wanted to buy from her, and she perked up and became very friendly. She sold us three sets of two plantains and a baggy of peanuts. She wrapped them up in original welfare documents complete with fingerprints and happily took our money. She smiled and waved us away. We stood in the shade of a tree behind some women selling pineapple trying to figure out how we could shoot this market, and we thought we should walk down out of the main area and maybe vendors would be happier to allow us to film them without so many people around.</div>
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We walked to the other side of the market to the main street and asked some women if we could film them selling melons. We could if we paid them. We declined, but now they wanted money just for the request. We hurried away. We asked another cell phone vendor who also declined. "Are you going to pay me?" was the most-heard response. One man explained how we were going to make money on it, so he'd better get some of it. It was definitely time to leave. We bought some snacks from a convenient store and then caught a cab back to The Hub.</div>
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We found the rest of the film crew hanging out in the air conditioning and joined them. Moments after walking into the building, a giant wind and rain storm pelted the city. We were glad to be dry and safe. The air had cooled down, and we felt like we weren't able to capture what we wanted for the day, so I split off from Mark and Larissa and joined Jessie, Evan, Danny and Patrick to find some palm wine for Patrick's birthday. We had heard about palm wine and decided it would be important to taste it. We walked the much friendlier streets near The Hub which is in a suburb of the city and found a bar and restaurant that was technically closed, but allowed us to come in and have some palm wine. They handed us five bottles of "Palm Drink," and we figured we'd all test it out. We sat in the back of their building in an air-conditioned room that had satellite TV piping in <i>The Sixth Sense</i>. We laughed about our situation and how weird it was to be enjoying this moment in Ghana.</div>
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With an hour killed, we headed back to The Hub to see if Matt was back. Our plan was to all meet there so that we could go to dinner together to celebrate Matt's birthday. It was 4:30 and we had until 5:30, so the fiance of the fellow running The Hub decided to take us to try her favorite street food: kelewele. (pronounced like killy-willy). We walked down some back alleys to the main highway, crossed over and found a bunch of stands selling street food. We all ordered up one cedi's worth of kelewele with a bag of peanuts and dug into my new favorite Ghanaian food.</div>
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Kelewele is fried chunks of plantains with ginger and pepe seasoning. They're greasy and hot, sweet and spicy and a little bit chewy because of the ginger crystalizing with the sugars in the plantains. When you mix in peanuts (which they call groundnuts here) it's a delightful snack. This was now my third helping of some form of plantains, and I was in love. I brought some back for Matt hoping that he would find his way back from his adventure with Tendekayi to meet us for dinner.</div>
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We got back right around the same time as Matt did to The Hub, and he was so excited to see us. He had been through quite the day. Their main form of public transportation is called "tro tro" which is a fleet of 15-person passenger vans that they cram at least 25 people into which seem to have no structure of stops. Matt, Tendekayi and their connection in Ghana named Sam all traveled together to get to a deaf school across Accra. They made multiple tro tro transfers and crammed in with all kinds of locals.</div>
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One thing that I personally noted was how racist they are here. They are not huge fans of white people coming in and wanting to pay local amounts. They feel like we are all rich and we should not pay what they have to pay. They up-charge everything because we are white, and with all of the corruption in the government and police force, check points and public transport punish everyone if there are any whites in the vehicle. This is the same for street vendors and cab drivers. They'll charge 40 cedi for something that should cost 17-20. Matt was the only white person in the tro tro, and people were angry with him because all of them had to pay more to get from point A to point B. Matt said that it was the most uncomfortable and vulnerable he's ever felt. He made sure to keep his camera tucked away in order to avoid any further upset.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpHmQs-gQXhTCCjSZRGmFEdSkaGCMlN6_GqG2WXsruinJGa2wH_5QRvugshantZzlAcDRvFDlzfX_lcJFtd4kkhNYp4zHhu3lUhrRTLh8F22O2fp3GyGVDIx35Dgyoberks3gt5i3in7g/s1600/photo+3-1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpHmQs-gQXhTCCjSZRGmFEdSkaGCMlN6_GqG2WXsruinJGa2wH_5QRvugshantZzlAcDRvFDlzfX_lcJFtd4kkhNYp4zHhu3lUhrRTLh8F22O2fp3GyGVDIx35Dgyoberks3gt5i3in7g/s320/photo+3-1.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Buka's for birthday dinner.</td></tr>
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With our whole crew together, we headed for a restaurant called Buka for Patrick's birthday dinner. We walked quite a ways in the evening heat and arrived dripping sweat and ready for some cold brews and hot African food. I ordered up a guinea fowl and, of course, fried plantains, and both were über delicious. The guinea fowl was spicy as all get-out, but I couldn't stop because it tasted so good. I gobbled down the fried plantain with salt. Our evening couldn't be complete without birthday ice cream, so we found a place called the Creamy Inn and had some soft serve to celebrate with Patrick.</div>
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It was 9:30pm at this point, and we were afraid that the 10pm shuttle would leave early, so we headed for the stop. It left five minutes after we got on, so we were glad that we didn't assume it would keep its schedule this time.</div>
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Matt and I had a goal of getting a djembe from Africa, and we had checked out the selection next to the ship the day before. We pulled out extra money, and when we got back to the ship, we headed for our friend, Mohammed who we had met the day before, with intent to buy. He was sleeping between his drums, and a friend of his woke him up to let him know he had customers. He had shown us the drums the day before and we had our drum picked out already. We played hard ball and talked him down 50 cedi's (or $25) and got our djembe drum and bright red and yellow carrying case. They come with a certificate of fumigation, which is very important for getting it back into the States, so it was an overall good purchase. We are so excited to have it. It's a purchase that we both love and will both use. It has real cow skin on the top, it's hand made and there are two symbols carved on the base. One is (phonetically) sankofa, a bird that's biting a round circle in it's middle which means "go back to your roots," and the other is a lion which is the symbol of Ghana (phonetically) "akraaba" which means "welcome." We thought it was the best message of all of them.</div>
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It was time to call it a night, and we said good-bye to sleeping Mohammed and got on the ship with our new loot. Tomorrow's our last day in Ghana and we'll see what adventures we get ourselves into.<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14162895801417409174noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6939551362674198501.post-34407368217463441242013-04-08T16:17:00.001-07:002013-04-08T16:17:14.269-07:00Ghana's Great Potential<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<b>April 8, 2013</b><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">My mind is buzzing tonight as I write this blog post. I'm not sure what triggered it, maybe a cumulative wonderful experience here in Ghana so far, but I've realized that this trip is nearing its end. Had you asked me if I was excited for it to be over a month ago, I might have leaned toward a positive answer. It's a sensory overload to say the least. At this moment, however, the thought of leaving this new life scares me. I feel an odd sense of fear of what I used to know. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br style="text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">Don't get me wrong, it's not a dread of going back to the States, it's more of an unease about what it'll be like. I can't get terribly dramatic because I'll only have been gone four months by the time May 4 rolls around, but with everything we've experienced and everything we've been through, I wonder how I will perceive the place I've called home for almost exactly 25 years straight. Will I feel a sense of comfort? Will I settle right back in? Or, will I have an itch, a longing for something else.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br style="text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">Matt and I thought this trip would be a giant answer to all of our questions of the future. We thought the transition would make us realize what's next for us. Instead, we have more options and more questions. It's fantastically frustrating and irritatingly exciting. Or maybe the other way around...I don't know yet.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">Today was an all over good day. We slept on the ship last night as it repositioned from Takoradi to Tema overnight. The ship arrived in port around 8am while we ate breakfast on the back deck. Our ship maneuvered its place in next to the National Geographic Explorer ship. We all wondered what it would be like to be on that voyage around the world.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br style="text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">Matt and I prepared for the Unreasonable round table event that we were going to shoot today in Accra with the rest of the team. We got our gear and hopped on the shuttle outside of the gangway. We met up with the rest of the crew who had travelled overland to meet the ship. They were un-showered </span></span>and had had some adventures of their own that we needed to hear about.<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br style="text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">The shuttle took off, and we got a nice tour of Tema, the ocean and then Accra where the event was located. The shuttle took about an hour, not because of the distance but because of the traffic and very bad roads. The potholes here are impressive.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">We arrived at the shuttle drop off location which is a nightclub closed down for renovations called Citizen Kofi. SAS was excited to hear that Accra's biggest night club was shut down for our stay here. Despite their desperate attempts to hide it, there are some party animals on this ship. They give the other students and the program a bad name. It's sad that they come all this way to go and get pass-out drunk. It's truly a select few, and there are many students who are wringing every drop of value out of the experience. I can't imagine what it would have been like to do this trip as a student. College is such a formative time, and this is such a life-changing experience to see the world like this. I'm not sure I would have been ready for it when I was in college.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">We grabbed taxis to the grand opening of Start-up Ghana, a new hub in Ghana that incubates entrepreneurs, much like Unreasonable, but all year round. They just pulled together the office, painted it, furnished it and planned the event in the last three days. We walked in and they had painted the logos of Unreasonable at Sea, the Unreasonable Institute and all of the companies that were coming to visit that day on their front wall. It was an exciting atmosphere since they were kicking off their grand opening by inviting us in to meet with all of the entrepreneurs that they will be incubating in Ghana. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">There's a lot of exciting energy in Ghana. They just discovered oil here in 2007, and many people fear that it will become like Nigeria with the warring over the natural resources, but as a more peaceful country and with a stable democracy for the last few years, the hub and many entrepreneurs are hoping to learn from other countries and utilize the new find for the better of the people and not just for the government and politicians to get rich. There's a lot of corruption here, though. At all of the check points along the roads, the police force bribes and profile people depending on who is in their vehicle. When we were with Steve, we were stopped at a check-point and the officer made Steve pay him 2 </span></span>cedi because Steve had so many white people in his car.<br />
