Jerusalem City

Moving onto Jerusalem city…on the way we stopped to have lunch right below the Mount of Olives. This was nice because we had more peace & quiet to take in the experience…afterwards we went to the top, where there is a full panoramic view of Jerusalem and the huge walls built by king david…now that was cool… an entire city enclosed with walls. Here are a few pictures below:

After lunch, just below the Mount of Olives 

(On top of the Mount of Olives with Jerusalem city in the background) 

In this picture you can see what is a huge grave yard on a hill…  back in the old days, you were not allowed to bury people in the city, so all of the bodies were buried on the sides of these mountains just outside…it’s starting to look a tad overcrowded, so I’m not sure what their back up plan is.

Inside Jerusalem city…I found it interesting, because within the city they have 3 quarters (Jewish, Muslim & Christian)…all of these people living side by side as ‘brothers’ as our tour guide described them. In the western world they depict Israel as being the land of Christian, the land of Jesus… when in actuality, the population is split into these 3 religions pretty equally. A short walk away from the western wall was the Muslim quarters, who reside right next to the site of Jesus’ crucifixion & resurrection.  

Kari & Ludovic after lunch 

(No more pictures because this internet is taking way to long to download & I have to go back to work!) 

WILL POST THE REST LATER ALONG WITH DETAILS FROM THE REMAINDER OF THE TRIP. 

The next 9 days we will be at sea on our way to Seychelles… it has been extremely rough today, a lot of people are getting seasick…I just kinda feel drunk and sleeply lol . it should settle down tomorrow because we are crossing the Suez Canal in the morning, then the red sea and gulf of Aden. During this time we’ll have pirate watch 24/7.

Next post should be in about 2 weeks or so since I probably won’t have many stories from these days at sea…but hey who knows ;) 

Bethlehem

Any of you who grew up going to Sunday school…or reading bible stories in Religion class remember the little colorful kids Bibles they used to have to illustrate the stories of Jesus to you. Well… I got to go to two of those places! I think that’s pretty cool…if I do say so myself. Needless to say, they don’t quite look like those colourful illustrations…

All of the crew on the ship had the chance to sign up for a one day tour to Bethlehem & Jerusalem city which was offered on three different days. I’m not sure how it works on other ships, but I thought this was a pretty amazing opportunity. From Haifa (where the ship was docked), it was about a 2 hour drive into Jerusalem and then Bethlehem. We had a personal tour guide who pretty much knew everything about every single rode, field & building we passed along our entire drive! I fell asleep a few times…and every time I opened my eyes, he was still talking. Our original tour guide was Israeli…and apparently they are not allowed to enter Bethlehem because it is located in Palestine, so he had to leave the bus as soon as we got to the gate…and we got a new tour guide.

Our first stop was the nativity church where Jesus was born. Of course everything has been rebuilt to depict, or rather honor to life of Jesus and his followers…with small bits and pieces incorporated into the new building that now stands today. Visiting Bethlehem was almost a little sad for me… because it has been taken over so much by the tourism industry, I just felt like I was exploiting a sacred place that wasn’t meant for thousands of people to stand around and flash their cameras…but hey, that’s just my opinion. Not to mention that the locals try to shove crosses and other figurines made of olive wood down your throat. I just wanted to observe…experience, and imagine what the city must have been like back in the days Jesus was alive…instead I was being pushed and shoved by a bunch of smelly people.

It was still a great experience though, again, pictures do no justice…but here are a few.

View of the nativity church that now stands

Beautiful olive wood cross in the gift shop 

inside the church...in the background is where Jesus was born (underneath the church) The church was actually built on top of the original site because the original church was destroyed..didn't get to go underneath because the wait was 3 hours to get inside! 

Julianne is getting married…

One of my best friends Julianne is getting married this Saturday, and all week I’ve not been able to stop thinking of her and this amazing journey she about to start! I promised a video…which I am still going to try to deliver, but with the weather out here and being at sea, I’m not sure I will be able to upload it. So here goes, a little tribute for you & by proxy-Ty too J

It’s funny how you come to college and think “okay, 4 years later, I’ll just turn around and go back where I came from”…

 I remember when Julianne and I used to talk about our high school boyfriends together… now we’re getting our masters together & probably our PHD together! Imagine that. We’ve come a long way J So this week…when I know you’ll be stressed and feeling a little crazy, remember how much you’ve grown since first arriving in Auburn, and what a great man you will have at your side for the rest of your life. You’ve accomplished so much already as an individual, and now you get to share that everyday with TY! Remember to BE YOU, cuz that’s the Julianne we all love & really enjoy every moment that comes along this week (good or bad), because this is your once in a lifetime…and remember, drink an extra glass of wine for me! Don’t worry-we’ll have your two month anniversary celebration when I am back in January! Haha

I love you sooo much and wish I could be there with you! 

