Realization...

I am everything I need to be happy, anywhere.

India

India has been the biggest culture shock to me yet. As I stepped off the ship, I was captivated by a feeling foreign to me, an overwhelming sense of confusion as I became witness to a world of extreme poverty. We ported into Chennai, in Southern India, and after our landing cards and passports were checked, we proceeded through the gate into a country as far away from home as we could get, and let me tell you, it was more than the physical location that made me feel far away from home. We were first approached by taxi bicycle cart drivers offering rides to the main street, as our port was located in an industrial section. I walked down the red dirt road, that was lined with all types of warehouses and storage facilities. I noticed many people sleeping on the sidewalks, under the few trees around, and even along side the road. Out of the first twenty or thirty people I saw, maybe five had shoes. I spent the first day with a driver who took me to an ATM, and later to the post office where I mailed off some gifts and a letter to my cousin in boot camp. I had my driver write him an Indian good luck sentence in Hindi at the bottom of the letter. We'll see if it gets to him though, because the only physicality that differentiated the office from a prison cell was a few fans mounted on the ceiling. That night, we caught our flight to Delhi. We paid 180 USD for the two and a half hour flight through an airline by the name of Kingfisher. The plane was the nicest I had ever seen. TV’s in every head rest, head cushions, novelty bag on entering, and the best service by beautiful Indian girls. Maybe the greedy corporate heads of US Airways should take a lesson from Kingfisher, as I am sure they get many repeat customers. (One of the channels on the T.V. was doing a special about the stampede horse racing in Omak, Washington, small world eh?).
While on the boat, my friends and I have become good friends with an Indian girl named Neha. She is from Lake Washington, but her family is originally from Delhi. A few days before our arrival, we complied were her invitation to stay with some of her remaining family in Delhi. We took a taxi from the airport in Delhi to her aunt and uncle's town home style residence in a gated community in South Delhi. We were greeted by the family's personal driver, a few servants, and the cutest ugliest little pug I had ever seen. We gave our thanks to Surish and Renu before we sat down for a traditional Indian dinner. We ate, had a few drinks in conversation, and went to bed. The next day, we ere driven all around Delhi by Raji, the family's driver, who didn't speak much English, but turned out to be an absolute stud. We visited many markets, and a temple, where in the courtyard was some of the most poverished people I have ever seen. I have seen poverty before, built homes for families in rural villages deep in Mexico, and have traveled much, but I had never seen anything like this before. My first sighting was of a two or three year old child passed out on a tinted red blanket, he was caked with dust, and his body had become home to over fifty flies that we conquering every crevice of his face. The next few hours were hard. There were people everywhere, few with shoes and the fixed look on their face said a thousand words. We were advised not to give them money, for reasons in which I will not go into, so we played with the kids and allowed them to video tape each other with Mike's camera. I could tell this period of joy was more meaningful to them than a few dollars, which would just be stolen from them anyway. You can see them in the picture above.

The next day, we met our tour bus at a nearby hotel and took the three and a half hour ride to Agra, the home of the Taj Mahal. About three hours into the ride, we began to see people marching along side of the street in rows of about eight or so, parading signs in Hindi, which went on for about five miles. Thousands and thousand of people were marching. Our driver informed me that these people were walking to the President’s house in Delhi, to protest a recent repossession of land in their village by the government. They had been walking for a month. We arrive in the city of Agra shortly after. Agra is one of the most poverished places in India, and is also one of the oldest. Garbage, dusty clay building covered with torn cloth, monkeys, and sidewalk dwellers lined the street, then, out of no where, a magnificent 232 foot marble palace appeared from no where. The Taj Mahal, meaning ''Crystal Palace'' was completed in 1620 something, and is a tomb for the late King Akbaar the Great's third wife. She was the only wife to give him children, and on the ninth birth, she passed away. Akbaar was devastated, so he ordered the twenty two year construction of the most beautiful, and tallest structure of India, even to this day, as her final resting place. It eventually would become his own as well. Like the Great Wall of China, the Taj was a surreal experience. It was absolutely massive, and incredibly beautiful. The inside consisted of nothing more than the tombs of Akbaar the Great and his wife. On the way home, we saw the marchers sleeping on the sidewalks.

