My birthday and the ship (again)

I went back to the ship on the 8th of September as a guest of Mary Lou's from Sydney and left the ship on the 13th in Geelong. I also turned 19 in the middle of the ocean which was super cool.

I even have the coordinates of the exact location of the ship at 12am 10/09/08 (Oh, I didn't even realized they were synced numbers!)

So I turned 19 in the Engine Room! Where I spent my night from 12 am to 6am working with the watchkeeper (Gerjan - Netherlands) and 2 other guys. The noise from the generator was crazy and it was very hot in there!

I also did firerounds from 3am to 4am. Got a break from the hot engine room and had to endure the cold winds. Oh such fun to go around the ship in the middle of the night! I wasn't alone of course, no way would I be able to do it myself =D

Then I slept from 6 to 8, got up for breakfast, went back to bed from 9 to 12. It was definitely not enough sleep! Don't know how the watchkeepers do it. They have those late shifts every night for a week.

Then I steered the ship. I'm still so bad at it. Let me introduce you to Simon. He's a very tall German and calls me Yasmin. It's thanks to him that I got the coordinates as he was on sea watch at that time.

I had the best birthday present. I saw 5 WHALES from the bridge! They were spotted while I was steering, so I basically got to view them from the best place on the ship. That was the best shot I could get. See that little spur of water in the picture? Well, of course I got to see more of the whale then that la!
I enjoyed the experience with Irene (Malaysia). I kept her company in the bridge while she steered and vice versa. It was nice to be able to speak in mandarin with her again. Especially when we made fun of the guys on watch!

So that's some of my birthday!

Since I'm a guest on the ship, I didn't have to work. But I went straight to work! It was the best chance to experience other departments as I hardly had anytime during STEP.

I went back to my roots and did Accom. It's the red shirt that's proof of my work. I was with Aude (France) while we sailed out of Sydney and past the Opera House.
And as you know, Engine. With Matt the engineer (US), Wilfred (Netherlands), and Gerjan, the watchkeeper (Netherlands)

Catering the next day. Now, remember how I only had 4 hours of sleep the day before? Well, to work in catering, I had to wake up at 5.45am! Oh well, it was all worth it. Again, proof is the green catering uniform. The girl beside me is Boram (Korea)

Then at last, I did Deck. Again the shift started at 6am! Scrubbed decks helped while they operated the crane, and RUBBISH! I've actually done deck during STEP but didn't do much as it was a Sunday, only did rubbish and painting the rails. So this time, since I quite enjoyed rubbish the last time, I decided to help poor Tersius (South Africa) who was doing rubbish alone. But that was NOT a fun day to do rubbish. The ships company just doesn't separate! So we had to go through everything, go through the rubbish of 350 people! Plus, that was during the time everyone was moving cabins or leaving, so there was more than usual. Ended up doing rubbish management for more than 2 hours!

4 months ago with deck during Step (it was my off day!)

Yeap, so 4 departments! Accom, Engine, Catering, Deck. And I wore the same pair of safety shoes throughout! Shhhh... I actually regretted helping with Accom the first day. Should have gone for Book-Ex instead. Then I would have done all the 5 departments! Oh well =D

We sailed under the Habour Bridge!



It was in the Engine Room.

So that's me and the Doulos.

Oh and that where I was at when I turned 19. At 35 56 2S 150 46 0E

EDIT: ONE MORE IMPORTANT THING

The other amazing birthday present that I received was a phone call from my STEPPER friends on the night of my birthday! It was such a lovely surprised and I was so happy I had happy tears. How wonderful they are. And a day after that, my dear bai yun called me because she had missed the call on the previous night. Oh I have lovely friends from around the world =D =D

Here's some stuff to keep you happy!

Climb a mountain while at Coona

Joey! (Rahel from Switzerland, Matt from Zimbabwe. why am I always surrounded by internationals?!)

This is how you prune

Canberra with Jenny

Chair Lift
I ski without poles!

I'll be travelling again. Sydney, Geelong, Melbourne.

Cornerstone

I should start updating again lest people start to think I've dropped of the surface of the earth. Though that's a nice idea (to some extent). Still have got some pictures from Doulos that are not up yet, but I'm determined to get them up, just a matter of time. I've been in Cornerstone for 3 weeks now. Don't really have pictures yet. Here's a rough schedule of my days here.
 
6.30am - lecture (tomorrow's lecture - Christian Theology)
8.00am - prepare lunch for work (ham and cheese sandwich everyday)
8.30am - leave for work (today's work - pruning vines for 2 hours, planting lettuces for 3 hours, sweeping up dirt for 1 hour)
             morning tea break and lunch in between
4.00pm - finish work, back to center, shower, afternoon tea
5.00pm - community worship
5.30pm - lectures (today's lecture - Christian Apologetics)
7.30pm - dinner, etc.. read, knit, computer, watch a movie..
10.00pm - sleep
 
That's roughly my days. Though sometimes, there aren't lectures in the morning, instead, time put aside for the students to do their assignments which i don't have to do. So i get to sleep in!
 