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There were great conversations and great energy between the Unreasonable entrepreneurs and the local Ghanaians. We were supposed to have brunch at 11am, but TIA (this is Africa) and we ate around 1:30pm. People hung around, and they had organized round table discussions throughout the afternoon based on different topics of technology, health, start-ups and green topics.<br />
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About two hours into the event, the power went out, so the lights and air conditioning that we were enjoying were no longer. They opened up the windows, but there was no breeze. It immediately heated up in the building, and people started sweating. It brought up another ongoing issue in Ghana which is the inconsistent power. After our time in India and Myanmar, we weren't surprised. The locals who were running the hub felt embarrassed, but we all went with it. We understood.<br />
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At 5pm there was an hour-long break for people to mingle and get some fresh air outside. There was a soccer game going on across the street in a big dirt field, so many of us went over and watched the teams play. I sat and chatted with people who came by and said hello. Everyone introduces themselves, asks your name and usually how old you are to get the conversation going. We met many nice people. My favorite was a painter around my age. His art was hanging on the walls at the hub, and he has a studio where he shows and sells his art. It's truly brilliant. He started an NGO where he teaches young people art. I took down his information because it would be fun to partner with them using their art in our videos. I support anything that encourages art in young people's lives.<br />
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I really enjoyed sitting out on the front step of the hub between buzzing conversations. I sat and watched the world go by. It was interesting just to watch the community go about their business. Some watched the game. Some were selling fruit and water. Some young girls would come by every once in a while and get bags of water from a building a few houses from the hub. A few old men chatted together on the side of the road and gave passerbys that they knew a hard time. It was just life in Accra, and it was peaceful to just sit and watch.<br />
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A little after 6pm, our hosts had prepared the dinner tables for all of us. They had put three candles in the middle of all the tables, and we ate by candlelight. During dinner people gave keynote talks to inspire us all. At one point, we had an electronic guest. There were two co-founders of this hub and one of them has never been and might not be ever able to come to Accra and see his work. He lives in California and was paralyzed eight years ago. His dream is to see the local businesses in Accra and in Ghana succeed and grow and become profitable. He works from afar on the project and he pre-recorded a message for us. It was very powerful to hear his story and his thoughts on how his experience in charity showed him how highly ineffective it is. You have to teach the people to fish, and they have to save themselves. He really wants to support the innovation from within the country.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxD2qFqAMtN2ZCLWK7BHGNaSjXy25lIxxKiyG-pNAjeEX1m1i9-5dxxRsQZZ2lZEdKGTU7lcJ3OeXOAA3TUjKVqIKWqF2nM7o4IKMwemO6DhE7TqVvQLEZrscpARc4iRXUjckDq5XEI2k/s1600/RepublicBarDrummers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxD2qFqAMtN2ZCLWK7BHGNaSjXy25lIxxKiyG-pNAjeEX1m1i9-5dxxRsQZZ2lZEdKGTU7lcJ3OeXOAA3TUjKVqIKWqF2nM7o4IKMwemO6DhE7TqVvQLEZrscpARc4iRXUjckDq5XEI2k/s400/RepublicBarDrummers.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our live band at the Republic Bar</td></tr>
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After dinner, we all walked down to a bar called The Republic. It was fun to walk along the streets at night and see all the people and what they do when the sun goes down. It's relatively safe here, although it's never really a good idea anywhere to walk alone at night. We felt safe with our local guides leading us to a well-lit and open bar. They had fun cocktails with a Ghana twist using local ingredients. I had the Republica which was delicious. They had live music: a band with a xylophone, djembe, drum I have no idea what it's called and a guitar-esk instrument that the singer played. Far too good to have to leave, but we needed to catch the last shuttle back to our ship in Tema. With an hour's drive ahead of us, 9pm seemed like a good time to head back.<br />
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I'm definitely in a contemplative mood, and I'm sad to see how few days we have left both on the ship and in-country. We still haven't heard back if we're needed in Washington DC for the Unreasonable at State event which will be going on May 1 and 2, so our trip could come to an end sooner or later than we expected. We're flexible at this point, so whatever happens, happens. We're already packed, so traveling isn't the problem. It's settling that will be weird...<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14162895801417409174noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6939551362674198501.post-20086615483388796672013-04-07T15:56:00.003-07:002013-04-07T15:56:32.534-07:00TIA: This is Africa<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<b>March 7, 2013</b><br />
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Today was our second day in Tokoradi, Ghana, and I was chosen to shoot some video of one of the students' field labs. We were headed to the Nzulezo village on stilts. It sounded like a really cool trip that I was able to tag along with. Danny was going to be the photographer and I would shoot video.<br />
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We hopped on the bus after an early 7am breakfast and settled in for the one hour drive to the village. Well, there's a new hash tag, #TIA, which means, "this is Africa." It basically says that whatever you were expecting, you're expecting wrong. This is Africa - we do things on our own time.<br />
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Our hour-long bus ride turned into three hours on windy, dirt roads with impressive pot holes. It was beautiful scenery and it was interesting to see so much of Ghana. We got to drive by a rubber tree farm and see all the little collecting bowls on the trees to get the rubber. There was a lot of construction, so they said this was why it took so long. We got to see villages and larger settlements and places where they were mining. What, I'm not sure.<br />
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We finally pulled up to the Nzulezo village visitor's center, and the bus's collective bladders were about to burst, so we all piled off to head for the wash rooms. After the wash rooms, we were asked to pay a fee for our cameras. We each had to pay two dollars if we wanted to take any photos. The woman wrote down our names and whether or not we paid, but she didn't have change, so people were giving 20 cedis with the promise that we'd get change at lunch. I heard one woman mutter under her breath, "what a racket."<br />
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It was 11:30am, so the promise of a noon lunch after the tour sounded a little fishy. The woman said that the tour was an hour and a half long, so another woman asked when lunch was, and she said noon. Okay, TIA.<br />
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We were running later than planned, obviously, so the tour guide, Stephen, asked us all to get back on the bus. He said we would usually walk down to the road to the village, but to save time, we would ride the bus. We pilled back on and we drove a couple minutes to a relatively large set of concrete, teal houses where there were many bright orange life vests. They suited each of us up with a life vest, and we followed directions and strapped them on tight.<br />
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We started on our walk down the little dirt road that led through a few houses and out into a massive field. You could see a ring of trees around the field where the jungle started, and it looked like the set of trees a ways out was where the water started. We were all excited again and walked for about fifteen minutes. We got to the first set of trees only to find another, longer field on the other side. There was no shade and no other way. So we kept walking. It must have been over a mile because we ended up walking for almost 45 minutes. Most people got wise right away and stripped off their life jackets because we were roasting in the feels-like-105º weather.<br />
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We were pouring sweat by the time we reached a small shelter with benches. We could see the long canoes and were happy to finally be where we needed to be. These canoes would take us to the village. The guides asked us to remove our shoes, which we felt a little surprised at. It turned out we had to walk through the swamp to get to the boats.<br />
<br />
We all hesitantly entered the black, mucky, HOT water. The parts that were sand were okay, but then you'd find a big, mucky hole where your foot would sink down into the squishy mud. I kept telling myself: this is an adventure. We're fine. This is an adventure.<br />
<br />
We got in the boats, and I sat next to a student who had been left behind by her group, so we shared a tiny bench. It was just big enough for both of our rear ends to fit. My job was to film and her job was to bail out the water that was leaking through cracks in the boat. Her job seemed more important than my job.<br />
<br />
Our two local rowers took us through a long, shady ditch area which was a welcome break from the blazing direct sunlight of the field. Then, the ditch opened up to a massive lake that we had to cross to get to the village. It was a good 20-minute boat ride to get there. At this point, we had been traveling for four hours, and there were some complainers starting to whine. I was with them in my head.<br />
<br />
We got to the village on stilts, finally, and climbed up on a ladder to find a raised walkway that went through the huts up on the stilts. Many students went straight for the beverage house where a woman was selling Star beer (Ghana's favorite beer) and cold Pepsi's. We weren't quite sure in general where we were supposed to go or what we were supposed to do because we were just barging into these people's homes. People were laying around, not paying much attention to us. Those that did seemed annoyed at us, and others asked for money.<br />
<br />
We were brought back to an open air meeting room on stilts at the end of the walkway and met the man who was second to the chief. The chief had gone to visit another town, so they brought his daughter as a representative who sat through the history brief looking overtly bored with the whole thing. The history of the people following a snail god to this location and setting up on his back was interesting, but we were all tired and hot, that I don't think people really caught more than what I just said.<br />
