San Diego - The Last Leg

As we made our delayed departure from Honolulu, we expected to hit some big waves, and maybe do a little cruise ship surfing. However, we encountered nothing but smooth waters on our 6 day crossing to San Diego. The last few days on ship were filled with final papers and exams (for the students) and goodbyes for us.

We have plenty of people to thank for their friendship and help during our voyage. We won’t put a full list on here but between faculty, students, fellow Life Long Learners, staff and crew, we can’t thank everyone enough. It’s been great to share such a life-changing experience with so many amazing people.

Once we made it back to San Diego, we met up with Grandpa Milton and enjoyed some of the local attractions. Unfortunately, Legoland was closed, but we still visited SeaWorld. Jonathan and Marjan Greenblatt visited us from L.A. with their two boys, Ariel and Ilan. Thanks for driving down to see us!

Christy jumped right into a weeklong visit of ATEK’s facilities, the kids attended school the day after they returned, and Jay immediately met up with friends for poker night. The internal differences are slowly becoming more apparent. When we see friends, they say that it “seems just like yesterday that we left.” For us, it seems like a long time ago. On our trip, we experienced new cultures and beliefs every day. Time went by slowly for us and each week was memorable…even many of the days. We fear that we’ll just jump back into a routine and will miss enjoying the present – and experiencing each day for the unique experience it should be.

The other area that is hard to get used to is STUFF. We have so much stuff. Coming back just in time for Christmas has not helped things. We came back to a home with so many things we had not seen or played with for months. Then…Christmas descended and we accumulated so many more things…many of which we’ll never use. Many still sit in the boxes.

This is disconcerting after we went to many places in the world that did not have anything. We remember the village we stayed at in Ghana where the children wanted empty water bottles to use as a kick ball. They had nothing and could enjoy each new toy they created.

It will be interesting to see what parts of the trip the boys will remember. Luke remembers the most and has developed a worldly vocabulary and has a story to tell anyone who will listen. His new favorite game is Risk, since he wants to rule the world. He seems to remember the most impactful places we visited: Pearl Harbor, Hiroshima, Angkor Wat, the Taj Majal, the Ghana village and the safari in South Africa. Ironically, he also remembers the quiet, beautiful beaches of Mauritius.

We thoroughly enjoyed our voyage around the world but are happy to be home as well. We look forward to getting back in touch with all of you over the next few months.

P.S. Semester at Sea is offering a two-for-one discount for the 2010 voyages!