Jasmine is not home

Friday

2011-08-27T16:47:00.001+08:00

Friday -
Run, lunch, shop, slushie, beach, fun waves, beach, mist

and then -
lasagna, walk,mist mist mist, low thick mist, trip, fall, mist mist mist
bike ride, uni drive, waratah, mayfield, stag.

set off-
ride ride ride and rideeeeeeeee
newcastle, night, mist mist mist
coal, industrial, fear, don't want hospital

drinks!-
ride ride ride and rideeeeeeeee
islington river, foreshore, fisherman boats, foreshore
lights, ships, mist

faster!-
restaurants, drunks, honk!
nobbys wall, very scared, waves, sea water

hunter street!-
ride ride ride and rideeeeeeeee
traffic lights, cars, slowpoke

mystery location!-
no id, cranky, sore
cranky, pie, cold.

MYSTERY BIKE RIDE - FANFLIPPINTASTIC FRIDAY!

T.I.I

2011-01-25T19:15:00.001+08:00

To whom it may concern,

The c button on this key board doesn't really work. My fingers also don't really work. In fact there are many parts of me that don't really work now. Welcome to India (one week later).

Yesterday, we were 3 on a scooter. One with her butt hanging off the seat. Bumps and 3 people on bike don't go well.

In Kolkata, it was fairly rat free for the entire stay. Until the LAST night. I came this close to jumping sreaming and everything that equals I'M-GOING-TO-DIE.

We have a secret language between us. It involves 5 fingers opening and closing like a bird beak. Meaning - HAGGLE. Especially with taxi men who want to charge you 10 rupees more than the agreed price.

If you want to feel safe in India, or at least Chennai, go to the cinema. In the cinema, you remove the battery from your camera, your water bottle label gets snipped off and they actually go through the contents of your bag rather than take a quick look. Forget about airport-is-safe. In the ladies line at security, you go to a secured booth to get searched, your boarding pass gets a stamp, you need stamped tags on your bags but... when at the gate, if your tag has the wrong date and the male security guard stops you, all you say is "We were at the LADIES LINE" and all is forgiven. So, cinema trumps airport.

If you want to volunteer at the Missionaries of Charity in Kolkata, be sure to have changed diapers at least once in your life before. It comes in handy when you are asked to change many diapers one after another. You also will not apologise to the poor baby who would have to endure your poor skills.

If you ever do decide India is a place to visit, be sure to bring along a million copies of your passport. This is what they require at internet places, phone places and maybe even toilets? Maybe.

If you get a toilet roll that is a tenth of your normal sized one. DO NOT FRET! The person who handed it to you did not take it out of his/her own toilet.

And when all else fails, just remember and keep repeating to yourself. T.I.I

THIS IS INDIA!!!

The Week

2010-05-29T13:21:00.001+08:00

No, I am don't have an assignment due. And I'm not procrastinating. Not with blogging anyway. I have internet in the house now! It's been 3 weeks? Anyway, I handed in my last assignment yesterday at 3pm and it felt good. Now I have a 500 word History "test" sitting next to me.

Yesterday was Feast of Stories. Twas a good night =) Lana and Huey Mian, my two Malaysian friends were there as well.

Lana: You don't know that word?! And you call yourself Malaysian!

Me: Eh, I eat all the time. I AM Malaysian!

On Thursday, I went to Town Hall with a couple of Friends to see the Heavenly Man - Brother Yun. Read the book if you haven't! After running about looking for seats and getting lost in the process. We settled on the floor and had worship, some other singing, and some stories about the ministry in North Korea. Brother Yun comes on stage and shares in Chinese! So good to realize I can still understand most of it =) Yes, a good night... that ended on the couch in Canara Place.

It's a friends 18th birthday tonight, Coffee and chocolate festival tomorrow (Newcastle is pretty damn awesome!) and a good bye party on Monday. Next week will be study study study. Exams are in 2 weeks. I have 3 papers and then it's the HOLIDAYS! Hello Sydney! Hello Brisbane! Hello free-time-I-don't-have-to-feel-guilty-about!

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Procrastination

2010-05-09T12:47:00.001+08:00

Hellooo world, seems like every time I write I have an assignment due soon? PROCRASTINATION IS THE DEVIL. I can't get any information into my head and the readings look like a blur to me. My friend says "Take a break!" So I shall take a break from procrastinating. Yeap.

I'm tempted to continue with the Rose I opened last night for the fabulous Garage Gallery opening (which I had made my hair up for btw ;D ) but it's 2.30pm... hmmmm, I do have a rule that says "It's never too early."

I have another thing to add to my list today. It involves the words "toast" and "other people". You fill in the blanks. Tis the life!

I think I will go back to studying. I wish I could tell you a story and make this post worth your 5 minutes but... I know you want me to pass my course. Right?

I have no idea if the photo will work and where it will appear... anyway, meet Anneliese=) there you go Maybelle, a photo!

Write

2010-04-16T13:54:00.001+08:00

So I write again. This feels right. I sit in Canara Place after awaking from a nap on the couch. Tis the same couch I slept on last night too if I may add. I have a health assignment due in 8 hours and I'm halfway through. I thought if I blogged, it will wake my brain up and words will start forming sentences again. I think it's working. It better be!

I can only think of stories from last week to tell you so here I go. It was Easter break last week. I had an assignment due the week before but got an extension till the Tuesday of the holiday. That meant... working while I was home alone (housemates were all away) on Easter. Ya right, more like write 5 sentences. But I got it handed in even though I spent the days going to the beach, going to the drive-ins (like an outdoor cinema and you watch the movie from the car), and having a lot of social fun with awesome people. Did I mention alot of coffee and chocolates were involved? And wine too, just... not alot. Wednesday evening, I headed down to Sydney by train, stayed at a backpackers, and wondered the city. Oh how I love Sydney! Thursday morning was my scheduled departure to Adelaide but Tiger Airlines being Tiger Airlines, I missed my flight and got another one in the evening. Fine by me, I get Sydney in the day. So I walk and walk and walk. Have I said I love Sydney? I immediately got BURGER FUEL after craving it for 2 years and Max Brenner too. Pretty good outcome for missing my flight I think. I ended my day in Sydney at Circular Quay and departed to Adelaide.

Now, I could go on and tell you about Adelaide, but that would mean not doing my assignment. And we don't want that do we? Next time=)

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two years later

2010-03-27T12:48:00.001+08:00

Jasmine is away from home again, hence the reliving of this blog. I'll still keep the Doulos picture below as it symbolises the beginning. Also because I have no idea how to change it and Huey Sing isn't here with me now is she?

Currently, I sit on a bench in the Auchmuty courtyard in uni on a Saturday afternoon wearing no shoes and licking whats left off the wrapper of my 80 cent chocolate. I've been at uni for... 4 hours now wasting my life/weekend away on an assignment and it looks like I'll remain here for another 2 hours... at least. It's a sunny day as I sit in the shade, the other half of my table is burning up but I'm thankful for that because I think... I think, it keeps the mutated monster mozzies away. Btw, the mozzies here are like jocks - big, vicious but stupid. You can kill them with one hand, shock horror!(it's an aussie term, I think I'm using it right)

Other than jock insects, chocolate and wasting of ones life, I've done at least one thing a week that I will never do at home or at least never thought I'd do in my life. The list so far (as I can remember) -

Jump of a balcony... into a pool
ride a trolley
crawl a drain
go swimming at the beach at night (SO FREAKING AWESOME)... fully clothed, I might add
twirl a stick of fire
play volleyball at the beach and actually served the volleyball the right way (after screwing up ten
million times)
COOK!

Life is good. I like classes and lectures, don't like the work though. I have PE classes where I actually do PE stuff. Man, I've done more PE in the last 2 classes than I ever did in my schooling life! I also have a science subject with a lecturer who has cool stuff from NASA. I held the moon in my hands once.