The next day was much like the first, except we visited the park and tomb of Gandhi, which was a tranquil and peaceful place. Raji had us try some traditional Indian paan which we bought from a street vendor. It is a type of tobacco, rolled up in a leaf, and layered with a sauce. You are supposed to shove it in your mouth, chew it, stuff it in your lip, and wait for the buzz. I don’t know if my buzz ever came, because I was too worried about not throwing up. Later that day we went and had lunch with a cousin of Neha’s, at Delhi’s best vegetarian restaurant. The place was great, even though I can’t pronounce half of the things I ate. Being our last night in Delhi, we decided to pick up two bouquets of flowers for the family that had shown us so much humble kindness and hospitality. We had our last dinner with them, and got up early for our flight back to Chennai. I am so grateful to have met Surish and Renu, they are a kind and gentle people. We had a long conversation with them one night and learned much about India, it’s internal conflicts, and proposed solutions. Surish is a constitutional lawyer, so he had much to say during this conversation.

India was an incredible experience, probably the best educational experience I have had to date. I learned much about the country and it’s people, for example, it has 43 national languages, and according to Surish, if he travels to Chennai, he feels like a foreigner. The intense poverty was hard to see, especially in such masses. It was cool to see the cows roam the streets freely in cities as big as Delhi. I really loved our time with the family and Raji. He introduced me to some Hindi and Punjab music, which I have been listening to religiously. I would like to return to India in about ten years or so, as it will be interesting to see that results of the direction that India has begun to take.

Thoughts so far....

In my trip across Asia, I have discovered many things about myself, as well as the world around me. Much of my realizations have come from a collection of conversations with locals, as well as observations between citizens, and studying interactions between citizens and foreigners. I think the core of my learning really solidified with the conclusion of my trip to Thailand. You can read every book on globalization and cross cultural influence you want, but until you see it first hand, it doesn’t hit in the manner it should. As citizens of developed nations, not US, UK, France, Germany, etc but as a whole, we Westerners often fail to realize how much influence we have over the rest of the world. We actually determine the fate of the rest of the world at this point. In every country I have visited, the amount of western influence is immense, and let me tell you, not all of it is good. In many ways, we are helping many territories of the world by speeding up their development with things such as information technology and the internet, promoting free thinking and individual power. This development is also stunted by the same sources that wish to help it. For example, the horrible amount of sex trade and tourism in Thailand wouldn’t exist if it weren’t exploited in such mass numbers. Everywhere I looked, I saw a middle aged white man, toting around their ‘‘rented’’ mistresses. These men made me sick to my stomach, for not only do they leave their wives and kids behind in their home countries, where they have never had to worry about the next meal, they come to Thailand and use the women for their own degrading personal pleasure, only adding to the existing problem that has ravaged the land. How is that for Western leadership? I can only feel sorrow for the women, who have to spend the day, night or week with these sleeze balls. McDonald’s has been everywhere, getting the rest of the world fat in record numbers. Large corporations have people in these countries working like slaves to mass produce the next hot shot video game that will be the obsession of our already undereducated youth. The unfortunate thing is that only a small amount of people educate themselves on the issues above, but is it our fault? Is it our fault that the education system would rather have us take classes on table tennis and shop, rather than Global Citizenship or Global Leadership? Is it a mistake that an elaborate interpretation of the Vietnam War is missing from our high school history books? What I am saying is this; it shouldn’t take a trip around the world, for citizens of the world’s economical superpower to realize the above. I flew through High School on A’s and B’s, have kept a 3.4 at the University of Washington, am an avid reader, and have never considered myself UNEDUCATED until this point in time. Something is missing, and if we plan not to blow ourselves into oblivion in the next hundred years, we must fill the void that makes us globally unaware.
Also, I want to thank everyone so far who has been following me and replying to my posts on here, it really makes it interesting to view your thoughts.