<br />
The second-to-the-chief man then passed around a bowl for money that he claimed would be given to the school, but we learned from Cambodia, that these things are not always as they seem. I decided not to contribute, and was followed by small children all the way back to the boats asking me for money. It definitely tainted the experience a bit. As usual, a tourist site is set up to trap you in a location where you're asked to feel sorry for them and give them money. I'm feeling a little jaded about the whole thing.<br />
<br />
The interesting part to this stilts village was the satellite dishes on the sides of the huts. Everything was built up on bamboo stilts and then built out of bamboo with tin roofs, and there was a single power line running from across the lake to provide power to the village, and people were inside watching satellite television. Others were outside wanting a handout. I wonder how they afford the satellite tv...<br />
<br />
It had only been 25 minutes, but because we were behind schedule our tour guide hurried us back to our boats. We got on with the same crew and the same people and began our journey back to the visitor's center for lunch. I looked at my watch and guessed we wouldn't be eating until 3:00.<br />
<br />
The boat ride was okay, and we chatted with our rowers, but, surprise, they asked us for money. They said at the end we could contribute anything we wanted. They did work hard rowing us so far, so I tipped them each an American dollar. At least our guides got that dollar. I wonder where our "camera fee" and the school-bowl money goes. I suppose we'll never know.<br />
<br />
The long boat ride back turned into the longest 45-minute, direct sunlight field walk I've ever done. We were all exhausted and hungry and out of water and dripping with sweat. We made it back to the bus, and they took us back to the visitor's center. They had lunch set up for us and we were able to eat by the beautiful ocean. It felt nice to sit and to eat. People remained pretty positive despite the ongoing jokes about how poorly the day went and how not worth the money this tour was. Students pay a hefty fee to go on these organized tours. I've heard that this was a poor example of a field lab because so much had been miscommunicated to SAS.<br />
<br />
We had some fresh fruit for dessert, and I realized that I like powpows. Every papaya I've ever had in the states has been bland and unrefreshing to me, but the small, brightly colored papayas that they had with watermelon and pineapple made for dessert magic.<br />
<br />
It was time to go so that we could make sure to be back to the ship before it departed for Tema this evening, but we still had time to stop at a fort. There was a British for that had been turned into a museum that was just a "three-minute walk" from the bus. We all skeptically accepted to jump out and peek at it, and it turned out this time that he wasn't lying. It was just inside a little piece of a town, and we walked past women smashing grain, children playing, and some men fixing up the concrete on an open-air building that looked to be a place where people might gather and hear someone speak.<br />
<br />
The fort was interesting, but I wasn't in the mood to listen to a tour guide, so I poked around a bit on my own and rejoined the tour on the end. To my detriment, I now have no information on the place we visited, but it was fun to climb around an old, concrete fort complete with replica canons.<br />
<br />
We dragged ourselves back onto the bus to settle in for the ride back to the ship. I was so sweaty and still dripping, but after a short, awkward nap, I woke up freezing in the air conditioning. Now was not the time to be moist with the frigid air of the bus. What a complainer I am...<br />
<br />
We got back to the ship with time to spare, boarded and I went straight for a shower, water then dinner. I found Matt and a few people from Unreasonable who were interested in doing a drum circle up on the 7th deck. We joined in. I drummed and then danced in the middle a little, and we all had a great time. People from every part of the shipboard community joined in: students, faculty, staff and lifelong learners. The Unreasonable learning partners from Microsoft and SAP joined in and people jammed into the night. It was a great time. A good ending to a long, tiring day.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14162895801417409174noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6939551362674198501.post-53763227764838034902013-04-06T15:10:00.000-07:002013-04-15T15:46:44.547-07:00Surf's Up in Ghana<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><b>April 6, 2013</b><br />
<b><br />
</b>We pulled into port this morning just after 9am, and there was a set of drummers and dancers on the pier to greet us. They were all done up in matching African outfits and going nuts on their drums. The dancers were barefoot on the black asphalt of the dock, but it didn't hinder their passionate moves. Many of the passengers were out on the decks waving. It felt very welcoming.<br />
<br />
Matt and I were given the day off, and we heard that our friends Tori and Kevin were headed to Busua beach to get their surf on, and Matt, with a wild hair, thought it would be fun to join them. Neither of us have ever surfed before, but both of us were very excited to try it out. Kevin has been surfing since he was little, so he's really good at reading the waves and said that he would give us some surf lessons.<br />
<br />
We waited around until the ship was clear, and excitedly packed our bags with only towels and swimsuits. It felt really good not to have a massive camera or tripod strapped onto us. We met Tori and Kevin at the gangway, and then walked the 15-minute walk out of the commercial port to where the taxis and street vendors with their crafts were waiting for us.<br />
<br />
When people say the phrase, "Oh man, it's Africa hot today," I know completely understand why it exists. The weather said that it was 95º but feels like 105º. I think it's the humidity or maybe it's the dead-on equatorial sun, but we were pouring sweat by the end of our 15-minute walk. The cabbies and street vendors swarmed us, but we had decided to walk into Takoradi rather than pay the 3-5 Ghanaian cedi that it would cost to ride there. The exchange rate is about 2:1, so you cut their cost about in half to get USD. It would be like $1-$2. We found out it would have been worth it. It's so hot here.<br />
<br />
We walked up a winding road and found the main strip of Tokoradi. I had originally thought that the city would be a lot like Ho Chi Minh where there were rougher parts of it, but with good development. I'd say it's at a lesser level than the Indian cities that I saw. The built up buildings, like offices and banks, have electricity, running water and air conditioning, but the streets out front are a tad neglected and the outside of the buildings were never really cared about, I think. It's just a difference in culture. Why put time into making the outside of a building look good? Not worth the time or effort.<br />
<br />
We were in search of an ATM to get some cedi before heading on our 20km taxi ride to Busua Beach, and we found one about eight blocks away. Every one that we had gone up to along the way was either out of order or sketchy. We decided not to risk anything and go for the ATMs with the line of students at it. We pulled out our cash and then walked down the street. People greet you and talk to you and ask your name, and after being in India, I assumed they were either begging or wanting to sell me something. I was actually pretty rude at first because I didn't trust anyone.<br />
<br />
We met a fruit vendor selling mangos, powpows (or papayas) and avocados. Holy yum! Kevin asked her if she could recommend a place for us to eat lunch. She pointed down an alleyway and said we could get authentic Ghana food there. Again, we were still in distrust mode, so we cautiously went down the alley. People were greeting us. They were friendly and most of them just hanging outside their shops. I took one look at the "restaurant" and the vats of reddish liquid boiling with fish parts in it, and I decided that after just getting over a bout with a bacterial infection of the stomach, affectionately and medically termed "traveller's diarrhea" (I can't wait to get home and have normal bowel movements again...not to get too detailed, but it's definitely been three months of abnormality for just about everybody.) I was going to opt out of the street food.<br />
<br />
Matt and I waited outside as Kevin picked out his fate from her little cart, and started up a conversation with a man who was a Professor, originally from Ghana, but had been living in Michigan for the past 22 years and just moved back to Tokoradi. His name was Greg. He was very kind to us, and we had a nice conversation with him about what he does and what we do, and we told him that we wanted to get to Busua beach after finding some lunch. He got a friend to go and negotiate a taxi for us which would take us to lunch then over to Busua beach. He recommended a hotel, Akorama, or something like that, where he said we could get a nice meal of Ghana food. We got in our cab, and he took us to the hotel restaurant and said he would wait for us.<br />
<br />
It was nice inside, and we found mostly American food on the menu with a single page of Ghanaian food. We each picked out a different thing so that we could try it all. Matt got a fish stew with fufu (pronounced foo foo), I got steamed yam and plantains with Palaver sauce and chicken, and Kevin and Tori split fried plantains with a goat, spinach and black-eyed pea sauce. After a very long wait, the food came out one by one.<br />
<br />
Without offending my dear Ghanaian friends, I now realize why there are no Ghanian restaurants in America. It's definitely an acquired taste. Fufu is a thick, white paste made of plantain and another grain or sometimes corn. It's like a grittier and slimier version of sour bread dough that you pick pieces of and dip into stew. The stews are red-colored, oily and with bits of meat swimming in snot. The consistency is so slimy that you could lift the spoon out of it about a foot, and the slime would stretch and goop off after a few seconds. I tasted it, and I was done with the texture for life. My yams and plantains were very plain, and my chicken Palaver sauce was okay. Spicy, but with a weird flavor that's almost like fish sauce, but not. The fried plantains were amazing, but their goat stew was pretty bitter. It made for a good experience. One cannot knock a thing until one has tried it, and I've tried it, and I'm knocking all over the authentic food. We decided it might just be the place, so we vowed to try it again somewhere else for dinner.<br />
<br />
Our cab driver patiently waited for us. In Africa, they do things on a different schedule, and the restaurant ended up taking and hour and a half. The waitress wouldn't bring our bill, she just kept saying that she would in a minute, so we decided to finally just get up and force her to allow us to pay. It was expensive for Ghana standards and really not that great. Kevin had the right idea with the street food. His little yam and sauce treat was pretty good, and it only cost 1 cedi (or 50 cents). We probably should have just gone with it. Oh well. We got back in the cab and drove for about 30 minutes before reaching the town of Busua. He dropped us in front of some houses, and we walked down the alleyway between them which opened up to the ocean and the surf shop we were looking for.<br />
<br />