Nov 9th & 10th –AT SEA

Today was the first day at sea… no land, anywhere, just work and my cubby hole to catch up on some sleep & school work. School has been a struggle, for some reason I thought I’d be doing all this great work on my thesis and swim to empower, and every other goal I have up my sleeve…nope, not really. I’m struggling just to keep up with the class I’m taking! I know I will get the work done… I always do, maybe not in the nice steady timeline I created for myself-but who EVER follows a time line? I mean, I grew up swimming at Bahamas nationals-we don’t even know what time line means. So, I’m not stressing... *one thing at a time*

Tonight we had a big Israeli dinner to prepare for our arrival to Haifa. It was set up on an extremely long family style table.

One more night at sea before arriving in Hafia tomorrow morning…work gets better everyday, I’m getting to know the residents more and feeling more comfortable in my positions, that would be great, except that I’m moving to F&B admin tomorrow! I’m excited though, I’ll be getting to work with a former intern, and Auburn grad (war eagle!), who is now the F&B administrator on the ship. During our stay in Haifa all the crew have a chance to go on a day trip to Jerusalem, I am going on the 11^th and am really excited! More pics later… 

Girls night out Kusadasi, Turkey

Dinner & a night off was much needed and appreciated, they don’t teach hospitality like this in school! We talked, we laughed, drank wine, talked about our ‘intern issues’ and it was really great to talk to people who had gone through this experience before…  working on a ship is like doing Christmas training and NCAA’s all in one week, every week, with no Sundays! It’s like a marathon at full speed lol. It’s kinda cool though…I used to consider going to bed at 10:30 and waking up at 6 a late night and not enough sleep…. When the next day all I had was practice and school. Being here is teaching me that my body & mind can withstand a lot more than I give it credit for…and hey, you can sleep when you die right? I don’t know if I believe that though… cuz everyone who says that is still alive, how would they know? Anyways…the dinner was GREAT! Pics below J

I worked most of the day today in order to get the night off to go to dinner with 2 of the former interns now working on the ship. I got off around 4 and decided to go to the local bazaar here to do some last minute shopping before leaving Turkey. Most of the other crew and interns had already left the ship because they got off a lot earlier than me…so I ventured out alone. This bazaar is like most others…full of little shops, some nicer than others…all the shop owners trying to talk you into walking into theirs. I wander around a bit, stopping here and there, asking for a few prices to get my bearings on what I’m dealing with…

My first purchase is a silk scarf, I was originally wanting to get a coralish one….but of course I ended up with more of a blue/aqua scarf (Dr. D always teases me about my obsession with the Bahamian blue) it’s beautiful…supposedly hand made and stitched so there is only one with this specific design-I took that with a grain of salt, for all I know it was made in china LOL. Anyways…I move on, happy with my scarf which I put on right away J my next job and only job is to find some more comfortable shoes to work in because the ones I had were extremely uncomfortable and hurting my back!

After a few more unplanned purchases (delicious Turkish delights, ceramic plate and the like) I finally buy some shoes…only to find a beautiful leather jacket shop around the corner! I was lured by the cute salesman on the corner of course… walk in (mind you, I’ve never owned a leather jacket before) the very first one I try I fall in love with it only to find out that he wanted to sell is for $1000 LOL… you can imagine, I laughed & walked out the shop, but as always, they come running. So I went back in, because I really loved the jacket… after about an hour of trying on other cheaper jackets, I find none that compare… in the end, I got it for $250 which was still about 150 more than I wanted to spend haha, but I guess I don’t really know how much leather costs..anyways, I’m really happy I bought it, It gave me the boost I needed…we’ll just call it an early birthday gift ;)

PIC OF ME WITH THE LEATHER GUY 

Tuesday Nov. 8th – Some insight

Work was much better today… I still miss you guys, but I’m trying to stay in the moment…whatever that moment is. I really want to come away from this experience understanding the inns and outs of the hospitality industry…knowing what I hate, and what I love-but having an appreciation and experience doing the grueling work that goes on in hospitality operations. And honestly, I think this experience will be good for me, I’m realizing now how spoiled I’ve been, pretty much my entire life. I’ve never had to get a real job, I’ve always been “the swimmer”…all these wonderful swim meets, being pampered like kings and queens at SEC’s & NCAA’s… the Olympics etc etc. I’m not saying that I don’t know how to work hard…but I’ve been afforded a lot, and the things that I work hard at, I love those things…imagine having to work your ass off at something you hate? A lot of the people I work with on the ship are here for 8 months out of the year, away from their wives, young children & other family members. I can only imagine that this is out of need and not pure desire for ship life. Just something I thought I’d share…and to think, I used to get upset over swim practices! 

