I'm Leaving...

"All my bags are packed, I'm ready to go..."

20 hours.

6 flights, 7 airports.

One destination. 2 visits.

Singapore, Hawaii.

Sad faces, smiles.

Mixed feelings: Anxious, Excited, Hesitant, Concerned, Happy, Sad, the list goes on.

Missing people and food (in all honesty).

I'll be back next year though.

Sighted at Sea

Yes, it's what you think it is.

Thailand

Phuket it is...

At a Hotel

When we're not working hard on the ship...

More Wonders of the Sea

So blowfish is supposed to be edible, right?

The All Natural Sea

Doulos Roommates

Beauty?

Dolphins!

It's awesome how they pave the way right in front of the ship.

2nd Anniversary

Haha...so I was just looking back at my documentation of time and I realized that yesterday was phases in shades of pink's second birthday. What a baby! Anyway, just thought that that's sweet and I should drop a blog to acknowledge and celebrate the occasion.

Countdown: 4 days till I leave. Oh, and I'm so excited cuz I'm gonna be visiting a friend in Singapore before I traverse on to Hawaii and then back 'home'.

Words of Wisdom

"Embrace each day...and then let go."

That's to fulfill my quota of words of wisdom for the day. Tell me your thoughts on my thoughts.

my Father's grace

i run from my Father.
i hear Him calling my name;
But choosing not to hear, i step off the path - just a little bit.
i know what i should be doing but i do otherwise.
1825 days or so in the wrong direction adds up.
Now it looks like a long way back - and it seems like it's all uphill...and i am but walking.
Slowly...oh, so slowly!
He knew just how to get my attention.
Pulling me away from all that was familiar at possibly the lowest time in my life.
He is faithful. Again and again. Over and over.
He pulled me close through a passion of mine and then totally broke me apart - gently even though it was painful.
For both of us.
But demonstrating true love - love in it's pure and original sense; as it was meant to be.
Beautiful...Undying...Everlasting...Eternal...
i am being gradually put together again but it's almost as painful as being broken apart.
But i'm not alone.
my Father is by my side and He reaches out His hand everytime i slip and fall.
It happens so often.
i'm so sinful and so far away from being perfect; so spotted.
But forgiven. By my Father's grace.

Pyro and Whatever Else

I’ve always been both interested and fascinated with fire. So my recent craze is lighting candles in my room. Unfortunately though, candles are a no no in my college apartment – fire hazard. Understandable, but truly a bummer.

So my flight has been moved forward, primarily so I can get back in time to help out with orientation for the new students coming to college. Anyway, I now leave on the 22nd of August and I’m gonna be flying through Honolulu, Hawaii. Super BONUS mann!!! I’ll be there alone, but I have a few hours and know a few people there, so we’ll see what I can put together.

Well, as I said before, I’ve had a wonderful two months on the Doulos learning so many different things about life. It’s been an intense period of being in the classroom of life. There were rough times, but it was generally a wonderful growing experience. My favorite part was meeting so many people from all over the world and being able to learn more about what is ‘normal’ to them. I guess this coincides with my interest in sociology and communication across cultures. It really was the perfect hands-on classroom for doing this. And I can safely say that I’ve learned more from my two months there than I could have possibly learned in a year of textbooks. Furthermore, this was practical and not just the theoretical side of it.

During my time on the Doulos, I read about 5 of the Left Behind series books by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins. But what was more exciting was Rick Warren’s bestseller ‘The Purpose Driven Life’. Mann…that book was such a crazy read because so many times it really seemed like he had written the book just for me. Sometimes it hurt really bad to confront my real self, but the book was a reminder of how there’s always hope, even through your worst mistakes and biggest problems. Mann…sometimes you feel like you’ve messed up big time, feeling in the pits of despair, but then a book like this one is handed to you. A reminder…

Just for an update in terms of books, I’m currently reading ‘The God of Small Things’ by Arundhati Roy. I’m really enjoying her very descriptive writing. It’s a book that basically teleports you straight into India so that you smell the smells and hear the sounds.

Ahhh…so a new found thing that makes me happy: mixed berry tea straight out of Switzerland. A friend of mine on the Doulos invited me for tea one day and she makes two cups of this tea that she has from home. And wow…it’s like going through aromatherapy while enjoying the amazing hot berry tea. Definitely a wonderful way of relaxing. Hmmm…I guess between that, my candles and Arundhati’s piece of art, I’m taken care of. Oh…and the constant crazy mix of music coming from my laptop. Yeah…

Now a Douloid

So I am back from my two months on the Doulos. Wow...I kinda wish I was still there. It's been such an amazing time of learning so many different things about life and everything else. 325 people from 43 different countries. What a melting pot of cultures and languages. My favorite times are definaltely when we pray in groups. I love hearing all the different people pray in their own languages: Finnish, Swiss-German, French, Japanese, Africaans, Swahili, Spanish, Italian, Mandarin, Korean...and the list goes on. Then of course, it so interesting on a daily basis just speaking to people as we all speak some degree of English, but that still leaves us with about 30 different versions of English. Quite exciting!

Our voyage from Phuket, Thailand to Port Klang, Malaysia was quite an exciting one. One of my friends from Finland, and I were at the front of the ship and we saw dolphins, about 6 of them swimming in front of the ship.

Such a wonderful experiance. Will continue soon.