Week #2

Wednesday of week 2 and still no air conditioning BUT I finally have the internet on my laptop and can upload photos that I have so far. The computers open to everyone not only didn't have a fan anywhere near them, but I couldn't find a way of getting photos from my camera to the computer. Now I can - YAY.

Still, we are in Durban, S. Africa, docked while many things are being fixed, updated or replaced. The traffic of engineers, electricians, plumbers, painters etc, is phenomenal and every one of them is volunteering their time, service, sweat and experience. It never ceases to amaze me what people continue to do here.

The port of Durban is in a cove of sorts so neither side has a view of the ocean. There is a lot of work being done all over the ship and we won't be leaving Durban until it's all finished. In the meantime, the wonderful workers need to be fed.  I am part of the Hospitality staff, which contains the kitchen, galley and housekeeping departments. My first week, I worked in the kitchen:

These photos are from 2 directions of a long kitchen with Carmen posing for all during lunch. There are several kitchen areas, for different reasons & events. This is the main kitchen on Deck 6, where most of the cooking is done for everyone. It's long but gets very busy, as you can imagine when mealtime is close.

First, that's Carol cooking pancakes on Sunday morning; Sunday is the only hot breakfast day of the week, so it's worth getting up for even if you have that day off and would not normally bother coming up for breakfast. The bacon is thick and killer! There is no lunch served on Saturday or Sunday, so I sneaked a couple of extra bacon slices for a BLT later on Sunday. When breakfast is out on those mornings, so are items for people to make a 'sack' lunch for themselves. You can wrap up whatever you want to take away and save for later on, like I did with the BLT. Every day has a hot dinner. Also shown above are Carol, Alice and Oretha cooking the rest of the meal for last Sunday.

That's Makro, S. Africa's version of Sam's Club, where we get most of the food supplies for the ship kitchen. Makro is visited several times a week based on what's planned for meals and what's missing. The meat comes from a different store because we buy so much at a time.

Most breakfasts are selections of cereals, some yogurts and fruits if in season here. Lunches are the busiest during the week because all the workers are here. Thursday night is always ice cream night after the all-hands meeting. Also, during limited hours (while in dry dock) the Starbuck's Cafe is open: coffees, sodas, candies, nuts, but no muffins or anything like that right now. When we are in Sierra Leone, the cafe will be open more hours and the store will be open & staffed.

When not working, this is my abode for now:

It's not that bad, but it would be a lot better if there was air conditioning! Over the bed is another bunk that comes down and will be occupied when we fill up with more service people in Sierra Leone. That will mean 2 people living in this area, and there are 2 of these little 'areas' for each cabin. There's also a tiny living room, in case your roommate is sleeping and you are not, but there's no air in that area so there's no spending much time there, if you get my drift.

Right now, I'm working in the galley, which is a smaller kitchen and the dining room where everyone eats all the meals, unless there's a special event in one of the grand rooms and it's catered from the big kitchen. Since meals must be prepared and served at different times, our work days are spread out into 2 or 3 shifts, depending on preparing, serving or cleaning. I'm usually so sweaty after a shift I take a shower and rest until the next kitchen shift. I had Tuesday off and slept in, then wandered around the ship to check out more things I had not seen before. There's a library and an area for people to sit and visit, read or play on their laptops (like I'm doing now). I also started walking on deck 7 for an hour or so on my days off, before dinner, because it's outside and fairly open. Most of the ship is a mess of pipes, tubes and hoses from one end to the other, but all of that will be gone before we sail.

There are 'trips' into town for shopping or going to the beaches and movies but I haven't been on one of those trips yet. I have this weekend off and so will go into town to check out the mall and the town...

I'll have more photos and info about the ship and the experience here in a couple of days!

Flying

I made it on board the Africa Mercy Ship!

We are in Durban, South Africa (bottom, right side) while generators are getting fixed/updated. Generators = air conditioning = very important! Actually, it's lovely outside; it's just warm on the ship. There are special set-ups for certain areas that have to have air, like the kitchen & the freezers, but the rest are on their own.

I arrived on the ship very late on Monday night and slept almost completely through Tuesday. I had my first workday on Wednesday. Since we're not in Sierra Leone yet, they don't need a Hospitality Hostess, so I am working in the kitchen for now. Today happens to be my off day and I'm catching a ride into town to buy a few necesities that I didn't want to carry with me. I have a few photos from the ship, but I will upload them later along with some of the ship and maybe in town.

Not sure yet when we'll head for Cape Town - not until generators are fixed. In the meantime I am with dozens of wonderful, spiritual people who have welcomed me with open arms!

More later...

