New post on davengisonaboat
This is my
safari shirt
by notdaveng
Gathering all of my gear and talking one
final spin in front of the mirror I headed out – my cabin door slamming behind
me. With walking stick in hand and a backpack filed with all of the sundries I
would need for a day on the trail.
Except
for today we were still at sea – potentially thousands of miles away from the
nearest speck of land in the vastness that is the Pacific Ocean.
But
you wouldn’t know it from looking at me: safari shirt and cargo pockets bu[......]
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Semester at
Sea 20: Thanksgiving 2011: Michael H. Prosser, Ph.D. November 23, 2011 (349,000 hits since February 23, 2011) [Post 278]
Like the
Lunar New Year for the Chinese in February, when families make great efforts to
return home, Thanksgiving and Christmas for Americans are both times to return
home and celebrate with our families. One year at Thanksgiving when I was about
9, my mother and father had invited younger Prosser relatives from their home
town in southern Indiana for Thanksgiving dinner, when suddenly my mother’s
mother (“Mom”) had a dehabilitating stroke and had to[......]
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Semester at Sea, 20: Japan 1974, 1980, 2009, and 2011:
Michael H. Prosser, Ph.D. (325,000 hits since Feb. 23) [Post 276]
1974, Nihonmatsu
In July, 1974, besides time in Tokyo, I participated in a
bicultural research conference and project in the northern resort city of
Nihonmatsu, Japan, for 9 days, intended to demonstrate cultural similarities
and differences between the Japanese and Americans. There were 64 of us, 32
Japanese of various ages and professional backgrounds and 32 Americans also
varied in ages and professional backgrounds, plus a technical team of 8
persons. Three d[......]
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From
Arcades to Arcane on Tokyo Streets: Dave Eng, Guest Contributor 18, November 15, 2011 [Post 275]
by
notdaveng
From Arcades to Arcane on Tokyo Streets: Dave Eng, Guest Contributor 18, November 15, 2011 [Post 275]
Silently
gliding along the tracks we stopped at regular intervals as the doors whooshed
open and close: feet scurrying both ways across the threshold. Quickly we were
whisked away from the burgeoning metropolis of Yokohama and onto the capital and
most famous city of Tokyo, Japan.
While
this has been the second time I have had the opportunity to ride[......]
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Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, Hapan, Dave Eng, Guest Contributor 18, November 13, 2011 [Post 274]
In planning my itinerary in Kobe I was lucky enough to be able to knock two things on my to-do list: a visit to Hiroshima and a ride on the Bullet Train. And while there was a trip offered that allowed you to take the bullet train both TO and FROM Hiroshima. I instead opted for the much cheaper version that included a train transfer back but started off with a five hour long bus ride in the early morning – snaking along the highway system south across rural Japan and its accompanying mountai[......]
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Semester at Sea 19: “Michael, are you a Chiamerican?” Michael H.
Prosser, Ph.D. :”Michael, are you a Chiamerican?” Michael H. Prosser, Ph.D.
(posted originally on November 10,
2011 and expanded on November 14. [Post 273]
The Semester at Sea around the world study voyage (August 26
from Montreal) has now completed our visits to Morocco, Ghana, South Africa,
Mauritius, India, Malaysia, Viet Nam,and China. When we reached Japan on
November 11, it is our last Asiancountry. Then we will head across
thePacific Ocean to Hawaii; cross the international date line; go to Costa
Rica;pass throu[......]
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Go through
the square past the big picture of Mao
by notdaveng
Current
Coordinates: Tiananmen
Square, Beijing, China
Time
seemed to be working against us as we struggled to fit in a half day’s worth of
activities while simultaneously trying to be cognizant of the time needed to get
to the airport for the next leg of our journey to Shanghai.
But
the time constraint didn’t stop us from seeing two of the biggest attractions of
our tour this morning: a visit to Tiananmen
Square – one of the largest public gathering places in the world –
and the Forbidden
City: a te[......]
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Ate Big
Macs ‘cause that’s we got
by notdaveng
Current
Coordinates: Gubeikou
Section – Jinshanling
Section, Great Wall of China
The
chilled air bit at all of us – straight to the bone for some – as we disembarked
from our bus; a one hour jaunt from our overnight lodging towards our first
day’s journey on the wall.
The
five layers I was wearing were doing a good job at keeping me warm but a stiff
breeze caused me to pull on a sixth – a wind shell – in order to mitigate the
frigid air from stealing more warmth from my body.
While
I still felt chilly wearing si[......]
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Semester at Sea 18: “Good Morning, Vietnam!” Michael H. Prosser, Ph.D. November 3, 2011 (293,000 hits since February 23, 2011 [Post 270]
Many of us remember Robin Williams’ reasonably lighthearted, but satirical movie “Good Morning, Vietnam!” and perhaps also the much more dark Viet Nam remembrance movie, “Apocalypse Now” or the late Robert McNamara’s book, In Retrospect: The Tragedy and Lessons of Vietnam. Many of us, including me in 2004, and a number of the Semester at Sea participants recently, have visited the War Remnants Museums in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. Some of our students, bo[......]
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