My house is awesome. How can it not be? I have a pool. though, I must confess(please do not scream) I've only been in it once. Besides the pool of course are the people I live with. Natalie, Bella and Belinda are a bunch of loud crazy people. We went out for dinner on St. Patricks day all dressed in green carrying a green accessory from our kitchen. We sat at the restaurant all made up with a green chopping board, green bottle, green mittens, and a green orange(yes, I too was shock. I thought it was a lime and got laughed at).

I could go on and tell you more stories but I won't. Because it's 3pm-the end of my break. The wasting of ones life shall continue.

ps: number of mozzies killed while writing this post - 3. number of bites - at least 5. We'll see how itchy I get later on.

I love 2008

2009-01-02T17:57:00.016+08:00

I do realize I should update this blog since it's the new year and all that. Plus, I do have so much to say about 2008. Even though Jasmine is not away from home for now

What a year!! This time last year, I was so excited for what was installed for me not knowing how great is was going to be. What a contrast from this year to last. Right now, I'm just waiting on God and everything else doing what has to be done and crossing my fingers at the same time.

I feel like last year was my year. 2008, the year my life begun.

First I studied like mad for the SAT, then I prepared like mad to leave. At the same time, there was a load of madness weighing down on me that just lifted off the moment I left.

Then I said my good byes

And I left the country for the first time on a plane on my own.

Traveled many hours and finally arrived at the ship in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea.

I sailed with the ship to Santo, Vanuatu

Lautoka, Fiji

Suva, Fiji

and finally Auckland, New Zealand

met amazing people

and did amazing ministry

and was used as a vessel for the almighty God.

Then I went to Australia and lived in Adelaide

then because of Him, learned about Cornerstone and lived in Canowindra for 5 weeks

met and lived with amazing people

was challenged, both inside and out

saw snow, skied

traveled to a few places

Coonabarabran

Canberra

Sydney

Melbourne

Dubbo

Silverton, Broken Hill

Victor Harbour

Castlemaine, VIC

and other places....

God gave me an amazing friend

and we had wonderful times together

I've done, seen and experienced so many things I never thought I'd be able to, not at this stage of my life at least. I was on my own without my parents by my side, and oh how I relied on Him. He was there right by me, holding my hand, leading me, all the time.

All to the glory of God for that. Thank you Lord for the wonderful year you've given me, thank you for keeping your promise that you'll never leave me, thank you for your provision, thank you for all the blessings you've showered upon me, thank you for the lessons I've learned, thank you for answering my prayers, thank you for the person I've come to be at this point, and most of all thank you for loving me. Without you Lord, there is nothing, I am nothing.

I surrender 2009 to you, Lord of my life.

My birthday and the ship (again)

2008-09-29T21:55:00.010+08:00

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

2008-09-05T07:15:00.004+08:00

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

2008-08-19T14:46:00.001+08:00

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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further plans

2008-07-29T21:07:00.003+08:00

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

2008-07-15T22:16:00.003+08:00

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.

2008-06-24T19:40:00.004+08:00

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

2008-06-23T20:02:00.006+08:00

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

Left

2008-06-16T13:42:00.002+08:00

Alrighty! About time for a new post. Well, I left the ship. On the 11th of June =( I know, I should have posted that up earlier, but I just didn't want to write it down then, It seemed so official.

It wasn't easy to leave, but I stayed back in Auckland for another 4 nights just to holiday around with few other STEPPERS. And during those 4 days, i went back to the ship twice! Something I never thought I'd do when I left the first time.

Anyway, I'm in Adelaide now, in my aunts house. Will be staying here for a few months. Arrived yesterday after 2 flights. Went to 2 colleges today to check out what I can do for my studies here as an international student.

So , about leaving the ship, I'm still sad and stoned from the fact that I won't be seeing my cabin mates again. After 70 days of seeing each other ALL THE TIME! Not easy la. And While staying on in Auckland, I got so much thinking done and I really regret not getting to know some of the other Doulois better. Oh well, can't do anything about that now except maybe email/facebook them. Good enough I guess. Right, it's so cold here, I'll go and shall update again when I can.

NZ

2008-06-09T12:07:00.001+08:00

Hello from Auckland New Zealand! Just arrived about 20min. arriving in a city like this can never be the same again. I SAILED in! The ship’s view – the Auckland Harbour Bridge, Sky Tower, National Marine Museum…

Alright, 2 more days left on the ship. Got to go =) don’t want to waste time in front of the comp.

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Too long?

2008-06-07T12:04:00.000+08:00

Ya, I know it’s been long. Just never felt like updating. Only 5 days left on the ship =( =(… Been tired lately. Mainly because of the voyage, Heading to New Zealand from Fiji. it’s been so rocky, but thank God I didn’t get sick like the last time. Just tired out. It’s COLD! Not the same kind of cold back at home, not the wet and sticky cold wind, but the nice cold you get when you open the freezer on a hot day. =)

So many things have happened, I MAY write about it, I may not. Cross your fingers and hope la. I uploaded the pictures on the comp already, just way tooooo lazy to upload onto the blog. And plus, the ship s rocking remember? I can’t really stay in front of the computer for too long, and loading pictures take toooo long. I feel a little sick already!

I love the ship still, but leaving will be okay I think. I think I’ll be able to handle it better than I thought I would at the beginning. Besides, I’m not going home yet right? =D

Right, gonna start puking soon, better get off and go sleep. Sorry for the lack of info, jus twait okay? I’ll try to write more, otherwise, just wait till i leave the ship.

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last day

2008-05-22T18:57:00.000+08:00

Last day of Sabbath week. Work starts tomorrow at 6AM!! Can one la, I’ve been resting for a week wert. On Saturday, us steppers go on overnight. I’m in a group of 9 doing street ministry. There’s an organization that started to reach out to the homeless here in Suva. They have a shelter for them as well and that’s where we’re gonna stay for one night. I requested it. Wanted to do this which I’ve never done before, and my my won’t it be interesting? I think its gonna be a little bit like our faith trip, preaching in public to the people of the town etc. using God’s strength and leadership together with His guidance. I CAN’T WAIT!

Urgh, the ships been rocking, but we’re IN PORT!! Ish, can’t imagine the voyage… 6 days some more, 6 days of rocking!! Nvm, must treasure, it’s gonna be my last. STEP prayer night is coming up. Prayer night is usually on Thursday when the whole ships company comes together to pray for different things. It usually last about 2 hours plus. And this coming Thursday, us stepper are gonna lead it. Know whats my part? Testimony! Ahhhhhhhh! Suanne asked me to share, I think I can do it. I THINK! I HOPE! I PRAY!

We had curry for dinner. Yummm, and an Indian drink that one of the Indian guys made. It’s basically teh halia, Indian style, not mamak style… so yummy.

And oh ya! The waterfalls! Omigoodness, I was BEEAUTIFUL! I’s like something out of national geographic. It’s just one hughe mountain with a continuos waterfall. It’s like from the top, it just flows down continually, one waterfall at the top, collect into a pool, and the flow from that pool by a rive or a small pool or another waterfall and it just keep going like that all the way down. I swam in the pools and it was sooo nice an refreshing. The water was blue blue blue, i even lay down in one of the smaller waterfalls that gushed water onto my head… Sigh, I miss it. It has an entrance fee of 5 fiji dollars and we had to walk 30 min into the forest before we get there but It was all worth it. And the air, so cool… and at the lowest pool, they had the rope thing that you swing from the top and let go and drop into the pool. I did it!!! Will show you pictures later. The first time I did it, I did it the worng way. Wasn’t suppose to jump but I did, and ouch, my fingers hurt, but of course I didn’t give up ther enad gave it another go, and weeeee! So fun!! Sooooo beautiful la that place… =D

Oh no! 2 more weeks left!!

Okay, curfew in 5 min. Goodnight!

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happy?

