The adventures of a little sailor

It's so cold down here!!

2008-07-04T10:48:00.000-07:00

I arrived safely in Auckland and was met by 3 screaming girls who proceeded to shake me within an inch of life in the middle of the airport. I had just been travelling for 24hrs but the adrenaline kicked in and I forgot about the jetlag. We had an amazing night catching up and celebrating crystals birthday! The following day I woke up sharp at 7am! Now for those of you who know me that is very out of character, but the jetlag had finally kicked in. The next day it was 4am sharp! But after working a couple of days on the late shift I was dead on my feet and finally got my sleeping patterns back.

I arrived on the Wednesday and was scheduled for work Thursday afternoon. It was great to go back to the bookshop. So many familiar faces but also quite a few unfamiliar ones. People wise the ship has changed quite abit. There are lots of people I don’t know and quite a few people that have left. But to be honest my main friends are still here and it feels like I have never been away.

Will try to update more later.

2008-01-23T15:10:00.000-08:00

ok so ive been ordered by a british midget who shall remain nameless but she knows who she is to revive my blog........so here goes.
i have spent the last 4 months at uni studying my first semester of medicine. it has been a really challenging time and has provided me with a huge culture shock after living on the ship for the last year. At times this has been really hard to deal with but i have to remember that i am where God wants me to be.
The course itself is fascinating. There is lots of content which i didnt realise until i had to memorise it all for my first round of exams. these came straight after the christmas break and provided me with about 2 weeks of living in the library! I wil find out the results in about 3 weeks and i just pray that i pass. This week i hae started in the dissection room which is a little freaky but insanely interesting at the same time. it does mean alot more work though as vast amounts of prep is needed and work afterwards.
Christmas was spent at home withmy family. It was amazing and i reverted back to being a five year old and reminding people every five mins that it either was christmas or was nearly christmas. I was just so happy t be spending it with family as last year was such a struggle for me last year. However the tables were turned this year as i found myself missing the people on the ship like crazy.
I have found a house to live in next year which is really exciting! i will be living with nine people and we are renting a georgian mansion! it is huge and has so much character. just think of the parties i keep telling myself. it is three stories high. my room is the attic room on the third floor and the only bathrooms are on the groundfloor so by the time i have had a shower and made my way back up the stairs i am going to need another one! hehe!
Um what else has happened? oh yeah i am going to be a CU rep in halls next year. this means i wil lead a small Bible study each week and arrange evangelistic events in halls. Also it means just being a presence around to act as a support for those moving into halls.
ok i think that is enough for now
luv you all

home sweet home

2007-10-03T07:04:00.000-07:00

ok i was just reminded by some nice person on the ship that i really should update this.
i have now been home for 6 and a half weeks and the time has sped by.
i spent a week away in wales relaxing with my family and the sheep. it was really nice to spend some quality time with my family after not really seeing them for a year. it also gave me a chance to adjust back to english culture after my year away. although i had been warned about culture shock it was the small things that took me by surprise. i was waiting outside heathrow airport when the pedestrain crossing went off and it sounded so weird. a sound that had been perfectly normal to my ears a year before now sounded so completely alien.
i then had a month at home. this was a great time to catch up with old friends and more family. I spent time with school friends and was able to catch up on their lives and eperiences over the lst year, as well as being able to tell them about the amazing year i had just had.
Church was an amazing environment to go back into. i felt so welcomed back and people were genuinely interested in my year, i had the oppurtunity to do a service along with my dad about the year. this was an amzing oppurtunity to really share alot of what happened to me personally and to say thank you to the people in the church who supported me so faithfully.
I am now at uni and have been here for a week and a half. it is so different to everything i knew on the ship. although i am living in halls and there fore living in community it is almost the exact opposite to that of the ship. this has provided me with my biggest re entry struggles. freshers week tends to consist of drink, drink and more drink. it is so hard to stand up for what i believe sometimes without being judged. but i have managed to find a good group of friends within my halls and within my medic course.
please pray that i cn be a good witness and just accepted for all my what may appear radical beliefs.