There were a bunch of SAS students already there, and there was a man putting on a magic show on the deck in front of the surf shop. He was surprisingly good, and they had the music cranked, so it was a fun atmosphere to walk into. Kevin got us a couple surf boards and we decided to leave one person with our bags on the beach while the other three would go play. I went first for my surf lesson, and we stayed in the white wash attempting to stand up. It was a total blast. I can't wait until we can go again and try some more.<br />
<br />
Matt headed out there, and he was a brilliant beginner. He got up on the board within a few tries, and then headed out to the real waves to try and catch them before they broke. Tori and I watched him get lifted up on the wave, stand up and ride it all the way through the white wash before crashing into the water. Tori said to me that she thought he should be proud of that ride, and then we saw Matt's head pop up out of the foam and his one arm go straight in the air with a fist pump. He was proud. I was glad I caught him in all his glory! We switched off for a few hours, and whoever was out without a board just got to play in the waves. It was exactly the break that we needed. It was so fun!<br />
<br />
The beach was full of locals since it was a Saturday, adults and kids, all playing soccer or volleyball and dancing with the students. It was a really fun atmosphere of people, but, of course, there were the people peddling their wares to the foreigners, and I was offered a bracelet. I declined, and the man shook my hand and asked what I was doing tonight. I wasn't sure, I told him, we had only gotten to surfing. He grabbed my hand again for another crazy handshake, leaned in close and said, "Do you like black magic?" "Is that drugs?" I asked. "No problem, sista, I'll hook you up," he said with final handshake and went running off down the beach.<br />
<br />
Uh oh...I think I just ordered myself some black magic. Luckily, he never came back for a visit, and we weren't spending the night there at the beach where the bonfire and late night stuff was going on, so I thought I might be safe. When I recounted the interaction to Tori, Matt and Kevin, we laughed through all the things that black magic could mean, other than drugs.<br />
<br />
We wrapped up our fantastic surf day with some beers on the beach as the local kids started a dance party. We sipped our beers and watched the sun go down over the ocean and the palm trees. It was purely magical.<br />
<br />
Tori wrangled us up a taxi to head back to the ship, and we hopped in with Steve. We liked Steve right away, but after about five minutes of driving, he pulled off the side of the pitch black road and said that he needed to deliver some fruit. He pulled a plastic bag out from under his chair and hopped out of the vehicle and ran off down a dirt road. We sat in silence for a moment, then someone said, "ummm, should we be concerned?" We considered many different scenarios, and finally stopped on the fact that he actually was delivering fruit to a friend. Ghana, so far, is a very friendly and relatively trust-worthy place. They're straightforward here. I feel like a lot of it is African culture. They're to the point and pretty blunt about information, but still have a good sense of humor.<br />
<br />
We heard footsteps running on the dirt, and there was Steve running toward the vehicle. "Okay - we go!" he said and hopped in the car. Yep. Delivering fruit.<br />
<br />
We thanked him for waiting for us at the beach because we negotiated him then had our beers, and we said that since he waited, we could wait for him to run his errands. We started talking about what his life was like, and he said that he liked to sing songs in his taxi. In fact, he had a song that he wrote in his taxi and recorded in the studio with the taxi money he saved up. It was during the Ghana election a year ago, and he called it, "Why Africa" and it was meant to promote peace across Africa and around the world. He asked if any of us were singers, and I was volunteered, so he taught me the lyrics, then cranked up his phone and we all sang along. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4uI5eJZuZA" target="_blank">You can meet Steve, hear his song and watch his music video on YouTube</a>. It's actually pretty good.<br />
<br />
He asked Matt if he had a girlfriend, and Matt pointed to me as his wife in the back seat, so Steve decided to dedicate the love song that he wrote to me. He said it was hip-hop, but here they call it hip-life. He played us the only other song he has recorded right now called, "Give it to me." It's a bumping club song, and about exactly what you think. Steve is talented with many genres.<br />
<br />
His signature move in all of the songs was to yell, "Hey, Steve!" during any sort of breaks. If you watched, "Why Africa" (above) you'll hear it a few times. In the love song dedicated to me, it was our job to yell out, "Hey Shawn" whenever that part came up. He said that we could write any song at any time and that we could write one right now. He sang one about surfing, then asked if anyone had their heart broken. We all said yes, but it still got dedicated to Shawn. "Hey, Shawn!" Matt laid down a beatbox track while Steve freestyled our new heartbreakers song over it. It was pretty catchy and we all sang along with the chorus when it came. Matt titled it, "Only Good Love," and Steve vowed that it would be the next track he would lay down in the studio when he got up enough money.<br />
<br />
We got back to Tokoradi, and we asked Steve to take us to a place where we could get some local Ghanaian food. He brought us to a line of single lightbulb carts with plastic chairs behind them. The sauces were on stoves, so we felt good about the fact that the liquid we were going to consume from this place was boiling. Steve showed us how to wash our right hand at the table to prepare for dinner. We learned that you never, NEVER use your left hand to shake hands or eat in Africa...that's the wiping hand. Very disrespectful.<br />
<br />
He ordered the dinner for us, and it was corn fufu with some sort of chicken stew. The slimyness was there, and he said it was a plant that they boiled in with it. He slurped his down, loving every bite. I was a little lighter on the amount of lukewarm fufu that I ingested, but the sauce tasted okay and I had the chicken that was sitting in the boiling hot liquid. It's hard to eat with your hands when the sauce is too hot to touch. That didn't slow Steve down, so we jumped in. It was pretty dark in the place, so we all just hoped for the best with what we were snarfing. We were hungry from surfing.<br />
<br />
We found out at dinner that he's 23 and was going to college to become an engineer, but his dad died in a car accident, so now he's taken in his brother and is paying for him to go to school. He's such a bright, friendly guy, it's hard to hear about that tough time they went through. He wrote another song that he wants to get out about suicide called, "Hang In There." He wants to let people know that they can get through the tough things in life, and you don't have to commit suicide. He said he sings it to himself sometimes when he's sad and it motivates him, so he wants to share it with other people.<br />
<br />
He said he had a friend who had to drop out of school and take in his brothers and sisters and decided to kill himself, but Steve taught him how to drive and got him a taxi to start making money to take care of his family. He felt so good about helping his friend that he wanted to help more people and thought his music would be a good way. We all agreed. It was a nice song and fun to hear a capella.<br />
<br />
I wasn't able to finish my fufu, but they didn't seem to mind. The total came out to be a third of what we paid at the other restaurant, and we bought Steve's dinner, too. It was a fun experience to eat with the locals and have Steve as our tour guide. He spoke the language and handled everything.<br />
<br />
We wrapped up our meal and drove the final ten minutes to the ship. Steve sang a final song about how sad he was that his friends were going. "My friends are leaving today, and I'm sad they are going away, but they'll be back to Ghana soon, or I'll go to America." Catchy. Gave us all a great laugh. He's just too cute.<br />
<br />
We were dropped at the port gate and swarmed by late night street vendors. We said goodbye to Steve after tipping him an extra 15 cedis for how awesome he was and jogged through the crowd of sellers to get to the safe side of the port gate. We were groaning at the walk back to the ship when a man in a big white truck pulled by us. He asked if we were going to the ship, we said yes, and he waved for us to hop in. The crew was like, "should we get in?" I blurted, "No!" but they had already jumped in. I got in, thinking it wasn't a good idea, but the nice guy was on his way to the night shift at the ship past ours and knew that we were a part of the students who needed back to the SAS ship. Good guy. Has been married for just over a year and hates leaving his wife alone at night to work the night shift. You do what you've got to do.<br />
<br />
We said goodbye to our other new friend, made it past the vendors at the bottom of the gangway and boarded the air conditioned palace that is the MV Explorer. There were not really any showers or legit changing rooms at the beach, so we were sandy and crusty with salt and ready for a shower and some more dinner. We showered and then found Danny for a 7th deck story swap. It was fun to hear about his crazy day, too.<br />
<br />
In hearing about his day, we also heard that Evan, who was supposed to be shooting an SAS field lab tomorrow decided to stay the night out with Protei who had rented a car and gone a couple hours away from the ship. Danny had to shoot the field lab, so he made his way back to the ship under crazy sketchy circumstances and was glad to be alive. All that said, I was chosen to take Evan's place and shoot the field lab to the village on stilts the next morning. Change, change, change. It's the name of the game. Better get some sleep.</div> <br/><br/><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtt9JUeZK14pyg4_gnIwG0pMl30IkYlXkT8503CqYiBE-rEjKNbLPUjO1uO2UfHjvBK7WEvOTBIrlKcIOKpUDt8zXxjUGtWI0vTnHJ2JSbdMwcZEqeN-UL1EvJD35vu0YzfjFLyf3CCxk/s640/blogger-image--2112572845.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtt9JUeZK14pyg4_gnIwG0pMl30IkYlXkT8503CqYiBE-rEjKNbLPUjO1uO2UfHjvBK7WEvOTBIrlKcIOKpUDt8zXxjUGtWI0vTnHJ2JSbdMwcZEqeN-UL1EvJD35vu0YzfjFLyf3CCxk/s640/blogger-image--2112572845.jpg" /></a></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14162895801417409174noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6939551362674198501.post-58468886531117508622013-04-05T14:11:00.000-07:002013-04-05T14:11:52.438-07:00On-ship Post-production<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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On-ship days have begun blurring together as we
journey to Ghana from South Africa.
My days have been spent in the Eagle’s nest or media lab or vomit
closet, as we called it at the beginning of the voyage. The media lab is nice because it’s a
location that’s quiet, doesn’t have any thru-traffic and has a desk with power
so that my computer doesn’t die during my worktime.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The downside to being locked away in a closed,
windowless room that’s tucked away behind the giant student union is that I
become extremely anti-social. When
I go out for meals, I’m not in socialize mode, and I forget that the ship is full of excited, interested, talkative people. It's unhealthy for me.<o:p></o:p></div>
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We’ve run into a push for the last three weeks on
the ship because we’ve decided to take on an extra project in addition to our
other deliverables. Through the
Unreasonable project, we’ve been working with some large corporations and, of
course, the start-ups that are a part of the program, and they’ve seen
potential in our work. One of the
largest clients we could dream of working with right now has reached out to us
after leaving the ship and is interested in us doing a video to show to their
board and major executives why Unreasonable at Sea was worth it for their
company’s time and investment.
