Aloha,
After a week of complete isolation we finally hit land. After some rough seas it was nice to finally reunite with land (though I must admit, I have fallen in love with ship life. On an average day I wake up pretty early (8ish) go to breakfast, have some class, work out (no, seriously), lunch, do some work/ sit out by the pool (which is slightly smaller than our hot tub…and used less frequently), and after dinner I generally win some board game (Scattegory, Tabboo, Catch Phrase, Apples to Apples, etc.), and then hang out some more by the pool. Life is a little rough, so I am going to need to ask for some sympathy (ps- It’s 80 degrees out right now).
I think I have told you guys enough about monotonous ship life, so a transition into details about my on sea excursions seems completely warranted at this point. On Monday the ship landed in Hilo. It was crazy finally waking up (all be it at 5am, when Customs woke up) and seeing dry land. Hilo is a rather desolate city on the Big Island. The whole Island houses 140,000 people, and Hilo has 40,000 of them (roughly the size of New City). Luckily upon disembarking from the ship we found a nice, trustworthy, balding, cigarette smoking, 2-tooth sporting, gut showing, native who offered to show us around. The trip was 6 hours so we figured what’s the worst that can happen? Well, we disregarded the answer to that question and went anyways.
In the end, fortunately, the trip turned out to be a great success. It was me and two of my closest friends, Pierce and Tahlor (With whom I’m also traveling China and Japan), along with a group of girls. Our first stop was Lili ‘uokalani Gardens. These were gorgeous Japanese gardens situated on the ocean. Turns out they are actually the largest Japanese gardens outside of Japan. Being that I am supposed to be becoming cultured I will refrain from any jokes at this point/
Next we went to Rainbow falls. While most of my friends were busy being enthralled by the awesome waterfalls and the beautiful scenery I paused and thought to myself, “Well, J-Dog, you’ve seen stuff like this in Ein Gedi…go trailblazing.” Low and behold, I listened to my inner voice and eventually found this amazing tree. It is native to Hawaii, but the name slips me (it grows sideways and the biggest one is a full block long). I climbed the tree, got to about 35 feet up, and my shoe fell off. Needless to say, I kept climbing, until my friends said it was time to go. I contemplated jumping, but in the end thought better of it.
Next we went to a shrine to King Kamehame, it was gorgeous, and fit perfectly into a paper I have to write, but past that you don’t need to know too many details (you can look on my facebook for pictures).
We continued on to Mauna Loa Macadamia Nut factory. It was very similar to every other food factory I have been too, except that there was a sign to watch out for wild pigs. Obviously, upon reading that sign I ran into the field and tried to chase one…unfortunately I couldn’t find any.
Next we went to Kilauea Volcano, steam vents, Jagger Museum, Halema uma ‘u Crater, Thurston Lava Tube, and the Klaukea Iki crater. These are all connected, in the same field. The scenery was remarkable. At first we were mid rain forest, and then instantaneously we found ourselves in desolate areas that had been completely destroyed by Lava flow. While several elements contributed to the areas eclectic landscape, the majority of variables were actually natural. The changing climate, the island isolated nature, and the volcanic origins combusted to form this amazingly diverse area. It really was one of the coolest sights I have ever seen.
We concluded our trip with a stop at a green house, a trip to a famous Hawaiian t-shirt shop, and a trip to Pizza Hut (yum). The day really was great, and our night just made it better. We took over same local club (bear in mind it was a Monday night), and they ran out of cups, only had 1 bartender, barely had music, but the company made the night fun. And oh yea, it was a gay bar.
On Tuesday I returned to the Volcanic fields. I was supposed to be on a hiking trip, but they claimed the Volcano was emitting too much Volcanic juices so we just did the same thing I had done the night before. Obviously, I broke off and with a friend Zach (another Kosher kid) found our own hikes. We went into a pitch black tunnel without a flashlight, climbed into a ditch, and ran into a steam vent. No, not necessarily safe but we survived and had fun.