I leave tomorrow

2007-08-15T21:51:00.000-07:00

The day is drawing ever nearer. It is bnow tomorrow that I will disembark from my amazing adventure onboard the Worlds oldest ocean going passenger liner! It has been an amzing year in which i have grown and learnt so much. It is now time to say goodbye to many,many dear friends and to move on to the next step of my life.

one very burnt knee!

2007-08-02T02:18:00.000-07:00

i have just come back from a three day, two night overnight in South korea. It was a fantastic experience and let me see som eof the beauty of korea. We went to a small island just off the mainland and stayed in a church that overlooked 120 houses in a village.
We were involved in a childrens summer camp for 3 days. It was a real blessing to work with these children, many of whom came from broken homes. We spent time teaching them about Jesus and his love for them. We used the wordless book and got them to make their own. They loved it. We also spent some time playing with them and teaching them to swim at the beach. hence the very burnt 1 knee. not quite sure how I managed that - i still have my dippy side!
We ate amazing Korean food and generally had a very good time. Although the schedule was very packed we had time to enjoy fellowship with each other as a team and with the chundosaneem (pastor).
When we came to leave there were tears all round. The pastor said we had brought soem light into the village and that he was going to feel empty when we left. it is amazing th eimpact you can have in just a few days. i thank God for each and every one of those children who although we couldnt commuicate showed us so much love. i hope we showed them some of Gods love. They just needed the attention and love so much.
The overnight also gave me some time to talk to my cabninmate Mieke. She is one of my closest friends onboard so it was really nice to have this oppurtunity to do ministry together, and to get to know each other even better.
I will be home in 2 weeks so see you all soon!

Voyage of the Doulos! Gods Ship!

2007-07-25T18:45:00.001-07:00

It felt like something out of Narnia. We awoke Tuesday morning to find ourselves immersed in thick fog while sailing. It was so thick that you could not see the bow from the bridge only about 20 meters. You can imagine how dangerous that is. Lights from other ships were not visible so we were sounding the horn every few minutes as a warning that we were there. There was also 2 deckies stationed at the bow to listen for other ships. At this point we are sailing up a narrow channel that has lots of islands!
The only thing to do is pray! The Captain then makes the decision to let the anchor down as it is too dangerous to continue. I have to admit myself that I was slightly scared! There was no way we could do anything if another ship or island appeared. We began to turn and slow the ship in order to let down the anchor. Just then a deckie spots an island a mile off! God has lifted the thick fog and as the channel we are sailing down is only a mile wide they decide it is safe to continue.
What a mighty God we serve!

South Korea

2007-07-17T02:19:00.000-07:00

hey, i am in south korea now!! how time flies when you are having fun. im sure i have said that before but it is always relevant.
We have been in south korea now for about 1 month and it is the biggest culture shock yet for me! this culture is so different to anything i have experienced anywhere else in Asia.
I had the priveledge the other day of going to a memorial service for the Korean war. It was held at a UN cemetary so there were soldiers buried there from all over the world. It was quite a sobering experience as i had never heard about the Korean war and certainly didnt know that the uk was involved. So it was a learning experience for me and i got to lay a rose at the grave of a British soldier. The graves that were the saddest were the ones simply marked "Soldier of the British Army, known only unto God".
Over the weeked we were on the edge of a typhoon. It was headed towards Korea but the people on the Doulos prayed and so it went towards Japan instead. This meant that we did not have to sail out to anchor but we certainly felt the effects. 50mph winds and the ship rocking more than when we are sailing. Ltos of people were sea sick and we werent even sailing. The ship was attached to the quayside by at least 7 mooring lines at the front and 2 steel cables!! It was certainly an experience but i lived to tell the tale.
i have just heard about the earthquake in Japan and it was in exactly the same place that I went on break so please pray for the people living there. Our hosts were so lovely and I pray they have not been too badly effected.

2007-06-14T18:25:00.001-07:00

break was amazing!
sunday night me and liza are packing with nowhere to go! 10pm on sunday night we still didnt know where we were going the next day. however at about 10:30pm we had a phonecall saying we could stay at a bible camp about 2 hrs out of niigata.......................FOR FREE!
We travelled there the next day by coach and were picked up at the station by our host. It was the most amazing place. We were between mountains and beaches with some of the most amazing scenery i have ever seen. Each night me and liza went to watch the sunset over the sea. It was so beautiful, just this orange fireball setting into the ocean.
We spent our time at the beach and at the local tourist/shopping spot but also alot of tie jsut relaxing. We read books and just enjoyed the nature andscenery.
plus we got to cook for ourselves. now as you dont live on Doulos you don't what excitement that provides! We only had a small gas stove but we got creative and cooked up a couple of nice meals.
the second night we went for Ramen which is a noodle dish very famous in Japan. It is sooooooo yummy!

faith as small as a mustard seed......

