is the king of hong kong called King Kong?

This is me on the great wall... any my rock (dava has the other half)

Its easy to get caught up in the travel, and to miss the other mediums that are going on. For instance, in the past 24 hours I have met the former “president” (chairman) of Hong Kong, and listened to a panel discussion from prominent scholars about war; not to mention my bed was made by some Filipino servants this morning (KB), and I am about to munch on some midnight grilled cheese. And this is the dreary down time between China and Vietnam. I am glad to have survived China, and with a new aura of recklessness I am about to tackle my first third world country.

China Day 1:

So heres the scene: Theres a freaking deluge, we are on a mile or so long industrial pier, and Chinese people don’t halt for anyone. Getting off the ship and to real land was the first real daunting and dangerous task in China, maneuvering around cranes and semis provided for some good fun way into the wee hours of the night. I hit the town with my friends; (Jake, Jade, Aaron, Brian, Joe) to do a mountain hike. Due to mudslides this was canceled, so we spent 7 hours wandering. In the process we had 2 feasts (totaling 6 bucks per person, combined), dipped into dozens of shady alley ways, and got lost in the red light district of Qingdao. It was awesome. Even with the massive amounts of German architecture, China proved to be a different world from Japan, in the sense that what you see is never what you actually get. For instance, even the nicest streets, with the nicest shops had impoverished squares within the quarters where numerous people lived in shanties. When urban conglomeration meets super poor, some interesting things happened. This would be a reoccurring theme for China, the presence of the 4^th world. Where first world citizens, live, breathe, and associate with third world neighbors. Im sure Delhi will be worse, but Qingdao and Beijing are all I have for now. That night I hit some clubs with some other friends… Club Feeling, and Club Babyface. Feeling was apparently a Gay/Prostitute bar. I got hit on by a Chinese dude… it was awkward. Awkward was Qingdao.

Day 2:

There are generally 2 types of people in my life right now. People I like, and people I don’t like. People I like preferred China to Japan… People I don’t like hated China. This is why I don’t like them… and heres why I like the previously mentioned.

Beijing is the most fantastic city I have ever been to. It takes more than 3 hours to traverse the city limits by car, and the air while flying in looked like a dome that was trapping in millions of farts… but the sights in China were nothing short of amazing.

Flight to Beijing.

Lunch at a Chinese Buffet (with free all you can drink beer???, and no, it was not better than yank sing)

The Summer Palace is a complex with a lake the size of Conroe, and temples galore… The thing about it is though, that some emperor built all this in 15 years for his mother. Id say that ranks among the best mothers day gifts ever. My mom is lucky to get a card and a plastic bracelet from me… a freaking city is another ballpark.

Dinner: Peking duck at one of the most famous restraints in Beijing. Onion, Chive and Egg wrap from a local vender as well (aka, a guy in an alley way with a griddle).

Night: went to eh club districts with some folks. The actual nightlife wasn’t as fun as the way we got there. After another all you can drink restaurant, the folks I was with got rowdy (inspired by Dr. Chuck, who never ceased to buy students cases of beer, he even did this at 10 am on the way to the great wall) and convinced a chartered bus driver to take us to some clubs. On the way a pee break happened. It happened at a park on a major road in downtown Beijing. My first day in communist china, and my friends are peeing on public land. Some girl goes behing a shack, steps in what seemed to be human shit, and tracked it back onto the bus. The hilarity of it all, mixed with the putrid smell of human shit… set the tone for china. After a few hours at Bar Blue, I went with my friends Aaron and Robin to explore the City. We decided that Tiananmen at midnight would be a good idea; and it was. The eerie nature of it was unlike anything I had ever witnessed. Gaurds were everywhere, and people where not to be seen. Every doorway and side street was well patrolled. I couldn’t help but wonder what exactly was going on behind these doors, and in these buildings, and why the hell there aren’t any people around. We got followed by a cop, and for a few moments a cop car, and got the hell out of dodge by walking down an abandoned alley a few blocks away. With the safety level strangely increased, we made our way to a taxi and to sleep. For the first time in my life, I was sexed out by my room mate, so I spent a few hours in the lobby of my hotel reading the book of Samuel and the story of David. The interesting thing about this was his relationship with Saul. And the jealousy Saul had at the witness of Davids piety and love for God. I wonder how this is prevalent in our world today and whether or not even the most non-religious of folks are envious of those who love God. Think about it.