Thailand

Unfortunately, we started our time in Thailand with an immense amount of stress. Before we ported in, some friends and had purchased flights from Bangkok down to Phuket, an island off the province of Krabi (where the 2000 movie The Beach with Leonardo DiCaprio was filmed). It took forever for Thai immigration officials to clear the ship, so it left us rushing for the airport (which was about two hours away) to catch our 4:30 flight. Our taxi driver, knew of our circumstances, and maneuvered the nine person van in and out of traffic in a manner that would have made OJ look like a novice. We arrived at the airport in the final seconds, as the Thai woman was shutting down shop, I literally through my passport on the counter, and with some sweet talking (in which she probably didn’t understand) she smiled and let me through. The plane ride was smooth and very calm, aside from the fact that a similar plane had crashed there a few weeks ago killing over half of the passengers. Phuket is a huge island, so we made our residence in a little town called Kata. I had hoped to not see many tourists there, but unfortunately, I was witness to what I unknowingly would encounter for the rest of my stay in Thailand, prostitution. The mile long strip that the town encased was lined with bars of every kind, each containing a similar set of three things, pool tables, alcohol, and a group of prostitutes drawing in anyone with a pocket full of cash and a sex drive. The prostitutes were everywhere, and being taken full advantage of by many western men, most from Australia. I had read a little about the sex tourism and how it has blown into such proportion, but was rather nauseating to see first hand. The girls, often fleeing from neighboring countries of conflict such as Cambodia, Burma, and Laos, come to Thailand with a hitch from a local promising them jobs as waitresses, store clerks, etc. Many get trapped into the business unwillingly, having no family or resources to depend on, they continue with the work in order to survive. Our days in Phuket were well spent, island hoping and lounging in tranquil settings. In the night we would follow the live music and witnessed some of the best small bands I have ever seen, I could have sworn these guys were lip sinking, because no one can sound that much like Bon Scott or Lynyrd Skynyrd. A local who spoke English well, informed me that because Thai language has a five set pitch variation in their language, and have perfected it over the course of their lives, it allows singers to hit exact notes. I asked them why they don’t go to America to make money. He simply stated ‘’they don’t want to.’’ Phuket was a very nice island, with a laid back, ‘’reggae/ rasta’’ feel to it. After returning to Bangkok, we stayed in the Suhkumvit district the first night, but turned out to be to hectic and filled with smog. We paid a taxi driver six dollars to drive us around all night, to see the city. Red light districts and prostitutes were everywhere. The next day, we got up early to meet our guide for the day, who first took us first, about three and a half hours northwest into the jungle, almost to the border of Burma. Here, we trekked hopped on our elephant, and continued on with an hour trek through the jungle via elephant. We passed monkeys and birds, crossed rivers, and walked through small villages. It was really an incredible experience, something I had wanted to do since I was a child, had become a reality. After a lunch at a local restaurant, we drove to a Buddhist Sanctuary where a group of Monks have raised a group of about twenty tigers since cub hood, only feeding them chicken, to lesson the aggression levels of the animals. We got to pet the adults, and wrestle around with the cubs. The next day was spent touring the western section of Bangkok, the district in which the king lives and the dirtiest river I have ever seen runs through.
In summarization, the people of Thailand were generally nice, and the women gorgeous. The landscapes were incredible, and the local townspeople friendly. Thailand seemed to have been a beautiful country at one time, but I cannot give it the same accreditation perhaps it deserved before the explosion of the sex trade, and though it may seem like an intrasocietal issue, it is not, for it wouldn’t exist if it were not heavily exploited by Westerners.