2007-06-10T03:00:00.000-07:00

hello from niigata! This is our final port in Japan and then it's off to South Korea. Time has gone so fast. I have thoroughly enjoyed Japan even though it has been hard work at times. But the people here are generally very friendly as i have stated before.
I go on break tomorrow. This means I am taking 4 days off and going away from the ship. Well thats the theory. I leave tomorrow and at the moment have nowhere to stay the night. How does a faith trip sound to you!! Me and Liza have concluded that if nothing comes up by tomorrow lunch we are getting on a bus and seeing where we end up. God will provide us somewhere to stay that is not the ship and not too expensive!! Please don't freak out mum! My dad is a very big and rich man. he won't let anything happen to me! hehe

Me again

2007-05-28T20:54:00.000-07:00

ok so now i am more awake i will tell you a little more about my experience so far in Japan. This is the first culture i have been in where i have been really scared I might offend somebody by what I do. They are a very polite people (sometimes over polite) so bowing is in order whenever you meet somebody. The only thing is you bow and then they bow back so you bow back then they bow back so you bow again and this goes on and on and on. its actually quite funny to observe sometimes.
the first ministry day i went on was a church team it was so amazing. I got to dress in kimonos. I felt like I had just walked out of Memoirs of a Geisha it was such a blessing.
We were told that the bookshop would not be busy in Japan as when the ship had visited previously there had only been a few hundred visitors a day during the week and only a couple of thousand at the weekend. We were looking forwardto the break and taking it slow after the madness of taiwan and the philippines. However God had other plans in mind! By 1pm on sunday (we are meant to open at 2pm) the line to getin was already snaked up and down the quayside along the side of the parking lot around the corner and into the next parking lot. Within the first hour we had about 2000 people onboard!!!!
I will never understand why people stand for hours in the sun to get onboard the ship it really is an act of God. and with that thought i will say goodbye or syanara as tehy say here.

random blog

2007-05-28T07:25:00.000-07:00

wow this is amazing. the firs time i have been able to update my blog myself. the ship has finally come to the 21st century and internet is available for all.
I am in Japan at the moment. It is an amazing country with such a rich culture. It is 11:30pm and i have just finished work in the bookshop. Monday is always a long day as only one shift work. It is also not very busy on a monday so we get a little bored. But we amuse ourselves and today we baked apple pie! It was so yummy!
I will hopefully blog more often now
luv you all

I hate goodbyes!

2007-05-01T10:23:00.000-07:00

i really miss crystal and now mark, walker and susie have gone too. i hate goodbyes.
i was thinking the other day and realised that at home i never had anyone leave me. i have left people and have experiences where we have both gone our separate ways but i have never had anyone leave me. so this is a very new experience for me on the ship. and 3 in one day kills!!!!

(This is Ruth and Crystal and just to explain, Crystal is away on a team for 10 days from the ship.... she will be coming back; the other 3 were on the STEP programme and have gone home. Alison)

the weekend was manic it was sooooooo busy. so tiring in fact that sunday night me mieke and liza checked ourselves into a nearby hotel. it was so nice the 3 of us stayed in a double suite. with a big double bed and the best thing of all was a bath!!! i had a bath for the first time in 8 months! i could actually use some of the bath foam that liz and charlene sent me. we had a real girly night and woke up to the sun streaming through the window the next day.

yesterday was my day off so i went into taipei. we saw taipei 101 and went to the 60th floor i think for free!!! it is a very tall building. apperently at the top it will sway up to 3m each way due to the wind. scary!!!

Rest and relaxation!!!!

2007-04-14T06:14:00.000-07:00

Working very hard and VERY seriously!!!

