"smile"
Well that's an easy one.
Benefit #1 of LDR : Spontaneous Dates
13 years ago
Showing posts with label Random. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Random. Show all posts
March 4's Photo-a-Day
"random"
This was actually meant to be "bedside", but as I've been sick the past few days, I didn't think snotty tissues would be impressive.
So here is a picture of me MC'ing the "DOULYMPICS" in - Asia. Somewhere. I actually for the life of me struggle to remember which port we had our Doulympics in. Well back to it. I was the host of hosts, and I'm pretty sure I was exhausted after the whole day. Its funny, the days literally blend together onboard. I have this memory that we had a variety of feasting tables with a variety of food, and then we moved down the the Doulympic Arena and commenced the fun games. It was department against department. It was hillarious. There were SO many people who cheated. I'm one of those game players who 'like the rules' unless you are playing "Cheat" - when there's actually no rules.
March Photo A Day - Day 2
"Down"
Yesterday was normally my 2nd and last day of the week at school.
Our class had the week off because a new class had begun on Tuesday.
Some of my classmates and I caught up and had coffee at Whipped Bar Cafe, Semaphore.
I was more than feeling under the weather, but knew that it would be a good time to share things about class.
I took this on my way back to my car because the grate next to where i was parked looked cool.
Pretty much was in bed the rest of the day feeling unwell once I got home, but after a restless night, I seem to be coming out the other side of it. Huzzah!
March Photo a Day
"Up"
Walking around town with some pals, we came upon a car that works for the railway company - one of those vehicles that have adjustments to them so they can drive on the tracks.
Wedged up in the grill support was this guy.
Awesome hood ornament.
Thought that the thrusting upward hand would be a grand start to a month of images.
Tally = Two
The talk around work now is constantly "Who's next!!?!?"- next... to die.
*insert doomy boomy backgroundy music here*
This might seem horribly morbid, but in reality this is a dealing mechanism for us at work. By 'predicting' who is 'next', we can get our head around the fact that people die, deal with it, and go about our daily job. Or something. Plus when you work with the elderly, this is a large fact of life that occurs alot more frequently. ALOT.
Today, Number Two passed away. When Number One passed away about a month or so ago, I felt totally lost. I felt really sad, because there were many aspects of Number One that I adored, plus she has the cutest personality, even though no one could understand what she was saying. However, Number One was a handful, and so much of our routine was based around her. Infact, I would say in this particular area, one third of the routine was based around her. So, you can imagine how lost it was to then work without her there. Five minutes spare time? What is that...
Today, I got to work and heard that Number Two had been sent to hospital last night. I saw Number Two on Saturday, and she wasn't great, but we thought it might be just a bit of a phase. She was quiet. Mostly. Now that was unusual. She wasn't holding her frame - just a "floppy rag doll". Slightly unusual. She wasn't hungry and refused to eat or drink. Very unusual. Number Two lived on bacon and eggs, porridge, warm milk, and warm apple juice.
They told us she passed away comfortably, however it was due to heart failure and fluid around her heart and lungs that caused her to be hospitalised and evidently caused her to pass away. Number Two also had about one third of the routine in this particular area based around her. Two-thirds of every shift in that area has now changed. Thats a huge change. That's a change thats going to have hours cut from the roster because we don't have 2 high-care residents anymore.
Work was eerily quiet today. Residents were quite relaxed, but I think because they didn't know what has happened, and i'm not sure when or if they were told, they were oblivious and were just enjoying the peace and quiet. I believe the motto from upper management is not to tell them until they ask.
Tomorrow, I am probably working in that area with the two-thirds of the work routine gone. I'll kick myself if I subconsciously make bacon and eggs for Number Two - who, clearly, wont be eating it...
*insert doomy boomy backgroundy music here*
This might seem horribly morbid, but in reality this is a dealing mechanism for us at work. By 'predicting' who is 'next', we can get our head around the fact that people die, deal with it, and go about our daily job. Or something. Plus when you work with the elderly, this is a large fact of life that occurs alot more frequently. ALOT.
Today, Number Two passed away. When Number One passed away about a month or so ago, I felt totally lost. I felt really sad, because there were many aspects of Number One that I adored, plus she has the cutest personality, even though no one could understand what she was saying. However, Number One was a handful, and so much of our routine was based around her. Infact, I would say in this particular area, one third of the routine was based around her. So, you can imagine how lost it was to then work without her there. Five minutes spare time? What is that...
Today, I got to work and heard that Number Two had been sent to hospital last night. I saw Number Two on Saturday, and she wasn't great, but we thought it might be just a bit of a phase. She was quiet. Mostly. Now that was unusual. She wasn't holding her frame - just a "floppy rag doll". Slightly unusual. She wasn't hungry and refused to eat or drink. Very unusual. Number Two lived on bacon and eggs, porridge, warm milk, and warm apple juice.
They told us she passed away comfortably, however it was due to heart failure and fluid around her heart and lungs that caused her to be hospitalised and evidently caused her to pass away. Number Two also had about one third of the routine in this particular area based around her. Two-thirds of every shift in that area has now changed. Thats a huge change. That's a change thats going to have hours cut from the roster because we don't have 2 high-care residents anymore.
Work was eerily quiet today. Residents were quite relaxed, but I think because they didn't know what has happened, and i'm not sure when or if they were told, they were oblivious and were just enjoying the peace and quiet. I believe the motto from upper management is not to tell them until they ask.
Tomorrow, I am probably working in that area with the two-thirds of the work routine gone. I'll kick myself if I subconsciously make bacon and eggs for Number Two - who, clearly, wont be eating it...
The Cat Empire sang about it
This is a cartoon i drew of one of my teachers. She wasn't actually asleep - but I felt like I was close enough!
"Protons, Neutrons, Electrons" - quite the quirky, funky song as all good songs are from the Cat Empire. So you're there, you haven't heard of it and want to geek yourself up a little bit? Check it out now.
Anyway, the point of that is to mention what I'm up-to studying now. Protons. Neutrons. Electrons. Because Chemistry is involved in nursing. Its in everything we do and can see. Oh, and we're also learning about the Legal side of nursing. Sooo - there is currently alot of reading, writing, listening, thinking and lack-of-interest in places/sections at the moment... atleast when I find it gets too much, I go and look up some weird word and learn what it is.
I'm finding it a struggle to study at home - too many easy distractions or easy annoyances. Yet, when I take myself out to a cafe, despite the noise level, it seems remarkably easier. Except this afternoon that is. While trying to drill my brain with chemistry information, I'm more interested in hearing the conversations around me; the girls planning the new interior design of the store, what colours and where everything should/could/would go; the two older ladies discussing their woe's of ageing bodies and family; the two Christian guys discussing church, studies and expectations of people [I might have tried to find out which church they belonged to via their conversation - or I perhaps I didn't].
Today I also spent an hour with one of the ladies from my church, who after a health problem a fortnight ago, is now residing in the hospital awaiting transfer to a long-term facility. When I arrived, she was quite agitated and eager to get out of her seat and away from the hospital. Throughout the time I spent there, we had to locate her glasses [tucked well into her dressing gown] as some mail arrived from her son in Tassie. I read the documents to her, and at the end she looked at me with the strangest perplexed expresssion. I think she didn't understand who was writing to her for a little while, but in the end she did. I read her some of Philippians 3 to encourage her - however when I was finished I wasn't sure if she was sleeping or praying. In the end, she seemed alot more content and less agitated and was enjoying a good perusal of a gardening magazine.
Today I also [randomly] decided to review on some "Bloody Idiot" tv ads. These are the "if you drink and drive, you are a bloody idiot" ones. One of my friends sent me the youtube link to TAC - the Victorian's plan to lower the road toll deaths around the country. Some of these ad's I've seen before, and others I've seen for the first time. Most of them are horribly impacting, challenging and extremely unnerving - especially when you can consider countless times when you could've been in the same position as a driver, passenger or onlooker. However, they were very effective on causing me to be even more aware of my surroundings when driving.... especially as I already think I am pretty aware of everything... but accidents definately do happen [as I've proved twice already].
Hmm...ski
Happy One Month Anniversary, Nursing Class 1103!!
Four weeks of 5 days [of both work and study in a row], and I'm pooped.
Exhausted.
Knackered.
Whatever you want to call it - that's what I am.
But, heck its great fun and I'm so loving nursing school!
However, working in this environment where we see the end of peoples lives is a hard ball sometimes.
Just this past week, one of my favourite residents [I know, we shouldn't have favourites] passed away.
It wasn't sudden, mostly expected, but totally sad.
Even maddening, but that's mostly in relation to a family member's treatment of this resident...
Before and AFTER they passed away.
The world we live in is a scary, evil, confused and corrupt place.
Thank God for all the love, joy and peace He still provides amongst all that.
And laughter. OH MY GOSH! I love a great sense of humour.
Peace... x
"Would you like some dressing on your wound, sir?"
For those of you who like looking at my face [haha] here's the latest photo of me - for youThe events that took place since last Thursday:
I was trawling through through my Inbox on a lazy day off when I happened upon an email that I had received from a RTO [that's a registered training organisation for those playing at home] for ab Enrolled Nurse course I'd enquired about, oh, quite a few months ago. This email was an invite to attend an Info Sesh about the course. On that very day. Dang...
Shooting off an email to enquire if there was still a place for me to attend this session, I wasn't sure that the reply would be good - or quick. Surprisingly, considering their lack of reply to previous emails, it was both. A spot was still available for me. Good vibes chartered through my veins as I set about my day of doing whatever it was I felt like doing.
I arrived at the Info Sesh, wearing my cool ice-breaking "How" jumper {its a huge hand printed on the front of my hoodie, and if you open the zipper a bit, it turns the huge hand into a Klingon [startrek, anyone?] greeting hand instead}. I couldn't understand why the session would take two hours until after the session our guide and teacher showed us around the facility and surmised the tour with "We'll meet back in 10 minutes for you to sit your application tests". Pardon eh moi? No - speakah - zee - crazy - guide - talk. Application tests? I am not prepared for this!!!
Numeracy test *sweat*... I gave everything a shot, but if you're a normal person, its probably been since you were at school since you've had to multiply fractions, divide long division sums and do divisions without calculators that end in decimal places because one number just doesn't quite fit equally into another any amount of times. Round this, square that, change this from a fraction into an answer. Give me {a x b + c = X} anyday. Times up...
Literacy test. *chilled* I could do this blindfolded with both arms tied behind my back. You'll agree. I am pretty sure I passed this well. Really well.
Our teacher said that if in about 10 days we get a phone call, its to set up a time for a 2nd interview, a 1-on-1 meet and greet that would be about an 80% guarantee that you are in the course. However, if in about 3 weeks you get a letter, its to say that at this time you didn't make it.
Now in no way was I discounting myself, but I was sure my maths would've hindered my application. Positively not making the cut.
I leave the meeting feeling confused if I've done the right thing, if I am kicking myself in the biblical gonads [as my friend Monty suddenly likes to say] by jumping too far ahead of where i'm comfortably grounded. Comfortably, comfortable, comfort...
Gee, Carola! God doesn't call us to live a comfortable life! He wants us to trust Him! Follow Him! God clearly held a position at the Info Sesh for me so I could attend even though I RSVP'd on the day. He clearly guided me through my two tests that I was to do. I just had to give up on concerning myself with the fiddly bits of it all and just trust God that this is the direction He was wanting me to head towards since I started heading along this parth. Clearly - it is [well, to me anyway]...
Lets continue in this story, shall we? It goes on...
Tuesday. Phone call from private number. I usually let unknown phone callers speak with my secretary on my message bank. This time I answered. Its the RTO i was at on Thursday. They want to have me come in with all my documents and certificates. They want me to come in.... they want me to come IN!??!?!? Reality sets in and I feel I've been accepted into the course. Oh crap. That first 30% of fee's... how am I going to pay it!? Calm down, pray, rally the troops to pray, and sort that out after the interview...
Wednesday. Interview. Thankfully, I was blessed with most mornings off this week, so I had plenty of time to get myself organised. Interview goes well, and I'm with the same lady who took us through the Info Sesh and subsequent tests last Thursday. She likes that I've been on a ship.
"Do you know Annie?"
Ahm... sorry?
"She was on a ship with her husband for like, 2 years. He's a pastor. Do you know her?"
No. But cool! But no. Does this hinder my entrance into the course?
"No no, you have done very well, and I see no reason why you shouldn't get in."
Are you kidding? I was sure my maths flunked me *sad face*...
"Why? You did really good on both tests. No worries-lah! Just wait for the email with the attached documents, fill them in, come pay the 30% and you'll start on June 29. I'll see you then!"
{insert my freaking out face here}
I shouldn't question God when He is sending me in a direction that i'm excited to go on, but have no understanding of the practical means on how i'll get there. I can't help it! I'm an independant, usually self-sufficient young single woman. I've lived out of home since I was about 15. I can look after myself. To have the control taken away makes me get nervous with sweaty palms and furrowed brow. However, I saw it when I went to the Doulos both times when he's floored me with the generous ways He gets things done because that's the direction He wants you to go. I shouldn't be surprised everytime, but I always am.