That’s a lot of pressure.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Not only is it a lot of pressure to perform, but
we’ve already filled up our time with Unreasonable deliverables. We've worked out the schedule and decided to share the workload as a team, so I have total faith that we can handle it.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Yesterday, we had Ghanian appetizers in the Tipsy Toucan. They were pretty delicious, but they never add up to the amazing, authentic food of the countries. I still took a photo. [photos to come]</div>
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The day before yesterday, we had the screening of the Semester at Sea's Unreasonable 72-Hour Film Festival. The students made films in 72 hours starting on the day that the ship stopped in Mauritius. They did a fantastic job. There were some very clever films, a meme film that included all of the inside jokes of the ship and the winner of the festival got posted on <a href="http://www.semesteratsea.org/2013/04/04/spring-2013-72-hour-film-festival-winner-souls-of-the-ship/" target="_blank">Semester at Sea's blog</a>. Make sure to check it out! I was so proud of the students.</div>
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Today, we got the excitement of coming within 500 feet of the exact 0º, 0º coordinates. The crossing of the prime meridian and the equator made for an exciting event on the ship. We took photos and watched our GPS. As sailors, you are considered a scalliwag until you cross the equator. Tradition is that when you cross the equator you shave your head and become a shellback. The highest honor is reserved for those who have sailed across 0º, 0º who are called emerald shellbacks. We didn't do any shaving, but Matt and I are official emerald shellbacks. It was actually one of Matt's dreams.</div>
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Did you know that there is, for realsies, no fooling, a booey that marks the coordinates of 0º west and east and 0º north and south. We all got to see it. It was less than 500 feet from the starboard side of the ship. It wasn't terribly exciting to see it because it's not very elaborate. It looks like a white booey. It took a little bit to convince us all that it was real. They tried to trick us with the equator and the prime meridian that there is a band stretched or a laser or a line, but at this point, we were all staring at it, and looking at the GPS. We looked it up online, and it really is legit. That was fun to see.</div>
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We're wrapping up our post-production and ready to head into Tokoradi, Ghana tomorrow morning. Matt and I have a free day, so we're going to attempt some surfing. Neither of us have ever done it, so we're glad to have Tori and Kevin as our guides. Tori Hogan was just recently featured in National Geographic for <a href="http://newswatch.nationalgeographic.com/2013/04/03/how-to-change-the-world-perspectives-from-an-archbishop-an-author-and-a-technology-innovator/" target="_blank">the panel</a> that she led with Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Ken Banks, a Nat Geo Explorer. I got to film the panel. It was amazing. Tori is a fantastic interviewer and mediator, and Ken and Arch were very entertaining. I wrote about it in an earlier post.</div>
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Anyway, they're going to allow us to tag along, so I'm sure we'll have some fun stories to tell. Hopefully no injuries.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14162895801417409174noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6939551362674198501.post-64423878062273065352013-04-02T00:11:00.004-07:002013-04-02T00:11:58.452-07:00April Fools<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<b>April 1, 2013</b><div>
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So many holidays just crammed into such a short amount of time! Today was a normal ship day. No one really pulled a good April fools day joke that I know of yet.</div>
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I shot an interview with George Kembel of Standford's D.School this morning. He's going to be the main narrator of our episode for South Africa. We're trying something new and double-dipping with Semester at Sea. Our episode will double for their video upload for the week.</div>
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George is an interesting and very passionate guy who started out as an entrepreneur and ended up at Standford teaching students from multiple disciplines the design thinking process. The design thinking process is a way to go about innovation. It's a process that uses action and "rapid ideation" to begin finding solutions for problems rather than the usual: get a problem, don't question the problem, think really hard, work really hard, try the solution, then realize you're solving the wrong problem after years of work. His process jumps right in and makes quick, gnarly prototypes that immediately test ideas and use action to move forward the innovation process without losing precious time and money. We've sat through a couple of his workshops, both filming and also participating, and it's something very good. I can't wait to implement it as we keep moving forward with Mass FX Media and our future plans.</div>
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His interview went really well, and our focus was on the future of education. He, like many people, believes that the higher education bubble in the US is on the verge of popping, and we need to find out what the next iteration of higher education is. He talked about what online school needs to look like and about the lecture method of teaching and how school needs to fit the learner not go with the tradition of what school has always been.</div>
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During out visit to South Africa, George's class, which he co-teaches with Daniel, went on their field lab. Field labs are required for all classes, and they are a way of going into the countries and implementing what the students have been learning in the classroom. George's class partnered with the Girl Effect through the Nike Foundation to partner with a township in Cape Town and join the students from the class with local youth in Cape Town for a design thinking workshop to look at what kind of issues the girls are facing in South Africa right now.</div>
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This was the day that Matt and I had just gotten back to the ship, so we didn't go along, but as the editor, I get to vicariously experience it, and after hearing George talk so passionately about it, it makes me excited to share the story with everyone on video. So far, I think this will be a powerful episode to meld what we're doing with Unreasonable with what the students are doing and learning on the ship.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0EJlHSfgE3_f5fCfbqW0PB1b_ARyKMJ1D3LONFGunTHjqfM6L1P_k2GLQVRCp3NMZHh1TG6r16Vph-VZ2O_x-Bh3cmw5gMUEGjPucdrLZY5cg9_-GcVR4MZjcY72_HHsRZKrDFN54C3Q/s1600/photo+4.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0EJlHSfgE3_f5fCfbqW0PB1b_ARyKMJ1D3LONFGunTHjqfM6L1P_k2GLQVRCp3NMZHh1TG6r16Vph-VZ2O_x-Bh3cmw5gMUEGjPucdrLZY5cg9_-GcVR4MZjcY72_HHsRZKrDFN54C3Q/s1600/photo+4.JPG" /></a></div>
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I agree with George in that I feel like the most powerful thing that the Unreasonable Institute and the founders have given to the students on the ship is the permission to live their life doing something that follows their passions. The rule isn't: graduate and get a nine-to-five. There actually is no rule. I think students need to hear that. I would be a shining example. Once I was given the permission to follow my dreams, I planned for it, and I made it happen, and here I sit on a ship traveling around the world doing what I love with the person and the people I love: filmmaking. It doesn't get better than this, and the risks are worth it if you're aware of them. Calculate them. Plan for them. Then jump!</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The reception in the Glazer Lounge.</td></tr>
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So, I'll be digging into those themes this week with our South Africa episode.</div>
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After a long day of editing, the Deans invited all the staff to a reception in the Tipsy Toucan. At random intervals on our journey, they do a nice reception where everybody gets together to chat, and we get free wine and appetizers. It's lovely. This particular reception was Mexican themed, and I got my taco and burrito fix. There's nothing like guacomole after three months of not having guacamole. In the photo to the right, you can see how crazed I am about my tacos. No foolin'.<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14162895801417409174noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6939551362674198501.post-2287210562117800442013-04-01T15:41:00.004-07:002013-04-02T01:45:26.628-07:00Happy Easter!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<b>March 31, 2013</b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6zdZs2-ri_PiG1yYDfWNyNMbxEMEK09tQIyyJSGYr05RrWhZS9qmvHEO1nndG7wilC0Pcyh77MBJeAj-K0COj14nj9o0hBAcyai78s1MkEd4E7pR5gT6UtR17YKp4tmvgZJB40KVMYXM/s1600/photo+2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6zdZs2-ri_PiG1yYDfWNyNMbxEMEK09tQIyyJSGYr05RrWhZS9qmvHEO1nndG7wilC0Pcyh77MBJeAj-K0COj14nj9o0hBAcyai78s1MkEd4E7pR5gT6UtR17YKp4tmvgZJB40KVMYXM/s1600/photo+2.JPG" /></a>Well, we didn't set sail in the night because of the weather, so we got to have our Easter breakfast on the deck of the ship with a backdrop of Cape Town. It was a nice change of pace for one of our sailing days. The ship is capable of double-timing it, and they plan in extra time in all of the sailing stints for things like this, so it won't affect the dates that we're in Ghana.</div>
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Matt and I procured a couple hardboiled eggs for breakfast and set to work decorating them for Easter. We hope that everybody had a lovely Easter. It's just not the same when it's a normal work day for the ship community. I want to reiterate again how much I miss having weekends. We got a nice couple days off in Cape Town which was very nice. It was the first weekend we've had since January 4th. No wonder people are feeling a little burned out.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihJz8v9oCYnAypb9aIJzyS7rnQ5ePVfsHyJQC00Liv-9HOaCBmKOaln9qxnVISwBWxUosrDczYBal23YhwivI8vozewNoAoEJm-gjLPgdZgFf7yhauzWPEVo-Z9eDZTGhaSP3h15BFKn0/s1600/photo+1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihJz8v9oCYnAypb9aIJzyS7rnQ5ePVfsHyJQC00Liv-9HOaCBmKOaln9qxnVISwBWxUosrDczYBal23YhwivI8vozewNoAoEJm-gjLPgdZgFf7yhauzWPEVo-Z9eDZTGhaSP3h15BFKn0/s1600/photo+1.JPG" /></a>Matt and I posed for some pictures with Table Mountain in the background, then went in to finish our breakfasts. It was time to get back into the swing of things on the ship, so we had a morning meeting to work out our goals for the sail to Ghana. I've been assigned to edit the South Africa episode, so that'll be my duty in the next five days.</div>
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I'm still waiting on the logging, so I set to work finishing up some details with Mass FX and reimbursements for travel and cleaning up our room. It was also good to catch up on this blog and get down some of the basics of what we did for this last week. I wish I had kept up with it because I'm now having trouble remembering a lot of the details of what we did. It was a pretty low key port, so it's probably okay.</div>
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The rest of the day was pretty straightforward. Helping with post-production logging and searching for lost project files.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mark and Larissa made us all<br />Easter baskets out of sticky notes.</td></tr>
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We had taken part in organizing a 72-hour film festival on the ship for all of the ship community during the stop in Mauritius, and the finished films were ready for judging, so we got to be a part of that process. We watched through all thirteen submissions. There was a really cute on by the kids on board who did an animation with their legos, a very clever one that went through all of the funny things that people say and do on the ship, a sweet one about a love story over the years aboard the semester at sea ship and, one of my favorites, a video mocking Baer Grills that goes through a Survivorman-type show on the island of Mauritius. Everybody did a great job. There's some real talent on this ship.</div>
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The films will be screened on April 3 to the whole community, and I look forward to seeing the students watch them. People are really going to enjoy the film festival. Of course, we'll have a red carpet and have everybody dress to the nines. Makes me miss the Lifetree Film Fest coming up at the end of April. You people had better attend that and let me know how it goes. Eat extra popcorn for me.</div>
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Matt and I went to the Easter service on the ship, then finished up our post-production duties for the day and called it a night. I've got mixed feelings about being back on the ship. We were so spoiled with our adventures in India and Cambodia, and I find myself missing Auroville the most. I've got to get my sea legs back to where I stop noticing the rocking of the ship, and hopefully I'll get back in the groove of ship-life. This little cabin is our home for these last four weeks.</div>
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I can't believe we only have a month left! Half of me can't wait to go back to Colorado and the other half of me is afraid of this ending. It's the new normal. What's going to be able to measure up next? Probably just a bowl of fresh fruit will do it.<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14162895801417409174noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6939551362674198501.post-49015913319385261602013-04-01T14:56:00.001-07:002013-04-01T14:56:03.079-07:00Last Day in Cape Town<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<b>March
30, 2013<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgouMTDtuBEGY1i889BGW74-Wu6TZvWmYqyslxSEfZ0lFwVn_CBQ3eKRqsLkngnLTEjP1yKvxvLca8-CvvEjJgUil4Mxd0c786WhpyUqUdzu-pqgcKulIntWkV5eUTER2GIAYltf5emD1k/s1600/photo+3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgouMTDtuBEGY1i889BGW74-Wu6TZvWmYqyslxSEfZ0lFwVn_CBQ3eKRqsLkngnLTEjP1yKvxvLca8-CvvEjJgUil4Mxd0c786WhpyUqUdzu-pqgcKulIntWkV5eUTER2GIAYltf5emD1k/s1600/photo+3.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our view of Lion's Head from Camps Bay</td></tr>
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I'm sad to say that I feel like I missed out on Cape Town's full potential, but I couldn't help the days I was exhausted nor the day when I wasn't feeling well. I was reminded of the fact that just before this, I had spent twenty days exploring Auroville then Phnom Penh. I might just have been tuckered out from three weeks of traveling. Maybe it was okay to take it easy here in Cape Town.