Sabbath week (a week of rest with the ship closed to the public) has been and is amazing. i think i am more tired now though than when i started. on tuesday the whole book ex went hiking at the great wall of Taiwan. this was so cool and just what i needed. it was a very challenging trek almost vertical up wooden ladders at times but it was chucking it down with rain. this made the day to feel fresh, cool water was so refreshing and the view over the jungle was awesome. we all came back looking like we had jumped head first into a river but it was still a fab day. also the fact that it was raining so hard kept us from over heating, my hair was actually steaming at one stage because my body was so hot but the rain was so cold.
wednesday i just took it easy. we have a speaker so we have teaching sessions every morning. He is from Wycliffe bible translators and has a wealth of experience. he is easy to listen to and draws on a lot of his own experiences which is fascinating. in the afternoon i caught up on some reading. living on a floating bookshop is so stressful so many books to read!!! anyway it was really nice just to have time and not have to rush anywhere. also everyone else is off from work as well so it is a time just to sit and chat and be with friends.
thursday we went for a bike ride. this had been orgnised by the Taichung government. however by now my legs and many other muscles are killing me from the hiking! but a 2hr bike ride soon sorted that out. it was not too challenging but just a relaxing way to enjoy nature. its true that you never forget how to ride a bike because i think the last time i rode was 2-3 years ago!!
Yesterday (friday) was also an amazing day. we had a whole ship companies outing. so loads of coaches picked us up and took us to a huge park. it was glorious sunshine but not too hot as there was a breeze. although if i had been in england there probably would have been a heat wave declared and everywhere sold out of fans. i guess i've acclimatised a bit. anyway we spent some time just lying on the grass reading and listening to music as well as eating our picnic. then we got taken to what they call a tech mall. we had free use of the facilities which included a swimming pool, spa. baseball hitting range etc. we didnt have very long there so me and liza just did what girls do best and went shopping!!! by this time it is dinner so we all went to the local steakhouse. this place seats 1200 people and all the food was for free (for us anyway) you could have anything from sushi to steak. personally i had sushi (delicious by the way) and steak. eat as much as you want - i think they might have regretted this after the doulos guys showed up. one mexican who will remain nameless had 7 steaks!! as well as other dishes! anyway all in all it was an amazing day and such a blessing.

The amazing Philippines!!

2007-03-11T07:58:00.000-07:00

'wow the philippines has been amazing. it really is a special country with amazing people, but such poverty. the type of poverty you see on things like comic relief but when you yourself are walking through the slums and past the hundreds of street kids it brings it into stark reality. We are so priviledged to have food on the table and not have to worry about the fact that we don't have shoes on our feet.there were so many good times i could tell you about but i dont have the time to sit here and type them all out - sorry! so just a couple of highlights.Manila was the best port yet. i really felt like this is where my heart is. I managed to visit the OMF publishing house that my grandparents founded. I actually met someone there who knew my grandparents and remembered my dad as a little boy! She took me out for the day to the most amazing volcano and lake. I really felt a strong calling form God to return to Manila. At one stage it was so strong i almost told the captain to sail away without me - but i'm not sure how my family would have reacted to that news.Cebu was also a highlight because my family came to visit. It was great for them to be able to share in my life. they now have some idea of what i am talking about and who i am talking about. I had great fun showing them round the ship and introducing them to various people.i am now in taiwan after a rocky voyage. i love sailing. there is nothing like standing on the deck at night staring at the orange moon and watching the huge waves dancing before you in the moonlight. It really makes you realise how small and insignificant you are and yet God still chooses to work through me and allowed me the priviledge of working on the ship.ok bye for now and yet again i will say that i will try and be a bit more frequent with my blog updates.'