Day 3:

I have been many places in my short life. The Eiffel Tower, and Stonehenge, and Chichin Itza, but I have never been to a place that far exceeded even my most glorious of expectations. This day, that changed.

The great wall of China, was in a word. Great. I hiked a portion of it that gives you eternal “hero status” and did so in about an hour and a half (3 round trip). The view (from the highest point on the wall) gave the impression that I was on the top of the world, and that If I looked hard enough… I could see my house in Houston. Too bad the world is round. The path I chose was not very touristy and to this point involved the least amount of human interaction (I went alone, cause that’s how I roll), so the ginormity of it all was not hindered in the slightest. There, on top of the world, was the most beautiful place I have ever been.

After munching on 4 grilles cheeses with tall texas toast… I have been inspired further to spew a bunch of junk that nobody will read. Grilled Cheese Challenge = inspiration for non-creative blog material.

After shredding the wall I went to the silk market and bought everything that I even slightly wanted. The bargaining process was ridiculous (parying 5-10% of what they originally asked for), and I spent 30 US dollars on some sick goods. From here, the adventure begins when I tried to get back to the hotel with my friend Robin.

We cant hail a cab, so we hop on a few subways, and then wind up at Tianamen. From here we decide taking a Rickshaw will be a good idea. BAD FREAKING IDEA. They proceed to take us (2 drivers, one of us in each of their seats) to the Hutton district. Which is pretty much the most impoverished area of Beijing. While through vacant back alleys with dilapidated houses and stray dogs… they come to an abrupt stop. They tell us they are done for the night and that we can walk to our hotel, I disagree… they try to charge us 600 yuan (100 or so dollars, they originally told us the fare was 6yuan), so I tell them to screw off and hand him ten. He doesn’t take it so I zip up my money pouch. He grabs my arm, I shake him… he grabs my arm again, and my money belt… so I start cursing loudly, and shouting “no”, and then look at Robin and yell, “lets go”, and we bolt the joint, running down alleys and away from where they were at. We got away without paying and caught the nearest local street and a cab.

Day 4:

Today we went to the forbidden city, walked around Tianamen square, went to a sweet Lama temple in Beijing, and capped off the night with an acrobatic show that rivals cirque de sole. I could ramble about the day, or tell you some thoughts I had today.

I spent a lot of time pondering the worship of false idols and the differentiation between prayer and the offering of a sacrifice. For instance, people at temples kneel before large and small images of the Buddha and pray. I am okay with this. People also place incense and fruit and water at the feet of such images… I don’t buy into this. I think that if my intentions are correct that I can kneel and pray to my God, even though I don’t think my God is the same God being worshiped by others present. I however cannot read exodus and think that I can offer goods at the alter with correct intentions on worshiping my God. So, I love praying at temples, but do so sternly with the intention of glorifying God ( I think I do at least, I guess God really knows my heart though) (capital G) and not doing the actions and bows and all the mumbo jumbo to the god (little g) of the people worshiping along side.

Day 5:

We woke up and went to the Temple of Heaven, which was in the “central park” of Beijing. It was Sunday morning so there were large groups of people dancing, hacky sacking, singing (amature singing hour, there were like 300 people all chillin around and singing, once I got a hold of the tune I tried to sing along, however my deficiency at Mandarin allowed me to just make an ass of myself) and playing. The temple itself was nice because it was a slice of simplicity and peace in the middle of a huge freaking city. After this we caught our flight down to Hong Kong. The airplane had a video camera on the outside, so we could watch the ground from the nose of the plane, also there was free beer on the flight (wtf right?)… as a whole the willingness to let people get hammered at any hour of the day is ridiculous.