West to East

I'm doing this second post so close to the last one because, frankly, I can't sleep. I just drove from SoCal to GA in 4 days, and I'm exhausted. Yet, here I am, at 5am (GA time) and nothing. I was able to spend Christmas with Ryan and I'm going to see Sam tomorrow, then I'm headed to Atlanta A/P. My flight to Durban, South Africa, is scheduled to depart at noon on Sunday! Some people keep telling me that it might get screwed up because of the pending ice and snow that is expected very soon. Really, people? If that happens, I'll live with it. As long as I've done everything I can to be ready and prepared. 

For those of you who don't already know, I'm going to join the Africa Mercy Ship in Durban, sail (actually a misnomer since there are no sails on the ship) to Cape Town for a few days for training, then sail up to Sierra Leone for 4 months. The ship is an incredible, state-of-the-art hospital (floating) that goes to a different country in Africa each year to treat and help those indigenous to each of the countries it visits. It's an amazing opportunity which I have been planning for no fewer than 3 years! (Sorry to those of you who might be sick of hearing about it by now.) I will live on the ship and work as a Hospitality Hostess. I will keep up the blog while I am there and show you all about it. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to post and I will answer if you'd like to know anything about the trip, the ship, the sights, etc.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=ex0dkRd1bB4

I can't explain how excited I am, which is of course probably why I can't sleep. It's not like I won't have 2 days on airplanes to snooze, right?

BTW, mom is taking care of my Fletch, whom I miss a little already.

I'll keep you posted...

Pismo Beach & Solvang

Pam and I decided to get away for a few days while I was in SoCal. I had suggested Catalina Island. Pam opted for a drive up the coast and it's a good thing she did. Let me warn you now that we happened to have planned this trip right in the throes of the biggest and longest blanket of rain that SoCal remembers ever seeing! In case you missed it, water did not ceased to fall from the sky for 8 straight days, and our little sojourn was smack dab in the middle of it. We could have cancelled, I guess, but Pam already had that Friday and Monday off, and we really did need to get away. So we went anyway.

It started raining on Thursday night; we left Friday morning. A 4.5 hour trip to Pismo Beach took almost 7 hours what with wet roads, bad visibility, and that old favorite known as LA traffic. We even tried the beach route for a while but traffic was worse and we couldn't see the dang water anyway. (I've been trying to cut down on my cursing, BTW.) I was able to introduce Pam to Johnny Rocket's in Laguna Beach however, and I think she was pleased!

For those of you not of the SoCal persuasion, Pismo Beach is where many of the old "beach blanket/Gidget" type movies were made WAY back when. Pam even wanted to walk down the pier even though all we could see were a million birds getting a free bath and some strange dark dots in the water. Those dots turned out to be crazy surfers getting whatever gnarly waves they could from the crappy weather.

The scenes from the pier reminded me of scenarios out of Dean Koontz novels, especially one of my favorites, the Odd Thomas collection (the 4th one takes place in a town that I pictured like this when I was reading it). Definitely no Frankie and Annette here.

After taking some punishment at the pier, we tried the Butterfly Zoo. It's a nice looking park with a path and no netting to keep butterflies in or fences to keep admirers out. Alas, (almost) no butterflies stupid enough to be out on a day like that - just a very small group (and one quail-looking thing) who hadn't enough sense to come in out of the torrent. The butterfly batch is difficult to see but they are hanging off a branch in the lower mid quadrant of the photo, at about 7 o'clock.

After a nice breakfast we decided to change course a little and go up to see the Hearst Castle. I mean, why not, right, since we will be indoors?!  Wrong. A tourist at the castle goes from bus to bus to garden to outdoor pool and the walk goes around several of the buildings, no matter what the weather. The guide started out at the outdoor, Grecian-style pool and gave us his entire spiel, even though water was coming down in buckets and very few people were listening. I guess they have to keep to a schedule, no matter what is going on around them. At the top, we couldn't see any gardens or ocean view or even, frankly, past the patio surrounding the pool. The house was cool, though, but to see it all (or at least more of it) one would have to take multiple tours at other times. And yes, for additional fees.

That's Pam and me in front of the indoor pool. It's a huge room made up of what looks like a zillion 1-square inch tiles, in and around. You can even walk upstairs (hidden from view) and dive into the pool from a catwalk across the pool itself. Well, maybe you can't, but they did back in the day. I know I've seen that pool in a movie somewhere but I can't place it...

Learned a valuable lesson I will pass on to you: nothing against the Hearst people, but don't bother going up there unless it's a clear day. The grounds are at least  1/3 to 1/2 of the tour so, unless it's perfect, it's a waste of money.

Sunday, we went into Solvang, a little Danish town, with the traditional Scandinavian shops, bakeries, and even people dressed in the traditional garb. The windmill is 73% to scale of the original, more famous one overseas. You can barely see me. but I'm on the steps, wrapped up in a blue lawn & leaf bag-looking thing. (Thank you, Pam!)