Happy Christmas

2006-12-22T01:44:00.000-08:00

sorry it has been so long time just flys here!
Singapore - this was an amazing time. We were berthed virtually in a shopping mall which the whole of the ships company thoroughly enjoyed. i developed an addiction to starbucks as it was the favourite spot for douloids to go. we would sit and chat or sit and journal or just sit. I also manged to squeeze in a tiny bit of shopping!!! so my wardrobe is looking much healthier.
ministry wise we had thousands of people coming to the bookshop. on the last day we had over 19000 people which is a record. i have to say that people were alot more westernised than i expected and the culture was very different from that of thailand and cambodia. there was such a stark contrast between singapore and cambodia it was unnerving. in cambodia you had people living on 20euros a day and in singapore they would spend that on one trip to starbucks!
the ship then went into drydock and i went on land team to malaysia.
Malaysia - i was on a team of 6 girls. we stayed in a brethren church where women were not allowed to talk and they had to wear head coverings. this was very strange to me and i found it difficult at first. we had a very relaxing time. our main ministry was just having fellowship with the people. we called it eating ministry. we ate and ate and ate and ate and ate in fact i said i wouldnt eat for a week when i came back to the ship and that almost happened. we also got involved with the youth and did a childrens programme on one of the weekends. this was fun and it was nice to feel like we were giving something back to the church that had blessed us so much. on the last sunday we were able to go into the jungle and have church with one of the tribes. this was amazing and an experiene i am never going to forget. we did a short programme for the children and then played with them in their own private waterfall!! so much fun. that night we made history by being the first women to speak in the church. we did a programme encouraging them to get into missions. the church is already very active but the youth especially needed encouraging to go out and take some risks for God. luckily the team of girls got on really well and we had a fabulous time. we spent alot of time talking and reading and just relaxing as well as some sight seeing.
we then returned to the ship and set sail for the philippines. this was a five day fairly rough voyage but was very enjoyable. luckily i dont get sea sick so could enjoy riding the waves at the bow of the ship.
philippines - we have only been here a few days but i love it already. the people are the friendliest people you will ever meet. its good to be back at work after not working for about 1 month. also this is the place i was so excited about coming to and it is so hard to believe i am finally here!
will try to update this blog more frequently but for now happy christmas and remember the real meaning!!!

Cambodian overnight

2006-11-08T10:31:00.000-08:00

Thursday:
We left on the coach to go to Phnom Penh at 7:30am. It was a four hour coach ride and meant we got to see some of Cambodia. It is such a beautiful country with such a stark contrast between rich and poor. Anyway we arrived in the bustling city of Phnom Penh at 11:30am and were met by our host Kiko (japanese). Before i go any further let me introduce you to my team - Ai Hua (malaysia), Ershinta (indonesia), Carla (Brazil) and Haide (argentina) so in total there were 5 of us girls.
So that afternoon we went to visit the Cambodian genocide museum. For those of you who don't know Cambodian history it suffered a horrific genocide in the 1970s. This means it is in living memory of many people. People of the age of about 45-50 years were actually used as the soldiers to carry out the tortures and murders. So they have to live with the memory of that. The museum was definately a harrowing experience but one that i needed to have. The museum is the prison were people were kept and tortured before being taken to the killing fields. In some of the rooms you could still see the blood stains on the floor where people had been tortured. This all happened under the Khmer Rouge regime run my a man named Pol Pot. he felt everyone should be at the same level so started to murder all the intellectuals.
The team had mixed reactions to the museum some were angry (me being one) that we hadn't learnt from the past regimes of people like Hitler and that this sort of thing had been allowed to happen again. i kind of had the feeling of will we ever learn. Some members were just deeply disturbed.
That evening we went to visit the Childrens Centre we were going to be doing a programme at the next day then we went to where we were staying. We were staying with a missionary and the accomodation was lovely.
After a brief break we went to a local english centre to do a Bible Study. It wasnt really a bible study but we just shared abit about the ship and ourselves. Then Ai Hua gave her testimony. It was good fun and the students seemed to enjoy it. The centre is run by a singaporean missionary who wanted to do more than just hand out food packages to the people. The students primarily come to learn english but there is also a gospel message given too. They hold bible studies and service on Sunday morning.