On Wednesday, after a night long trip to Honolulu, we went to Pearl Harbor. After taking a half hour to find the bus we finally did. After the hour bus ride, we arrived, only to be told that the next tour left in 2 ½ hours. We walked around the outside areas, and went to flee market (where I got an awesome hangloose hat, and tried pineapple dipped in died plum—the greatest fruit ever invented), but still had another hour. We decided to ditch it and go to the beach. We laid out for a couple of hours, went swimming, and did some boogie boarding. On the whole it was a really great day.
Now, I am just sitting in a nice park writing to you all, but I have spent long enough and now I must go tan.
Wow, I wrote a lot—if you are still reading this you are probably named Mom or Dad. Love you. Our Hawaiian word to learn is Kolohe, it means naughty. Our inspirational lesson is “The point of Semester at Sea Is to turn the glow into grow. Turn the spark of excitement into the flame of knowledge.” That comes from Professor Don Goniac, my Global Studies teacher.
Until next time, shocka (hangloose)!
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Monday, January 18, 2010
Barf Bags and Hall of Fames
Whattup?,
And thus, with a quick trip down to Ensanada, I have embarked on my journey into the abyss. I think that I can now successfully declare that I am the only person to have ever fallen ill before I stepped foot on the ship, and yet been totally fine once we set sail. Indeed, I did take full advantage of the barf bag on my flight from Phoenix to San Diego, but, have no fear, I feel much better. In fact, I feel so much better that I embraced the waves as they rocked me to sleep. Apparently Mom spoiled us because that was the best sleep I’ve had since I was Skyler’s age.
Before I fell asleep I did spend valuable hours practicing my Jewish faith. I found a free way to follow the Jets game. Refusing to waste any of my valuable internet minutes (I have 125 free minutes for the whole trip) I managed to follow the Jets game on CNN.COM with a group of fellow Jets fans. Today the Dean said we may have the capability to watch Sunday’s game (and we most definitely will get the Super Bowl).
My roommates name is Cameron. He is a nice fellow from West Bloomfield, Mich. He goes to Morehouse College; a private, all-male, historically black college located in Atlanta, Georgia. Luckily this is not UVA so I don’t need to site my sources (here it is 1 strike and your expelled) (On second thought, Wikipedia, just to cover my butt). Nice guy, no complaint.
Last night and this morning we had a bunch of orientation meetings. Unfortunately, I was too caught up not paying attention to actually pay attention. Just Kidding. Well, for the most part (the one about not jumping off the ship seemed a little unnecessary).
After the Orientation I went to the Lib. With a couple of Guy’s and we began planning our Japan trip. Looks like we will do Yokahama to Tokyo to Mt. Fuji back to Tokyo and then the bullet down to Kobe. Nothing is set in stone though, and there are deff. More updates to come.
Next we had this like involvement symposium (the UVA folk like sounding smart because Thomas Jefferson found their school—I would have preferred to just call it a club sign up). I signed up for intramural volleyball and basketball, as well as Yoga and Dance (IDK why; seemed like a good investment…). They also have a Jew club on the ship, ironically headed by a catholic and protestant minister, so I signed up for that.
Finally, as I write to you all, my team just came in second place in the ship wide trivia challenge (6 people per team). We would have won, but my teammates didn’t believe me that the Tennis Hall of Fame was in Rhode Island. Thanks Dad for helping me and Rach with that puzzle (it’s in my closet if you don’t know what I’m talking about).
This is probably much more than any of you cared to hear, but soon enough you will miss me, so I reserve the right to write however much I want. I’m sad that I’ll be missing tomorrow’s lechaim, but Rachel is my least fav. Sister, so that’s at least some consolation.
I hope you all enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it.
Go Jets. Go Suns. Go Badgers. Go Me.
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Before I go...
And thus it begins:
Jordan is going to sea sea sea,
to see what he can see see see
and all that I can see see see,
will be written down in this wonderful blog!