Hong Kong according to Wikipedia has the nicest skyline in the world. I definitely believe it. After hitting Pizza hut and watching the nightly light and lazer show (that is themed and synchronized to really bad classical music) I went downtown with some friends. This was one of the most hopping club districts I have ever even heard of. Andre 3000 was there, and so were about 400 kids from our ship, matched with 1000 locals or so. Really, the bars were hopping, but the party in the street was the scene. Until about 4:30 in the morning I danced in the street, in the pouring rain, with hundreds of strangers and good friends. Good fun eh?

Day 6:

I woke up early and made all the phone calls I had to make. I absolutely loved talking to Dava (I never ever don’t enjoy talking to her, and we talked for a massive amount of time), and Nikolas, and my family. After a Kolache from 7-11 and a ferry ride I got out to Lantau island, where we (me & Anthony) saw the largest bronze Buddha in the world (in fact the Taxi station said “taxi to giant Buddha”, and a monastery, and this thing called the “wisdom path” that was 38 massive trees cut vertically in half with Chinese symbols on them, in a nice garden. I headed back to the town, where I hit golf balls from a triple decker driving range, sat on the market street in a really shady restraint and people watched for a long amount of time. I got back on the EXPLODER and sailed out of HK in style. The cities lights never ended, and the massive amounts of public buildings (some where 100,000 people live in a few blocks) were absolutely amazing. I think in the future I would love to do some sort of work studying and researching huge housing developments, because of the concentrations of people I have witnessed so far. Also, HK gets a rap for being a huge skyscraper town, but really it’s a beautiful place with hundreds of islands, all very lush, with exception of the downtown, which still has a massive mountain range less than a few miles from the bay.

China was far more memorable than Japan because of the awe inspiring nature of the sights, the realness of the cities, and the disparity it had from any place I have ever been before. I fully plan on working in HK at some point in my life. But, that’s another story. Vietnam and Cambodia in the next few days. BRING ON THE THIRD WORLD.

One love,

Tal

Ive already shredded China... but here are some pictures from Japan

This is a prayer wall in Tokyo at the Meiji shrine: The one in the center is my petition... it says, "that the change is for the good", im changing as a person --> i pray that is progressive

Sumo wrestling tournament: Tokyo (after this i got into the ring and pwned some nubs)

I am going to post soon with the skinny on China.

tal

My life in Japan...

Bullet train is over, I have played with deer, I have seen and hiked some wondrous things… I am sitting on the 7^th port mid-ship deck of the MV explorer and thinking about what’s next. That’s all this really is, is what’s going on and what’s next… its hard to comprehend time and “what just happened” because the “what’s next” is raging. Chinas next and here’s what just happened:

The bullet train was nice, but I think I gave the country side too much credit at the time… it was beautiful and proved to me that Japan had mountains, and valleys and agriculture… but the towns had a familiar trend of rice patties-homes-business-mountains… and they would start again with the next flat land. In Kyoto and Nara, I saw some really small farms and patties that were stuffed between even the largest buildings. You see, Japan doesn’t import or export rice, so they grow it all, even in the tightest areas, and this keeps the price real high. Their communal spirit and acknowledgement of their country as their top priority is something we don’t have in the states, and something I learned to appreciate in Japan.