Nov. 9th Kusadasi Turkey: Trip to Ephesus

OH YEAH…AND I went to Ephesus today, no time to give thoughts right now, but here are a few pictures! If you don’t know what it is, look it up ;)

Kusadasi, Turkey "A new attitude"

Monday Nov. 7^th

I barely hear my alarm through my earplugs at 7 a.m. after having an early night and getting to bed at 12:30 the night before. My room is pitch black because there is no port hole on my floor, and my body feels like it just went to sleep. However…years of waking up for 5 a.m. practices have taught me to JUST GET UP. So, that’s what I do… ( a few snoozes later of course). The night before (when I was wide awake and planning how I was going to get the most out of this internship) I decided that I would wake up before work whenever we were in a port and go ‘exploring’ coupled with some exercise to knock two birds out with one stone. This morning I decide to get a little ‘tri’ action on (run, outdoor gym, ocean swim/picture taking along the way). The views were absolutely stunning… Kusadasi is a fairly small city…with about 70,000 people living in the city center with beautiful beaches and views atop very high hills (which I would call a mountain, but I don’t want to sound ignorant or incorrect… but coming from the Bahamas, it was a mountain). My run turned into more of an interval training session, with the slow walking/rest being strategically placed at lookout points ;)

View from my run... pretty amazing huh? This picture doesn't even capture 5% of how beautiful the views were! 

A little workout station at the top ;) yes, of course I used it!

A little gross & sweaty, but I couldn't resist a self portrait! 

I’ve decided that running is one of the best ways to get a real feel for a place when you only have a few days to explore…you notice things you would never encounter on a taxi ride or sight seeing experience… for some reason, when you exercise publicly, locals feel more of a connection to you or something…or maybe it’s just me. By the time I made it back to the beach, there were more people around…in particular, Claus, a sailor from Frankfurt who took quite an interest in the fact that I was going swimming in such cold water… but hey, it was warmer than Izmir! There were also people with fishing rods all over the rocks…but I couldn’t quite understand, because I saw NO fish during my swim…NONE, so I couldn’t quite figure that one out… the morning was successful, and the hours at work were much more enjoyable today-I felt like my capacity to learn was greater after having such a refreshing morning. So-experiment number one=successful. 

Izmir, Turkey "My People"

Today was a rough day… it’s Sunday, which marks the end of my first week onboard. For the most part it’s been great, a whirlwind, but great nonetheless…meeting new people, trying to settle into a routine, trying to find time to work out & stay sane, missing home, family & friends, learning a new job etc etc etc. Tonight was weird, I finished working around 11 and had plans to try & get online to email a few people and call Erin. We are at sea, so the internet was moving at a snails pace and the phone had no hope… I became so agitated not being able to contact people that I just burst out in tears (literally)! It was quite embarrassing seeing as I was in the crew lounge area…but I couldn’t help it. Eventually I got in contact with Erin, and as he always does…he helped to calm me down by making me laugh so hard that I was half crying/ half  laughing (you know, like a baby does) lol …later that night I realized that while traveling, seeing new places and meeting new people is awesome, it can never replace what I call “my people”. I was trying to figure out how I could be so upset… I have this great opportunity, the people on the ship are extremely welcoming & nice, but as of now…they’re just not “my people”…they’re nice, but they don’t know ME. They don’t know the weird, crazy Alana that sings to herself and starts to laugh hysterically when she’s really tired, or the love I have for children, my peculiar somewhat moody personality, my forgetfulness or my outstanding ability to lose passports ;)

They just don’t know…and at the end of these long days, I just want to tell one of my people about everything that’s happening, all that I’m learning, the mistakes I’m making…I want to be selfish and complain sometimes, laugh, cry, I want to know how my people are doing, are you struggling, are you happy, are you moving forward? So…I say all that to say, I’ve realized something about myself…I am not the world traveler, who can live anywhere, any place any time and just settle in on my own. And you know…it’s funny, because I am very much an independent, self entertainer type of person who needs my “me” time often (Anna & Erin know this well ;) BUT I LOVE my people…all of YOU, because if you’re reading this, you are definitely one of my people, in some capacity. So I say thank you…for being such great friends, teachers, coaches, mentors & family members for me to miss you this much!

After I had this “revelation” about myself and the rollercoaster of emotions I’ve experienced thus far…I lay in bed thinking “how can I make the most out of this experience?” “is it possible that when I leave I will feel the same way about some of the people here as I do about you all?”… I told myself, of course, and along with these people, I was going to embrace this traveling experience, squeeze it dry, you know-like they describe to you in those books about women who travel the world for soul searching and stuff. In a sense…I have that opportunity! Not only am I here to figure out what the heck I want to do with my life career wise, but I’m sure I can find a little more soul along the way as well ;) So, the very next day…that’s what I did J