Vietnam

In Japan, as well as China, we had been going non stop every day. In Vietnam, I just wanted to find a quiet little town to relax in. I bought a Lonely Planet from here on the ship, and found my destination. Nha Trang: one of Vietnam's most beautiful coastal towns, surrounded by jungle, white sand, beaches, clear water and various islands. Perfect. I bought my airplane ticket for the second day after port.
We ported in Ho Chi Minh City, otherwise known as Saigon, Vietnam. The city was crazy. Unlike anything I had ever seen. Few vehicles, but hundreds and hundreds of motorcycles everywhere, passing through every nik and cranny available to them to get around eachother. Some of the international students and I walked to a little Pho restaurant, which was in one of the girl's 1000 Places to See Before you Die book. It was quite tasty, and for two American dollars, I had beef noodle soup (Pho) and two sodas. We then walked the city a little bit until we split because some of the girls wanted to go shopping. Ryan, my friend and I, hopped on the back of one of these little motorcycles, and cruised around town, until we found a nice message parlor. We paid fifty cents for the ride and entered the message place. We bathed our feet in hot water, had seaweed placed on our face, as well as flowers over our eyes, and got the most amazing foot rub ever. I don't think my grandpa Gary would have left. They then messaged our legs, arms, hands, backs, and ended with a head message (no, no happy ending for all you perverts who are thinking that). All for 12 USD.
The next day I rode a little motorcycle to the airport for my flight to Nha Trang. they loaded us on the bus, and took us to our plane, at least I think it was a plane. We then had to go back to the main terminal because the plane had been having technical difficulties (I could tell by just looking at it). About twenty minutes they loaded us on, and we took off. About half way through the forty five minute flight, we turned around back to Saigon, more problems. We were grounded in Saigon for another two hours due to monsoon type rains. Finally, around 4:30 we arrived in paradise. I met some Aussies along the way and hung out with them the first night. The next day, I met a Vietnamese ''free rider.'' Free Riders are motorcycle drivers who take tourists all throughout Vietnam via motorcycle. I didn't have that much time, so I opted for the day tour. First, we visited a very old Buddhist temple, as well as a huge white Buddha, about forty feet tall. We then drove about five kilometers up the coast, where we caught a boat to Monkey Island. We arrived on the island, to find about five humans, selling a few items, but more importantly, thousands and thousands of monkeys. I bought some seeds from a woman, and the monkeys all came running towards me. Their little fingers would pull my hands open and take the seeds. Smart little guys. After Monkey Island, we went on about a two hour hike into the jungle, where we came to a waterfall, and jumped off some cliffs into the water hole, it was awesome. Later that day, I got a six dollar/one hour message and ate some Pho for a dollar. That night, I met a group of Vietnamese while eating some Lobster from a street vendor. I hung out with them that night as well as the following night. They were so friendly and very nice. I learned the girls in Vietnam are extremely good at pool, as I got my ass kicked three times after talking my pool game up. I returned to Ho Chi Minh the fourth day, leaving my newly found friends behind. The flight back was a little more comforting. I did some shopping in Saigon the last day we were there and got some gifts.
Vietnam was great, I loved it. Not only was it incredibly affordable, but the people genuine and kind. I didn't see or feel any anti-american sentimism the whole time. What we did to them was horrible, and we should have never been there in the first place. The best thing about it though, was unlike China and Japan, I didn't see one McDonalds! I would really love to return to Vietnam some day, and I recommend it highly.