Day 3 Continued: after we got off the bullet train we wandered the streets of Kobe with the hopes of finding a hotel for the night. Kobe is a really narrow city, and a modern one too, in the past 60 years it has had 2 devastating earth quakes, and thus has been recently rebuilt. Its tucked in between a mountain range and the ocean. After 3 subways, and an hour on foot… we hopped in a taxi and it found a place for us. I headed out with my friend Pete to do some exploring, and without a map we managed to find a temple several blocks away… apparently it was locking up for the night and we were nearly locked inside the grounds for the night… a monk let us out. We then headed down an ally and dropped into a “pachinko” which is a slot machine parlor. WE played for a few, and then cashed out… (the lady gave us a tablet, we walked across the street, put it inside a hole in the wall… and a hand popped out with our money). We walked around some more, got cleaned up, and hit the town with some friends. After dinner, we walked around and my friend Cara ran into these Japanese school girls (15-16) and asked them about Karaoke. They led us to the 20^th floor of a building where we Karaoked the night away together (it was strangely awkward though). However, since Karaoke was invented in Kobe, it was epic. We got some rest, and boarded the MV explorer early in the morning.

Day 4: After nearly missing my trip, I boarded the motor coach and we headed to Nara. This day we visited the oldest wooden temple, and largest wooden building in Japan (largest in the world actually). After this we went to a few more shrines and temples and yada yada yada… this story will be told better through pictures. In Nara though, they have this deer park that has 1000 tame deer. So, we sat with them, fed them… bowed to them (to which they would bow back) and had a lovely time in the park. The process of feeding them is hilarious… 1) if you have paper in your pocket they will eat it, 2) if you hold a cookie in the air they will bow down to you, 3) if you taunt them long enough they WILL bite you… which they did. It was really cool, and weird to think that if I wanted to bag an 8 point, I would just have to snap his neck… and had the means to do so easily. This night, in Kyoto… we stayed in a Ryokan. Which is a Japanese style hotel. After checking in, we took off our shoes, and put on our Kimonos and had green tea in our rooms before having a Kobe steak dinner that we cooked our selves while sitting on the floor. It was wicked. Kobe steak is actually not from Kobe, but rather shipped from there… so the official name for it is actually “Japanese beef” (Tal’s interesting fact for the day). That night I went down to the Geisha district with some friends. I went up to random dudes and asked if they knew where we could find a Geisha, they all adamantly shook their heads no and ran away… I would later find out that we were looking for Gei Ko’s and not geishas… geishas are whores (that would be like a guy asking for a slut in new york) which in retrospect provides for a sufficiently awkward memory. We retired to our ryokan and slept on a mat on the floor.

Day 5: I woke at 5:30 while the sun was rising to walk around the grounds of a local monastery. After hiking through the peace garden in the woods, I went into a closed door and down a hall where a guy was chanting and beating a very large drum. I was definitely not allowed here, and a monk let me know this very soon… I hope that I can pray with a monk sometime soon. As a whole, the non-religiosity of the Japanese people is staggering. The sacred temples to them are tourist sites… I only saw praying at 2 of the ten or so temples I visited, the rest had donation and fortune shops… that’s like going and seeing nobody praying at Notre Dame, which is ludicrous to think. Anywho, I prayed at both, and rang the gongs, and it was sweet. Today we went to the golden pavilion and the Shoguns castle, and some other places… but two places stood out like no other places I have ever been in the world. One was called the “Pure water temple”… and its uber old and built on stilts on top of a cliff. It was breathtaking, because it overlooked a beautiful mountain range, and the industrial city of Nara. There were three streams here (one for wealth, health and happiness) that people drank from… ohhh, the temple is all wood and the stilts were built without a single nail or latching. At this place I saw a dragon ceremony where a bunch of monks processed around doing crazy things. The second place was a long hall with 1000, 12ft tall bronze Buddha statues. Each one had 40 arms (each finger had 5 special blessings, 25 per hand, 50 per set… times 20 for 1000… thus the 1000 statues), and was equally beautiful and unique. The hall was about 300 meters long, and stinking breathtaking. I illegally snapped a photo for you. These two places completely made me understand why I want to study this, and burnt up any doubt I may have had. We made our way back to Kobe, and boarded the Explorer. Last night I had a 3 hour convo with my room mate and 2 dudes from Walla Walla, Washington. The subject was the desireability of eternal life. And whether not living forever is something that would be really boring and even miserable… and something that is beautiful and sacred (like the Christian tradition)… I am going to have to learn a lot more about this. But, nonetheless, I live for this type of stuff, and I think the intellectual stimulation my peers are about to offer is about to go through the roof.