2008-05-22T12:37:00.006+08:00

the church ladies
PNG sunset
PNG waters
saling
sailing. (Claudia, me, Joey )

the kids day thing (my first Eday, thats when i got burnt!)
doing the STATUE drama for the first time
That's when they asked me to share about living in a Muslim like country
my first Church team
sharing with the ladies at the church

The first time the ship moved for us STEPPERS. (that’s when I woke up at 6am!)
K group (it was Chris's birthday)
awkward smile (working at coffee bar. see the ice cream machine? I get
to eat as many as I want!)

only managed one this time

2008-05-19T13:21:00.002+08:00

Claudia the clown! (International Night, Lautoka)

sabbath week

2008-05-18T15:34:00.000+08:00

Hey hey hey

So 3^rd day of Sabbath week, and 25 days left on the ship. Can’t believe it’s all going away so quickly. It’s been rainy here in Fiji, and yet I heard that its dry and hot back home. So weird right? When you think of Fiji, you’d think of sunshine and white sandy beaches. Not rain and city!! But the city ahs been nice. a cinema just less than 5 min walk out from the ship. A group of us went there yesterday to watch nania 2. I actually liked it! I really didn’t like the first one. Costs me about 5.50 Fiji Dollars. Not bad la, about the same as home. Ant then after the movie, we looked for some place to eat but couldn’t find it and ended up having street food! That’s the best I telll youuuu,. I rather have local street food than Macdonald’s any time! It was a piece of steak, one sausage which was super yummy, tapioca, fried noodles with onions and veg and one fried egg. All for 4 Dollars! and something else that had dhal and potato wrapped in this capati like bread… yummm. It only costs me like 1 dollar for that!

Okay, time for worship / night. Starts at 7.30pm its already 7.35pm. opps! BYE

sorry la

2008-05-16T11:06:00.000+08:00

Hello people, I’ve not been updating. I’m soooo sorry.

It’s Sabbath week now. Which means that the ship is not open to the public for one week. Everyone will REST! They only work one day and there’s LOADS of free time, sports day, movie night, morning sessions, etc. While us STEPPERS take over the Doulos school. And where am I? fun deck of course! Fun deck means 3 to 4 year olds. Ahhhh so mega super cute. And I just love it when they hug you before they leave class. blogger is sooo super slow, can’t load much pictures even though I have lots. I have to go la, there’s like 2 other persons wating to use the comp.

And oh ya, I cut my hair. SHORT! Oh, how I miss the short hair. It’s sort of like last time, only no short fringe and its layered.

Until next time, BYE!

change of email add

2008-05-13T12:26:00.000+08:00

jasmine.koit@gbaships.org

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Fiji is not in Japan

2008-05-10T11:59:00.000+08:00

Do Re Mi, I am free! (At least for another 2 hours ) I’ve been so busy! Don’t you loveee rhyming?

Arrive in Fiji on Friday

Friday – arrive, prayer night, on call

Saturday – Faith Trip

Sunday – Work at 6am, Cycle around town, relax by the pool, work, steppers gathering by the quayside

Monday – off day! Go to town, back to the ship for lunch, go to other town – Nadi (2 hours bus ride away from Lautoka), Sabbath week school children meeting

Tuesday – Work, Sports café

Wednesday – Eday, Hindi I-café Parade of nations, walk out to town to minister to the prostitutes by the streets

Thursday – Slept in! Work at night

Friday – Work, movie, I-night

Saturday(today) – work, minister to prostitutes

Laalalalla, crazy but I’M LOVING IT!

Cycling was so nice, until Louise fell, and then the pool was nice. One of the hotels nearby is allowing Doulois to swim for freeee. Monday was sooo nice. The ride into town itself was so scenic. And Alisha is crazy btw. Have I mentioned all this? I can’t remember. Oh welll. *yawn*

I’m leaving in 4 weeks! Madnesss

I love the ministry here so much. I hope I get to go for church team tomorrow. There’s one team that’s going to Wesley Methodist Church. But I’m working =( have to ask the boss! Oh nooooooo

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it took me 2 hours!

2008-05-10T11:04:00.002+08:00

finally a group picture
at the park with the pastors we met

Faith Trip

2008-05-04T14:01:00.000+08:00

Bodoh! I just typed about 3 paragraphs and the computer went cuckoo on me. I’ll just tell you about faith trip.

Yesterday, us STEPPERS went on our faith trip. It’s part of our program. Basically, they just send us out into town with no knowledge of the town and no contacts with anyone there. They send us in groups and we walk out to “preach”? dunno la, just do a program, spread the gospel, tell people about the ship, invite people to come visit etc.

So jon, Claudia, jeanette, and Richard went in a group. Nationalities – UK, Switzerland, Canada, PNG, Malaysian. We went to the office to grab some ministry tools, like the map, the numbers presentation etc. We just followed the road and walked and walked with God’s direction. As we were walking, we heard a mans voice over a mic at a park next to where we were walking. It was a huge park, and the guy was speaking in Fijian. Then jon says “ lets go see what its all about, maybe he’s selling apples or something” So we did and on the way, we heard him say Word of God, then we knew he was preaching and got quite excited, when we saw him, he was with a small group off people. They are actually pastors from different churches who decided to start preaching there every Saturday. They’ve been doing that since last year and they’ve had good responses. So we talked to them, tell them where we’re from etc. and asked them if they’d let us do a program. They agreed and so we did!!! Did the map thing, introduced ourselves, did the numbers presentation, did a drama, i acted, not as the statue this time, but the person who moves the statue, then Richard preached and the end! By the time we ended it was already 12 and we were HUNGRY! We didn’t have any money, but the guy Richard met who happened to be someone from PNG as well, gave us 5 fiji dollars which we spent on drinks at a mall. Then we deciede to just walk out further to see if we can find some organization where we can do another program but bumped in to Janene’s group instead. While at the park with them, we decided to go back to the market place and do another program. It was so super nice. we actually just stood there in a group, started with a song to get people attention, and did the proram. Except this time, we did the gospel numbers presentation and about 5 of us preached. After the market place, we we drained but Jon said “ lets do another one!” HAH! This coming from the guy who wasn’t really into it at the beginning. So we did the same program at the mall but it included the drama this time which I did again. And after this program, a Hindu guy came to ask and challenged us to certain biblical things like why was the Sabbath changed an d all that. He so knows his scripture! We couldn’t answer and didn’t want to cause we didn’t want to argue and asked him to come to the ship. After that we just walked back to the ship at about 4.30pm. All this time without lunch! Oh ya, one lady treated us to some drinks when we were in the market place =D On the way, back, the engine guys were out having a picnic in the park and gave us some stuff to eat =)

SO yeap it was pretty awesome. Did you know that in Lautoka, the population is about 50,000 and they are 58% Christian, 30 +% Hindu, and 8+% Muslim. There are so many Indian people here! I would have never thought in a million years that Fiji would have many Indians! I wonder why though… but it’s a good chance for ministry. They still come to the ship and attend programs.

Think about it, I actually talked to people, strangers on the street and tell them about the love of Jesus. Something I would have never done if not for this opportunity. If I were to do the same thing in Malaysia, it would be so different. But I did it and I LOVE DOING IT!

I have to go for dinner. Will tell more and get pictures when I can

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sailing

2008-05-01T12:23:00.000+08:00

We’re sailing to Fiji now. FIJI!!! Left Vanuatu on Tuesday, missed the departure =(, had to delime toilets. URGH! Last night, the clock was advanced another hour, so I’m now FOUR HOURS ahead of home!! =( It’s been so lovely. I’m so dreading the day I have to leave. The people have been great. Have quite a few good friends on the ship now, apart from steppers. I steered the ship this afternoon! And I’m heading to the bridge again in about 15 min. hopefully I’d be able to steer again, cause I suck =P

I had lots to tell. But I can’t really remember much. Lets see… have I mentioned I broke my glasses? I did, about 2 weeks ago. Broke as in the things that goes behind your ear broke off from a part of the lense. And I almost lost my retainers. TWICE! And I got a yellow slip! Yellow slip is something they give you when you break curfew. Curfew is at 11pm the firerounds guy caught me going from the computer room to my cabin at 11.05!! Ish, and the slip says 11.13pm… NOOOO!