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I do wish I had seen the townships, though. There are places around Cape Town that have been set up by the government and many of the housing was built for free and people live in it for the cost of electricity if they want it. Archbishop Desmond Tutu would describe South Africa as the most beautiful place on earth, but also the most unequal. I wish I could have experienced the other side of Cape Town. We stuck to the wealthy, city areas for the most part.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The wind in Camps Bay would blow these clouds<br />off the top of Table Mountain and they<br />would dissolve in front of our eyes.</td></tr>
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We made this day a pretty chill day as well in that we didn't have anything we needed to film. We went down to the waterfront and had crepes for breakfast again. I went back to my favorite fruit stand and had the man chop me up a mango and mini pineapple for breakfast. As I've noted before, I'm going to miss fresh fruit.<br />
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Most of the film crew had joined together to have breakfast and Minh came around as well. We had good conversation and a nice sit with one another as we enjoyed our last day of land food. There was talk of seeing a movie and also talk of going over to Haut Bay. We ultimately decided to compromise with the much closer Camps Bay to enjoy the beach and climb the rocks that hang out near the ocean.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP8vIiAXwNiLgJCgkfIZxcJZhnJ_U-__O6tnDzqFKnmncL5ZXmV7Qc69aUtPzz0Zpzss4EZ7KKrZhRBinc2xl3IWxYbhy7REZm5i9CmzmHFf3bFHiuyZgWudh2yreKUMCjMkNrJpXDXVc/s1600/photo+1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP8vIiAXwNiLgJCgkfIZxcJZhnJ_U-__O6tnDzqFKnmncL5ZXmV7Qc69aUtPzz0Zpzss4EZ7KKrZhRBinc2xl3IWxYbhy7REZm5i9CmzmHFf3bFHiuyZgWudh2yreKUMCjMkNrJpXDXVc/s1600/photo+1.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cheers!</td></tr>
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Part of the team headed for the cinema, part of the team went with Tendekayi to a visit over to one of the townships, Du Noon, and I went with the crew that was off to explore Camps Bay. I didn't realize until later that we had a chance to visit the township, or I would have jumped on the opportunity. It's a pretty sensitive place for tours and especially for filming because people don't want to be exploited. What would you feel like if foreigners came into your front yard and took photos of you getting your mail or washing your car. It's just not appropriate unless you get permission or have people expecting you. Tendekayi had friends from high school who lived in this particular place, so they went and visited them. They were able to film a little.<br />
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I had a nice time at Camps Bay, but it was unreasonably windy, and we ended up settling for a run to the grocery store and a long lunch to escape from the wind. We enjoyed some mojitos and fresh fruit juice to celebrate our last day in Cape Town. I went for a butternut squash salad to say goodbye to fresh vegetables.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We conquered the wind...then fell<br />off this rock.</td></tr>
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We decided to brave the wind and play out on the giant boulders sitting by the ocean. It was the place on the beach with the least amount of sand, so we didn't get as sandblasted as the other brave souls that ventured out into the open. We took some silly photos, then decided we had had enough battering, and headed back for the ship to make sure we made it back for on-ship time. You get in big trouble if you delay the ship's departure, so we make sure to be on with plenty of time to spare.<br />
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Because of the crazy-bad winds, the ship wasn't able to leave at it's expected 8pm, so we all had dinner out on the deck and then hung out together appreciating the stillness of the ship. We heard later that if we had left that night during the storm, we would have found ourselves back in 10 meter waves. I appreciate the choice to stay.<br />
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<br />
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14162895801417409174noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6939551362674198501.post-84534299243701950832013-04-01T14:40:00.003-07:002013-04-01T14:40:47.558-07:00Under the Weather<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>March
29, 2013<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It was crepe day today! A group of film peeps headed down to the waterfront to the
food market to get some crepes for breakfast. I bought a mango that the nice man chopped up for us, and we
had it with our warm, savory crepes that were cooked right on the spot with
local ingredients. My love for
Cape Town is back after our scary night on Long Street.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I
showed Matt the local craft market and the spice shops that he had missed the
day before being with Tendekyi in “Wooster.” It was kind of a lazy day today because we had the whole day
off. We all looked forward to a
day where we could just chill and be travelers. We walked through a four-story souvenir shop and looked at
many cool statues and masks. I wanted
to take a lot of it home.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I wasn’t feeling well, so when we got back to the
ship to get our postcards written, I stayed behind for another nap. I feel bad that I missed out on our
free day in Cape Town, but one just can’t help not feeling well. I thought it would be better to rest up
for our last day here, than push it and still not be feeling well
tomorrow. Matt, Evan, Patrick and
Danny headed up Lion’s Head to shoot the sunset over Table Mountain. It was wickedly windy, but they loved
the adventure.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It looks beautiful, but you can't see the wind.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I woke up around 5:30pm feeling so much better, and
realized that I could still make it for the Semester at Sea staff dinner. Some professors, staff and resident
directors (RD’s) were going out to a nearby pizza place, so I decided not to be
a stranger and join in. As the
whole Unreasonable group, we haven’t done a very good job of melding with the
rest of the community, I think, so I felt it would be good to get to know some
of our fellow travelers.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I rode the bus with them over to the waterfront
mall and had a big salad with our talk about travel. It was fun to chat with some of the professors aboard the ship. They have a completely different
perspective from me as far as the journey is concerned, and I think we found
one another’s stories interesting.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT_dIsO4mnku1HV61rgQdKKh3To-zt0CVd9jzRX5i56fF1mgMgpZATpG8mRZtbA43KMI_sBJnPhsLjVUSI7xfBA43WyCMXlAHTtCYdX2E-gDqO52FCya9B4KeSWVqhnHOliZNiyfEbGMI/s1600/photo+2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT_dIsO4mnku1HV61rgQdKKh3To-zt0CVd9jzRX5i56fF1mgMgpZATpG8mRZtbA43KMI_sBJnPhsLjVUSI7xfBA43WyCMXlAHTtCYdX2E-gDqO52FCya9B4KeSWVqhnHOliZNiyfEbGMI/s1600/photo+2.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Waterfront ferris wheel at sunset.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After dinner I went out for ice cream with some of
the RD’s, and we visited a grocery store called the Pick n Pay. I discovered a candy while I was here
called Fizzers that I’ve become obsessed with. I needed to get some.
It’s basically laffy taffy meets pop rocks without the popping. The taffy fizzes lightly and melts in
your mouth as you eat it. Magic.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We caught the 10:30pm bus back to the ship, and
although it was a lazy day off, it was a good day off. I think I can conquer our last day in
Cape Town.</div>
<br />
<o:p></o:p><br />
<!--EndFragment--></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14162895801417409174noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6939551362674198501.post-92015609408515606862013-04-01T14:38:00.001-07:002013-04-01T14:38:21.341-07:00The Good and the Ugly of Cape Town<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>March
28, 2013<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We started our day with breakfast on the ship and
then caught a taxi over to Long Street where Mouhsine has been staying in Cape
Town. He’s not going to get back
on the ship for now because he’s headed back to India for the next two weeks to
button up more things with Prakti.
He’ll be meeting us in Casablanca to show us around his home-country
Morocco. We wanted to get a last
interview with him before he heads out to follow-up on our Cambodian
adventures. I can’t believe that
we just came from Cambodia…what I crazy life I live.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipUvWK75zT-vlvqs3qB0a0h2A4tQGz7DCfxnKYI9w-r3huZh9yUngHiBjcUOQ7xcLiGGPggfN3dTsNkJ_-78jhXzYMm0XF7IbzvkuCI7FdrApgmKm1bm0-rWT0GEc7yP4WlfGVd3BQ8uw/s1600/photo+1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipUvWK75zT-vlvqs3qB0a0h2A4tQGz7DCfxnKYI9w-r3huZh9yUngHiBjcUOQ7xcLiGGPggfN3dTsNkJ_-78jhXzYMm0XF7IbzvkuCI7FdrApgmKm1bm0-rWT0GEc7yP4WlfGVd3BQ8uw/s1600/photo+1.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our rooftop interview with Mouhsine.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We found his hostel which was on the sixth floor of
one of the tall buildings on Long Street.