That 30% concern of mine? Gone. Why? Because someone has generously paid for it already. Someone who doesn't even know God in the personal way he should. Someone I love and who loves me and I'm so lucky to be loved by such fabulous friends and family. That someone is my Dad.
Is God rocking your 'boat' and blowing your mind? Are you following Him or are you just filling in time doing your own thing before you realise where you should be going?
Life - is TOTALLY awesome! Like I said on my FB status "God your plan must be HUGE, man!"
I'm still running around a little bit excited, a little bit terrified and a great big bit ready for this next step.
Oh boy. I'm going to be a poor student again. Haha!
Some things just make me sick...
... and the following is going to be open and honest - incase this is unusual. You've had the heads up now.
Deep breath in. Exhale.
The past weekend has left me feeling like there is a part of me that is broken; a component has malfunctioned; I seem to have blown a gasket or a radiator hose or timing belt; a link in the chain of my created self has weakend.
One month ago I got gastro. Well, atleast I thought at the time that it was gastro. It was the full throttle story which, I will spare you the details - not because you can't handle it but because I don't want to share that much of myself with you... I mean, really, you appreciate this moment and thought of mine... oh yes you do...
I also got that dreaded delivery service arriving with my gift that I get without having signed up to any subscription service which comes once a month to the exact date it arrives... and yes that was my lame version way of saying something else. Lame Delivery Service Gift is what it shall be known as here. Elsewhere it is known as many things like Aunt Murtle's Curse or The Crimson Tide. And if by now you STILL don't understand... perhaps you can just miss this post altogether and come again next time you see i've written something because this is clearly too advanced for you... or you are male. No offence either way.
So - tying those two paragraphs together would have an unfortunate situation, you would agree. Lets add another statement to the mix...
This happened again one month later. On the weekend just gone.
Now, that has gone from an unfortunate situation and has been upgraded to a slightly unusual circumstance. Same situation, repeated. Gastro + Lame Delivery Service Gift. Twice. I don't think I can make that same statement any other way to be any clearer.
It was only Saturday, after the events I couldn't stomach to mention that happened on Friday, that the thought really clicked into my head, and the question was posed in my mind... "is this going to happen EVERY time?". I don't know anyone who has this sort of reaction to getting their Lame Delivery Service Gift. I am already one of the small population of receivers who get Lame Delivery Service Gift's who also get migraines with aura's [a visual disturbance which causes me to be visually impaired for a period of time] on the irregular occasion. I also can have extreme pain when receiving the Lame Delivery Service Gift irregularly, too. But, the idea that a couple of days before the delivery date, I get gastro-like Symptoms as a pre-present present... this does not rock my boat {no pun intended, Logos Hopies}...
So - where has this lead me to be right now? I'm going to see a doctor soon and ask a few questions. Basically, I want to try ways of avoiding this from happening, what could be causing this new reaction, if it will likely happen again, and if I will have to "book in advance" RDO's at work [boo!!!].
It scares me. Just a small bit. Its not fun and I can think of many better ways of spending my rostered days off [RDO's]!!
If you can, if you are able to, but mostly if you want to - please pray for me for this!! I'll very much appreciate your prayers!
**Update**
The Doctor today said that this is all a reaction to the hormone change in the body, it could've been brought on by the chemical change being different [perhaps my body thinks being 26] and that unfortunately, there is basically nothing that can be done to prevent it. She prescribed me some anti-nausea drugs and hydralyte to have with me when I get 'close' to that delivery date. And i have to count and predict when I think the next bout might happen and trial to see if this happens again. And that's it for now. We'll re-asses if it continues to happen for some months... *sigh*
Deep breath in. Exhale.
The past weekend has left me feeling like there is a part of me that is broken; a component has malfunctioned; I seem to have blown a gasket or a radiator hose or timing belt; a link in the chain of my created self has weakend.
One month ago I got gastro. Well, atleast I thought at the time that it was gastro. It was the full throttle story which, I will spare you the details - not because you can't handle it but because I don't want to share that much of myself with you... I mean, really, you appreciate this moment and thought of mine... oh yes you do...
I also got that dreaded delivery service arriving with my gift that I get without having signed up to any subscription service which comes once a month to the exact date it arrives... and yes that was my lame version way of saying something else. Lame Delivery Service Gift is what it shall be known as here. Elsewhere it is known as many things like Aunt Murtle's Curse or The Crimson Tide. And if by now you STILL don't understand... perhaps you can just miss this post altogether and come again next time you see i've written something because this is clearly too advanced for you... or you are male. No offence either way.
So - tying those two paragraphs together would have an unfortunate situation, you would agree. Lets add another statement to the mix...
This happened again one month later. On the weekend just gone.
Now, that has gone from an unfortunate situation and has been upgraded to a slightly unusual circumstance. Same situation, repeated. Gastro + Lame Delivery Service Gift. Twice. I don't think I can make that same statement any other way to be any clearer.
It was only Saturday, after the events I couldn't stomach to mention that happened on Friday, that the thought really clicked into my head, and the question was posed in my mind... "is this going to happen EVERY time?". I don't know anyone who has this sort of reaction to getting their Lame Delivery Service Gift. I am already one of the small population of receivers who get Lame Delivery Service Gift's who also get migraines with aura's [a visual disturbance which causes me to be visually impaired for a period of time] on the irregular occasion. I also can have extreme pain when receiving the Lame Delivery Service Gift irregularly, too. But, the idea that a couple of days before the delivery date, I get gastro-like Symptoms as a pre-present present... this does not rock my boat {no pun intended, Logos Hopies}...
So - where has this lead me to be right now? I'm going to see a doctor soon and ask a few questions. Basically, I want to try ways of avoiding this from happening, what could be causing this new reaction, if it will likely happen again, and if I will have to "book in advance" RDO's at work [boo!!!].
It scares me. Just a small bit. Its not fun and I can think of many better ways of spending my rostered days off [RDO's]!!
If you can, if you are able to, but mostly if you want to - please pray for me for this!! I'll very much appreciate your prayers!
**Update**
The Doctor today said that this is all a reaction to the hormone change in the body, it could've been brought on by the chemical change being different [perhaps my body thinks being 26] and that unfortunately, there is basically nothing that can be done to prevent it. She prescribed me some anti-nausea drugs and hydralyte to have with me when I get 'close' to that delivery date. And i have to count and predict when I think the next bout might happen and trial to see if this happens again. And that's it for now. We'll re-asses if it continues to happen for some months... *sigh*
Houston, we've found Carola
Hello World...
I seem to be less than consistant on my blog, something that I'm not exactly sorry for but wish we could add one more day in our week to do things like updating blogs, emailing, phoning people [if they aren't phoning me, which is usually the way].
Currently we are berthed in Bangkok, Thailand, with 3 days remaining before we head back east to Malaysia - Kota Kinabalu to be exact. Another long voyage is bound to bring excitment in the form of Fun Nights [full of embarrasment], sailing conditions and... good quality quiet time.
Alas, this voyage is the last I have with the BookShop. I don't want to leave my friends, but I feel that God is encouraging me to move in a new direction. We're way over the 6th month mark, and there is much change in the air. Many departments are losing people to other departments or because their commitment is over, bring a sad but somewhat refreshing time.
So I'm excited [and sad!] to become the new Deck Secretary. I don't like office jobs, but this one has the option of much variety and will be a challenge too. I do get the benefit of having the option of Deck Day Work if my jobs are done and I want to have a break, something that appeals greatly to me. But I really will miss my great mates in BookShop - Shift 2 especially. Lucky for me though, my new office is only along the deck from the BookShop, so they can pop in anytime. :D
So, we've been to Hong Kong when I last wrote on here. Then we has crystal glass water and smoothest voyage known to man kind on the way to Cambodia, which was excellent for our Ships Company BBQ one night. Cambodia is a beautiful but struggling country and we were blessed greatly by the hospitality of the people and their homes or hotels. Many Douloids made use of a 5-star pool at one resort, while others stayed there for a small break and used their facilities at a cheaper rate. We really have it too good on the ship despite what many think. I didn't actually make it to visit this resort, but I did do some random things...!
I got up at 4:45am one morning to walk with Jeff [USA], Josh [USA] Karl [UAE/AUS] and Sara [GER] to Independence Beach and swim/surf. It was random and was just a cool morning. The walk was about an hour and the rain was sufficient enough that we were saturated to the skin before we got to the beach. The water was incredibly warm and with the thunder & lightning storm around, provided a great wake up moment. Then we walked back and had breakfast at this ultra retro Disco Flights place. When i say flights, I mean there's a whopping great big plane in the middle of this 'hanger' which has been created into a resturant/night club. They made fantastic omlette and allowed us to sit in their comfy chairs despite being [still] so wet.
Another random thing was going swimming at about 10pm one night after work. It was REALLY nice!! After humid days, it was nice to feel cool but not cold!
Randomly, Rachel [USA]- roommate extrodinnaire, and I went for a walk about the town of Sihanoukville the day after we got there, and while out and having walked far enough down a road that lead to nowhere, we decided to turn back... as the rain began. Gentle and light to start with, it soon came down rather heavy. I was fine as I had a light jacket ontop of my shirt, but Rachel [who is ultra smart] was wearing a white top. not much underneath to protect her from the downpour that was about to happen. So either I give up my jacket or she reveals a little bit more of herself to the world. Lets go with the first choice. Then, hey, since we're at it, and since the rain just got harder, let us hide behind a building and then since I'm already wet - let me make a 'mock' weather report. I still laugh at the idea. No kidding though, the rain with the wind was like needles to your face. Ouchie-wah-wah.
Another random thing happened. We had a BookShop Shift 2 outting and to start it off, we had pizza, lovingly made by Geoff [NZ] and Joanne [SA]. Yummo. Taking one back to our cabin, Rachel & I were getting changed to do some extra ministry work at a HIV Hospital where we were cleaning and painting a hospital house so that it would be fit for patients to stay there [and not like it was before]. I grabbed some trousers from the Laundry and after pulling them on, sat down to put on my shoes. Barely a moment had passed after seating that I exclaimed "My, these pants are HOT!" only to stand up, turn and say "...or it could be the PIZZA I just sat on!!". Yes. I am clever, witty and wonderful and totally available to laugh at. Best thing? I let Rachel take a photo of the pizza stain on my butt for reference and memory sake.
To more... interesting news...
Challenges in Cambodia firstly was the weather, but followed closely behind that was the weather prevented people from visiting. Followed closely behind that was the prices of the things we sold. We had a deal that one ticket got one [then five] books in our deal deck, but in the actual bookshop, it was even too expensive for people to buy, and with communication barriers, confusing to shop. It was hard when you had to tell someone they didn't have enough for what they wanted. If its something small like a pen or wrist band, you could almost give it away [everything really was that cheap] but we couldn't do that incase it brought people who wanted to pocket more than they were paying for. I was challenged greatly by that.
After the 3rd day in Cambodia, I was moved to Deck for 2 weeks to help out while half of the Deckies were on training, and out of the few that remained, the BookShop needed 2 for Crowd Control [something that was actually more than no problem in the end]. So, because the Deckies were trading, I was the trade.
So I got to do many things as a Deckie. I worked in the Tanks - chipping, cleaning then concrete washing. I worked on the deck - scrubbing the deck, painting the exterior walls. I worked as the Bin Lady for the Rubbish Management one Lunch time and also was on Gangway security for one day as one of my friends hurt her ankle while working in the chain locker when we were coming back from anchor. Oh... that's another story.
The last day i worked in BookShop in Cambodia I was the head cashier. This meant I was the king pin incharge of the money for the shift, and because it was a Monday, our shift worked all day [which meant I sat at the same place for the WHOLE shift! BAH!]. Moving on...
After about 3 hours [so roughly 4pm Cambodian time] the nice day suddenly started raining. It was just a gentle, pleasant rain, keeping the 20 or so people who had visited inside. Then the rain changed and got a little harder. The Shift Leaders and random people from my shift then started closing the sides to protect the books from damage by the rain. This, usually is a good thing, but not this time.
The wind was a killer in Cambodia. One minute its normal rain, next minute its millions of needles piercing your skin. Well, on this day, at that point when the rain went from gentle to nasty, the wind went from calm to fierce, we found out that a typhoon had just arrived.
The Typhoon wasn't kind to us or our ship. Because it was a Monday, most of the ships company were off doing outtings and escaping the tininess of the ship for a day. When the Typhoon was slamming the ship into the berth and fenders [things that stop the ships destroying the jetty], we were trying to get everyone off the ship, into the crazy weather [sorry!!!] and we were preparing for emergency anchor, where we leave the port and sit in the open water in safety. There was about an hour between the announcement of us going out to anchor and us actually leaving to go to anchor. It was scary!! With so many people off the ship, especially the Deckies, what will they do - and what will we do?
We'll bring in Carola. She's young and fancy free, and amazing at picking up things quickly. First day of anchor we got to do tank work. Second day of anchor I got to help bring up the anchor and help with mooring stations [for a bit till they didn't need me]. Then as the days went on, Deck terms and items became familiar to me. I was blessed to work with 4 guys from Faroe Islands who were in Deck for as long as I was, and we had a cool bond because we all started at the same time and did many jobs together.