I've never blogged before, but I anticipate that given my great wit, graceful writing style, unrelated yet undeniable good looks, and my passion for being passionate this blog will be the best read since Matt Christopher.
Since I haven't left yet, and truthfully I am more focused on the Ravens beating the Pats right now, this entry will be brief. I leave Wednesday evening to go to Arizona for a few days with my Grandma and Cousins (and I get to meet my new baby cousin Skylar). Then, on Sunday, I will join the Jets in San Diego, but while they are busy beating the Chargers, I will be taking a boat to Ensenada, Mexico as I depart for Hawaii.
Bellow I have attached a little table from the Semester at Sea website with the number and addresses of the places I will be visiting, along with a suggested date that you should send mail by (if for some reason you do not believe that email is good enough).
That is all. Go Jets. Go Suns. Go Badgers. Go Me.
Much love,
Jordan D. Soffer
| PORT | ADDRESS OF PORT AGENT | SUGGESTED AIRMAIL DATE |
|---|---|---|
Hilo, HAWAII | Inchcape Shipping Services | January 11 |
| Honolulu, HAWAII Phone: 1 808 599 8604 Fax: 1 808 599 1950 | Inchcape Shipping Services 521 Ala Moana Blvd. Suite 256 Honolulu, HI 96813 | January 13 |
| Yokohama, JAPAN Phone: 81 45.201 6991 Fax: 81 45.212 1614 | INCHCAPE SHIPPING SERVICES F Asahi Seimei Yokohama Honcho Bldg 36, 4-Chome Honcho, Naka-ku Yokohama-shi, Kanagawa-ken 231-0005, JAPAN | January 26 |
| Kobe, JAPAN Phone: 81 78 391 3046 Fax: 81 78 391 3105 | Inchcape Shipping Services (Japan) Ltd. Kenryu Bld, Room 502 6, Kaigan-dori, Chuo-ku Kobe-shi, Hygo-ken 650-0024, JAPAN | January 29 |
| Shanghai, CHINA Phone: 86 21 6323 1350 Fax: 86 21 6329 1519 | Penavico Shanghai 3/F 13 Zhong Shan Road (E 1) Shanghai 200002, P.R. CHINA | February 2 |
| HONG KONG, CHINA Phone: 852 2786 1155 Fax: 852 2744 3240 | Inchcape Shipping Services (HK) Ltd. Units 1802-1805, 18th Floor N° 3 Lockhart Road Wanchai, HONG KONG - CHINA | February 5 |
| Ho Chi Minh City, VIET NAM Phone: 84 8 626 19602 Fax: 84 8 626 19603 | CONTINENTAL CO LTD | February 12 |
Chennai, INDIA | J. M. Baxi & Co. 3rd Floor, Clive Battery Complex 4 & 4A, Rajaji Salai Chennai 600 001, INDIA | February 25 |
Cochin, INDIA | J.M. BAXI & CO N°26/1566 Subramaniam Road Willingdon Island KOCHI 682003, INDIA | March 1 |
| Port Louis, MAURITIUS Phone: 230 202 70 40 Fax: 230 208 5814 | Ireland Blyth Limited Shipping Operations Department No 6 Dr Ferriere Street Port Louis, MAURITIUS | March 9 |
| Cape Town, SOUTH AFRICA Phone: 27 21 419 8660 Fax: 27 21 413 0290 | JOHN T. RENNIE & SONS 19th FLOOR No.1 Thibault Square 8001 Cape Town, SOUTH AFRICA | March 18 |
| Tema (Accra), GHANA Phone: 233 22 300 894 / 5 Fax: 233 22 202 989 | HULL BLYTH Seatec House / PO Box CO 214 Akosombo Road Tema, GHANA | March 29 |
| Salvador, BRAZIL Phone: 55 71 3241 4990 Fax: 55 71 3243 5633 | OCEANUS AGENCIA MARITIMA Av. Estados Unidos, 555 7th Floor / room 712 40015-010 Salvador, BRAZIL | April 2 |
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