Qingdao, Beijing and Hong Kong, China

It was a very interesting time to be China, due to the fact that I was able to explore a country in the midst of a rapid economic and social development. Qingdao, where we ported first, was the worst of the three cities we visited. Especially coming from such a clean and pure country like Japan, Qingdao was very dirty, worn down, unorganized, and chaotic. Mike Hoover and I walked all around the city in the pouring down rian, after we stopped caring about getting wet, it turned out to be very fun. I bought a nice zip up jacket of light brown color, that would have been about 70-100 dollars in the US, for seven dollars. Later that evening, we had dinner and a few beers at a little hole in the wall restaraunt. Mike and I had a very good conversation here. No one spoke english so I saw what some other guys at a table were eating (what appeared to be mixed vegies and chicken) and asked for two of those (pointing and holding up two fingers of course). She brought us our dinner, and we dug into something that was definitely not chicken, but some kind of sea urchent. We ate it anyway, and hoped the alcohol in the beer would kill it if it were still alive. In Qingdao, they brew Tsingdao beer, and it is by far the best beer I have ever hard, it makes Pyramid or Henry's taste like warm keystone light. The next day, my Semester at Sea group I was a part of left for Beijing, about an hours plane ride north. The pollution in Beijing was unexplainable. One could not see a half mile ahead because the distance would just fade into a brown haze. People everywhere. People riding bikes through the streets, seemingly unaware to the vehicles that almost crushed them at every turn. In China, I learned pedestrians DO NOT have the right of way. You know when your in a car, and you have to hit the breaks fast or swerve from hitting someone or another car, and your butt kind of puckers up off your seat? Well I felt that about every three minutes as our tour bus almost crushed a little Chinese person walking or riding their bike on the street, they all seemed like they didn't even mind though. Crazy little bastards. The second day we were there, we got up early and went and did some Tai Chi excersizes, then headed to the Great Wall. We drove into the sharp and jagged hillside towards the great wall until it appeared in the distance. It, of course, was a very touristy location, but a phenomeonal one at that. The Wall was massive, and very steep. The steps constantly changed elevation, and this horrific hike made me glad to know I was doing this in my youth, as I witnessed many older people struggling for oxygen under the humidity and heat the sun casted down. There were praying mantace everywhere as well. A few of us, made it to the highest point of the wall, and the view was incredible. You could see the wall dissapear into the hills miles and miles away. I must of heard over two dozen languages while climbing that wall, which was really interesting. I conversed with some folks in Spanish from Spain, Colombia, and Mexico, and in Portuguese with some from Brazil.
The following day we headed to Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. I always remembered seeing Tiananmen Square in my history books, and reading about the massacre of students in 1989, so it was really surreal to be here. We were told to keep that event out of our mouth while here in China, as well as Tibet and Taiwan. Three T's that are forbidden to talk about in China. Tourists crawled all over this place, but I managed to get a good picture of myself in front of the building with the big picture of Mao on it. We walked under Mao, to the entrance of the Forbidden City, which was huge. I mean this place, had to be at least four our five square kilometers. We explored many temples and palaces, and explored as much as we could of this place, the headquarters for Ancient Chinese civilization. At the end of the palace, was the garden, which included all types of rocks, cypress and bonzai trees, as well as various statues. After we ate lunch at a Mongolian hotpot, we went to downtown to Silk Street Market, which was a five floor market selling everything and anything. Lacoste Shirts for about six dollars, Dolce and Gabana purses (some of them great knockoffs) for about twelve dollars, all types of jewelry and electronic, etc. The hagglers all spoke English and often used physical contact to get you into their store, as well as keep you there! I had to ripp hands from me and use some wreslting moves to get by some of them. It was interesting to see hagglers and foreigners from all over the world, using English as a common language to communicate. Globalization at its finest here. The next day, before our flight to Hong Kong, we visited the Summer Palace, a huge palace surrounded by a lake where we rented paddle boats and trekked around for about two hours. The palace is where the Emperor spends his summers, hend the term ''Summer Palace.''
Hong Kong was like a different country, almost a peer into the future. Hong Kong people consider themselves very different from mainland China, and they are. Seperate currency, seperate language (Cantonees instead of Mandarin), and they drove on the opposite side of the road. The British had been occupying the area since about ten years ago, so I think that is why they're a little more ahead of the game. The city glowed with skyscrapers in every direction, casting out every color of neon lights. Huge signs on big buildings read ''Samsung'' ''Nokia'' ''Dell'' along with any other major corporation you could think of. The first day was a bit frustrating, as I spent the entire morning looking for an ATM to pay for a gift I wanted to send my grandma back home, I finally found the damn ATM, and it didn't take VISA. It was a local one. SHIT! I then walked around in the humidity (it was raining too) for another half of an hour until I finally found one, hailed a cab, and told him to take me to the post office. I did a little shopping that day, at Stanley market, about an hour a way from Hong Kong. I didn't know this until I saw them while driving through the steep hills along the beach, but Hong Kong has beautiful beaches lines with beautiful rain forest. It was really a sight to see.
All in all, I liked seeing the historical aspect of China, and experiencing it. However, the people were not all that nice, it was pretty dirty (except for Hong Kong) and the pollution unbearable. Hong Kong was magnificant though, I would definitely return to HK.