So I’m on call AGAIN today =(, and the sea doesn’t look good. It was okay yesterday, not rocky like the first. The first was HORRIBLE! And today, right now, the weather doesn’t look good at all. Looks like its gonna get rocky, and I have to do laundry tonight =(, the most seasick prone place.

Okay, you know what? I’m getting quite dizzy, should get off soon. Arriving in fiji tomorrow, so should be able to use comp. TATA!!

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Been busy

2008-04-28T08:47:00.000+08:00

Hey, sorry people, I’ve just been so busy. We arrived on Tuesday and my week just went KABOOM! on Thursday.

Tuesday - work, go into port, watch deckies work.

Wednesday – work, go swimming

Thrusday – work, mini I-night, Chinese fellowship, mini I-night, Chinese fellowship

Friday – work, youth night

Saturday – Eday in town, Eday at I-café

Sunday – Church team, swimming at million dollar point, accomm party

Monday – ON CALL! ( work the whole day =( )

So yeap, work normally ends at around 3 and then I do some stuff in between and then go for some event. I volunteered for all of them except Saturday which was my designated Eday. Note that I was apart of INTERNATIONAL CAFÉ? I was a table host ( sit at the tables with people and talk to them as they enjoy then program). What so special about this is that the last time Doulos was in Malaysia, also the last time I was on the ship before STEP was to attend I-café. I ATTENDED last time and this time I HOST! So yeap, that’s special.

And being on call doesn’t exactly mean I work the whole day. I start at 1pm, do some toilet cleaning (URGH!) throw rubbish, more toilet cleaning (URGH!), then wait till 2 + to do more toilet cleaning, then till 5 plus for more toilet cleaning, and some laundry, and at 7 for more toilet cleaning, then at 8 for laundry and then at 9 for more laundry till about 11. If you’re OC on normal days (meaning not Sunday or Monday, then you can start work at 1pm and do whatever you want in the morning. But because I’m OC on Monday, I can’t leave the ship incase of cleaning emergencies. See, I had plans this morning to go swim at Million Dollar Point with my K –group (ship family),and the get back before 1pm, but I didn’t know that I have to stay on the ship until just before I left! =( Nvm, I went there yesterday, only difference is that there’d be more people and I actually remembered to bring my goggles to check out the corals. Argh, I can see corals in Fiji la! And besides, I need to rest!!!

Youth night was great! We went to this church in town that had about 300 plus youth from all over. We worshiped with them and it was wonderful. They all sing beautifully and they know the words by heart which means they didn’t screen the words. I just clapped and dance along, follow the actions and try to follow the songs, some of the songs I knew… They sing in parts with the keyboard, drums guitar etc. I was nice. There were only light in that church, no fan, no AC… but it wasn’t that hot. Oh, and there a field right outside the church, and because we went at night, I just looked up and saw a field of stars!! Amazing. Because Claudia and I volunteered, we didn’t take part in the program. We just watched the reast of the team which consisted about 15 people, do their drama and such. Claudia and I only took part in the altar call. I never prayed for so many people I tell you! But it was great. Most of them wanted to pray for studies, for protection of their faith, for a stronger walk with God. And while all this praying was going on , the power went off about 3 times! But the singing and praying continued.

And then eday in town was also nice. I think I told you about the Chinese people here? There are loads of them. They came to the ship for a program on Thursday and on Saturday 7 of us Chinese ship people went out into town to visit their shops and talk to them. I follow Irene (fellow Malaysian) and Shawn (Singaporean Stepper, no mum, not my cousin =P) and we visited this shop owned by a Chinese couple from China. We just started chatting with them putting in some Gospel when we can ( they were not Irene’s target, it was the couples friend that was her target.) So while waiting for the friend to arrive we just chat! We were suppose to meet up with the others at11.30am, but they still haven’t arrived. Nvm, we just said our good bye’s and left. We arrived at the meeting point at 11.45 and were suppose to walk back to the ship. It was hot, but it wasn’t a very far walk. But then , TADA! A doulos van passes by and picks us up! HAH! It was great la the whole thing. I can’t remember the last time I spoke so much mandarin. The couple we visited doesn’t know any English, so couldn’t mix it like I normally do at home. I couldn’t even understand what Irene was telling them at times!

Then I-café was also awesome. I told you why already but there’s more. I we had table clothes over tables (duh) and then we also put flags on the tables. I saw the Malaysian flag in the container and immediately placed it on the nearest empty table. So happen, t was the table right in front of the stage! HAH! So, that was MY table =P and then this French guy pulak go and sit there, I “ kicked” him off fer fer =P So when I started, my table got filled and I basically talked a lot. Ask lots of questions, blabla, then the performances were wonderful. And at the end, I just asked them how they felt about it, some said they’re encouraged to live a more chirst like life, they felt the presence of God, they’re very privileged to be there. It was great!!!

I went on church team on Sunday. It was awesome I telllll youuuuu. Sunday was actually my off day since I’m OC on Monday. But since I’m off, go for church team lo. Just talked about it abit on Saturday and decided that I’d do scripture reading for Laura’s testimony and drama. It’s a simple drama I’ve seen performed twice already, but I still wanted to practice it. Suppose to practice it about 15 min before we leave on Sunday, but then people that picked us up came early! So no chance to practice =( die man. We went in a van and reached the church after a 5 plus min drive. It’s sooooo beautiful! I’ll upload pic of the church. It’s just basically the very old school village type of church. No electricity, wooden stools for chairs, wooden walls, chickens running about. Very nice. I did the reading, and then came drama! Oh migosh, ll I had to do was actually stand still like a statue and then the other person would act and put me in different positions. Mikael’s a great actor, very expressive and VERY FUNNY! It was so difficult to stand ther and NOT LAUGH! I had to hold it in so much and at ne point I couldn’t take it anymore and just closed my eyes, was gritting my teeth and al that. MIGOSH! Laura said she was watching me more than Miakel cause I was more entertaining “is she gonna laugh? Is she gonna laugh?” but I didn’t la. And the when the service was coming to an end, the pastor said “ jasmine, you’re from Malaysia? I was there 15 years ago and I’m curious to know how it’s like to be in a “ muslim Country” could you come up and share with us?” OWEMEEGOSH! Nvm, I just went up and talked….. !!! But I had stuff to say already since he’s not the first person to have asked me about that. But still la, suddenly ask me to stand infront of everyone and talk. EEK! Then it was luch and the food was super nice. SUPER big banana, SUPER smooth avocado, then yam wrapped in some island veg, some kind of meat cooked in 3 different ways. It was so yummy, but I don’t even know what meat it is! HAH! Could be anythingggg.

The after church team, I went to million dollar point which is a tourist spot around here. It a beach where the American navy dumped their stuff during WW2. It was beautiful and windy. So the current was strong. I just followed the current and swam out quite far. It was so nice. Lots of corals and could see the remnants of the navy stuff by the beach. Will upload pics when I can. Can’t seem to be able to put them in the comp.

Accomm party was mad la! We had to dress up in shower curtains or bed sheets! With clothes underneath of course. It was a party to say good bye to our leader Eleanor. She’s going to change departments and work as info girl instead. So it was a farewell and a welcome to out new boss – Tuya! And a birthday celebration at the same time for Doini as well. We played games, ate lots of sweets etc.