Friday
We went to the children centre. This is not strictly an orphanage as legally the children have a care giver even if it is not a parent. however this care giver has decided to send them to the centre where they then live.
When we arrived the children put on a show of dances and songs for us. I was struck by how clever these kids are. children of about age 5-9 did a 3 minute routine with no assistance. i just thought about trying to teach that to the same age group back at church. They would have at least needed someone at the front to remind them of the moves. The cambodian children were exceedingly intelligent and picked songs and things up very quickly. We then did a programme for them. This just included some dramas and songs. They seemed to thoroughly enjoy it. We did an exercise called the tearing cross. This involves making a paper aeroplane and then ripping it in a certain way that it makes a cross. They really loved that and it enabled us as a team to get interactive with them. I more than once that day found my self buried under children or at least completely surounded. The children had so much love to give it really was amazing.
that afternoon we just spent time playing with the children. We did games, songs and face painting. i have never painted so many butterflies in my life! But again it was great just to interact with these children. their country has seen so much hurt and bloodshed and yet out of that comes their smiling faces. it really is a blessing. The children also have a deep love for each other and protect and look out for each other. When it came to saying goodbye it was so hard. One little boy asked me 'are you coming back tomorrow?' no i had to say he then asked if i was coming back on Sunday and again i had to say no. The look on his face said it all. So many people come and go from these childrens lives. I just wanted to scoop them all up and take them home with me. I was only there for one day but there was a tear in my eye as we prayed and then left.

Saturday
We had most of the day to do what we wanted so we saw some of the sights of Cambodia. A couple of independence monuments, the royal palace, a huge market and then the killing fields. We hired a tuk tuk for the day and just went from place to place. The Royal Palace was very impressive but unfortuately it was closed due to a local festival that was happening at the riverside.
I really enjoyed the central market. Things were so cheap and definately affordable for the average douloid!
the killing fields were a similar experience to that of the museum. Seeing the mass graves certainly drove home the horror of the whole era. Getting to the fields was an experience in itself. We had to go over a few miles of rough and bumpy dirt track - we actually had to get out and push the tuk tuk at one stage.
We definately got to see something of cambodian traffic though that day. The traffic rules are there are no rules. Generally they drive on the right hand side of the road but not if it more convenient for you to be on the other side. The family vehicle is a motorbike. it wasnt unusual to see a family of 6 on one bike this usually included a couple of young children. The other common form of transport was the tuk tuk. I think there was a nationwide competition to see how many people could fit into one tuk tuk. i definately saw one with at least twenty people in - and considering they are designed for 6 smallish people that is quite an achivement.
That evening we did a short programme for some university students. this included a drama and Ershintas testimony which is quite amazing. She was healed from cancer!!! We did the programme at a university dormitory. This was quite an interesting experience. i thought my cabin was smallish but it is nothing compared to the crampedness of these dorms!!

Sunday
The day had arrived. I had to preach! We went back to the centre we had been to on thursday and did the sunday morning service.
i was really worried as the interpretor on thursday had had a hard time understanding my accent! However it was fine and hopefully i got across all the points i wanted to. They seemed to appreciate it.
We then traveled back to the ship in the afternoon. Exhausted i just wanted to collapse but was lovingly informed that i had to work as the bookshop needed to be packed down.
We had to do a full pack down. This is what it involves. Putting wooden covers on all the bookshelves. Then moving them into three blocks in the centre of the bookshop. These are then covered with a canvass and then a chain is fastened around this. this is then attached to various poles. it takes about 3 hours and we started at 9pm and i had been awake since about 6am. i was very tired by the time we finished.

At this very moment i am sailing to singapore.
thanks for all your prayers and support

A sailor went to sea, sea, sea...

2006-10-25T13:14:00.000-07:00

As i write we are sailing to Cambodia. The last few weeks have flown by and i have now been away from home for about two months. We had a lot of fun packing down the bookshop for the voyage. Antics involved things such as plastic wrap, a pole, one of my colleagues and a cup full of water. So use your imagination. Unfortunately i have to be up and at work by 5am tomorrow to unpack as we arrive in Cambodia at 8am and the official opening is at 11am.
While in Cambodia i will be going on a 4 day overnight team to an orphanage. I am slightly worried about what i may encounter there both through sight and emotionally. Please pray that things are not too horrific. Also the team i am on is fairly inexperienced so it will be a steep learning curve.
Other than that life goes on here. The voyage so far has been fantastic and i have been able to do my Kate Winslet impressions on the bow of the ship. there is no land for miles around just crystal blue sea and lots of sunshine. Not that im trying to make anyone jealous.

Has it really been 2 weeks!!!