And the nicest thing was, I got to join the Deckies on their Deck Outting. That was amazing! We went Island hopping, something I've not done much of, but with about 30 other people, it makes the travel fun. Our first island was the furtherest from the mainland and we really felt like we were... away from all normality of life. We spent like 4 hours on this beach, swimming, snorkelling, sitting, and spitting seeds [it was a competition. When you are in a group with mostly guys, this is bound to happen]. The people who were hosting us for the day kindly cooked out meal for us, and can I say, of all the chicken and rice meals we've had onboard, theirs was SO tasty and SO amazing that most of us went back for seconds! The boy of the family hosting us was an amazing swimmer and he would go out deep, duck-dive down and come up with all sorts of critters and edible goodies. He managed [no one knows how] to pick up an ultra spikey sea urchin, and about 6-10 differently sized clams. The clams got cooked and most people tried them...
It was fun to be somewhere where ship rules were let off for a while, not to be disobedient but because swim wear allows it. Guys without their shirts on running wild up and or wrestling on the beach while girls with shoe-string tops and regular shorts [heaven forbid!] laughed and swam about made for a really nice day.
Then we jumped back into the 2 boats to the last stop of the day... another beach on another mostly deserted island. And what do the crazy people want to do? Jump off the sketchy jetty that was nearby. I haven't seen so many cut feel in my time!!!
And then we headed back. Tired from an exhausting but fun day of laughing and very much being spoilt. Only, most of us didn't realise the extent of our sunburns. Due to the Malaria tablets we take, majority of us burnt rather well, with many a "Cherry Red" being called out to all of us lobsters. Yet they were the ones remarking on how great our tans were after that. Yes, dead skin cells are attractive.
And then I was back in the BookShop. It was so nice to be back. I really missed working with my mates and having the jokes that we all knew and were familiar with. I also got to meet the new STEPers who had joined while I was in Deck. They are very cool, and every STEP group has had so many amazing people in them. Usually they consist of lots of 18-21 year olds, but the current one has older people and the maturity of the group is awesome and encouraging.
Fun times are to be had when you have a kiwi in the midst. One of the STEPers, Geoffrey ["Jiff"], is hillarious and... a full blooded "Noo Zullanda" whose lived in Australia. Nothing wrong with Kiwi's, but its fun to have the banter that goes on between Aussies and Kiwi's. Take the first slap Geoff gave. "Noo Zulland beet Orrstrayleah in the Roogbee". PSH. What ever. I'm foggy to remember if I have 'slapped' him back yet, but out chats are usually full of laughter and teasing each other. He's so opposite to me! He's the guy who LIKES to shop, and it actually drives me mad!! He's getting into the whole 'bartering' that goes on here and will stay for up to [likely longer] an hour and a half just to get a deal he's happy with. Holy MOLY! I would rather shoot myself in the foot than do that! He's a great mate, and I'll miss his blondeness when he's gone home to la-la Land.
Life is crazy but fun and going way too fast. The new preship is coming in like... 3 weeks and as we were the most recent newbies, we get to welcome them onboard. So, we've some planning to do, and coordination to make, but our idea should be hillariously fun!!!
I'll update more on ministry here in Bangkok later, but I thought I would just let you know what has been happening so far.
I seem to be less than consistant on my blog, something that I'm not exactly sorry for but wish we could add one more day in our week to do things like updating blogs, emailing, phoning people [if they aren't phoning me, which is usually the way].
Currently we are berthed in Bangkok, Thailand, with 3 days remaining before we head back east to Malaysia - Kota Kinabalu to be exact. Another long voyage is bound to bring excitment in the form of Fun Nights [full of embarrasment], sailing conditions and... good quality quiet time.
Alas, this voyage is the last I have with the BookShop. I don't want to leave my friends, but I feel that God is encouraging me to move in a new direction. We're way over the 6th month mark, and there is much change in the air. Many departments are losing people to other departments or because their commitment is over, bring a sad but somewhat refreshing time.
So I'm excited [and sad!] to become the new Deck Secretary. I don't like office jobs, but this one has the option of much variety and will be a challenge too. I do get the benefit of having the option of Deck Day Work if my jobs are done and I want to have a break, something that appeals greatly to me. But I really will miss my great mates in BookShop - Shift 2 especially. Lucky for me though, my new office is only along the deck from the BookShop, so they can pop in anytime. :D
So, we've been to Hong Kong when I last wrote on here. Then we has crystal glass water and smoothest voyage known to man kind on the way to Cambodia, which was excellent for our Ships Company BBQ one night. Cambodia is a beautiful but struggling country and we were blessed greatly by the hospitality of the people and their homes or hotels. Many Douloids made use of a 5-star pool at one resort, while others stayed there for a small break and used their facilities at a cheaper rate. We really have it too good on the ship despite what many think. I didn't actually make it to visit this resort, but I did do some random things...!
I got up at 4:45am one morning to walk with Jeff [USA], Josh [USA] Karl [UAE/AUS] and Sara [GER] to Independence Beach and swim/surf. It was random and was just a cool morning. The walk was about an hour and the rain was sufficient enough that we were saturated to the skin before we got to the beach. The water was incredibly warm and with the thunder & lightning storm around, provided a great wake up moment. Then we walked back and had breakfast at this ultra retro Disco Flights place. When i say flights, I mean there's a whopping great big plane in the middle of this 'hanger' which has been created into a resturant/night club. They made fantastic omlette and allowed us to sit in their comfy chairs despite being [still] so wet.
Another random thing was going swimming at about 10pm one night after work. It was REALLY nice!! After humid days, it was nice to feel cool but not cold!
Randomly, Rachel [USA]- roommate extrodinnaire, and I went for a walk about the town of Sihanoukville the day after we got there, and while out and having walked far enough down a road that lead to nowhere, we decided to turn back... as the rain began. Gentle and light to start with, it soon came down rather heavy. I was fine as I had a light jacket ontop of my shirt, but Rachel [who is ultra smart] was wearing a white top. not much underneath to protect her from the downpour that was about to happen. So either I give up my jacket or she reveals a little bit more of herself to the world. Lets go with the first choice. Then, hey, since we're at it, and since the rain just got harder, let us hide behind a building and then since I'm already wet - let me make a 'mock' weather report. I still laugh at the idea. No kidding though, the rain with the wind was like needles to your face. Ouchie-wah-wah.
Another random thing happened. We had a BookShop Shift 2 outting and to start it off, we had pizza, lovingly made by Geoff [NZ] and Joanne [SA]. Yummo. Taking one back to our cabin, Rachel & I were getting changed to do some extra ministry work at a HIV Hospital where we were cleaning and painting a hospital house so that it would be fit for patients to stay there [and not like it was before]. I grabbed some trousers from the Laundry and after pulling them on, sat down to put on my shoes. Barely a moment had passed after seating that I exclaimed "My, these pants are HOT!" only to stand up, turn and say "...or it could be the PIZZA I just sat on!!". Yes. I am clever, witty and wonderful and totally available to laugh at. Best thing? I let Rachel take a photo of the pizza stain on my butt for reference and memory sake.
To more... interesting news...
Challenges in Cambodia firstly was the weather, but followed closely behind that was the weather prevented people from visiting. Followed closely behind that was the prices of the things we sold. We had a deal that one ticket got one [then five] books in our deal deck, but in the actual bookshop, it was even too expensive for people to buy, and with communication barriers, confusing to shop. It was hard when you had to tell someone they didn't have enough for what they wanted. If its something small like a pen or wrist band, you could almost give it away [everything really was that cheap] but we couldn't do that incase it brought people who wanted to pocket more than they were paying for. I was challenged greatly by that.
After the 3rd day in Cambodia, I was moved to Deck for 2 weeks to help out while half of the Deckies were on training, and out of the few that remained, the BookShop needed 2 for Crowd Control [something that was actually more than no problem in the end]. So, because the Deckies were trading, I was the trade.
So I got to do many things as a Deckie. I worked in the Tanks - chipping, cleaning then concrete washing. I worked on the deck - scrubbing the deck, painting the exterior walls. I worked as the Bin Lady for the Rubbish Management one Lunch time and also was on Gangway security for one day as one of my friends hurt her ankle while working in the chain locker when we were coming back from anchor. Oh... that's another story.
The last day i worked in BookShop in Cambodia I was the head cashier. This meant I was the king pin incharge of the money for the shift, and because it was a Monday, our shift worked all day [which meant I sat at the same place for the WHOLE shift! BAH!]. Moving on...
After about 3 hours [so roughly 4pm Cambodian time] the nice day suddenly started raining. It was just a gentle, pleasant rain, keeping the 20 or so people who had visited inside. Then the rain changed and got a little harder. The Shift Leaders and random people from my shift then started closing the sides to protect the books from damage by the rain. This, usually is a good thing, but not this time.
The wind was a killer in Cambodia. One minute its normal rain, next minute its millions of needles piercing your skin. Well, on this day, at that point when the rain went from gentle to nasty, the wind went from calm to fierce, we found out that a typhoon had just arrived.
The Typhoon wasn't kind to us or our ship. Because it was a Monday, most of the ships company were off doing outtings and escaping the tininess of the ship for a day. When the Typhoon was slamming the ship into the berth and fenders [things that stop the ships destroying the jetty], we were trying to get everyone off the ship, into the crazy weather [sorry!!!] and we were preparing for emergency anchor, where we leave the port and sit in the open water in safety. There was about an hour between the announcement of us going out to anchor and us actually leaving to go to anchor. It was scary!! With so many people off the ship, especially the Deckies, what will they do - and what will we do?
We'll bring in Carola. She's young and fancy free, and amazing at picking up things quickly. First day of anchor we got to do tank work. Second day of anchor I got to help bring up the anchor and help with mooring stations [for a bit till they didn't need me]. Then as the days went on, Deck terms and items became familiar to me. I was blessed to work with 4 guys from Faroe Islands who were in Deck for as long as I was, and we had a cool bond because we all started at the same time and did many jobs together.
And the nicest thing was, I got to join the Deckies on their Deck Outting. That was amazing! We went Island hopping, something I've not done much of, but with about 30 other people, it makes the travel fun. Our first island was the furtherest from the mainland and we really felt like we were... away from all normality of life. We spent like 4 hours on this beach, swimming, snorkelling, sitting, and spitting seeds [it was a competition. When you are in a group with mostly guys, this is bound to happen]. The people who were hosting us for the day kindly cooked out meal for us, and can I say, of all the chicken and rice meals we've had onboard, theirs was SO tasty and SO amazing that most of us went back for seconds! The boy of the family hosting us was an amazing swimmer and he would go out deep, duck-dive down and come up with all sorts of critters and edible goodies. He managed [no one knows how] to pick up an ultra spikey sea urchin, and about 6-10 differently sized clams. The clams got cooked and most people tried them...
It was fun to be somewhere where ship rules were let off for a while, not to be disobedient but because swim wear allows it. Guys without their shirts on running wild up and or wrestling on the beach while girls with shoe-string tops and regular shorts [heaven forbid!] laughed and swam about made for a really nice day.
Then we jumped back into the 2 boats to the last stop of the day... another beach on another mostly deserted island. And what do the crazy people want to do? Jump off the sketchy jetty that was nearby. I haven't seen so many cut feel in my time!!!
And then we headed back. Tired from an exhausting but fun day of laughing and very much being spoilt. Only, most of us didn't realise the extent of our sunburns. Due to the Malaria tablets we take, majority of us burnt rather well, with many a "Cherry Red" being called out to all of us lobsters. Yet they were the ones remarking on how great our tans were after that. Yes, dead skin cells are attractive.
And then I was back in the BookShop. It was so nice to be back. I really missed working with my mates and having the jokes that we all knew and were familiar with. I also got to meet the new STEPers who had joined while I was in Deck. They are very cool, and every STEP group has had so many amazing people in them. Usually they consist of lots of 18-21 year olds, but the current one has older people and the maturity of the group is awesome and encouraging.
Fun times are to be had when you have a kiwi in the midst. One of the STEPers, Geoffrey ["Jiff"], is hillarious and... a full blooded "Noo Zullanda" whose lived in Australia. Nothing wrong with Kiwi's, but its fun to have the banter that goes on between Aussies and Kiwi's. Take the first slap Geoff gave. "Noo Zulland beet Orrstrayleah in the Roogbee". PSH. What ever. I'm foggy to remember if I have 'slapped' him back yet, but out chats are usually full of laughter and teasing each other. He's so opposite to me! He's the guy who LIKES to shop, and it actually drives me mad!! He's getting into the whole 'bartering' that goes on here and will stay for up to [likely longer] an hour and a half just to get a deal he's happy with. Holy MOLY! I would rather shoot myself in the foot than do that! He's a great mate, and I'll miss his blondeness when he's gone home to la-la Land.
Life is crazy but fun and going way too fast. The new preship is coming in like... 3 weeks and as we were the most recent newbies, we get to welcome them onboard. So, we've some planning to do, and coordination to make, but our idea should be hillariously fun!!!
I'll update more on ministry here in Bangkok later, but I thought I would just let you know what has been happening so far.
Hualien Day Out - Taroko National Park
It all began at 9:14am Sunday morning... in Hualien.