Okay…… this is a LONG post! Don’t expect more like this =P I could only write like this since I CAN’T GET OFF THE SHIP! Will get more pics up when I can.

tata

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Only two days la

2008-04-24T19:20:00.000+08:00

Hello hello, sorry,, it’s been what 2 days? I’ve been busy! YAY! I can finally say that. I’ve been doing more stuff this port compared to the last. Been pushing everything together making sure that I have at least one ministry everyday. Just take tonight for example. I signed up for international café, and Chinese gathering. I-café was suppose to be tomorrow but they pushed it and I didn’t know. And, they also put me in the Parade of Nations which I didn’t know anything about until yesterday. So I went for dinner thinking I have only Chinese gathering tonight and I-café tomorrow, but noooo, when I saw this lady, she said “oh you’re Jasmine! Can you go dress in your national costume now?” Kapeesh!! I didn’t know it was moved. So I rushed down, got changed into my batik dress and ran up. Did one show at 7pm and then went down to dining room for Chinese Gathering which starts at 7.30pm. and at 7.45pm, I changed and went back up to Main Lounge for I-café for a second program. Crazy right? I enjoyed it though =) tomorrow, I’ve got a youth night thing and on Saturday it’s my E-day. It’s only for a short while so I’m gonna see what else I can do. And on Sunday, I’m OFF! Gonna check out what the plans are… if anyone’s going out or anything.. Monday’s the usual off day for everyone else, but I got Sunday off and Work on Monday. Hopefully I’d still get to go out with the other STEPPERS though.

Yesterday was awesome!! I swam in the Pacific Ocean!! I went out with a small bunch of people, we walked about 10 min away form the ship and went by the beach to swim. It’s the kind of beach with more corals than sand, the water was so clear and green. It was BEAUTIFUL! And beneath us in the water it was FUL OF CORALS! So I didn’t dare step down, but I did one time and cut my foot. HAH! Now I’ve got something stuck in it and I don’t dare to take it out. Mum, where’s your skill when I need it ???! so we swam for about 10minutes and it started to rain. We got out but after about a minute it stopped, so went went back it. After it rained there was just this beautiful rainbow. Picture this, Rainbow over the blue blue clouds over the clear blue green sea over the coral beach. Sigh, it was beautiful. And while swimming, Janene suddenly spotted a Blue Starfish, she tried and tried to pick it up but couldn’t cause it was too deep for her, so I came to save the day!! I used my toes to pick it up. Heh! According to the Pilipino that was with us, she said it’s a rare starfish and it was still alive. How amazing is that? I’ll show you pictures when I get them. When I took it up, I thought it was plastic! HAH!! But when we reached the ship, we threw it back in the sea. Oh, and I saw water snakes, TWO of them right beneath me! I so wished I had the snorkelling things with me. I’d do that next time I go out. On the way back to the ship, we saw THREE rainbows over the ship at the same spot! BEAUTIFUL! I love Vanuatu =) I love the ship =) I love God’s creation =) I love God =)

You know the people in the village that does that crazy bungee jumping with vines around their legs? I think that’s right here in Vanuatu, though not in this island I’m in. I’ve never ever ever imagine I’d be in an island like this. This is so amazing. Apparently, this is a Christian country but the people here don’t have a personal relationship with Christ. They think that because they live in a Christian country they’re Christian, not knowing they have to accept Him in their hearts. So it’s a big task for the ships company.

I want to share more, but someone’s waiting for the comp.

Will updater later. Promise. So much to share!!

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Recovered

2008-04-21T06:14:00.000+08:00

Yay! Finally, no more fever and moodiness. Past few days have not been so great. The ship’s been great (NOT talking about all the Rocking), but I’ve not been great. Today is Monday! Off day! But nothing to shout about this time, I was off yesterday too.

I was praying so hard that I’d recover before Vanuatu else I die. Literally. I don’t think I would have been able to handle working and the public if I were sick. Of course God is good =D I’ve mentioned I’m THREE HOURS AHEAD right? Better say again =P

We ha da BBQ yesterday, ate on deck with the Doulos Jazz Band playing wonderful music and some people were dancing while the sun started to set. Too bad I was sick, I would have enjoyed it more if I wasn’t. Nvm, I think during our next voyage from Fiji to Auckland would be just as nice =)

I think I know why I’m slightly homesick. Because, I’m SO OUT OF TOUCH with everyone at home. The blogs that actually tell me whats going on at home are banned on this computer =( and the others don’t say much either. I heard that there was a 3 day black out at home, but I haven’t heard anything else other than that. ishhhhh =P

So, it’s church ministry training in a short while, then Music Night tonight!!

I so love the ship

Home

2008-04-19T20:06:00.000+08:00

Hey, just to drop a quick note, I’m 3 hours ahead of Malaysia now. Boohoo… it’d be harder for me to catch anyone of you online =(

Oh, and I just heard that Shana got PARALYSED! Ahahahahhaha LOOMER!

NOW YOU’RE THE SNAIL! Ps: I can’t access xanga on the ships internet. It’s BANNED!

I’m slightly homesick now….. just slightly. Must be the boredom caused by the voyage, and the lack of information about home. EMAIL ME people! =P

I still love the ship

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Missed me?

2008-04-19T11:38:00.001+08:00

Missed me? Been sailing la… the ship’s been rocking like mad. Can’t stay infront of the comp for too long, makes me a little dizzy. The water is beautiful though… rocky, but BEAUTIFUL DEEP BLUE. Been sick lately. Since Thursday, the day we started sailing. I’ve got the flu, cough, sore throat, fever, the whole package. And it’s not a good time of the month too, so all that plus really rocky seas which the ship’s not been in for at least a year = NOT SO GOOD. I slept almost the whole of yesterday and still feel tired. Oh, my poor tired body =( The weather is so bad, it feel like I’ve been on the swing for too long. Haven’t taken any seasick pills yet. I refuse to take any. But it’s okay, I don’t think they’d do me much good. It’s not the seasickness that makes me feel horrible. It’s the SICKNESS! Blocked nose plus cold ship also = NOT GOOD. It’s only been 2 days since we started sailing, and word is, it’s not gonna get any better. Rather, it’s gonna get WORSE! Other than the whole horribleness, I still love ship life. It’s so quite without the public. So peaceful =) Everyone just lazes around basically doing nothing after work. Janene just came in to the library. She’s holding a pillow. Wait, let me ask her. She SLEPT ON THE DECK! How niceeee. I shall do that one day. The wind is also nice and strong. We watched a movie last night, when I got that unexpected dial 9…. HEH! And then it was cake time. Oh ya, the food has been better since the containers arrived. There’s VARIETY! Alright, I better go before I puke on the comp! Joking la, I just feel a wee bit dizzy =D

Enclosed

2008-04-15T14:02:00.001+08:00

Have I really been writing everyday? You’re lucky =P No la, I do get time off. I enjoy the ship tremendously now. know quite a few more people. All thanks to work, eday and living in this enclosed space that is the beautiful blue and white ship.

I went for the BBQ last night and had WONDERFUL GERMAN FOOD! Sausages and burger patties and salads and ALL THE YUMMY STUFF! It was Barbequed on a real outdoor stove that uses WOOD and the sausages we cooked in OPEN fire. Not the che kai grill we use at home where the meat just cooks on top. And it was quite a big house with a huge garden at the back that had a swing in the tree!! It was soooo lovely. I’ve always always always wanted to swing on those things. And mind you, its not puny and weak okay, it the HUGE and TALL tree with super strong rope =d Janene says “you ar, no childhood la” HEH! The couple also had a super cute and super smart 1 year old daughter =) and and and and, I sat behind a truck!! You know… TRUCK! In the back, where they normally put stuff in. not covered, wind in your hair,( and because it started raining, water too) Sweeeet! Talked about lots of serious stuff with the doulois. One from Austria, one from Netherlands, one from Germany. How cool is that? And we watched 2 dvd sermons. Indescribable and the other one. Came back at 10.55pm! 5 min before curfew!

I woke up at 6am this morning. AM I a HERO or what you tell meeee?! With good reason of course. They were moving the ship into the right berth to do other stuff to prepare the ship for its next voyage. It’s super cool. They basically moved it opposite where we were, but they had to move it in one big circle. Wind in your hair, deckies working, movement in the bridge, the horn sounding, tuck boats, mooring lines (that what you call it?)… Mark, I know you’re SUPER SUPER jealous =P =P ooo, and jelly fish! Squishy!