2006-10-11T11:40:00.000-07:00

Sorry i havent updated this for a while but i kinda lost track of time here. its very easy to do onboard. You tend to live just one day to the next here. Anyway it has been an amazing two weeks. I have seen more here in that short space of time than some people do in a life time. I have had three edays. These are days where we go out and do ministry. So i have distributed a lot of doulos fliers and was involved with an onboard show known as the i-cafe. This involved me dressing up in my national costume! Any ideas what the english national costume is? No i didnt have any either so i wore a nice skirt and top and carried an umbrella! It was alot of fun and i got to meet some interesting people. I am having the best time in the book ex. The people on my shift are amazing and we have so much fun together. Because the book shop hasnt been desperately busy we have had to make our own entertainment which is always amusing. The people that are coming onboard are so friendly and usually really interested in the ship. they all think we are really crazy for living onboard but it provides a great testimony for the way God works. We have to have God as our motivation or we would all go crazy. It struck me the other day that these people are now my friends, family, work colleagues, church, study buddies etc whereas at home these groups of people were separate. it is a very strange thought.

Yesterday we had the biggest storm I have ever seen or heard. If someone had told me the sky was cracking i would have believed them it was so loud. It also went on for about two hours! I was working and it meant that our team had to really pull together and we developed the best team spirit.

My room mates are amazing. I am sharing with an american (Crystal) and 2 south africans (Liza and Mieke). We have become so close so quickly and learnt to rely on each other. We have milo and movie nights which are so much fun because its just like having a sleep over every night!! Unfortunately Mieke and Crystal sometimes have to get up at 5:30 the next morning for work though!

I think thats it for now. Keep your emails coming and hand written letters are nice as well. If you need the address just email my mum.

remember to email me your comments etc.

ps Grandad which is the best email address to email you at?

I am sailing!!

2006-09-26T10:21:00.000-07:00

As I write this i am rocking back and forth gently as we sail from sattahip to Bangkok. There are plenty of seasick people but at the moment I am fine. This sailing lark is all very exciting! We had drills once we had set sail and this consisted of lots of guys in firemen uniforms running about the place and the life boats being launched. it was great fun to watch and quite reassuring to see how trained these guys are.

I went through training today for my role in book ex. It sounds so much fun. There motto is 'work hard, play hard'. The people on my shift are a fun bunch of people and the work we get to do is amazing. We get contact with the local people at every port and get to talk to them.

Just a quick reminder that if you want to make a comment please email it to me as i cant actually view my blogspot on the ship.

(As this is the first time I've blogged (or even blobbed) I hope it works!!! And Ruth won't get to see it til next year! hehe! Alison)

liferafts and lifejackets and giant sleeping bags

2006-09-21T23:15:00.000-07:00

just to keep you all on your toes i thought id blog agin quickly!! We had lifeboat training yesterday which was lots of fun but also very hardwork. It involved jumping from a height wearing lifejackets and various things involving liferafts.
Apart from having to clomb into the liferaft fully clothed and with a life jacket we also had to be able to flip the liferaft just incase it opens upside down.
This would not have been too difficult apart from the fact that you had to do it wearing a rather awkward and big lifejacket. So you have to haul yourself up onto the back of the liferaft over the bottle of air using a rather makeshift ladder. Really not very easy and i am aching all over this morning from the effort.
We also learnt how to get into a TPA underwater. These are thermal protective aids and are basically like a waterproof sleeping bag. Infact with that on and your lifejacet you are quite cosy and i could quite easily have fallen asleep in the pool had it not been for the instructers being there and about 40 other preshippers.
Anyway i met my k group last on wed night. They will be like my family on board so i now have 4 older brothers and 5 older sisters as i am the youngest in the group.
iv rambled on long enough thank you for all the comments they really are great.
Kate i knew about steve Irwin but not about richard hammond!!! those are the kind of things i like to know as i am very disconnected from the world!!

coup

2006-09-20T02:30:00.004-07:00

oh yeah i just lived through history last night while i was sleeping there was a political coup in bangkok how weird is that!!