But before that, it actually all began a week before hand, on the Sunday night. If you haven't caught up on the goss, I kindly headbutted some steel in one of our holds that we store books in, and this was the day after. I hadn't been feeling up for conversation at all that day, and during my devotions I shared with my shift [SHIFT 2! YEAH!] that we should approach the day renewed, leaving behind our troubles and our burdens to focus not upon ourselves but on the people we meet. For good conversation to happen, we can't be thinking of the things that are bothering us, for we'll only go into the short but vital conversations already with an attitude.
I didn't expect my own words to impact me as much as they did, for after dinner that evening, I sat with one volunteer who expressed how much joy he sees within me - something I was amazed at not because of what he said, but because I didn't think I had been very joyful that day at all. So that got me thinking, and when I went to my next position which was at the Deal Deck, Amy called out my name. How she knew my name I have no idea. But she came up and was the most encouraging person to me. She said when she saw me the previous evening with the visitors and how I interacted with them, that I had a personal touch to my attention towards them, especially the younger ones. She was so blown away that a stranger would be like that. I was blown away that a stranger would boldly tell me this!
It really made me think
Myself and two of my random mates Riana [South Africa] and Batmunkh [Mongolia] were invited by one of the ladies working in the Christian Bookshop stand onboard to a day's outing around Hualien. Seeing as we'd mostly all looked at the massive mountains and hand't yet gone to visit them, all of us were pretty awesomely excited to have this opportunity. The plan was that she would pick us up from the ship at 9:15am Sunday Morning and take us out all day...
So here we were standing on the ship at 9:14am anticipating her late arrival when, scarily, at 9:15am to the DOT she arrived. We all bundle into her little red car and she turns and hands out some Taroko Gorge National Park flyers [in english for us and Mongol for Batman], then informs us that she needs to make 2 shorts stops before we are on our way, the first is to a shop.
In Taiwan, parking seems casual and easy enough - if you need to pull up infront of a place and the parking has been taken up, just park next to the cars already parked there. Of course to us, that actually blocks people in and I would anticipate some sirens firing up or an inspector slapping you with a big hefty fine. But this is normal. People park wherever they want, though they are more eager to move if you suddenly arrive to your blocked car - so that is nice.
So we sat awkwardly in the car, engine still running, next to other cars while Amy [lovely Amy] dashes into a shop to get some goodies. Goodies...ahh... Then we drive to her place, so she can get some protection from the sun - those sleeves things that Asian people are fashionable for because they actually don't want to be darkened by the sun, unlike most of us Australians who don't say no to a bit of colour. She also brought a massive hat and umbrella - which she never put fully up [so it would always slowly fall down and sit more on her head than anything].
When she had collected her stuff from her house, she asked us if we had tasted the drinks she had brought. We just assumed they were for up at Taroko, so we didn't touch it. Plus we were too busy laughing and being all giggly [mostly Batman]. So she turns on us with eager eyes as we all reach for a cup. Taking the first sip in I... screwed my face up in disgust! The flavour!! Ack! It tasted like medicine - the one you got as a kid that tasted so horrible you wished you weren't sick to have to have it. Ack! And I felt so bad! I tried so hard to hold the face and show that despite the taste, it wasn't so bad, but the next two following produced the same reaction. And not just from me, Riana kept doing a gag-reflex reaction and Batman's face would screw up followed but an outburst of "That's crap!". Needless to say, we all laughed quite a bit about this while we were driving to the National Park, kindly slipping the cups back into the bag so we could pretend to forget about them.
So while driving [and still laughing about the drinks and how rude Batman was], we started our way into Taroko. My goodness. I mentioned this in an earlier post but Taroko National Park is simply amazingly beautiful. The whole time of driving had us all leaning our heads on the windows to get a better view. With many tunnels to drive through, they only really existed to get us more excited for what we would see out the other side.
Our first stop was at the Jiucyudong [Tunnel of Nine Trails] where we donned hard hats and strolled down along the cliffs where you can hear and see the water rush over the boulders and rocks down below, through the tunnels hand carved into the mountain, gaze up at the gorge face that towers over you and see the massively huge moths flutter around. It was beautiful.
Jumping back into the car we drove to Yanzikhou [Swallow Grotto] where we strolled the whole length down, taking in the amazing scenery. Batmunkh took this opportunity to do the manly thing and walk off the 'beaten track' [its paved haha] and climb down the embankment to have a photo or two on this perched rock. He took pictures and Riana took pictures of him. Then as we continued, she continued to freak out as the railings were literally 'on the edge' of the cliff and walking path, and everytime Batmunkh and I would lean over them to see how far down it was etc, she would flip out. Haha. Sorry Riana. But it was funny. She was brave. While walking down, we saw our host Amy, who didn't see us approach her so she began to drive off. Luckily, we stand out being foriegn.
We had a banana break when Amy drove us down further and showed us the Indian Chief in the rock. None of us could see it. She took a photo and showed us and then we could see it, though, my question to her was to ask why there is an Indian Chief in the wall - did Indians ever live there? No. But hey, its a tourist thing, the tourists love it.
Then we had lunch at the Toroko Gorge National Park Information Center, which is rather beautiful and well informed. The greatest thing about the centre is that from a distance, you can't tell its there. It in no way spoils the beauty of the place, not at all an eyesore that sticks out like a sore thumb. I was impressed. Here we had lunch and desert provided for by the lovely Amy. We also managed to skull the drinks we'd been given when Amy would go off to the toilet. We could've easily said that we really didn't like them, but we were told not to refuse what we'd been offered when hosted by others. So since the taste wasn't exactly to our liking, trying to drink them as fast as we could brought out several fits of laughter, which only confused Amy i'm sure. We are so thankful for her hospitality. She really gave us a sample of what Hualien food is like and we really appreciate that [though we know now what not to order!].
After an hour or so of chilling at the Centre, we made our way to the Shakadang Trail. At first, you only on a bridge, but then you go down what seems to be a million stairs [all my stair training onboard the Doulos helped this be no problem at all] and before you lies a very old looking path, etched into the side of the cliff [where even I had to duck sometimes, so think of a 6ft Mongolian having to walk along here]. I felt so at peace here. Many people were also on the path, but all were busier taking in the beauty of the crystal-clear blue-green waters, exotic foliage and sweet serenity to disturb it for others. Unless your a bike-riding worker riding along it. We walked and the path wound up, around, over and through amazing places, always following the gorge river. Amy stopped at one point where we saw people down by the water, some swimming, and when we were all there, she told us that despite this place being beautiful, there was too many people, and she knew a better spot. After a couple of bends in the road, we were clambouring down the embankment, over the rocky dry river bed, boulder-hopped over the river and ended up on the other side. We were in the shadow of the mountain so it was very cool, and we had an amazing view - with no people invited. When the images get put up from Batmunkh and Riana, I'll share some with you...
After an hour or so of just talking and spending time together, throwing rocks into the water and taking photos, we made our way to the end of the trail and then back to the car. We then drove into the heart of Hualien, [some of us having sleeps in the car], before going to a really cool discount centre. After a browse and a purchase of some goodies for back on the ship, we headed further into the heart of Hualien and to Amy's friends resturant: Korean food. Now if you have heard of Kimchi, you will know that there is some spice involved. But I picked a delicious meal consisting of the freshest lettuce I've seen in months [sorry Catering staff!], stir fried marinated steak [sorry Catering staff! Again!] and a fabulous satay sauce. Can i just say, the others were eye balling my meal. It was delux!
Then the day was over. Amy needed to go home, and we were so glad to be back on the ship for we were quite literally worn out. I felt such an over flow of refreshment from the day off the ship, from the time in nature, in the wild slightly touched park, with friends who always make me laugh - even if i'm annoyed with them! - and mostly from the hospitality of Amy, who was so willing to show us around.
But before that, it actually all began a week before hand, on the Sunday night. If you haven't caught up on the goss, I kindly headbutted some steel in one of our holds that we store books in, and this was the day after. I hadn't been feeling up for conversation at all that day, and during my devotions I shared with my shift [SHIFT 2! YEAH!] that we should approach the day renewed, leaving behind our troubles and our burdens to focus not upon ourselves but on the people we meet. For good conversation to happen, we can't be thinking of the things that are bothering us, for we'll only go into the short but vital conversations already with an attitude.
I didn't expect my own words to impact me as much as they did, for after dinner that evening, I sat with one volunteer who expressed how much joy he sees within me - something I was amazed at not because of what he said, but because I didn't think I had been very joyful that day at all. So that got me thinking, and when I went to my next position which was at the Deal Deck, Amy called out my name. How she knew my name I have no idea. But she came up and was the most encouraging person to me. She said when she saw me the previous evening with the visitors and how I interacted with them, that I had a personal touch to my attention towards them, especially the younger ones. She was so blown away that a stranger would be like that. I was blown away that a stranger would boldly tell me this!
It really made me think
Myself and two of my random mates Riana [South Africa] and Batmunkh [Mongolia] were invited by one of the ladies working in the Christian Bookshop stand onboard to a day's outing around Hualien. Seeing as we'd mostly all looked at the massive mountains and hand't yet gone to visit them, all of us were pretty awesomely excited to have this opportunity. The plan was that she would pick us up from the ship at 9:15am Sunday Morning and take us out all day...
So here we were standing on the ship at 9:14am anticipating her late arrival when, scarily, at 9:15am to the DOT she arrived. We all bundle into her little red car and she turns and hands out some Taroko Gorge National Park flyers [in english for us and Mongol for Batman], then informs us that she needs to make 2 shorts stops before we are on our way, the first is to a shop.
In Taiwan, parking seems casual and easy enough - if you need to pull up infront of a place and the parking has been taken up, just park next to the cars already parked there. Of course to us, that actually blocks people in and I would anticipate some sirens firing up or an inspector slapping you with a big hefty fine. But this is normal. People park wherever they want, though they are more eager to move if you suddenly arrive to your blocked car - so that is nice.
So we sat awkwardly in the car, engine still running, next to other cars while Amy [lovely Amy] dashes into a shop to get some goodies. Goodies...ahh... Then we drive to her place, so she can get some protection from the sun - those sleeves things that Asian people are fashionable for because they actually don't want to be darkened by the sun, unlike most of us Australians who don't say no to a bit of colour. She also brought a massive hat and umbrella - which she never put fully up [so it would always slowly fall down and sit more on her head than anything].
When she had collected her stuff from her house, she asked us if we had tasted the drinks she had brought. We just assumed they were for up at Taroko, so we didn't touch it. Plus we were too busy laughing and being all giggly [mostly Batman]. So she turns on us with eager eyes as we all reach for a cup. Taking the first sip in I... screwed my face up in disgust! The flavour!! Ack! It tasted like medicine - the one you got as a kid that tasted so horrible you wished you weren't sick to have to have it. Ack! And I felt so bad! I tried so hard to hold the face and show that despite the taste, it wasn't so bad, but the next two following produced the same reaction. And not just from me, Riana kept doing a gag-reflex reaction and Batman's face would screw up followed but an outburst of "That's crap!". Needless to say, we all laughed quite a bit about this while we were driving to the National Park, kindly slipping the cups back into the bag so we could pretend to forget about them.
So while driving [and still laughing about the drinks and how rude Batman was], we started our way into Taroko. My goodness. I mentioned this in an earlier post but Taroko National Park is simply amazingly beautiful. The whole time of driving had us all leaning our heads on the windows to get a better view. With many tunnels to drive through, they only really existed to get us more excited for what we would see out the other side.
Our first stop was at the Jiucyudong [Tunnel of Nine Trails] where we donned hard hats and strolled down along the cliffs where you can hear and see the water rush over the boulders and rocks down below, through the tunnels hand carved into the mountain, gaze up at the gorge face that towers over you and see the massively huge moths flutter around. It was beautiful.
Jumping back into the car we drove to Yanzikhou [Swallow Grotto] where we strolled the whole length down, taking in the amazing scenery. Batmunkh took this opportunity to do the manly thing and walk off the 'beaten track' [its paved haha] and climb down the embankment to have a photo or two on this perched rock. He took pictures and Riana took pictures of him. Then as we continued, she continued to freak out as the railings were literally 'on the edge' of the cliff and walking path, and everytime Batmunkh and I would lean over them to see how far down it was etc, she would flip out. Haha. Sorry Riana. But it was funny. She was brave. While walking down, we saw our host Amy, who didn't see us approach her so she began to drive off. Luckily, we stand out being foriegn.
We had a banana break when Amy drove us down further and showed us the Indian Chief in the rock. None of us could see it. She took a photo and showed us and then we could see it, though, my question to her was to ask why there is an Indian Chief in the wall - did Indians ever live there? No. But hey, its a tourist thing, the tourists love it.
Then we had lunch at the Toroko Gorge National Park Information Center, which is rather beautiful and well informed. The greatest thing about the centre is that from a distance, you can't tell its there. It in no way spoils the beauty of the place, not at all an eyesore that sticks out like a sore thumb. I was impressed. Here we had lunch and desert provided for by the lovely Amy. We also managed to skull the drinks we'd been given when Amy would go off to the toilet. We could've easily said that we really didn't like them, but we were told not to refuse what we'd been offered when hosted by others. So since the taste wasn't exactly to our liking, trying to drink them as fast as we could brought out several fits of laughter, which only confused Amy i'm sure. We are so thankful for her hospitality. She really gave us a sample of what Hualien food is like and we really appreciate that [though we know now what not to order!].