I worked coffee bar today (Where they sell ice cream, cookies, and juices. Opposite the book ex). It a nice shift, but it’s tiring as well because it’s non stop and the people just keep coming. Know why it’s a nice shift? Because I get to eat all the ice cream I want! And a free cookie!! The cookies are humongous. Remember how I said I love the bakery? Or did I not mention it? Anyway, it’s super good. All the mixing when you prepare the ice cream and juices. You actually use a whisk and beat it like crap. Musclessssssss =P had to wear this sarong like skirt which looks really nice but a pain when you have to run. I think I can work at MacDonalds no problem next time wei. By the time I’m finished here, I’d be super pro at making ice ream from the machine already!

Yesterday was nice. During the 5 hours I told you about, us steppers just hung out at the gym area talking about everything. From SP( =P), to living on the ship,to committing for 2 years and everything else. Then they moved to the pier after ice cream and cookies while janene and I got ready for the BBQ. It was a nice slow day.

I'm really loving ship life.

Oh, and yesterday, at the bungalow, I used their toilet. I sat down, I felt really really weird. I couldn’t put my finger on it at all. Then it HIT me. It’s been a week since I’ve used a toilet with that much spaceee!! HAH!

I really have to start controlling my food intake. Ish… and the sun on saturday left me quite a nice tan! =P the neck doesn't hurt anymore too. Oh yes, and people here have another way of calling me. So far, it's either Jasmine or Yasmine. Sounds nicee =D

So the containers (stuff we need on the ship that gets delivered every few months. Stuff like food, and other necessities) are coming tomorrow and everything is being done to prepare for the voyage. Life on the ship has been noisy and busy. But I love it!

edit:right after typing this posts, Joey(stepper) came to me and asked me if i wanted to give a tour. and just before that, I asked Janen if she wanted to give one to gether with me. Somehting I thought of doing while I have nothing to do. And tada! One was brought to me. Weird la, giving tour. Sometimes I don't really know what to do and it's so crowded and you feel like all eyes are watching you. So it's horrible if you say something wrong. Nvm, I'll get used to it. Feel so noobish.

Pictures!

ps:we're actually wearing skirts because that's the dress code in PNG.

Candid at the beach

Janene and Jeanette the birthday girl

the pier (that's what its called right)

yes, I climed it in a skirt. I was actaully wearing the GB shirt. So when helped is offered, I say "I'm a GB girl"=P

I was helping out at the coffee bar

watching the deckies at work

Off fer fer

2008-04-14T10:25:00.001+08:00

KO it! Why are there so many Ko it’s in my comment box? HEH =P lalala… no one to press for you =P you saw the first picture in the other posts? Claudia was massaging suanne. Nahahahahha. I didn’t think I could access proper internet. I thought I could only access the ships email. So I just send my posts from the email and receive the comments from blogger to the email as well. But I CAN ACCESS PROPER INTERNET! So I can actually view my blog. But it’s super slow. So they say… it’s actually considered fast for me =P you know, cause our computer is ancient!

Mum, dad – I only have 2 pictures of me in there! And they’re both tired shots. The one of me on the bed was taken I the morning and the other on the plane. So of course I look tired!! I have about 7 hours of sleep everyday. I’m off today (Monday) so I had about 8 plus hours. I apply more sunblock now. Claudia has after sun lotion which helps a lot! Still can’t find moisturizer though. But my skin is okay. I AM NOT TOUCHING ANY CLEANING PRODUCTS WHEN I GET HOME!!! Hide it all when I get back =P =P

I just came back from and outing into the city. We went to the beach near by. It was a little dirty. Sorta like the Malaysian beaches that are not protected. But there was this pier that was just so lovely, we walk on and climbed on! Soo nice! Will upload pictures when I get them. It was one of the stepper birthday yesterday. She was working htne, so we “celebrated” today by going out. I have nothing to do for the next 5 hours! But I just heard of a second hand clothes shop jus toutside the gate that I might visit if we get too bored here. I have got a BBQ tonight! The kids day organizers invited the doulois who helped out to their home for BBQ. Can’t wait.

Okay, time for lunch, might miss it =P

Ps: mum if you think I’ll loose weight, think again! Claudia has a bunch of lindt chocolate from Switzerland and suanne has a bunch of snacks. And I still love tohe food here. And I’m also hungry most of the time! So I eat quite a lot. At least more than I do at home =D It might change once I start getting sick of the food here.

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one week and toilets

2008-04-13T17:07:00.000+08:00

Hey hey hey

It’s 6.50pm! What a day I tell you. I really really really don’t like washing toilets. Today, I washed 8! 8 smelly toilets used by the public. And I had to start at 7am in the hot sun. So it was wash 4 toilets in about 2 hours, go for breakfast then church service thinking I’m done, was told three are 4 more public toilets!!! Sigh, by the time I was done, it was lunch already. And the toilets are not clean OK! And they don’t smell nice either. 2 toilets were clogged! Very very very badly with loads of yucky stuff in it. Urgh!!! It was my first time working alone. So I didn’t really know what to bring up. So when I was short of anything, I had to walk alllll the way down to the 555 (the accom store room, almost next to my cabin). Not to mention the pail of mop water I had to carry down also. Eh, sea creatures, I’m growing muscles already la! Then I had to wait till the evening, and no one’s ever told me what time, to check the toilets. Check meaning, disinfect the toilet seats, clear the rubbish, refill toilet paper, spray deodorant. So while waiting, I just slept my cabin floor because I was too smelly to sleep on my bed with new sheets and I’m still in my accomm work uniform anyway. And while sleeping, I had to worry if I’d oversleep and miss the “checking time” which I don’t even know yet by then (accomm leader wasn’t around), but the volunteers are such darlings la. I asked them if they knew way before and when I woke up to go look for people to ask again, they saw me and told me they’ve asked someone already. HOW SWEET! So BACK TO SLEEP! Only had to check at 5pm. And IT WAS RAINING AT 5pm =( Nvm, even when it rains, it’s still as beautiful as ever. It’s like being on a mountain top and the cold wind is blowing on your head while little drops of rain splash on you. =D OH! And I remember the sunburn? I usually have it worse around my neck and it was no different this time. So while working, with sweat pouring down my face, my neck was also hurting like mad. I just checked the schedule thank God I’m not on anymore SU4 shifts! At least not for another week.

Eh, people, email me la!! It’s been a week already, and it was looking forward to other things that kept me sane, but it’s been a week aready so not as many things. I need encouragement wei =P =P

I have to go, someone waiting to use.I’m usually online between 5pm-7pm your time =)