Kyoto and even Japan as a whole exemplified tradition and respect; at first I would snap a photo of a house that looked cool… but soon realized that temples and historical markers are commonplace when your tradition goes back so long, and your country is rich with several religious traditions and influences. The reverence the people have for each other and for visitors is unparalleled. The bow is a habit is a habit that I hope to not soon break, because unlike us, who yell at each other and live for the approval and dominance of others. They live to respect and lift each other up. That was Japan for me.

China is next, and Japan just got shredded by Thomas Ashton Leon DeBauche.

As I am writing this… I am cruising at about 150mph or so on a bullet train bound for Kobe, Japan. With my super noise canceling earphones I bought in the Electronic district in Tokyo, this ride is a personal oasis of relaxation in the midst of a hectic pursuit of fun in Japan. I spent the last few days in Tokyo. Heres a recap…

Day 1: We arrived at port and got off the ship in Yokohama in the early afternoon. I went with a group of twenty or so. We got on a bus and did an orientation of Yokohama. WE went to a bayside park that overlooked the industrial and sea side of the town. There are 3.5 million people in Yokohama, and in a single view I could see where probably a million of thos people worked. The density of industry was unlike I had ever seen before. We then went to a sweet park/Japanese garden. The most amazing part of this park was that it was in the middle of the industrial district. I have a few pictures that show a nice temple with a stinking crane and tower about a quarter mile in the background. Its nice that the scenery and peace of nature can be in such a crazy place. After this we went ot the tallest building in Japan, chilled at the top for a while and had a beer watching the sun set on top of the smog… my friend Ben called it an “epic moment”. After this we proceeded to travel the 18 miles to the largest city in the world. Tokyo. After getting settled at our hotel we hit the town hard to “shred” the place (this would become our theme). We went to Shiboyu (The times square area of Tokyo) which made New York look like Beaumont. After eating at McDonalds (why not?), we went into this hole in the ground… where we took our shoes off, sat on the floor and pointed at an item on the menu that had “chicken breast” beside it (the only English on the menu). It came out raw, with a raw egg on top… it was sasimi. SO we ate it, and then it the town. We were supposed to meet up at 11 with some folks from the ship, but while they were tardy, we met Lola. Lola is the leader of a hip gang that patrols Shiboyu… they were French, British, a few were Japanese… and a guy named “Five” was from Jersey. Our group went to Karaoke, I went (with 3 others) with Lola. The 20 of us (or so) shared communal alcohol (a few bottles that were just passed) and made a huge scene wherever we went. We traipsed into McDonalds and shared the alcohol with strangers… we danced in the strret. Basically, were ridiculous. This all led up to a Techno club where the beat was thumping, and we had to know somebody to get in… our somebody was Lola. After a few hours, we called it a night, and caught a cab back at 3:30 or so. What a night…

Day 2:

I woke up early at 8 or so… made a few phone calls, ate some breakfast (white rice and picked vegetables), and got on a bus for a full day of Tokyo culture. We went to some shrines and temples and parks and blah blah blah… im not going to harp on that. The coolest moment of my day was at the Mejji shrine. There was this wall of petitions in all languages, written and hung on wooden tablets. It was interesting to see the deep ( one lady wrote to her future husband) and the trivial (one person asked to be skinnier)… and the honest (I wrote one for Dava). We also went to a shogun temple where I went against the rules to the inner room and prayed beside a monk. The peace of the place, within a touristy environment was something I had never experienced before. At night we went to Roppongi, which is the red light district of the town. There was not really a dirty atmosphere, but rather an underground understanding that some messed up stuff is going down behind the walls in the streets. Jamaican, Sierra Leonian, and Ghannan men came up to us and tried to coerce us into their strip clubs… one guy just gave us a smirk and said the wordd “naked titties”… it was interesting. After dinner (vegetable pancake and beef noodle) we went to “Gaspanic” which is a club. They have one rule at gaspanic… that is… if you don’t have a drink in your hand you are kicked out. It was a good time. The place was packed with SAS kids and the DJ was kickin. At midnight, a girl we were with wanted to go home… so I escorted her out and into the street… where we saw more SAS folks and went into another club. After 30 more minutes of clubbing at the other “Gaspanic” about 100 yards away… we caught a cab back to the hotel.