After an hour or so of chilling at the Centre, we made our way to the Shakadang Trail. At first, you only on a bridge, but then you go down what seems to be a million stairs [all my stair training onboard the Doulos helped this be no problem at all] and before you lies a very old looking path, etched into the side of the cliff [where even I had to duck sometimes, so think of a 6ft Mongolian having to walk along here]. I felt so at peace here. Many people were also on the path, but all were busier taking in the beauty of the crystal-clear blue-green waters, exotic foliage and sweet serenity to disturb it for others. Unless your a bike-riding worker riding along it. We walked and the path wound up, around, over and through amazing places, always following the gorge river. Amy stopped at one point where we saw people down by the water, some swimming, and when we were all there, she told us that despite this place being beautiful, there was too many people, and she knew a better spot. After a couple of bends in the road, we were clambouring down the embankment, over the rocky dry river bed, boulder-hopped over the river and ended up on the other side. We were in the shadow of the mountain so it was very cool, and we had an amazing view - with no people invited. When the images get put up from Batmunkh and Riana, I'll share some with you...
After an hour or so of just talking and spending time together, throwing rocks into the water and taking photos, we made our way to the end of the trail and then back to the car. We then drove into the heart of Hualien, [some of us having sleeps in the car], before going to a really cool discount centre. After a browse and a purchase of some goodies for back on the ship, we headed further into the heart of Hualien and to Amy's friends resturant: Korean food. Now if you have heard of Kimchi, you will know that there is some spice involved. But I picked a delicious meal consisting of the freshest lettuce I've seen in months [sorry Catering staff!], stir fried marinated steak [sorry Catering staff! Again!] and a fabulous satay sauce. Can i just say, the others were eye balling my meal. It was delux!
Then the day was over. Amy needed to go home, and we were so glad to be back on the ship for we were quite literally worn out. I felt such an over flow of refreshment from the day off the ship, from the time in nature, in the wild slightly touched park, with friends who always make me laugh - even if i'm annoyed with them! - and mostly from the hospitality of Amy, who was so willing to show us around.
To hyphenate or to not hyphenate...
[is that really how we spell the word 'hyphenate'...?]
Hyphenating. Why am I talking about this? Oh only because Lewis Franklin Bradford Scott possibly has a Hyphenated name... its true...
WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?
Okay, to the beginning. Hello, my name is Carola and I am officially an Aunty!!!! My very first nephew popped out into the world today, November 2, at 5:34pm South Australian time to his mummy, Rachel Scott and to his daddy, Troy Bradford.
Doctors 'forecasted' the birth date to be October 26, but I thought they were out by a week [according to my background in medical... sciencey... stuff], so I said that the little bun would be baked by November 2... seriously this is not even a joke. I am not even laughing - THATS how weird it is...
I think I'll be known as Aunty Car-Car but according to my Dutch and South African friends from the ship, car-car means, ahm.... *whispers*... poo.
SO - as long as no one spreads that arounds too far [oh, EW!], and because kids can't say my name anyway, [usually Koala comes out and I'm not THAT fuzzy!], Car-Car is kind of a 'cool' name for an Aunty - that is till it becomes uncool and they think of something better... yeah....
Hyphenating. Why am I talking about this? Oh only because Lewis Franklin Bradford Scott possibly has a Hyphenated name... its true...
WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?
Okay, to the beginning. Hello, my name is Carola and I am officially an Aunty!!!! My very first nephew popped out into the world today, November 2, at 5:34pm South Australian time to his mummy, Rachel Scott and to his daddy, Troy Bradford.
Doctors 'forecasted' the birth date to be October 26, but I thought they were out by a week [according to my background in medical... sciencey... stuff], so I said that the little bun would be baked by November 2... seriously this is not even a joke. I am not even laughing - THATS how weird it is...
I think I'll be known as Aunty Car-Car but according to my Dutch and South African friends from the ship, car-car means, ahm.... *whispers*... poo.
SO - as long as no one spreads that arounds too far [oh, EW!], and because kids can't say my name anyway, [usually Koala comes out and I'm not THAT fuzzy!], Car-Car is kind of a 'cool' name for an Aunty - that is till it becomes uncool and they think of something better... yeah....
Reminising... again
Okay the continued update.
The evening I returned back to the ship from my 'Overnight' I ended up going out with a couple of work friends to a really cool pub called 'The Argyle'. Now seriously, you don't even have to want to eat at the pub, just go for a look. It is set up in an old wine cellar and has very cool lights hanging from the ceiling and glass cabinets of objects also lit up... I could go on for hours.
Then, I got the special priviledge to watch a movie called "Welcome to the Sticks". This movie I recommend to EVERYONE! It's French, so there's subtitles, but its done so well and it's so random and you can believe me when I say that I was not the only one laughing through most of it. Fan-flaming-tastic!!!!
This now brings us to Monday, ah the 8th of September, the day before departure. Our Cap'n Ashley wanted to have a 'getting to know you' day out - also known as the BDO - Baristas Day Out. We had no idea where we were going which made it all exciting as we all made our way to the Info/lobby to meet. When we get there, Cap'n Ashley excitedly tells us that the manager of the Maritime Museum is going to let us in for free. Ah. Right. My first thoughts became,
"What kind of dude is Cap'n Ashley?? He wants to get to know us so he decides that taking us across to the other side of Darling Harbour to look a museum is a perfect idea... does he sleep with ships on his pj's too? This guy sure know's how to party - not!"
***Don't get me wrong, the museum I think would be cool... on a lazy Sunday afternoon when it's raining outside and stuff and things...
So were walking towards Darling Harbour central to the bridge to cross to the Maritime Museum, when Ashley walks down this boat ramp and I'm thinking "This dude is going to get a taxi across the harbour instead of walking over the bridge! Lame!" ....until this sweet sweet Sports Luxury Cruiser speed boat pulls into view heading to the boat ramp we just walked down.
No - way!
So - cheesy Cap'n Ashley is not so cheesy after all - infact he's quite a fun teaser and knows exactly how to party! We all jumped onboard for a few hours of speeding down the Sydney Harbour channels, eating delux dips and nibbles, fancy lunch and a nice glass or two, pulled into mini harbours and disembarked to walk around like up to 'The Gap', had running races about who would get back to certain spots first and just enjoyed the day.
That evening - I can't even remember what I did but I'm sure it was exciting...
Tuesday morning we were leaving Sydney by 9:30am, smooth sailing until we passed through 'the Heads'. Then - we had some awesome waves! Awesome for me, but many people were very sick from these awesome waves. Elliott [NZ] and I were down at one of our favourite fishing spots [right at the back of the ship] called the Aft Mooring Station and when the bow [front] of the ship was tilting down alot and the back of the ship was up a fair way in the air, as it was about to drop over the wave and back down again, Elliott and I would jump. AWESOME! Feels like your flying! But its just as awesome on the top levels of the ship too... love it!
The rough seas lasted most of the Tuesday, calming off considerably on the Wednesday - which was also awesome because we got to see a pod of 5 whales just cruising around next to us - and by Wednesday evening when we'd entered the Bass Straight, the seas were perfectly calm. Sitting on the bow of the ship right up the front-most spot is incredible - and even though its cheesy and most guests coming onto the ship attempt it on the Car Deck railing - you really have a desire to do the 'Titanic' pose... hhehehe! [by the way - I didn't do it :)].
Thursday midday-ish we started up the final leg of the sail to Geelong, arriving into the Geelong port at about 3pm to be greeted by an Army Band who gladly played a couple of songs to warm up the crowd.
This stop in Geelong is the most home-like port so far being smaller than Adelaide but very much a laid back big-country town. Brisbane brought us perfect weather and was right in posh-central so because there were resturants and cinemas, people were often coming onboard for a look. Sydney had terrible weather and only few nice days, but with no one walking near us because we were shut off from the public by large fences, we weren't very busy at all, but that did pick up on our last weekend. Geelong however has had the most people come onboard on our opening day, which is a huge blessing, especially as during the day has been blowy but the evenings have calmed right off.
HUGE exciting blessings have been that everyday so far I've had the priviledge of seeing someone I know. When we arrived, Simeon & Josephine Telfer [and little David] came onboard to visit the Follands - but was awesome to say hi to them and spend a little more time with them for the 2 days they stayed onboard.
Friday ended up being a very tearful day as P.Andy and Diedre came for a visit and spent about 5-ish hours with me both on the ship and off. We went out to have Mexican dinner [YUM!] and came back on the ship for a coffee, caught up with Yi-An and Yoke Mei, and then had a tearful farewell. Tearful because perhaps this would be the last time I'd see them for a fair while, and its going to be sad to go back to church and not see them there. I know where they are now is going to be most exciting and awesome and I'm so glad I did get that chance to catch up with them, especially to see photo's of Sarah's wedding - so BEAUTIFUL!
It was also extra exciting because it was the first of two of my best mates birthdays - today on September 12, its Happy Birthday Alex! I miss her so much and cannot wait to just talk randomness with her and her delightfully whack hubby, Tim, again [sorry to publicly say that, Alex! :)].
Saturday, Walburger and Heather popped down from Ballarat to spend a couple of hours, but I had to work at 4, so the hour-ish I got to spend with them was pretty awesome to catch up a little about whats happeneing with them.
Sunday I had an evening shift but the weather was so windy that it was uncertain if we would work. Our new recruits, Geelong Pre-Ship, also arrived today so it was a mixture of emotions from saying goodbye to so many people to welcoming the new recruits. Our welcome for the newbies was to stand on any available deck or Quayside and wave flags and scream and ya-hoo and make it all exciting for our newbies. Then I was halfway into eating my dinner when I got paged [which never happens!], and was told I had guest on the Quayside. Having no idea someone was coming I walked out to see James & Alexa Telfer standing there. If anyone reading knows Alexa, you know that when she's excited she gets a high-pitched squeal going. Weeooo!
I got to show them around the ship before handing them back to Simeon & Josephine to have a catch up with them, as the Geelong weather proved consistent and at 6pm we decided it would be calm enough to open for the evening [not like we had any customers]. James & Lex will come back next weekend to have a better catch up - which will rock!
Sunday was also extra exciting because it was the second of two of my best mates birthdays - September 14, its Happy Birthday Mozza! I also miss her dearly and extra miss her because shes just recently moved - but I hope her day was special and that she got my message of well-wishes! I can't wait to drop by and say hello to her wonderful self and to her lovely hubby, Pete, too!
Sorry for the length, but that now brings you up to date!
So ahm yeah! Must depart or i'll end up spending all day writing updates! Hope your well and I hope that life is being delightful to you at this time!
Hugs & Kisses... Carola
The evening I returned back to the ship from my 'Overnight' I ended up going out with a couple of work friends to a really cool pub called 'The Argyle'. Now seriously, you don't even have to want to eat at the pub, just go for a look. It is set up in an old wine cellar and has very cool lights hanging from the ceiling and glass cabinets of objects also lit up... I could go on for hours.
Then, I got the special priviledge to watch a movie called "Welcome to the Sticks". This movie I recommend to EVERYONE! It's French, so there's subtitles, but its done so well and it's so random and you can believe me when I say that I was not the only one laughing through most of it. Fan-flaming-tastic!!!!
This now brings us to Monday, ah the 8th of September, the day before departure. Our Cap'n Ashley wanted to have a 'getting to know you' day out - also known as the BDO - Baristas Day Out. We had no idea where we were going which made it all exciting as we all made our way to the Info/lobby to meet. When we get there, Cap'n Ashley excitedly tells us that the manager of the Maritime Museum is going to let us in for free. Ah. Right. My first thoughts became,
"What kind of dude is Cap'n Ashley?? He wants to get to know us so he decides that taking us across to the other side of Darling Harbour to look a museum is a perfect idea... does he sleep with ships on his pj's too? This guy sure know's how to party - not!"
***Don't get me wrong, the museum I think would be cool... on a lazy Sunday afternoon when it's raining outside and stuff and things...
So were walking towards Darling Harbour central to the bridge to cross to the Maritime Museum, when Ashley walks down this boat ramp and I'm thinking "This dude is going to get a taxi across the harbour instead of walking over the bridge! Lame!" ....until this sweet sweet Sports Luxury Cruiser speed boat pulls into view heading to the boat ramp we just walked down.
No - way!
So - cheesy Cap'n Ashley is not so cheesy after all - infact he's quite a fun teaser and knows exactly how to party! We all jumped onboard for a few hours of speeding down the Sydney Harbour channels, eating delux dips and nibbles, fancy lunch and a nice glass or two, pulled into mini harbours and disembarked to walk around like up to 'The Gap', had running races about who would get back to certain spots first and just enjoyed the day.
That evening - I can't even remember what I did but I'm sure it was exciting...