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I are EXHAUSTED

2008-04-12T17:59:00.004+08:00

I just came back from Eday(ministry day) it was the Kids Day thing. We went to this really poor part of Port Moresby. Have I mentioned that it’s SUPER HOT here? It’s like noon weather in KL excapt it last for Hours and HOURS. So we went for it, and this guy, I think he’s from Austria, organised it. I was in a public field right next to a main road that is FILLED with portholes! It’s like riding a rollercoaster in the car, especially if you’re in the Doulos van and if you’re sitting on the foldable seat, which is what I did. So, back to the kids day. We went out at 8.45am, I just tell you what happened in between la okay? I went back to the cabin(room) after teaching (message), changed, and it was already 8.45. I ran out of the room, went up to info, where the exit is, and realized I forgot my badge. I ran down, and my roommate was already on the way up to pass it to me. But then I realized I’ve forgotten to bring my ID card, which we need if we go out. So I ran back to the room and tada! It was actually in my pocket. So I RAN to the exit again. And thank God they have not left! Not leaving yet actually. While waiting, I realized again that I forgot my retainers!! HAH! Fortunately for me, suanne was outside looking over. I signalled to her to go get it and pass it to me, and she did cause she’s WONDERFUL! Right, that was the last, and we took off. Arrived, passed out soap packets with invitations to the fun day in the rural streets. Finished, and went back to help set up, under the sun, LITERALLY! Blablabla, prepared, sort things out yadayada. Oh ya, I’m super blessed because they don’t normally have this kind of big events and I, a stepper actually get to go, Janene did to. Was incharge of a game station along with another local. The game was “ big foot “ two wooden big feet and the kids pull strings connected to it and race across. It was nice. But I was grilling myself under the sun. My hands are red btw and I haven’t even seen the rest of my face yet. Thank God I had my cap and applied some sun block. I wish I had my sun block =( after games, was the program by Doulos. Worship, drama, etc… it was nice. Janene and I weren’t involved though, so we just sat at a side, got dehydrated and almost died of exhaustion. (there were no chairs either). It went on for about 3 hours? Then finally time to go!! I’m wearing the 2005 GB cadet camp t- shirt, so this PNG girl came to me and asked me about it. Told me she’s in GB as well. I asked her to email me and maybe I can meet her and the rest on Monday, which is my OFF DAY! Yeap, im tired, did I mention we only had on piece of bread for lunch? No lah, not as bad. The size of it is like 4 gardenia breads together with butter. I got to know some of the Doulois more and experience so so so much. It was such a poor are with drunkards and street homes and such. The kids are also super cute of course. I’m so sunburnt! Ouch! It was about 700 kids? I think...

Prayer night! It was on Wednesday. 3 hours of prayer for everything that needs to be prayed for. The ship is in a dangerous situation now actually. Doulos is SITTING on the sea bed during low tide! And that’s not good because there’s more than dirt at the bottom. Lots of junk here. Beams, cables, etc. so we needed to be in a specific berth which we weren’t likely to get. But we prayed, and news was just out that we got it.

Oh and work! I LOVE laundry! Have I mentioned that yet? It’s sooo nice. All I do is fold and sort and stuff. And then there coffee car! Where the ice creams and cookies and juicers are sold. Janene and I helped out last night. I get my shift there on Tuesday! Yay! That means free ice cream and free cookie! Oh, and the bakery is AH MA ZING! The cakes and breads and cookies… YUM.

I’m gonna miss PNG when we leave =(

Mum, doulos is closing already la! Joy won’t have a chance to come join it. But she can always join the new ships!!!

edit. PICTURES! they're disorganised... but I don't care la

Cabin mates!

South Korean Steppers

Bed =) note the space!

Beautiful view in PNG from the ship!

and again

Tired travelers (BRIS to POM)

Laundry area!!

Beatiful PNG sunset

Jon and Claudia on satallite deck

Suanne and pom pom!

Sunrise from the plane =D

View of PNG from the plane

All is fine

2008-04-11T10:53:00.000+08:00

No need to worry! I found the retainers. The elves returned it cause they’re kind =P they were under the mattress. I’m not so bored anymore. Just came from lunch actually, YUMMY! There was SASHIMI! (or however you spell it) It’s 12.50pm now, have to be at work at 1pm, so have to go super fast, long way to walk from library. Oh wait, nono… there’s a shortcut!!!

I need a favour from whomever! There’s a GB company in PNG. I don’t know where it is and the locals don’t know very much about it either. The contacts Ms Tay gave me are in my hotmail. Can’t access it on the ship. So if anyone can call her, or call GBM or something like that? I really want to visit the GB company here. Leaving PNG next Thursday already. And there’s a GB in Vanuatu also, which is our next port. So ya, contact for them to??? Right, have to go back to work. I LOVE WORK (at least for now. Let’s hope that doesn’t change) bye =D

Elves

2008-04-10T13:58:00.001+08:00

I just finished work! It wasn’t even 8 hours as I expected. Just “deep” cleaned 2 bathrooms (mark, it was 210 and 211, your old cabin!) and cleaned the stair area. I think my skin is going to peel off. I actually brought the lovely hand cream, but as usual, due to my brilliance, I packed it in the wrong bag and couldn’t take it on the flight. Actually went into town to get one, but it’s lousy! Nvm, I hope someone else here will have one too. Otherwise, I’ll just let my skin drop.

You know what else happened? The weirdest thing! I think there are such things as retainer stealing elves. I woke up this morning at 6am and felt like my teeth were naked, realized later that I didn’t have my retainers on. So I thought I left it in the toilet la. But I remembered that I did put it on before I went to sleep. I just went and checked. It wasn’t there!!! I searched and searched and searched. Nowhere!!!! Until now, I still haven’t found it yet.. and I CAN’T GO ON 2 MONTHS WITHOUT IT! My teeth are gonna move. (ko, this doesn’t prove you right because I didn’t DO anything to loose it. It just came off fer fer!!!) This is toooo weird la. I really hope I’d be able to find it later when we clean our messy cabin (cabin inspection tomorrow). It’s prayer night tonight, they’re also going to introduced us STEPPERS (eeeeek!)

Have I mentioned that the rice we ate is nice? We don’t get rice everyday, but the rice that was served last night and this afternoon was SUPER NICE! Nicer than Japanese rice. I tell you, it’s been so long since I ate that much rice. The food here is actually nice! Considering they cook for 300 people everyday.

I hear kids songs!!!! I think they have a program on. Gonna check it out. Oh, and I GET TO GO FOR THE KIDS THING!!!!!!!!! Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee =D =D

Why am I bored?

2008-04-09T19:31:00.000+08:00

Fine, I’ll blog

Didn’t want to initially, but sooo many questions asked. Okay, to give you a picture of how I can be bored, lemme tell you what I did today

6.30am – wake up then breakfast

7.30 – study group (on book of Ephesians)

10.00 – orientation (creative ministry today – mime dance)

12 – lunch

1pm – work orientation ( we finished SUPER EARLY cause accomm rocks =P)

Was done by 3!!

3pm – decided to go out, went out

5pm – came back

5.30pm – dinner

Then nothing to do!!! So Claudia and I hung out, cause janene wants to stay in

7 – went up to “gym”

Was SUPER NICE! It’s on the satellite deck. The wind was strong, so it blew right through! And the STARS!!! And the moon!!!! So pretty!

8pm – go down to bookstore, hoping to get ice cream. Couldn’t get =( So help out book ex again. Got dizzy, went to cabin

9pm – here I am

YOU SEE!!

Maybe it’ll be my last day feeling like this. I start work tomorrow. So I might start getting busy by then.4 days man!! 4 days of lepaking! (ooo, I slanged =P)

Have I mentioned its super hot? Literally? Like in the day, when we go out on deck, even the railing is super hot!

Can’t even touch it! Oh, but the water gets so beautiful, it glistens! And the hills afar looks even prettier!

Always missing the sunset. Having dinner around that time. And too lazy to wake up for sunrise.

Oh and my cabin! You know where my cabin is??? AFT MAIN STREET!!!! Literally right next to accomm office, and just a few steps away from Charlie and laundry(where I work also). HOW GREAT IS THAT???!!!!

The bakers here are awesome la. The cakes are super good and the coffee too! The bread is okay too. Not as bad as I thought it’d be. Can’t wait for the Sunday bread mark told me so much about.

Better go, people waiting to use

Bye!

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And more

2008-04-08T19:40:00.001+08:00

So, I’m blogging twice in a day, super rare, I know. But the comps are free and I am too, so that’s rare. I just came back from helping the book ex again. This time at the cashier and after the store closed. I helped them store away single books. SO FUN!!! All the PNG kids are so cute. Especially the babies, want to just pinch them. So, orientation again tomorrow. Work one this time. Then I start work on Thursday. I get Mondays OFF Fer Fer! Oh, and the creative ministry here is sooo chun. Can’t wait to go on Edays and share! Guess what I found in the bookstore? FINDING NEMO STICKER BOOK!!!! I’m soooo gonna buy it. It has dory, nemo, marlin, flo, bloat, peach…. !!! My dory keychain has company!!