Day 3:

I woke up and did the ritual. And then got with my buddies Ben and Peter, and went to Ryoguko. Where there was a stinking Sumo tournament. There were a lot of options for tickets. From 520$ to 21$ (which is no reserved, no priority… nose bleed type seats), we did the latter and watched Sumo wrestling for a while. There was a guy with a loud and deep voice singing between the fighters… while they did their rituals. His voice was something I wont forget for a while. The wrestlers were sweet too… one flipped another out of the ring and he landed on the grand master. I got some sweet pics if you want to see them. After this, we went back to the electronic district, had some KFC… and went to a 7 story electronics store (where each floor is specified… one for TV’s, for phones… for computers and et cetera). I bought a 2 gig flash drive for 34 bucks… in the future this will be considered expensive… but now, it’s a good deal. We got back on the subway and packed our bags and headed for the Shinkansen station (bullet train). Where we are now… When we get into Kobe, we are going to shred that city. We have no plans, other than to meet some friends at a hostel at 8pm.. where we are going to go out for a Kobe steak and a night of Karaokiing ( it was invented in Kobe). I will report later on the specifics.

The train ride is beautiful. The mountains and fields and architecture is wonderful. There are rice fields and homes built on the sides of lush mountains… Japan, away from the city is a lot like Hawaii, but simpler. Ill write more later, for we have only been on for 30 minutes or so… (the ocean is now to our left, and a mountain range to our right). 2 more hours till Kobe.

I love life.

Tal

My last few weeks...

Well my life since the last post has been pretty great… I’ll give you the run
down

- The rest of camp was filled with the same ridiculous stuff… oldest guys, lots
of dancing, raiding and so forth…
- The ten or so days I had between camp and my current adventure were great too…
I spent the majority of it in Austin: eating at whole foods and cliff jumping
and what not out at the greenbelt.
- The few days I had in San Diego were highlighted by a verbal argument between
two bums that went like this…
Bum 1: You’re stupid
Bum 2: No, you’re stupid
Bum 1: I’m not the one that has a full time job
Bum 2: I don’t have a full time job, and you are stupid
Bum 1: I never see you on the weekdays, and when you come to take cans on
the weekend, you are taking money away from MY full time job
Bum 2: You’re stupid
Bum 1: Rot in hell
It was the coolest verbal altercation I have ever witnessed.

So, on Monday morning I boarded the 2 hour “shuttle” from San Diego to Ensanada
(see above) , Mexico to board the MV explorer. This is going to be the most
absurd 100 days of my life, and I think that everyone aboard agrees with that.
We simply look at each other, make eye contact, and nod to the satisfaction
that we will make a circumference of the world in the next 3 months. (the boat
below)

About 30 minutes ago we had a chance to meet our professors on the second day of
the voyage… there is only one class I really want to take here, and that is
science and religion. So I find the old Russian lady who teaches the class and
talk to her, alone, for about 10 minutes about the unity of God and views that
goes into such a study, and the fabric of both of our beliefs… and deep stuff.
And this guy freaking comes up and class blocks me, and starts talking about
his major and what not, that act will ruin my chance at taking that class… I’m
not very happy about it. Which brings me to the subject of depth in a
discussion, It is my belief that if you cannot handle the topic being discussed
between two or more people, that you should mind your own freaking business and
never participate… think about it.