Tuesday morning we were leaving Sydney by 9:30am, smooth sailing until we passed through 'the Heads'. Then - we had some awesome waves! Awesome for me, but many people were very sick from these awesome waves. Elliott [NZ] and I were down at one of our favourite fishing spots [right at the back of the ship] called the Aft Mooring Station and when the bow [front] of the ship was tilting down alot and the back of the ship was up a fair way in the air, as it was about to drop over the wave and back down again, Elliott and I would jump. AWESOME! Feels like your flying! But its just as awesome on the top levels of the ship too... love it!
The rough seas lasted most of the Tuesday, calming off considerably on the Wednesday - which was also awesome because we got to see a pod of 5 whales just cruising around next to us - and by Wednesday evening when we'd entered the Bass Straight, the seas were perfectly calm. Sitting on the bow of the ship right up the front-most spot is incredible - and even though its cheesy and most guests coming onto the ship attempt it on the Car Deck railing - you really have a desire to do the 'Titanic' pose... hhehehe! [by the way - I didn't do it :)].
Thursday midday-ish we started up the final leg of the sail to Geelong, arriving into the Geelong port at about 3pm to be greeted by an Army Band who gladly played a couple of songs to warm up the crowd.
This stop in Geelong is the most home-like port so far being smaller than Adelaide but very much a laid back big-country town. Brisbane brought us perfect weather and was right in posh-central so because there were resturants and cinemas, people were often coming onboard for a look. Sydney had terrible weather and only few nice days, but with no one walking near us because we were shut off from the public by large fences, we weren't very busy at all, but that did pick up on our last weekend. Geelong however has had the most people come onboard on our opening day, which is a huge blessing, especially as during the day has been blowy but the evenings have calmed right off.
HUGE exciting blessings have been that everyday so far I've had the priviledge of seeing someone I know. When we arrived, Simeon & Josephine Telfer [and little David] came onboard to visit the Follands - but was awesome to say hi to them and spend a little more time with them for the 2 days they stayed onboard.
Friday ended up being a very tearful day as P.Andy and Diedre came for a visit and spent about 5-ish hours with me both on the ship and off. We went out to have Mexican dinner [YUM!] and came back on the ship for a coffee, caught up with Yi-An and Yoke Mei, and then had a tearful farewell. Tearful because perhaps this would be the last time I'd see them for a fair while, and its going to be sad to go back to church and not see them there. I know where they are now is going to be most exciting and awesome and I'm so glad I did get that chance to catch up with them, especially to see photo's of Sarah's wedding - so BEAUTIFUL!
It was also extra exciting because it was the first of two of my best mates birthdays - today on September 12, its Happy Birthday Alex! I miss her so much and cannot wait to just talk randomness with her and her delightfully whack hubby, Tim, again [sorry to publicly say that, Alex! :)].
Saturday, Walburger and Heather popped down from Ballarat to spend a couple of hours, but I had to work at 4, so the hour-ish I got to spend with them was pretty awesome to catch up a little about whats happeneing with them.
Sunday I had an evening shift but the weather was so windy that it was uncertain if we would work. Our new recruits, Geelong Pre-Ship, also arrived today so it was a mixture of emotions from saying goodbye to so many people to welcoming the new recruits. Our welcome for the newbies was to stand on any available deck or Quayside and wave flags and scream and ya-hoo and make it all exciting for our newbies. Then I was halfway into eating my dinner when I got paged [which never happens!], and was told I had guest on the Quayside. Having no idea someone was coming I walked out to see James & Alexa Telfer standing there. If anyone reading knows Alexa, you know that when she's excited she gets a high-pitched squeal going. Weeooo!
I got to show them around the ship before handing them back to Simeon & Josephine to have a catch up with them, as the Geelong weather proved consistent and at 6pm we decided it would be calm enough to open for the evening [not like we had any customers]. James & Lex will come back next weekend to have a better catch up - which will rock!
Sunday was also extra exciting because it was the second of two of my best mates birthdays - September 14, its Happy Birthday Mozza! I also miss her dearly and extra miss her because shes just recently moved - but I hope her day was special and that she got my message of well-wishes! I can't wait to drop by and say hello to her wonderful self and to her lovely hubby, Pete, too!
Sorry for the length, but that now brings you up to date!
So ahm yeah! Must depart or i'll end up spending all day writing updates! Hope your well and I hope that life is being delightful to you at this time!
Hugs & Kisses... Carola
Cause I gotta have faith...faith... faith
Since being in Sydney, we’ve certainly begun experiencing more of our Australian winter. Most people on the ship are ‘suffering’ from the cold – particularly when they arrived in New Zealand – as they had predominantly been living in mostly ‘summer’ weather for a year – or had arrived while travelling in countries like the Philliphines where its often warm. Mum has been informing me of her ‘puddle’ status – currently I believe she still has some puddles existing – which make her glad. And Dad has informed me that they’ve been having a reassuring stint of rain to keep them hopefull that perhaps this is the year the drought will change. I hope wherever you are your lawns and gardens are getting a well deserved watering.
I have appreciated the cool weather as I more than understand we’re in a drought, but have ashamedly found it frustrating as our Café is exposed to the elements being on the ‘Car Deck’ which is practically the bow of the ship. Because we also haven’t had efficient weather proofing – particularly from the wind and rain, [having it open gives people much more picturesque views not obstructed by shelter], so we have been braving the bitter chilling cold instead. Our demands really are not many. We want something to stop the rain getting to us, and we’d like a couple of those heaters that café’s with outdoor areas have. Having the heaters would trick us to believe the wind isn’t as chilling, and with the shelter the rain wouldn’t affect our entire area like it does. But it might take us all getting sick before that happens…
Saturday I spent my first money in what feels like months by going to my first IMAX experience with Timothy [UK], Mikaela [USA], Tomas [Sweden], Naveen [India], Jeff [Paraguay] & Christian [Paraguay], dude and dude [Naveen’s friends]. Oh-my-goodness. I’m not even gasping bout the slightly pricey cost to watch a movie there [only a sweet $25]. No, I’m talking about the overly impressive screen we got to eyeball. This was such a MASSIVE screen! I joked to my Jeff & Christian [picture me jammed between 2 well-over 6ft guys] that it would be hilariously nasty if IMAX tease us with this massive screen and show the movie with black defining top & bottom lines. We laughed, but I think we were all thinking how low that would be if we cough out that much money for half an awesome screen. Luckily after previews and really bad advertising [seriously, Sydney, I am appalled in your terrible graphics and advertising in cinemas!] the movie started and we were comforted to see that the screen disappears in front of the people in the front row and goes all the way to the ceiling, and wide enough that you have to slightly turn your head to keep up with the action. Amazing… so worth it!
I also went to the Hillsong City church – which was a lovely way to spend Sunday. A group of 5 of us walked about 45 minutes through the city to a stop where a ‘courtesy’ bus collects attendees and drives them the 5 minutes to the campus. The group was Noelle [USA], Jen [Canada], Timothy [UK], Tersius [SA] and myself. When we arrived I was honestly truly surprised that we had people recognise we were new. Our first greeter was really informative and encouraging – and upon hearing that we all live on a ship and are from all nationalities in the world – informed one of the head Pastors about us and soon we were talking to him too. They really found the whole idea fascinating, which isn’t really a surprise. They also had never heard of OM – which also did not surprise me. And for Hillsong City – it was tiny. I had imagined a humungous venue – but it was so small. And I was expecting to be bored of the message because I wouldn’t find anything of value in it – when infact Robert Fergusson actually preached the Word. He was reading verses from all over the bible and actually using them. He said don’t come to church and focus on the speaker, the singer, or the place. Focus on the message, the worship and completely on Jesus. I was encouraged greatly by his sermon.
When we had finished we caught the courtesy bus back into the city [it almost felt like a wasted drive when we could’ve walked that distance rather easily], and had a really awesome lunch in Darling Harbour for under $10. Shock. I really didn’t think there would be anywhere to get food there for less than $25 – so I was impressed – particularly as my chicken, avocado & salad sanga was a great size in price comparison.
Life otherwise is exciting. I worked my longest shift on Monday, working from 12:30pm till 10pm. It was meant to be 1-11pm but the Bookshop closed early from having less than 100 people come through all day. But Mondays on the ship tend to be quiet anyway as most people have Monday as their day off, which means to keep departments running, whoever’s on shift that day works ALL day.
Tuesday was then my official Off day I left the ship [you have to – or you’d go nuts from never leaving] and wandered the city with Cara [Brisbane]. She’s a Salvo, so we were actually in the city for her to do some Salvo things at the head office, and I tagged along because I was free and we have rules about how many people have to go with you if you leave the ship. When I got back I changed and ended up at work [it’s the hang out place for Douloids that just happens to come with AWESOME coffee or hot chocolates!] and ended up in this great DnM with Crystal [USA], Liza [SA] and Tomas [Sweden] about knights in shining armour, do they exist, that most women want a manly man, that even though Tomas isn’t that much a blokey bloke we’re sure he’ll fight for the chick he loves when he finds her, and other really random but interesting things like that which drinking coffee’s and eating chocolate in the sun. Then to randomise the afternoon, I hung out with John-Lee [SA] who really is like my brother [kinda annoying] but he’s cool and we just laugh a whole bunch, the tripper. And last night I got to hang out with some of the Bookshop Douloids, particularly Semih [like Sammy] [Turkey]. He is SOOO funny! And random! He reminds me a lot of Monty – we can just say a whole bunch of whack stuff and laugh about it and its all fun and fancy free but totally random. Nothing from ‘Lilo & Stitch’ has been mentioned [personal joke with Monty & Ali…]… hahhahaha!
Today I have had the pleasure of just doing random things that appeal to me till I have to go to work @ 3pm – earlier than normal because I was REALLY late to our Barista devotions [completely had forgotten them actually so I totally missed them] and therefore get to go to work early – haha! Then I watch the drills take place which today meant all the lifeboats on starboard side were lowered with crew and drills were practiced. This evening I work till close and that basically will mean just hanging out with Elliott [NZ] and telling him I can’t understand what he’s saying… hahah so funny! One example is that he says “Chux” when speaking about “Chicks” – which puts me into giggles. We’ve not been able to hang out as much as with the rest of the Barista’s and STEPpers – so it’ll be nice to just muck around with him.
Tomorrow I swapped a shift to work early because Silvan [Switzerland] came and asked me if I would sing with him at Prayer Night – which was really cool! I think he only asked because for one of our programs in Brisbane they were playing “Hosanna” by Brooke Fraser/Hillsong and I’d offered to do harmony as I knew it from Church but due to time restraints they decided to go ahead without – which was fine. But it seems I opened the door to sing on the Doulos. Lucky I’ve done it a few times back home J.
So - that’s really the latest update that I can give! A couple of weeks more and I’ll be only 1 state away! I have no idea exactly how many Adelaidians are coming to see the ship [and me?], and I can’t wait to see whoever does arrive!!!! I think Pandy & Dee Dee might make an appearance which might make some spontaneous precipitation occur from my eyes… but we’ll laugh it off! Note to them if they read this: txt message me when coming if you know – then I can see if I’ll be around! That goes for anyone really…
But please pray for 2 ‘incidents’ that have happened in the past week, particularly that they be resolved quickly…
One of our van’s was involved in a car accident with a Jeep on Sunday evening going to Hillsong Church – Hills campus. Out of the three vans and one car that were going, the third van was hit. Please pray that the shock of the accident wont affect the children who were in the car particularly as well as the other Douloids involved. Pray also that the driver of the Jeep could realise that it was an accident and not carry out the threats she has made.
Pray also for one of the STEPpers [Karl] who today was involved in a car/bike accident. He was with 2 other STEPpers [Samantha [Brisbane] & Elliott [NZ]] when he and the car collided. It seems that neither parties saw the other, and because we have no fixed address on the ship, the driver took Karl’s camera as security and is expecting a call back from us [the ship]. Karl by the way is okay.
Just to add to all the excitement already happening.
Please pray for me for patience with a couple of other Douloids who require more energy and patience to work with. Pray also for the right words when speaking to these people and to remember that God loves them and the person they are so I too should give them that grace.
Pray for energy to work and for enthusiasm to do my studies everyday. Pray also for my relationship with God as I’ve been so busy and then tired, or consumed by life that I’ve started to not be as consistant in my talks with God.
Thankyou sooo much!
Kisses…
Carola
I have appreciated the cool weather as I more than understand we’re in a drought, but have ashamedly found it frustrating as our Café is exposed to the elements being on the ‘Car Deck’ which is practically the bow of the ship. Because we also haven’t had efficient weather proofing – particularly from the wind and rain, [having it open gives people much more picturesque views not obstructed by shelter], so we have been braving the bitter chilling cold instead. Our demands really are not many. We want something to stop the rain getting to us, and we’d like a couple of those heaters that café’s with outdoor areas have. Having the heaters would trick us to believe the wind isn’t as chilling, and with the shelter the rain wouldn’t affect our entire area like it does. But it might take us all getting sick before that happens…
Saturday I spent my first money in what feels like months by going to my first IMAX experience with Timothy [UK], Mikaela [USA], Tomas [Sweden], Naveen [India], Jeff [Paraguay] & Christian [Paraguay], dude and dude [Naveen’s friends]. Oh-my-goodness. I’m not even gasping bout the slightly pricey cost to watch a movie there [only a sweet $25]. No, I’m talking about the overly impressive screen we got to eyeball. This was such a MASSIVE screen! I joked to my Jeff & Christian [picture me jammed between 2 well-over 6ft guys] that it would be hilariously nasty if IMAX tease us with this massive screen and show the movie with black defining top & bottom lines. We laughed, but I think we were all thinking how low that would be if we cough out that much money for half an awesome screen. Luckily after previews and really bad advertising [seriously, Sydney, I am appalled in your terrible graphics and advertising in cinemas!] the movie started and we were comforted to see that the screen disappears in front of the people in the front row and goes all the way to the ceiling, and wide enough that you have to slightly turn your head to keep up with the action. Amazing… so worth it!