Today, at orientation, they asked me to describe myself with one word. I used the word “childish” then they corrected me and said it’s more like “childlike” HAH! The fun deck!!! So fun! It’s basically the kids playground on the ship. Swing, slide, fortress, bike, see saw etc… So fun! And it faces the sea!! So yeap, childlike. And I also expressed how much I super uber mega love kids too… just after Daniel wong (STEP COORDINATER) told us that we an volunteer to take care of the kids during Sabbath week. KIDS ARE MEGA CUTE!!!

Then, also at orientation, we were given this speech/lecture(don’t know what you call it anymore) by the director – Daniel Chae. So inspiring! It basically brought me back to everything I wanted to do but was too busy thinking of other things. Things like being expectant, determined, etc and he sared about his life and the life of the governor state(or something like that) of PNG. MEEEE GAWSH! VERY VERY INSPIRING.

There are so many people here and they’re all awesome! This girl beside me now, she Romanian, very cool. Super fun, happy joy joy, make a lot of noise.

I don’t want my two months to end! AH!! It’s gonna be day 4 tomorrow already. I just really hope I won’t be treating this like the other things. “wait till last minute” casue there won’t be another chance after this =(

Eunice - I think of you when I see DORY!

Sing Song and Eunice - I think of you when I see KONS!! PNG KONS!!

Eema, mum, dad, the doctor guy – NEOH, met me already. He said “aunty wanting says I have to take care of you”

Ko - Go for massage. And I don’t need no lameness yet

Queen Shana – Surprisingly =P I think of you when I see purple-ish eyes! But theirs are not as laser shooting Cyclops- like like yours!!

And everyone else, keep praying!!

Gonna shower, I smell like book covers =P byeee

Ps :PNG is 2 hours ahead

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Jasmine is on the ship!

2008-04-08T15:08:00.000+08:00

Hello all, I know it’s been 3 days :D Didn’t get my email activated till about an hour ago. Been itching to write I TELL YOU! It’s sooo super great here. I’M ON THE SHIP! I’M ON THE SHIP!!!! I can actually access msn here! WEEEEE I’m working in accomm (accommodation) Stat work on Thursday. Then on SAT, I get EDAY! And, there’s this program for about 700-1000 kids on Saturday as well and I super hope I get to go for that instead. Food here is actually nice:D :D Almost the same thing everyday, so I think I’ll get sick of it soon. But still nice for now. Sleeping is also nice. I can’t sit upstraight on the bed, I’m sleeping In he upper bunk. I’m in a FOUR BED CABIN! It’s wayyy better than the 10 bed one they were suppose to put us in. My journey here was quite okay. POM flight got delayed about 2 hours. But still nice. Ooooo, airport food is niceeee. And I managed to watch Juno on the plane to Brisbane. So 4 bed cabin right? I’m sharing with 3 other STEPPERS. Janene, one from HK, and one Swiss. I arrived on Sunday, so when we arrived, everyone was off work already, we spent the night wondering around, and then ended up helping book ex people because they needed help. Oh meee gosh, I was sooo exhausted. Physically la, but mentally, I was still super jumpy. Then Sunday night I signed up for the Monday outing to some waterfall place in POM, singed up for 10.30am one, but in the end, they got delayed. Claudia and I waited for about 2-3 hours for the next bus that was suppose to arrive, waited till after lunch and then it was announced that it got cancelled. Ish!!! So we just SLEPT the entire day while almost everyone was out. Suanne came back with photos though, it was sooo nice la =( Nvm, next time! Then at night, we just played games with almost all the STEPPERS. Played table games, uno, “billionair” which this aussie which is super like Lewis thought us. We played it in different languages. SO NICE! Oh, and we played that game ALF thought us during mime dinner. The “tuki tuki” one. HAH! You should have seen this UK guy play it. Sooo funny. And I’ve got a big sister. Her name is Adriana, super nice! When we arrived in our cabins,our beds were made and there were stuff on our beds too. Like a cup(which we were suppose to bring, but I didn’t really bother)., some cards, a PNG bag =) (see mum, I told you I’d get one. =P) And I bought Aussie chocolates while in Brisbane! (get jealous ko and Justin) One thing that happened during my journey, I was in Singapore, and the mall was soooo huge and nice ( I was in terminal 3, the new one) so I walked from one end to the other and had a quick bite in between, when I walked back towards the train thing which is also where they have the board up for flight info, I checked it and it said, flight QF 52 – GATE CLOSING!! SO I RAN!!

Okay have to ciao. Only get 30 min on the comp!

Oh mark, you want me to say hi to drew given ar? He looks scary la

Crystal, I’ve passed the stuff I’m supposed to pass already. The guy seemed pleased to get it

And everyone else, I’ll write when I can!!

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D-Day

2008-04-05T04:39:00.002+08:00

And the day has arrived! In 12 hours!! Whoa

So, packing almost done. It's 5am btw. Better sleep, else I die during my journey.

Just a little info. The email will be jasmine.koit@mvdoulos.org. Comments made here would be sent there (hopefully). But if you do want to send me something, then email la. Can't access blog, so can't see chatbox.

Yeap. This is it. At last... Thaks for all the prayers so far, and don't stop! =P

Till the ship, ciao!

Two days to my brother's birthday

2008-04-03T23:10:00.002+08:00

TWO! When I first started counting, it was 90 plus days. Now it's TWO! Two more days to my brothers birthday! (don't get it? his birthday is on the 5th of April.)

So I'm done packing clothes, or at least I hope I'm done. It hasn't touched 20 yet! It's only 13kg now. Now to pack the other stuff. I don't even know where to start! Fortunately I still have my hand carry.

I've gotten everything I need already. Hopefully I haven't forgotten anything.

I'm gonna miss the food =(

Don't forget to PRAY!

And it's down to 3

2008-04-02T19:36:00.003+08:00

Three? Really? So that's about 72 hours?

Packing is a real pain. You should see my room now, I can't walk through it anymore. Created a path so I'd at least have some space to walk.

Do you know that flying is going to be so scary? Plus, I've only ever travelled twice on the plane. Once to Singapore and once to Kuching. So yeap, s.c.a.r.y

I'm going to miss school =(

ps: Please pray for safety for both Janene and I. Port Moresby is not exactly the safest place. We've been told that people can carry guns on the streets.

Leaving in 4 days

2008-04-01T00:49:00.002+08:00

So it's 4 days left. I haven't exactly packed neither do I have a packing list. I'm leaving at 6.50pm this Saturday from KLIA. Hopefully, my father would allow me to drop by GB first.

I was so excited, now I'm just plain scared.

And my PNG visa cannot be obtained here. Janene and I are going to have to cross our fingers and hope we get it at the airport in Port Moresby.

Prayer, of course, would be appreciated.

Jasmine will not be home

2008-03-22T00:13:00.001+08:00

Hey everyone! I started this blog to keep everyone informed about my whereabouts and stuff while away. I will also update this blog through email while on the ship.

If you don't know yet, I'm leaving on the 5th of April to join the MV Doulos. I'm in a program called the Short Term Exposure Program (STEP). It is a 2 month program where I will be working in one department (yet to be informed) 40 hours a week with one day off and one day for ministry work. The ship is under Opportunity Mobilization (OM). For more information about the ship, visit www.doulos.org Listed below are my ports of call.

Port MoresbyPapua New Guinea
Mar 28th, 2008
Apr 17th, 2008
Port VilaVanuatu
Apr 23rd, 2008
Apr 29th, 2008
LautokaFiji
May 2nd, 2008
May 14th, 2008
SuvaFiji
May 15th, 2008
Jun 4th, 2008
AucklandNew Zealand
Jun 9th, 2008
Jul 1st, 2008

I will be leaving the ship on the 11th of June at Auckland, New Zealand. After I leave the ship, I will be taking a 4 night long vacation in that beautiful city of sails. Can't reveal more information for certain reasons, but all I can say is that I won't be back in Malaysia until the 11th of December.

As you can see, this blog is still under construction. I have only 14 more days left at home =)