We are on the fastest Cruise boat in the world, and one of the most unsteady…
people are throwing up everywhere… the faint smell of vomit in the halls is one
that I hope evaporates expediently.

The best story yet was my trip to Hawaii, the rest below is correspondence I
have sent to Dava… ENJOY

So, my blog no longer works for some reason, so I will just post notes sometimes
after a notable story happens to me. We were in Oahu, Hawaii yesterday, and my
day was quite notable. I left the ship with my friends, Mia, Christen, Pete,
Danny, Ben, and Blue… to do an illegal hike called the stairway to heaven. This
was ended when a huge Samoan lady called the cops on us. So as we were
retreating to attempt the ascend from another area, this guy in a Jeep pulls up
and tells us he is about to go for a hike about 20 minutes away, and asks us if
we want to join him. So the 7 of us pile in his jeep, and head to the other
hike. It was called Olomana, and it took about 3 hours to do. After the hike,
this guy (who is 50, grayed and bearded), takes us to a few local beaches where
there are tons of islanders partying it up without tourists (well, except for
us)… and we all went out to dinner after a few hours of beach hopping. All in
all, we spend like 8 hours with this dude, and had a stinking blast… and for 8
hours of fun; our bill was a whopping 7 dollars. It was one of the better days
I have ever had.


The vomit has dissipated and now it is day 12… my blog was down, and in the
process I wrote a bunch of letters to Dava, so here are some highlights from
the letters.

I am having a great time… there are really two crowds aboard… there is the party
and hook up with girls crowd, and the indie, weird, hippie, intellectual crowd…
you will know which one I am pursuing. Basically, we play a lot of card games
and talk about all the intro stuff. My room mate is from Walla Walla,
Washington, and he is cool as heck… he is really good at golf, looks exactly
like James Milam, and an open minded guy who likes to talk about religion and
politics (dream match).

So I woke up this morning and slept through breakfast… and the first class of
the day is the one that everyone on the boat has to take… its called Global
Studies. The way it works is, about 400 students sit in the main lecturing room
and the rest are dispersed in the various classrooms throughout the boat
watching the TV which broadcasts the live lecture. However the camera men like
to be all creative with it so they shoe abstract views of the crowd nodding the
heads and the waves outside and what not… and today, he zoomed in on my face for
about 30 seconds… IN A HEART… it was picture in a picture, and my head was in a
freaking HEART. It was hilarious, and I was incredibly awkward for the entirety
of the moment. My second class was with this stuttering and attention deficit
professor named Tim who apparently doesn’t like to lecture… his first words
were “I don’t like to lecture” and he proceeded to tell us how he would cancel
class often and we would have pizza parties in the top deck.

… and I am not going skydiving, rather I am going on this hike called “Stairway
to heaven” and its like 4-5 hours long and apparently like the coolest view in
the world, plus I didn’t want to spend the money. Its less than a week until we
get to Japan, I am super stoked… and today we signed up for like small day trips
and in India I am going to go to a children’s disabled home and a YMCA to hang
with kids, so I’m already excited about that. The professor I had lunch with
yesterday is awesome, he very well could be the me in 50 years carbon copy. He
works for the Canadian version of US AID (which I might work for in DC), and
has spent his whole life country hopping (including this one time he was almost
executed in Guatamala or some country for being a free thinker). I am going to
form a solid friendship with this professor, and I think that will be cool.

Last night, I participated in Shabbat with this Jewish philosophy professor, his
family, and about a dozen other Jewish students… the whole ceremony with the
Hebrew songs and traditions (I wore a yammakuh) was stinking awesome. Tonight
at sunset Shabbat is finished so they (we) are doing another traditional thing
involving cinnamon and candles (I cant wait). I have put down Crime and
Punishment for a while and picked up Velvet Elvis, I think I need a good kick
of Christian literature for a while.