I also went to the Hillsong City church – which was a lovely way to spend Sunday. A group of 5 of us walked about 45 minutes through the city to a stop where a ‘courtesy’ bus collects attendees and drives them the 5 minutes to the campus. The group was Noelle [USA], Jen [Canada], Timothy [UK], Tersius [SA] and myself. When we arrived I was honestly truly surprised that we had people recognise we were new. Our first greeter was really informative and encouraging – and upon hearing that we all live on a ship and are from all nationalities in the world – informed one of the head Pastors about us and soon we were talking to him too. They really found the whole idea fascinating, which isn’t really a surprise. They also had never heard of OM – which also did not surprise me. And for Hillsong City – it was tiny. I had imagined a humungous venue – but it was so small. And I was expecting to be bored of the message because I wouldn’t find anything of value in it – when infact Robert Fergusson actually preached the Word. He was reading verses from all over the bible and actually using them. He said don’t come to church and focus on the speaker, the singer, or the place. Focus on the message, the worship and completely on Jesus. I was encouraged greatly by his sermon.
When we had finished we caught the courtesy bus back into the city [it almost felt like a wasted drive when we could’ve walked that distance rather easily], and had a really awesome lunch in Darling Harbour for under $10. Shock. I really didn’t think there would be anywhere to get food there for less than $25 – so I was impressed – particularly as my chicken, avocado & salad sanga was a great size in price comparison.
Life otherwise is exciting. I worked my longest shift on Monday, working from 12:30pm till 10pm. It was meant to be 1-11pm but the Bookshop closed early from having less than 100 people come through all day. But Mondays on the ship tend to be quiet anyway as most people have Monday as their day off, which means to keep departments running, whoever’s on shift that day works ALL day.
Tuesday was then my official Off day I left the ship [you have to – or you’d go nuts from never leaving] and wandered the city with Cara [Brisbane]. She’s a Salvo, so we were actually in the city for her to do some Salvo things at the head office, and I tagged along because I was free and we have rules about how many people have to go with you if you leave the ship. When I got back I changed and ended up at work [it’s the hang out place for Douloids that just happens to come with AWESOME coffee or hot chocolates!] and ended up in this great DnM with Crystal [USA], Liza [SA] and Tomas [Sweden] about knights in shining armour, do they exist, that most women want a manly man, that even though Tomas isn’t that much a blokey bloke we’re sure he’ll fight for the chick he loves when he finds her, and other really random but interesting things like that which drinking coffee’s and eating chocolate in the sun. Then to randomise the afternoon, I hung out with John-Lee [SA] who really is like my brother [kinda annoying] but he’s cool and we just laugh a whole bunch, the tripper. And last night I got to hang out with some of the Bookshop Douloids, particularly Semih [like Sammy] [Turkey]. He is SOOO funny! And random! He reminds me a lot of Monty – we can just say a whole bunch of whack stuff and laugh about it and its all fun and fancy free but totally random. Nothing from ‘Lilo & Stitch’ has been mentioned [personal joke with Monty & Ali…]… hahhahaha!
Today I have had the pleasure of just doing random things that appeal to me till I have to go to work @ 3pm – earlier than normal because I was REALLY late to our Barista devotions [completely had forgotten them actually so I totally missed them] and therefore get to go to work early – haha! Then I watch the drills take place which today meant all the lifeboats on starboard side were lowered with crew and drills were practiced. This evening I work till close and that basically will mean just hanging out with Elliott [NZ] and telling him I can’t understand what he’s saying… hahah so funny! One example is that he says “Chux” when speaking about “Chicks” – which puts me into giggles. We’ve not been able to hang out as much as with the rest of the Barista’s and STEPpers – so it’ll be nice to just muck around with him.
Tomorrow I swapped a shift to work early because Silvan [Switzerland] came and asked me if I would sing with him at Prayer Night – which was really cool! I think he only asked because for one of our programs in Brisbane they were playing “Hosanna” by Brooke Fraser/Hillsong and I’d offered to do harmony as I knew it from Church but due to time restraints they decided to go ahead without – which was fine. But it seems I opened the door to sing on the Doulos. Lucky I’ve done it a few times back home J.
So - that’s really the latest update that I can give! A couple of weeks more and I’ll be only 1 state away! I have no idea exactly how many Adelaidians are coming to see the ship [and me?], and I can’t wait to see whoever does arrive!!!! I think Pandy & Dee Dee might make an appearance which might make some spontaneous precipitation occur from my eyes… but we’ll laugh it off! Note to them if they read this: txt message me when coming if you know – then I can see if I’ll be around! That goes for anyone really…
But please pray for 2 ‘incidents’ that have happened in the past week, particularly that they be resolved quickly…
One of our van’s was involved in a car accident with a Jeep on Sunday evening going to Hillsong Church – Hills campus. Out of the three vans and one car that were going, the third van was hit. Please pray that the shock of the accident wont affect the children who were in the car particularly as well as the other Douloids involved. Pray also that the driver of the Jeep could realise that it was an accident and not carry out the threats she has made.
Pray also for one of the STEPpers [Karl] who today was involved in a car/bike accident. He was with 2 other STEPpers [Samantha [Brisbane] & Elliott [NZ]] when he and the car collided. It seems that neither parties saw the other, and because we have no fixed address on the ship, the driver took Karl’s camera as security and is expecting a call back from us [the ship]. Karl by the way is okay.
Just to add to all the excitement already happening.
Please pray for me for patience with a couple of other Douloids who require more energy and patience to work with. Pray also for the right words when speaking to these people and to remember that God loves them and the person they are so I too should give them that grace.
Pray for energy to work and for enthusiasm to do my studies everyday. Pray also for my relationship with God as I’ve been so busy and then tired, or consumed by life that I’ve started to not be as consistant in my talks with God.
Thankyou sooo much!
Kisses…
Carola
Mucho Update-oh
Its been a crazy few days! I am totally EXHAUSTED! It could be because there are endless stairs to be climbed and decended throughout the entire ship [I'm sure I'm going to come back half the person I used to be - ba-dom-cha!]. It could be because for 3 full days its been all go and the only stop I get is when I’m vertically standing. I could be from all the information we’ve had to absorb in 1 day that any other STEP team/crew had atleast 3 days to take in. It could be because Brisbane has FINALLY pumped out some better Brisbane weather instead of Adelaide weather [it got to 5*C at one stage I’m sure they were saying!].
But I am having a total blast!!! And I really can understand why so many people do this for longer because the experience itself is truly amazing. I think I’m going to really miss leaving all these wonderful people! And you would be so shocked to know I didn’t act at all like the person I'm usually being [loud, crazy, chatterbox, clown - You know the one!] - until today! That’s a pretty big challenge but don't act so shocked! I can’t take all the credit - I had the flu :( – so I was far more intent to listen to everyone due to lack of voice. So I had you going back there. You were thinking “She hasn’t even been gone a week and she’s a totally different person!?”. I think that would probably take something really big..
So I’ll describe what the ship is like…. its TOE-TAH-LEE OOR-SAHM!!! [Have you watched “The Incredibles” anytime recently?]. Coming from afar it looks so …Majestic. Intriguing. Facinating. Superb. Even as I continued to walk up closer to it, its sizing did shrink a little but I realised how real it was! And then I was onboard. Well I managed to haul myself on board anyway. Mr Holland [or other country - I never got his name or nationality] was cleaning the sides of the stairs up to the ship [as you do] and saw my luggage [it wasn't shocking!] and without me even putting its lah-di-dah roller handle down he was hauling it up the stairs. And inside. And through some doors. And all he said [and has said since] is "Ya!". Hahaha. Good introduction to the ship and crew!
Mr Daniel Wong [STEP Co-Ordinator] then collected myself and my luggage [I know!] and showed me my room - and its TINY! Sooooo tiny! I will show pictures soon. But its sooo tiny! I get the wonderful blessing of sharing with Gerdia from South Africa. She has alot of stuff [really puts me to shame!] and its really - everywhere! But she's been here for almost 2 years, is about to get married, and has shared a room with herself for a while! She's sooo lovely! We have our own telephone box sized shower & bathroom - thank goodness! Its so groovy!
Up stairs from my floor [known as "Main Street"] is the dining room. And upstairs from that and around a corner is my "workplace". I believe I was blessed with such a good location so that I could get my ankle & knee back to some working order - so that by August or September I'll likely to change rooms when Gerdia leaves *tear*.
Thursday evening [the day I arrived on the Doulos] was "Prayer Night". This lasts for up to 4 hours! Its intense! Its a bit of info night, a bit of singing, a bit of randomness, a few skits, and oh - some mega praying! Its very spirit filled. I unfortunately lasted till 9pm and then "karked" it, exhausted from the flu and Brisbane weather. I unpacked what now seemed like very small amount of luggage and pretended to go to sleep. Pretended because I was so HOT! Having been used to going to bed with a hot water bottle in a cold room, to then go to having a regular temperature throughout your whole home/office/gym/library [note it mention some random things because these are all on the ship and this is where I spend most of my time!] ...of 23*C [perhaps?] was really bizzare and I felt so stuffy!
Sleep did finally arrive and I was awake at 5am when Gerdia went for a run, and then managed to drag myself actually off my bed at 5:30am to get ready for early breakfast with our crew which magically grew from 4 to 7 for coffee sampling in a cafe within the city. Wee Ooh!
So the team which originally consisted of Bev - NSW, Cara - QLD & John - QLD, has now grown to Liza - South Africa [on a long journey with the ship and is also our Cafe' manager], Elliott - NZ [who sailed on the ship to join us as Barista's around Australia - cool!] and Marcelina - Malaysia? [who is also on for a long journey]. We also met Brett McDonald - brother of our Cap'n Ashley and Barsita extrodinaire. Due to the early start we enjoyed the coffees [note - plural :)]. It was a funky way to learn some things - and invade someone elses Coffee making space. Then we had orientation for the rest of the day. That probably was the most intense and exhausted me the most as it was so full on and jammed in because instead of 3 days Orientation we had only 1. When I really had no brain left, I managed to have dinner and do more learning in the evening [I've seriously forgotten what we did because I was so brain dead - and it was only last night].... wait - we all practices making coffess, I remember. Then most were so exhausted that they went to bed and Elliott, Brett & myself set up and practiced making coffees on random people until one of the randoms brought back his friends. So I got to give it a whirl. Wee Ooh. Said Random actually returned today.
Wrapping this up quickly, my first shift was today, and it was pretty crazy! We had about 3 hours off as we used up all our milk [all 14L's!] and then finished my shift technically at 4:30 but as I'd had register/money/EFTPOS experience from Bi-Lo, I got to teach people how to use it - with the guidance of Mr Paul C - IT crazy man from IRELAND! :)
So - thats about it! Make sure if you write me emails you send to the email at the top of this page - the one in red - and replace the [at] with @.
Kisses to the ones I miss-es...
Carola
But I am having a total blast!!! And I really can understand why so many people do this for longer because the experience itself is truly amazing. I think I’m going to really miss leaving all these wonderful people! And you would be so shocked to know I didn’t act at all like the person I'm usually being [loud, crazy, chatterbox, clown - You know the one!] - until today! That’s a pretty big challenge but don't act so shocked! I can’t take all the credit - I had the flu :( – so I was far more intent to listen to everyone due to lack of voice. So I had you going back there. You were thinking “She hasn’t even been gone a week and she’s a totally different person!?”. I think that would probably take something really big..
So I’ll describe what the ship is like…. its TOE-TAH-LEE OOR-SAHM!!! [Have you watched “The Incredibles” anytime recently?]. Coming from afar it looks so …Majestic. Intriguing. Facinating. Superb. Even as I continued to walk up closer to it, its sizing did shrink a little but I realised how real it was! And then I was onboard. Well I managed to haul myself on board anyway. Mr Holland [or other country - I never got his name or nationality] was cleaning the sides of the stairs up to the ship [as you do] and saw my luggage [it wasn't shocking!] and without me even putting its lah-di-dah roller handle down he was hauling it up the stairs. And inside. And through some doors. And all he said [and has said since] is "Ya!". Hahaha. Good introduction to the ship and crew!
Mr Daniel Wong [STEP Co-Ordinator] then collected myself and my luggage [I know!] and showed me my room - and its TINY! Sooooo tiny! I will show pictures soon. But its sooo tiny! I get the wonderful blessing of sharing with Gerdia from South Africa. She has alot of stuff [really puts me to shame!] and its really - everywhere! But she's been here for almost 2 years, is about to get married, and has shared a room with herself for a while! She's sooo lovely! We have our own telephone box sized shower & bathroom - thank goodness! Its so groovy!