It was an interesting place.
I’d equate it to a college dorm with the way everything was painted
differently, like a big collage of artists. It had shared spaces like a kitchen and a living room at one
end and a bunch of dorm rooms. It
had a homey, safe feeling. I
realized that I’ve never been in a hostel in any country, but it gave me faith
in a cheap place to stay if we ever needed one when we traveled.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We discovered Mouhsine at the very back of the long
hallway of rooms, and he brought us up to the rooftop. Continuing the college dorm look, there
were couches and a bar up there and some Astroturf and a big mural on one of
the walls. We wrangled up some bar
stools, crates and couch cushions to fashion an interview set and got to work
getting Mouhsine’s thoughts on Prakti, Cambodia and the future. It was a great interview.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLYGp4-sZF_-GzxMw0YF1EA0qevzzMuiwSHY9mur2H1g-szC93XXTrVPO3ukSMY8g2JE5Y8qneDqTfBYleiQ98-xzMhTO0h3pqCRqc1qD2nNAm9VyYaZZK1o-z5V26OM8lWetKU0sENUs/s1600/photo+3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLYGp4-sZF_-GzxMw0YF1EA0qevzzMuiwSHY9mur2H1g-szC93XXTrVPO3ukSMY8g2JE5Y8qneDqTfBYleiQ98-xzMhTO0h3pqCRqc1qD2nNAm9VyYaZZK1o-z5V26OM8lWetKU0sENUs/s1600/photo+3.JPG" /></a><o:p> </o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At the end, we put the place back together and said
goodbye to our friend. We’re going
to miss him on the ship, but it’ll be so good for him to work with Prakti in
person and tie up all the loose ends we left a couple weeks ago in
Auroville. I must say I miss that
place so much.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Jessie, our fabulous sound girl, Matt and I found a
fun souvenir shop on our way to finding a taxi back to the ship, and Jessie
bought some earrings and Matt fell in love with some tribal art that we needed
to take home. The piece is a
little wooden statue with two sides, the future and the past. The past has little wrinkly seashell
eyes and the future is wide-eyed and excited. Matt felt that it summed up our journey and we added it to
our collection. It was made from a
tribe in the Congo.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQU9XTd9Yl6ZQotrFNmQQK16Pged3QayFzTIfDjNKsOGrZNU0awHE7rMPHNT2r3Bm3FQxnIS7p4nJSFUE42eXinRAEHTkKnxlxWOh8Z_VM3emMBXlAA1ZdFRxhTTwc5DOXKbQOdxmntU0/s1600/photo+2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQU9XTd9Yl6ZQotrFNmQQK16Pged3QayFzTIfDjNKsOGrZNU0awHE7rMPHNT2r3Bm3FQxnIS7p4nJSFUE42eXinRAEHTkKnxlxWOh8Z_VM3emMBXlAA1ZdFRxhTTwc5DOXKbQOdxmntU0/s320/photo+2.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Some tasty African bevies.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We caught a taxi back to the ship to drop off
Jessie, and as soon as Matt and I got to our room, we crashed. We fell asleep around 1:30pm. We talked about setting an alarm, but
decided we should just sleep until we wake up. At 5:40pm, I opened my eyes and realized we needed more
sleep than I thought. It felt so
good.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Tendekayi had planned an African food and drum
evening, so we got up and got ready to head for the African Café down on Long
Street. The whole Unreasonable
bunch, mentors and film crew arrived, and we had an awesome dinner of twelve
courses of delicious African cuisines and entertainment of singing, drumming
wait staff. My favorite item was
the mango chicken. Had they had peri peri, I know that would have been my
favorite. I love peri peri. Just sayin’.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbRMZcmao9JBjd3fzo4TXz6eY7GeLwPq0HbvEVYPHlNLVdImXH8iysTKSV3IKRr6cZxcn6_zlUARVLus_6fXtN7-MBV2Ho5ICL9pRYdTCzZhsCUBnPkcjbG7w_JPbw74fSHJ35sgr4IXg/s1600/photo+4.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbRMZcmao9JBjd3fzo4TXz6eY7GeLwPq0HbvEVYPHlNLVdImXH8iysTKSV3IKRr6cZxcn6_zlUARVLus_6fXtN7-MBV2Ho5ICL9pRYdTCzZhsCUBnPkcjbG7w_JPbw74fSHJ35sgr4IXg/s1600/photo+4.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Plaid sponsored this evening's dinner, so Matt<br />Mullenweg posed with the guys with their plaid faces.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After another massive dinner, Colman from the Girl
Effect invited us all to go dancing.
We hadn’t partaken in a night out yet, so Matt and I decided to go and
check it out. We went as a group
of 20 people and he led us to a club that he described as a “quaint local
place.” It turns out that Long
Street is extremely violent and terrifying at night, even in our massive group,
people were picked off and picked out.
We had one group get pepper-sprayed, another group mugged at knife
point, and Matt was grabbed and had an attempt on his wallet. After a strange dance, the man almost
fell over, Matt let him go, and Tendekayi chased after him. Matt had all his personal items, but it
was scary enough that I was finished for the night.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We arrived at the club to a group of massive locals
hanging out in a giant line outside.
We all had to squeeze ourselves through their bodies to get into the
front door. We found a tiny bar
with blasting hip hop music and everyone staring at us blankly. We were very obviously not welcome
there, and there was very obviously no dancing going on. We crammed ourselves and some extra
film gear into a booth, and after one person was confronted by a local who
wasn’t happy he was standing in his space, we decided we had had enough. A group of us took the film equipment
and decided to head back in a taxi.
We had to squeeze our way out and find a taxi that we trusted, but we
made it back to the ship safe and sound.
A little shaken. I’m glad
we had such a fun time at dinner because the rest of the evening would have
really ruined my opinion of Cape Town.
I suppose it’s like any other city – be aware of your surroundings and
stay out of certain areas at night, and you’ll be fine.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The next morning we heard that a couple was mugged
at knife point and a woman that was with us had her wallet stolen. Sounded like a nightlife I was willing
to miss out on. Thanks, but no
thanks, Long Street.</div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<o:p></o:p><br />
<!--EndFragment--></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14162895801417409174noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6939551362674198501.post-16357939728604309532013-04-01T14:33:00.003-07:002013-04-01T14:33:51.359-07:00Exploring the Waterfront<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>March
27, 2013<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYIFIHfH9KZj8hyphenhyphenJpx1YzkACISGXWvzZtfb2ocWUhgCy8DQzhYVZIwxhVBCuZSZtRKPX1xQIbLDAhmttWuR3_KtZE7MvG3u3EM6SmmEMd0-LEEaxtKeOPTwf-vO68Z0Bu_MrfMTk0vwdM/s1600/photo+1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYIFIHfH9KZj8hyphenhyphenJpx1YzkACISGXWvzZtfb2ocWUhgCy8DQzhYVZIwxhVBCuZSZtRKPX1xQIbLDAhmttWuR3_KtZE7MvG3u3EM6SmmEMd0-LEEaxtKeOPTwf-vO68Z0Bu_MrfMTk0vwdM/s1600/photo+1.JPG" /></a>Good morning Cape Town…again. I felt more refreshed today after a
good nights sleep. Matt headed off
with Tendekayi of Solar Ear to film a visit to their training school in a
nearby town called Worcester (pronounced like “rooster” but with a “w” –
Wooster.) I went with the film
crew in the morning to check out the V&A Waterfront for lunch.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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The Waterfront was beautiful! It was a very short walk from the ship,
and it had a giant mall, the docks where you can take sailing tours and shark
diving tours, a craft fair and a food market with multiple vendors. We shopped around a little then found a
place to get some delicious fish and chips for lunch. I got the peri peri chicken sandwich. I cannot express how much I love peri
peri seasoning. Matt and I had a
recipe for peri peri chicken, but couldn’t find the sauce or the seasoning in
the States, so when I found a little stand that was selling cans of it I bought
one to take home. I also found dry
roasted peri peri cashews which also came back to the ship, but more than
likely won’t make it all the way back to Colorado. Far too delicious.<o:p></o:p></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhd18PSfe9AA4Vf5TNch30SBPA7zk4pkaPcA0rma-n9yBb20oggOyL1pAs-oKoqnLrquzS5O37VWdwFp6JEZtic5yFyvf4z667ZShVjHxvWcsbKLL0IM_5xwiz7BOFRcjyDETz73zoipxs/s1600/photo+2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhd18PSfe9AA4Vf5TNch30SBPA7zk4pkaPcA0rma-n9yBb20oggOyL1pAs-oKoqnLrquzS5O37VWdwFp6JEZtic5yFyvf4z667ZShVjHxvWcsbKLL0IM_5xwiz7BOFRcjyDETz73zoipxs/s1600/photo+2.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The V&A Waterfront area</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After lunch we walked around for a little while
longer and explored the shops and souvenir shops, then went back to the ship to
gather our gear to shoot a Fireside Chat at the Nike Cottage later in the
afternoon. We got a taxi out to
Camps Bay, which is about 15 minutes away from where our ship is docked. It’s a beautiful place that reminds me
a lot of San Diego. Cool
waterfront shops and restaurants and an amazing sandy beach that has Table
Mountain in the background. I
couldn’t get enough of the view.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Our taxi driver dropped us off at the wrong
location, and we had some trouble finding the town home that’s owned by Nike
which they call the Nike Cottage.