Japan

Japan, Japan, Japan...it was everything I expected it to be, and nothing I expected it to be, if that makes any sense at all. Where to start? How about the people, since they were the most memorable. They were so nice, polite, generous, welcoming, and understanding. We must have asked over 200 people for directions to various locations, and everyone was more than happy to assist us, often walking us to our subway or location we wanted to go, even if it was in the compete opposite direction from the way they were going. Not only were they nice to us, but to eachother as well. Such a polite society. For example, they STAND on one side of the escalator, allowing those in a hurry, to walk passed on the other side. Everyone had cell phones, but I never heard one ring while in public. They form single file lines for the simpliest of events, including subways. I never saw someone steal, cut in line, cheat, or litter. The city was unbelievably clean, which suprised the hell out of me because garbage cans were far and few between. One day, while waiting for a subway, I witnessed a woman, who was very sick, vomit on the floor. By the time I had taken a second look, there were five women pulling napkins from their purses, cleaning the sick women, and cleaning the vomit on the floor. Talk about a communal society. Lovely people the Japanese. I am very glad I experienced them for five days, as my ignorant pre-self had a distaste for them back in America, and thought of them as rude, selfish, and annoying. I think Americans would be better off if they acted in some ways like the Japanese. In Japan, they sell beer in vending machines, of course the machine does not ID, so how do they keep undersage children from purchasing the alcohol. They don't. These people respect the laws with intensity. They don't drink until they legally can. Of course, I speak for all Japanese, and I don't know if this is true for all of them, but from my experience, this all held true.The first day we took a train from Yokohama to Tokyo was absolutely huge, and the people great for such a large city. We went to a Sumo match while there, which was very interesting to see. Unlike other sporting events, though publicized, the event contained no advertising. Perhaps because it is such an ancient and cultural sport. While leaving the stadium, we walked behind some wrestles and watched how citizens approached them, bowing and extending their hands to them, asking them to take a picture. The wrestlers are like celebrities in Japan. Next we went to Asakusa, the oldest district in Tokyo. We visited some Buddhist temples and passed through the crowded streets lined with little shops filled with fans, Japanese robes, and other small trinket items. The Shibuya district in Tokyo, is like Time Square on steriods. At any time of the day, between early morning to late night, one could witness hundreds and hundreds of people wandering and crossing the streets. After Tokyo, we took a two hour bullet train to Kyoto, home of the Japanese Geishas. These small city was very culturally Japanese. We walked around and visited many temples, with Monks praying inside. We then went farther south to Kobe, where we were to meet the ship. Jesse (my roommate on the ship) and I walked all over the city. We visited Tower Records where I purchased a Japanese CD and a Rolling Stone magazine in Japanese. We then ate at a little local Sushi place. We were the only non-Japanese there, and everything there was in Japanese. The people comforted us with a warm smile and a gesture that told us to sit down. We ordered what we saw being made by Sushi chefs across the glass, had a few bottles of Sake, Japanese rice wine (to kill all the parasites we has ingested of course) and were on our way. Walking down the street, we passed by a little shop that contained about twenty little picture booths, like the ones we used to see in Fred Meyer and other big department stores as well as the malls. These are VERY popular among Japanese girls. We couldn't operate the machines, so a group of girls helped us through everything, then proceeded to take the photos with us. It turned out to be a lot of fun, and made for some great memories and photos.

