Our Executive Director is from Morocco. He is so mellow and full of positive energy. He reminds me of a father you do not want to disaapoint because he has been so fair and non-judgmental... I am looking forward to having many more discussions with him about his Muslim religion... There is so much we need to know now more than ever... The ship was supposed to go to his home country but for some security reasons, we are not. That is why we are going to Turkey, instead. the voyage was planned to give students an insight into Hinduisim (India), Budhism (China), Christianity (Spain), and Muslim (Turkey) with potentially some others cultural influences coming from Africa (South Africa).
We had an interesting discussion during dinner the other night. One of the staff asked our Chinese IRC a question concerning the over population of males in China and whether this will bring to an possible increase in the "perceived value" of females in that society. It was fascinating to hear her response. She was uncomfortable at first to discuss the concet of "value" as it relates to women but after awhile started discussing how closed her society is and how unlikely it is that Chinese men may seek brides from other countries due to the lack of eligible Chinese women... It is these kind of discussions that I have so much looked forward to before I joined The Scholar Ship...
The academic staff is starting to form strong bonds but we are told much will be tested once we have been confined to closed quarters for a long time while struggling to get our work done and keep our students engaged. A couple of the staff memebers have been on the previous voyage so we clamour to hear of their experiences. At the same time, however, I want to keep a totally open mind and not be biased in my expectations. So I really do not know if my individual experience will end up being somewhat similar to theirs or not. One thing is clear, those of us that came with companions on board, may have a different view on things. Will my "single status" be a benefit or a disadvantage? Time will tell...
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