The place here is just a farm in the middle of nowhere. A typical Aussie country side. Where the nearest (decently sized town) is about an hour away. So i've been driving past beautiful fields with sheep, cows of all colors, beautiful sunsets and sunrays, beautiful green green fields and hills. I also just came back from the snow trip on Monday. We stopped at Canberra for about 3 hours to do the touristy stuff. Parliament house, High Court, Art Gallery, Shopping etc. and then headed up to the snowy mountains! Skied for 2 days. And i have to go now, so I'll write more about my snow trip which was so awesome. Oh, and I SAW SNOW!

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Chat online and in real-time with friends and family! Windows Live Messenger

further plans

It's 10.30pm in Adeliade now. In about 6 hours, I'm gonna have to wake up in the cooooold and go to the airport. I fly to Sydney with Jetstar and will spend 3 hours there. Then I take a 4 hours journey by a train, and then a bus, to Orange, NSW. Then get picked up by someone and travel and hour to Canowindra where I'll be for a month with COrnerstone community, It's like a Bible school, but they live together as a community and they work and do mission work. I think I'll be working in a farm. I'm looking forward to this new adventure, and everything else, but the things I'm NOT looking forward to are the COLD, the coldest there tomorrow is -1 degrees and it's like that for most of the time I'm there. Also not looking forward to waking up at 5.30am every morning for work. But, I'll be there during their annual Ski trip! I get to see SNOW!!!! BUt again, not looking ofrward to the cold. I'll try to update more when I'm there. I better sleep now. Need my sleep, or I won't get up tomorrow. Pray for me =D

I'm in Adelaide

yar yar, I know I should have written more. But I just really don't have much to write. I'm in Adelaide. that's it.

So the moment I arrived, I checked out my courses, ate too much, got fed too much, missed Doulos a whole lot. Ate more chocolates, did a presentation of my time on the ship at my relatives church. Been to the city, shopped abit. Met 2 missionaries "coincidentally". Been to a rural town 3 hours away from Adelaide. 

Been to a camp - an annual camp for university students. It was at a very beautiful campsite with a river and cliffs as my view. Froze my butt off. Sessions were super good. Had my first bond fire with toasted marsh mellows. Had to adjust to a different culture again. Shopped in an OP shop ( Aussie term I think. Really cheap but good stuff), bought country town's pie (yummm), Watched Wizard of Oz for the first time (As that was the theme of the night). 

Other than camp, I've just bummed around. Cooked some good food with my cousin, met quite a whole lot of different kinds of people. 

Oh ya, and I realized that I can't study in Australia. After all that hoping and searching around, I still have to do a Pre-U course first before I can enter the Degree course here (Bachelor of Education (Junior Primary, Primary) which means teaching la). If I do the Pre- U here in Australia, I'd be doing the exact same thing as SAM in Taylors. Which means I'd be wasting money if I do it in aus. And you know what? I can't do my degree course in Malaysia because NONE of the uni's there have it! So, more planning to do about my future then...

At the mean time, besides bumming around, I've been searching for stuff to do as well. And I think I got the rest of my time here filled up. Just wait, and I may write about it.

Oh, and more pictures to come. 

more

beautiful beach in Suva
it was COLD! but nice=D
the other waterfall
with abbey. tracking up the waterfall even colder!

my suva view
on the way to the forest park
forest park!

Jon says : hands down!
Nadi beach. Fiji
Nade beach. Jon promised us golden sands and thats what we got!
Waiting for the bus
McD's!

this would make up for all the lack of updates =P

eday in vanuatu to chinese businessmen

sportsday. FRISBY

on the same off day after a week on the ship
tour in the engine room with henneke during the voyage. oh the NOISE!
our welcoming into Suva, Fiji
Suva Forest Park. yes thats ME!
slaving over the bookmarks we gave out during prayer night

sunday school teachers training group(overnight)
Leading the sunday school praise time (overnight)
church team program Steppers fellowship. Jon showing off
Our day off! after a week on the ship

in the Captains cabin for open cabin on our last Sunday
The family minus 2 daughters, Jacinta, and I
TCR floor =D
taking off to our overnight destination. (that's when we got picked up by the wrong person.)
Introduction at overnight

in the Fiji cinema. we watched Narnia. it was during Sabbath week
going to Nadi on an off
WORKING! during sabbath week
with sarah from germany. the thing behind us was lunch!
supper! Claudia love's instant noodles. she tried using chopsticks, but failed=D