elephants

2006-09-20T02:30:00.001-07:00

just thought id share with you all the serious missionary work im doing. this involves being picked up and riding elephants!! yes thats right i got to go for an elephant ride. This missionary life is so hard!!! please bare in mind that this was my first day off in 3/4weeks not counting that mayhem in the weeks before i left.
We are having intensive safety training this week. So i got to go out in the lifeboats yeasterday which was very fun!! also got a tour of the ship and realised im going to spend half the year completely lost. I did my kate winslet bit though on the bow of the ship which is identical to that of the titanics!!!
anyway i officially join the ship on saturday. yay i cant wait!!

bangkok

2006-09-12T23:37:00.000-07:00

hello from bangkok
to post this blog i had to walk ten minutes in monsoon style rain so please take the time to appreciate it!!..........................................just giving you time. Anyway apart from the rain bangkok is beautiful and the place we are staying is literally across the road from the beach. So i get to go swimming and stuff.
It feels abit like bootcamp here but it is a lot of fun. I am continuing to build friendships which is a lot easier here as we all know we are going to the same place.
i just have to take a minute to mention the food here. i am eating thai food every day its like heaven! i will be visiting the ship next week for two days to do various forms of training which will be fab.
thank you emily for being so appreciative of my blog and my somewhat chaotic life. any way i have to venture back in the rain now bye

bon voyage holland

2006-09-07T07:35:00.000-07:00

this is my last post from holland. tomorrow i go fly to bangkok! I hate long haul overnight flights because i cant sleep and am usually ill. But it should be fun other than that. there are 46 of us going from holland and another 30 people meeting us out there. So it will be a large group. We then have two weeks preship training. This involves life boats, firefighting and jumping into swimming pools from great heights apparently. I will be stationed about 2 hours south of bangkok and then the ship is about another hour and a half from there. Apparently we get to do a couple of days training on the ship which has never happened before. However please pray that we get some engineers for the ship or it wont be making it out of sattihip and to bangkok!!
The time here in holland has gone so quickly and it felt really weird packing my suitcase again. i am also aware that i will have to say goodbye to another set of friends! but hopefull i will make alot more out in thailand

mission possible

2006-09-02T05:12:00.000-07:00

This was the name of yesterdays task! It was a simulation of trying to get into an imaginary country that didnt want us there. I was interogated, blindfolded and searched. it was a very real and sometimes scary experience but was also a lot of fun! it made me realise what some people will go through just to get into a country.

hello from foreign parts

2006-08-30T04:58:00.000-07:00

have made it to holland without to much drama
have met some really nice people here and the training is lots of fun. Think mud and water and silly games!!! There is some serious stuff to honest!
Have has another interview and have to have another medical to make sure im fit to sail the oceans!!
will blog again soon

farewell

2006-08-27T07:13:00.000-07:00

I leave tomorrow! AAAH! and i still have million and one things to do. Anyway I had a farewell party last night that was fantastic thanks to all of you who came. Also a big thank you to liz, charlene and my mum who organised the whole thing. i had a great time and it was really weird thinking that this was the last time i was going to see some of you for a year. It hasnt quite sunk in yet!
Anyway nxt time I blog will probably be from Holland!
Good bye
Ruth

exam results

2006-08-17T04:28:00.000-07:00

AAA yippee!!!
I'm officially going to Nottingham uni to study medicine!!!

I'll think of one later............

2006-08-12T12:42:00.000-07:00

I have just arrived home from an OM meeting where George Verwer was speaing. (For those of you who don't know George Verwer was the founder of OM) He is a fantastic speaker. You got the feeling he could talk about anything for any length of time and keep his audience captivated! A very rare talent. Anyway is was a good experience to see the man i has heard so much about in person. There were also many people from the ships there and it was very interesting to see the variety of people who serve onboard.
It was also great to see Debbie there and fun to blame my presence on her. She seemed very proud! Which if your reading this Debbie you should be if it wasn't for you goodness knows what id be doing with my life for a year.
It was great to get refocused on what the ships are really about rather running around like a headless chicken worrying about forms and finance and goddbyes. Which is what iv been doing for he last few days.
Anyway got to go

23 days to go!!

2006-08-05T07:53:00.000-07:00

Just got back from a fantastic holiday in corfu with my girlies (liz and Charlene)!! and it struck me that I only have 23 days before i fly off for a year! aaaaaaaah! That is so scary and there is so much to do. Anyway i thought I would set up this blog so everyone can see what I am getting up to!
Bye for now