Trip Across the Pacific

Well, as you can see, my dates don't coiincide with my blog. I just created the blog today, and am updating you guys on all of my adventures thus far. I am copying a lot from my journal that I have been keeping the entire time, so the information and feelings are accurate to that time period. Anyway, just thought you should know in case you were confused about the dates posted. It is October 2nd today, and we just left Saigon, Vietnam, for Bangkok, Thailand.We left Hawaii three days ago for our first foreign visit, Japan. The ocean is so vast out here, as it dissapears beyond the horizon in all directions, with nothing breaking the 180 degree line that encompasses us here on our journey. I have gotten used to the rocking of the ship, as I only felt sick one day, and that was between Mexico and Hawaii. The captain says we are headed for some rough seas though, as we will be passing between two typhoons. The nightfall is my favorite time on the ship. As the clear warm sunny days turn into a glowing sky of stars, planets, and God knows what else. The most breathtaking examination of the night sky came last night. It was undescribeable. I saw the entire milky way. The wide strip of billions of stars that make up the milky way stretched from one end of the sea, passing overhead, and extending towards the opposite direction until it fadded behind the black ocean. I look foward to many more of these nights, as well as land.

Hawaii

We landed in our first port today, in the city of Wakikii. The beaches, as well as the landscape, was incredible. I hadn't been to Hawaii since I was very young, but I didn't remember it being that beautiful, although you don't tend to appreciate that kind of beauty as a hyperactive, chocolate covered lip child. The beach looked like one of those tropical paradise posters, fully equiped with torquois water and white sand beaches. People were surfing all over the place, and the way the waves were breaking it looked very easy. I witnessed first timers and older men riding a wave into shore for the first time. I would have loved to surf, however, since we only had one day in this port, I didn't get the chance to surf, because our skydiving vans picked us up in front of our ship early that afternoon. The our drive to the north shore landed us at one of the most run down, unorganized skydiving fields I had ever seen. When they say Hawaiin's are relaxed, I didn't expect them to be so relaxed about such a dangerous activity. Oh well, you only live once. We went in, signed our lives away, and within fifteen minutes (no tutorial of course) we were on our way to hop into the sliding door of a single propelled airplane. We took off, myself, and five other kids who looked like they had already soaked their pants, and climbed higher and higher over the light blue ocea, that shifted shades of blue with its depths. We could see across the whole island. From dowtown and pearl harbor, to the rainforest in the east that had a beautiful rainbow hovering over it. The mezmorizing beauty and relazing hum of the plane was interrupted by the slamming open of the door, telling us it was time to go. I had previously told my partner that I wanted to do some flips out of the plane, he complied, and we exited the plane with three fron flips. Oh how exciting that was. After my one minute of free fall, my chute opened, and my fear of death relinquished. As we coasted to safety, I looked down at my friend and fellow UW student, Bryce, and noticed he was not experiencing the same relief I was, as his chute was tangled upon itself. My instructor told me to look down and watch them, as they were going to cut the chute, and use the safety chute, or last chance chute. A second later, I watched the tangled chute drift with the wind, and Bryce and his instructor plummit to the ground below, which was now about three or four hundred yards from the ground now. Fortunately, after Bryce's big white legs dangled uncontrollably, the safety chute was opened and they descended towards the ground. Bryce's was in high spirits when he reached the ground, and actually said he would like to go again. The day was very fun, and we ate a smal dinner back in town afterwards before we got back on the ship.