It’s not a cottage. It’s an
amazing waterfront townhome with a pool on the deck and a view of the ocean
through huge windows. It’s groovy
and relaxing and would make a great place to come and be creative.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXzn-6ydGeA1iSq4mvssIz_rkXXHLlkIC1m7BmaUR8M7TQPDeb3X9SOYE_l0T3yZrVSxo5GKEcdmLcqY4xAVick-IsafHHeZL91wjF91JLvz5nExWpr7O9g39EkUJM28DI2jzOOap0Omc/s1600/photo+3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXzn-6ydGeA1iSq4mvssIz_rkXXHLlkIC1m7BmaUR8M7TQPDeb3X9SOYE_l0T3yZrVSxo5GKEcdmLcqY4xAVick-IsafHHeZL91wjF91JLvz5nExWpr7O9g39EkUJM28DI2jzOOap0Omc/s1600/photo+3.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Some statues near the food market. We recognize<br />Archbishop Desmond Tutu.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We did some interviews with the people from the
Girl Effect, which is run by the Nike Foundation, then set up for a Fireside
Chat between Daniel Epstein and Matt Mullenweg who is the founder of
Wordpress. They got there late,
but everyone did because the place was so hard to find. It was numbered 1A and it came right
after 139 on the same street. I
guess once the street curves a little, they considered doing a new numbering
system not to confuse people…which completely confused everyone, including all
of our taxi drivers.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3zsEosHWHBM31sJNOXdDXgyicZeAr8DO9DtK231wGJOGg-sE-_gd8LLjU-8TRX3fb_ZfeVsFHSHQhIufpBqSkGk77N1FABHOonQjqmFE9Vs10nh_Wyq4hpQNAaCak8wbcUkr0NramauI/s1600/photo+4.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3zsEosHWHBM31sJNOXdDXgyicZeAr8DO9DtK231wGJOGg-sE-_gd8LLjU-8TRX3fb_ZfeVsFHSHQhIufpBqSkGk77N1FABHOonQjqmFE9Vs10nh_Wyq4hpQNAaCak8wbcUkr0NramauI/s1600/photo+4.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Fireside Chat with Matt Mullenweg.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Fireside Chat – which is what we call it when
Daniel interviews someone in a live setting – went really well. We got to know Matt, and he’s a
completely down to earth, very interesting and smart guy who had a great idea
and ran with it. Hence, Wordpress. He had a lot of good advice about
leadership and how to run a team that’s so spread out. The advice I appreciated the most was
that you need to empower your people and offer them autonomy to do their
jobs. The most important decision,
he said, is who you hire. If you
can’t trust your employees to do their jobs and make decisions without you over
their shoulder, you haven’t chosen the right people. Hearing him speak really made me like him as a person. He’s only four years older than
me! Gah! What have I done with my life?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFnhqPE2aThyULt1PVJIdFlQ2jMfGS_9BW2iRDMadHRdqj6IxKdyaRdDVstuCUI9ioAObl5xgpiQdSufsND29ka6pKL4S9bx4KZPlJGm5DdwqyxorO1TwhSd5qP06JWbzhZk4n6injeBU/s1600/photo+5.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFnhqPE2aThyULt1PVJIdFlQ2jMfGS_9BW2iRDMadHRdqj6IxKdyaRdDVstuCUI9ioAObl5xgpiQdSufsND29ka6pKL4S9bx4KZPlJGm5DdwqyxorO1TwhSd5qP06JWbzhZk4n6injeBU/s1600/photo+5.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A new friend.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
On our way to the next event, we had to walk a ways down the long winding roads on the mountain and found a giant herd of tiny, rabbit-sized creatures. They all came bounding up the rocks to the fence next to the sidewalk that we were walking along. They got very close, not seeming to be afraid at all. We figured people must feed them the way that they came up to us. I took a nice close picture, then saw this guy's little teeth and thought I should probably back up a little bit. Turns out they call them "mountain rabbits" here, or the official term is a hyrax. I learned later that their closest living relative is the elephant. Who knew?</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8ZqpBrYijo8a8qCCIV4GfInjtvLua2Jrq7Eoix4-BBeD6QlrKIqJrtIDGnfjTCj3R2lh2kxxNjZMqu-J1lJxIF4ifbWWaE1mIxFEJxmoYWdn318zq0WgB9lKnKqeS_5UwEyRPAri4SYo/s1600/photo+1-1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8ZqpBrYijo8a8qCCIV4GfInjtvLua2Jrq7Eoix4-BBeD6QlrKIqJrtIDGnfjTCj3R2lh2kxxNjZMqu-J1lJxIF4ifbWWaE1mIxFEJxmoYWdn318zq0WgB9lKnKqeS_5UwEyRPAri4SYo/s1600/photo+1-1.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is a beautiful place!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<br /></div>
After his Fireside Chat, the group went to a
restaurant called Moyo where another mingling and tapas dinner was hosted by a
group of entrepreneurs in Cape Town.
They were all excited to meet the founders of the companies and hear
more about what they all did. We
arrived an hour and a half late, so we felt a little bad about that, but
there’s not much else we could all do about it since we were with Daniel and
the rest of the founders. They
started up with the main speakers who thanked us all for coming, but they were
out of appetizers since all the locals had been waiting for so long. They all just ate and drank as they
waited and there was no dinner left for the Unreasonable bunch. It was our fault, I suppose. The film crew ended up ordering extra
dinner and enjoying a peri peri steak sandwich with, my ultimate favorite,
French fries, which they call “chips” here. No complaints.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUTMo53SLrN0dIhIzBIVf2IxWQ2q-A96jAz_DAZ0Q2iNryrkqAXWRZYpIRbW10RehW_OmvC89t3-oQudB3PAx3pOvrQ1c2QdhxWnI6bCAEqiLUv1cjTBpnpIfV6sms_Ax9fDqcqWg15NY/s1600/photo+2-1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUTMo53SLrN0dIhIzBIVf2IxWQ2q-A96jAz_DAZ0Q2iNryrkqAXWRZYpIRbW10RehW_OmvC89t3-oQudB3PAx3pOvrQ1c2QdhxWnI6bCAEqiLUv1cjTBpnpIfV6sms_Ax9fDqcqWg15NY/s640/photo+2-1.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Some African face paint at the Moyo event.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<o:p></o:p><br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14162895801417409174noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6939551362674198501.post-64189544100508485352013-04-01T14:23:00.000-07:002013-04-01T14:23:01.289-07:00Pitchin' and Eatin'<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>March
26, 2013<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Today was the big Unreasonable at Sea pitch event
hosted by SAP in Cape Town. They
chose The One and Only Hotel which 1) is actually named that and 2) is fancy
pantsy. It all started with a
coffee time with tasty muffins and pastries and the best coffee I’ve had since
the Bellagio. The event went really
well. The entrepreneurs stepped up
and gave some fabulous pitches.
They got the crowd really excited.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Among the judges was our new mentor, HRH Prince
Fahad Al Saud. He’s a prince from
Saudi Arabia and also an entrepreneur.
He worked for Facebook for a while, translating it into Arabic which
brought it into Saudi Arabia. The
other judges were our Nike Foundation mentors and a couple guys from SAP who
own parts of South Africa. It was
a nice mix of big names. No
pressure.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There was a lunch break of Singapore buffet
proportions. I never thought
anyone could top the lunch we had in Sinapore, and The One and Only Hotel
didn’t, but it came pretty darn close.
They had this buttermilk chicken that was to die for and mango-lemon
cheesecake that melted in your mouth.
We ate way more than we should have, then did our lethargic camera-people
trick for the rest of the event.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The event ended and we all piled back on the bus to
head back to the ship. We had a
couple hours to reset and change before the SAP dinner that was to be hosted at
the fanciest restaurant in Cape Town: La Colombe. It sits in the middle of a winery at the base of the
mountains, and we arrived right at sunset to enjoy the beauty of the space.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The vineyard surrounding the restaurant and the moon.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Dinner began and I can’t tell you how good the food
was. My adventurous eating habits
have expanded even more than I thought they could on this trip, and I found
myself excited to try the spoonful of beef tar tar that came out to wet our
pallets. I sat next to the man who
worked at SAP in Cape Town who was apparently the man we were to thank for the
whole event. He’s apparently a big
deal, but even though he came off as a business charmer, we had some great
conversation at our table, and he could have been Joe Blow as far as our
interactions went. Nice guy.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We talked about everything Americans hate to talk
about: business, politics and religion.
He turned to me partway through the conversation and wondered how I felt
as an American, and I told him that as new acquaintances like we were, we would
never be having these conversations in the States this early on in our
relationship. We all wondered why
that was, and they decided that Americans were incapable of having civil
discussion. “Don’t they know it’s
okay to disagree?” I found it to
be an interesting observation, one that I wasn’t necessarily able to argue
against. I guess we’re so afraid
of offending one another in the States that we error on the side of shallow
conversations with strangers. I
secretly thought to myself, “not at Lifetree Café…” but I didn’t bring it up
because we were now onto sports.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our fancy dinner setting outside.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Every course that we ate was better than the last,
and the flavors were so delicate and well seasoned. I had hake on a bed of quinoa with a cheese and chutney
platter for dessert. They also
brought out little cutting boards with chilled rose-water gelatin, light fudge
and coconut cubes and little cashew clusters that I couldn’t stop eating even
though I was about to pop.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
One of the mentors, Kamran, ran a group-wide
meditation that everyone was welcome to out in the middle of the vineyard
field. It had gotten so cold out that
I don’t think I could have focused on anything but my chilly toes. I opted out of the meditation and Matt
and I walked around a bit looking at the stars of the Southern hemisphere. I’ve never seen them before now.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We all piled back on the bus and our SAP friend
invited us to a club that his brother owned. Matt and I were so exhausted and still jet-lagged that we
opted out, and when we saw those who went the night before getting back on the
ship at 6:30am, we felt that we had probably made the right decision.<o:p></o:p></div>
<!--EndFragment--><br />
<br /></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14162895801417409174noreply@blogger.com0