Up stairs from my floor [known as "Main Street"] is the dining room. And upstairs from that and around a corner is my "workplace". I believe I was blessed with such a good location so that I could get my ankle & knee back to some working order - so that by August or September I'll likely to change rooms when Gerdia leaves *tear*.
Thursday evening [the day I arrived on the Doulos] was "Prayer Night". This lasts for up to 4 hours! Its intense! Its a bit of info night, a bit of singing, a bit of randomness, a few skits, and oh - some mega praying! Its very spirit filled. I unfortunately lasted till 9pm and then "karked" it, exhausted from the flu and Brisbane weather. I unpacked what now seemed like very small amount of luggage and pretended to go to sleep. Pretended because I was so HOT! Having been used to going to bed with a hot water bottle in a cold room, to then go to having a regular temperature throughout your whole home/office/gym/library [note it mention some random things because these are all on the ship and this is where I spend most of my time!] ...of 23*C [perhaps?] was really bizzare and I felt so stuffy!
Sleep did finally arrive and I was awake at 5am when Gerdia went for a run, and then managed to drag myself actually off my bed at 5:30am to get ready for early breakfast with our crew which magically grew from 4 to 7 for coffee sampling in a cafe within the city. Wee Ooh!
So the team which originally consisted of Bev - NSW, Cara - QLD & John - QLD, has now grown to Liza - South Africa [on a long journey with the ship and is also our Cafe' manager], Elliott - NZ [who sailed on the ship to join us as Barista's around Australia - cool!] and Marcelina - Malaysia? [who is also on for a long journey]. We also met Brett McDonald - brother of our Cap'n Ashley and Barsita extrodinaire. Due to the early start we enjoyed the coffees [note - plural :)]. It was a funky way to learn some things - and invade someone elses Coffee making space. Then we had orientation for the rest of the day. That probably was the most intense and exhausted me the most as it was so full on and jammed in because instead of 3 days Orientation we had only 1. When I really had no brain left, I managed to have dinner and do more learning in the evening [I've seriously forgotten what we did because I was so brain dead - and it was only last night].... wait - we all practices making coffess, I remember. Then most were so exhausted that they went to bed and Elliott, Brett & myself set up and practiced making coffees on random people until one of the randoms brought back his friends. So I got to give it a whirl. Wee Ooh. Said Random actually returned today.
Wrapping this up quickly, my first shift was today, and it was pretty crazy! We had about 3 hours off as we used up all our milk [all 14L's!] and then finished my shift technically at 4:30 but as I'd had register/money/EFTPOS experience from Bi-Lo, I got to teach people how to use it - with the guidance of Mr Paul C - IT crazy man from IRELAND! :)
So - thats about it! Make sure if you write me emails you send to the email at the top of this page - the one in red - and replace the [at] with @.
Kisses to the ones I miss-es...
Carola
Day 1: Brisbane [Not in Kansas Anymore]
The journey has officially begun.
I'm still coming to terms that I am going to be sailing on a ship making coffee around Australia for 3 months. Despite having only left Adelaide last night, even arriving in Brisbane couldn't secure some guarantee that this really is happening. I even went into town today and yet for some reason feel like I've wagged a day of work. Its a rather strange feeling! Added to that is the great blessing to already be updating this.
At the airport I had a wonderful send of by some dedicated N'worthians who really wanted me on that plane - delayed or not! As I was walking the gangplank to the plane I obviously had something stuck in my eye, because it began to weep, but God busted a move and let me sit next to this cool 6y/o called Jennifer. Jennifer is vibrant, bubbly, entertaining - and has Scoliosis. She has had one lot of surgery to correct her back last year, and in 5 years time she has 2 more operations. Her Mum, Amanda, is legally blind and her brother who is 13 [not on the plane] had his feet amputated as a baby. Talk about wow! Jennifer and I exchanged drawings and we watched cartoons and laughed. And then I was in Brisbane!
Trav wonderfully collected me and my delayed flight from the aiport, drove me and my luggage back to greet his lovely wife who was waiting in the warmth of their very Queenslander-esque home [one of those houses on stilts kinda things]. The Mad-Oxes and myself then chat for an hour or so. Night owls much? It was great to catch up with them!
Finally calling it a night I haul my slightly over-weight [hahah] suitcase onto my bed where the top handle decides that its previous attached location does not suit its style any more and therefore detatches itself. Nice.
Bed. Ah. Bliss. I wake only to hear Trav & Jo tip-toe out the house about 7:45am and I roll back to sleep. 45minutes later I receive a text message which I begin to reply to before accidently falling back to sleep [I really didn't mean to!]. I wake half hour later discovering I'd not finished the text - consider doing so - before rolling over and falling back to sleep. I wake at about 9:45am.
After pottering around and trying to fix my suitcase I have some breakfast and consider the days events. I should get out and explore, though the ankle isn't terribly excited by this:
Lovely. Who sprains their angkle 5 days before leaving on a new adventure anyway. Oh right. Me!
Proof that I am actually here in Brisbane. And if you sit outside on the CitiCat's you look like this:
And now for some random snaps from the day to tie you over till the next post.
XOX Carola
Countdown...
1 Week before M&P move to "Face Mask"
Kaos.
Insane-ness.
The want to do everything with recognition that that is not possible.
The want to see everyone with the recognition that that is not possible.
The want to stop time just for a moment with the recognition that that is not possible.
Having faith that all will be well, but in my weak human nature, still doubting that.
2 Weeks before P.Andy moves to VIC
Exciting!
Nervousness!
To have no idea what to expect, but expecting the unexpected all the same!
To know that this is only but one small step into a bigger journey called life!
To be slightly scared about where exactly my life IS going...!!!
To be more excited about what amazing things might happen in my life!
To understand that I don't need to take everything in order to 'have it all'...!
3 Weeks till I leave Adelaide bound for Brisbane...
Because I have nothing really to tell about what is happening with me - I have instead been telling you all the crazy weird things that have been running through my head instead!
Forgive me...
But I will admit to having dual emotions running round. Not doubt that i'm doing the right thing, I'm 99.98% certain of that. Its just sadness to be leaving friends who mean the world to me mixed with excitedness to be making new ones! Sadness to not have as much contact with my family while i'm away, but excitedness that in my absence they might just blossom in their own relationships with each other! Sadness to not see the funny people I work with now, but excitedness with what my job might be when I come back [and find it!].
What a big ball of crazy energy!
*grabs her earlobes and begins rubbing them between her fingers...*
Ciao-whoops groovers...
Kaos.
Insane-ness.
The want to do everything with recognition that that is not possible.
The want to see everyone with the recognition that that is not possible.
The want to stop time just for a moment with the recognition that that is not possible.
Having faith that all will be well, but in my weak human nature, still doubting that.
2 Weeks before P.Andy moves to VIC
Exciting!
Nervousness!
To have no idea what to expect, but expecting the unexpected all the same!
To know that this is only but one small step into a bigger journey called life!
To be slightly scared about where exactly my life IS going...!!!
To be more excited about what amazing things might happen in my life!
To understand that I don't need to take everything in order to 'have it all'...!
3 Weeks till I leave Adelaide bound for Brisbane...
Because I have nothing really to tell about what is happening with me - I have instead been telling you all the crazy weird things that have been running through my head instead!
Forgive me...
But I will admit to having dual emotions running round. Not doubt that i'm doing the right thing, I'm 99.98% certain of that. Its just sadness to be leaving friends who mean the world to me mixed with excitedness to be making new ones! Sadness to not have as much contact with my family while i'm away, but excitedness that in my absence they might just blossom in their own relationships with each other! Sadness to not see the funny people I work with now, but excitedness with what my job might be when I come back [and find it!].
What a big ball of crazy energy!
*grabs her earlobes and begins rubbing them between her fingers...*
Ciao-whoops groovers...
People, Places & Passports
Just a random update about random things for all my readers who possibly read this... [yep, thanks for reading, Alihsee... :)]
In relation to my trip on the MV Doulos, I've had the pleasure of meeting 3 wonderful gals.
It's actually been really - surprising!
I met Cara B when the short term co-ordinator Jane suggested that I say hello to one of my soon to be fellow co-Baristas. So I did. Little did I know that in saying hello I would find my twin! Okay not overly really - but the similarities between Cara and myself are many. Our main name initials are both CB. We both use the 'car' analogy when explaining our names. We're both 23. Both of us are overly bubbly with seemingly infectious personalities. I could go on... I am very excited to meet Cara - and hope we get along famously!
Then there's Rhea - who found me via a Google search [woohoo!] with words including "fundraising" & "Doulos" because she was trying to find some information about how to raise money while being away on the ship, and came upon my lil blog here. Little did I know that from her simple enquirey we'd become email buddies!
Then we come to Bev - the 3rd and final gal out of the 4 Barista's for the Doulos. Bev & I have spoken briefly but already I feel like we have a connection - or just both have excellent sense of humour! The granny of the team she claims, but I think she is very young at heart and i'm really excited to chat to her!
Its been pretty cool! I cant wait to find out who the bloke is in our team - and where he's from. He'd probably really like to know now too since its only 3 weeks away - TODAY!!!! It would be nice to know where he's coming from and what he's been doing ministry wise up till coming onto the Doulos. Its just facinating to know why each of us are doing it!
In other news - everything has pretty much fallen into place - thankyou God!
In relation to my trip on the MV Doulos, I've had the pleasure of meeting 3 wonderful gals.
It's actually been really - surprising!
I met Cara B when the short term co-ordinator Jane suggested that I say hello to one of my soon to be fellow co-Baristas. So I did. Little did I know that in saying hello I would find my twin! Okay not overly really - but the similarities between Cara and myself are many. Our main name initials are both CB. We both use the 'car' analogy when explaining our names. We're both 23. Both of us are overly bubbly with seemingly infectious personalities. I could go on... I am very excited to meet Cara - and hope we get along famously!
Then there's Rhea - who found me via a Google search [woohoo!] with words including "fundraising" & "Doulos" because she was trying to find some information about how to raise money while being away on the ship, and came upon my lil blog here. Little did I know that from her simple enquirey we'd become email buddies!
Then we come to Bev - the 3rd and final gal out of the 4 Barista's for the Doulos. Bev & I have spoken briefly but already I feel like we have a connection - or just both have excellent sense of humour! The granny of the team she claims, but I think she is very young at heart and i'm really excited to chat to her!
Its been pretty cool! I cant wait to find out who the bloke is in our team - and where he's from. He'd probably really like to know now too since its only 3 weeks away - TODAY!!!! It would be nice to know where he's coming from and what he's been doing ministry wise up till coming onto the Doulos. Its just facinating to know why each of us are doing it!
In other news - everything has pretty much fallen into place - thankyou God!
- My passport arrived swiftly [and it is sooo exciting to have one that i've embarrasingly been sleeping with it under my pillow... hahaah... hmm tho now that i've mentioned this on the net, I think i'll stash it away somewhere safe... hahaah].
- My total in money to raise was raised with a month spare - which was just such a blessing and made my heart literally burst with joy! Its really awesome to have so many people excited and encouraged by this little adventure I'm going on!
- I have my suitcase and backpack ready to pack...
- Flight to Brisvegas booked...
- A place to stay in Brisvegas from arrival in the city till arrival on the ship 4 days later...
Its all really just made me more and more aware and impressed that when God wants you to do something - it will happen! Even if you never thought something like this would be or could be possible! Amazing! Exciting!
Oh... i am so excited to be going on this adventure - but I'm also really quite sad - and scared! July is the month of departures for my lil niche of groovy friends. M&P move to the town of "Face Mask" so M can be a full time teacher, which is SOOO exciting for them! But that happens on the 12th of July. P.Andy's last Sunday as our Pastor is on the 13th of July, and then himself and his delightful wife are making a new adventure in VIC, she's already there as her new job started 8 weeks ago?, and P.Andy's official leaving town date is the 18th of July.
And I leave on the evening of 27th of July... for 3 months... crap! When i say crap, what I mean is, whoa-crap! I've not been away from somewhere for so long - so that kinda scares me. And the idea that many changes will take place between now and when I come back with people, places, personalities, picturesqueness [no, not exactly a real word but run with it!]... just the changes that will probably occur. And it will be hard to fit back into life here I think, because i'll have changed too. But then, were the changes for good or bad? Or what about if something hasn't changed, when it could - or should've. What will reactions be like? It will be interesting to say the least...
But the friends i'm going to be missing when i'm away. Their characters. Their spark. Their quirkyness. The fact they actually slightly understand my crazyness - or atleast recognise it as just a part of me. I have to train a ship-load of people to realise that I often make NO sense... and its best if they just nod, point, and laugh. My friends here think its funny that I have different laughs, and that often when I laugh I stream a fountain of tears down my face - and that is funny. My "Angry eyes". NO ONE WILL GET THAT! But - that definately comforts me to know that when I return, those funny little things are likely to have not changed. Or worse - they've had time to think up really good jokes, or pranks, and i'll provide the perfect victim...
ahahahaahahahaha...
Hmmm well thats about it...
Ciao just for now...
Carola xxx