Oh, I also had lunch with the fellas from Monterrey, we talked about American
generalizations about Mexican culture, and Mexican views of American culture
for like an hour and a half… it was great. My world view is expanding, and we
haven’t even hit land yet. Life on the boat is getting relatively repetitious,
but that repetition is good food, sunbathing (and swimming), and tons of free
thinking… so I am not going to complain anytime soon.

Before this though, I should tell you that the seas are way rough today. A huge
wave woke the entire ship last night… in our room, everything that was on a
table, or the bedside table, was knocked off or flipped over… it was tight. All
of the shelves flung open, the boat must have tipped big time. I have to work
out at 10:30 today, someone keeps stealing my time, I am going to go dropkick
the sucker later today. Yesterday, during the outside part of my workout, it
rained, and it felt so nice. I love me a good ocean shower every now and again.
Lastly, I am getting really excited about Japan, I have to take a train by
myself from Tokyo to Nara, and will do so on the bullet train that goes like
240MPH, I am stoked. Anyway, life is still repetitive, but I think my progress
as a man is continuing daily. Last night I talked with my friend marcelo for an
hour or so, and we talked about our girlfriends. I told him about how you said I
can do anything, as long as you are by my side, and he told me that I should
keep you. So I think I will. (that was to Dava, but its good for everyone to
see)

I am learning a ton about development this semester, I have 2 classes on the
subject. And I attended the first part of a lecture series from the dean last
night, that was about metallurgy and development of material science, so that
should be added to the repertoire of cool things I can ramble about…

In the night, we went from 8 hours behind you… to 16 hours ahead. So, now,
instead of you being ahead of me… I am livine almost a full day ahead of you..
and the coolest part about it, was that I did not exist on September 7, 2007
(niks 21st birthday). Any who, I am in global studies right now (its over now,
and so is my second class for the day)… in GS we talked about Atomic bombs, and
English in japan… and in my second class (media and consumer culture) people
made generalizations for the period and nothing concrete or coherent was
discussed at all. Anyway, im a bit frustrated… I am in social science upper
division hours with people who have never taken any social sciences at all, so…
it’s a class of newbs talking about complicated stuff like they are experts.

The food is getting to me. I have not had meat since Hawaii, and have had one
meat meal since I left San Diego, this is not because I am vegetarian now… but
because the meat options are gross, and normally fish. I don’t shower much.
Hmmm, the best story from yesterday… wait I didn’t exist yesterday. The best
story from 2 days ago was the realization that there will be the grand
championship of Sumo wrestling in Tokyo when I am there, I am totally going to
hit that up. Im pretty pumped. Karaoke too, that was invented in Kobe, Kobe
beef too… man, land is going to rock.

Its so weird being way ahead of you… and its weird waking up and having no news.
I am ahead of every person in the world.

The Job application process is in full swing, I really want to apply for the
office of the president, but, the TFN internship on my resume will destroy that
so I am not going to waste the effort. However, compiling letters of recs and
that type of stuff with the worst internet connection on the planet is
frustrating. Life is good though. I love life. Today is Sunday and the Men’s
Bible study is meeting tonight, im uber pumped about that. Like I said, life is
good.

TO SUM THINGS UP

I read a lot, ( I have finished “the average american male”, “velvet elvis” and
almost all of “crime and punishment” and working on “sex, drugs and cocoa
puffs”), I workout every day (30-60 aerobic and weights), and I engage in free
discussion while wasting very little time. My life as a man is progressing, and
my plans for Ports are coming into great fruition. I plan on going to a La Liga
game in Sevilla, cliff diving in croatia… and jumping into the ring with the
grand champion in Japan (sumo).

Thanks for sticking with it… you can see the lone picture I have been able to
post on facebook. Other than that, Japan has great internet service so I will
post new stuff there.

Tal

well, i havent been able to access my blog until now... 11 days into the ordeal. Now that i know how to get in, i will post regurlarly... i have kept a journal on my computer, and will put together a post, and post it tomorrow. I am 16 hours ahead of yall, and my life is good. Until tomorrow.