It was drizzling the entire day, but it wasn't as bad as the day before. The plus side was there were very few people out and about. We were the only people in the restaurant for breakfast. The owner/manager/greeter/waiter/cook (all one man) kept talking to us, probably because there was nothing else to do! Later, after a little shopping, we went to one of the bakeries for Aebleskiver - a traditional donut-type ball, empty inside, but doused with powdered sugar and raspberry preserves on top. I wanted to buy one of the special pans and sticks to make them, but wise Pam once again prevailed. You know me: I was trying to figure out how to fill those little suckers with chocolate pudding or mousse!

We drove back on Monday, in the rain again (still). Not a complete loss though - had a really nice weekend with a good friend and saw a house that I loved and could theoretically afford, very near the sand, some day...

Fletch

Well, Fletch (formerly Brighton) has adjusted quite well to the new house in San Diego. But then again, I think this guy would probably adjust to just about anything! He makes whatever he has, his own.

He even "helped" us put up the Christmas decorations!

My mother's dog (and I use that term lightly) still wants to "play" with him and doesn't easily or gracefully take hints that Fletch is NOT interested. But I think that maybe he is, at least a little. He never seems to pull out the claws when he's smacking at the dog and it occasionally looks like he might even be having fun. In the evening, when neither of them seems to realize it, they will lie on the sofa or bed next to each other & mind their own businesses. But at some point the dog will realize the cat is there, and that she (the dog) is annoying and must bother the cat - then it starts again. Fletch has his locations of respite that he goes to when he just can't stand it anymore, like the first photo.

I think he's going to be just fine!

Merry Christmas

San Diego Harbor

One week ago, Hunter and I went to see the USS Midway, presently docked in San Diego Harbor. The east side of the harbor is known as the Embarcadero, which is also home to the Star of India, the Berkely, and several others of note and worth touring. For my 16th birthday, I went to see the USS Constitution (the Connie) which was in San Diego at the time - and yes, they had ships AND a harbor back then! What they also had close-by was the original San Diego Police Department, which was an interesting design and set-up but which was moved a few years ago. I don't know if it's the original building or the location I appreciate, or the fact that the PD bulding has been famous for years and featured in many TV shows and movies, but it's (the move) a sore subject with me and one best addressed on another blog for you later.

ANYWAY, I've seen the Star of India and I've partied on the Berkely and recommend them for touring. The Berkely and several others will take people out for bay tours for several hours. (You can't sail anywhere on the Star of India - it's solidly in place.) You'll get to see Coronado Island and Bridge up close. I remember taking the car ferry across to Coronado Island while the bridge was being built!

There is also (presently) the smallest military submarine in port, able to be boarded and toured, the Surprise.

I couldn't help but add for your enjoyment a photo of a bench decorated with tiles individually painted by children at the Children's Museum. There are many more of these little personal touches at the Embarcadero and all over San Diego (not to mention the sea smell, which you know I love!)

Finally, we boarded the USS Midway, which opens at 10am most mornings, BTW. The cost was $18 for me and $10 for Hunter, who is a veteran. Let me just tell you up front, it was worth it. You not only see ship stuff, but items are readily and easily marked and explained with large signs, and they cleaverly have fake officers and sailors located in cool places doing important things. It doesn't sound like a big deal, but it really helped to get a feel for the different jobs and the living conditions for all the men in such a small space. Even many children would be able to understand what was going on here.

(The last two are actually Hunter, who is a real person  : - )

But the most impressive things are the sight of the ship from the outside and the site of the ship in the harbor itself.

The paintings of the planes on the side count the actual number of enemy planes shot down from this ship. Another little history lesson: the Midway (ship) was actually named after the battle of Midway, not the other way around. I will admit my ignorance in this area. I asked one of the docents working there if the ship was used in the making of the movie. As Ryan would say, I felt "crunchy" after learning of my gaff. BTW, the docents were plentiful, very well versed, friendly and helpful. Special shouts out to Bill, Larry and Jerry. There is a wide variety of planes on the top and many of them can be entered by tourists. The tour of the captain's and navigator's areas are awesome. I also asked Jerry if the Midway could ever be used again in case of emergency: the answer was NO. It can be moved but pretty much everything that makes it a battleship is now useless.

Probably my favorite part was the location where the ship is situated - perfect for seeing the entire San Diego Harbor and more. The photos below are a continuation from south to north, although I can't put them next to each other on the blog.  The photos start with San Diego where the Coronado Bridge starts, where it joins Coronado Island (although it's not really an island); the photos continue westward to the northern end of Coronado, the southern end of Harbor Island, and up to where Pt. Loma joins the mainland of San Diego again.

On the top photo, in the top/left corner is Seaport Village, another favorite place of mine.

I a couple of days I will present the Mission Inn, in Riverside, in all its Christmas glory...

Hunter and I had a very good time and hope you are able to come see this feast of history and culture in the future!