Taste of Asia...

Oh what a night...

...trying to survive too many nights. I shouldn't have scheduled so many days on...(my own fault since I'm scheduling O, but I was trying to get everyone else off the boat first). *sigh* Here's something to meditate on (while the kids are screaming, alarms ringing, pumps beeping and phones ringing).

Back to business

54 days left on deployment. I cannot wait. But like my dad always told me, "You're going to have to". So on that note, time to continue to make the most of being here (so far I think I'm doing a great job). I know I've done a crap job at keeping up with most of the detail that happens here on the ship and on shore. Sorry. Sometime I'm just taking it in, other times I feel like it's really not that big of a deal and then others I'm just too tired/lazy to write it down. Amen for my great picture taking skills. No thanks to gov't computers and the rules against using thumb drives to upload pictures. Darwin will be here soon (7 days exactly)...and I will get back to uploading.



This third and last mission in Ambon Indonesia has been slow so far. I'm sure later I will kick myself for using that word but honestly I don't care. We have a mission here, it's to help as many people as we can. If this means I have to work a little harder because I have 10 patients...then that's what I'm here to do. Please forgive me if I start complaining in 2-3 days...I'm already on my 3rd night and have quite a few more to look forward to. Actually I've been on night shift the whole time in Indo. When we transit between mission sites it's only a day or 2, so not enough time to switch back to day shift. No worries...only downfall is the ridiculous delirium I enter at about 0430 every morning and the following diarrhea of the mouth (just a figure of speech...maybe it's a medical thing). I get sooooo hyper when I get off shift and everyone is around and up and ...yeah. I am going to start working out after work every morning just so I can sleep. On a very positive note, I am reading a lot more since I can't sleep. Just finished The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. Loved how it was written, not so in love with the story line. Just a little too much for me. Next is Committed by Elizabeth Gilbert (author of Eat, Pray, Love). I am already half way through it since I actually started reading it a few months ago. But I am going to start over and read it cover to cover.



Back to the good stuff...

I've made some more life decisions while enjoying the separation of deployment. Without the standard stresses or responsibilites I have been able to really reflect on what I want to do with my life and what makes me happy. Part of pursuing this happiness will be going back to school. Hopefully I can start in the Spring (I will be getting back too late in the fall to pick up any serious credits)... Also I will be up for orders in the fall so will hopefully have an idea of where my Navy life will be headed. This deployment was a test for me. I wanted to see if I could sacrifice the time away, and although I'm sure this is the easiest deployment I will ever be on...I could do it again. Especially if that meant securing the benefits the military has to offer for me and my family. Ask me again tomorrow though...and after I have a child...and after I've deployed to the sand. Semper Gumby, right?

Deployment can be fun.

3 months into deployment and I know how good I have it. I'm deployed with great people who have become great friends. I don't know what I'd do without all my roommates! How a great boss makes the work place (that I go to *everyday*) so much fun! Or how I'd remain sane without the friends I have made. They keep me laughing and encourage me on the tough days. This is really the most fun I think you're allowed to have on deployement.

(Shelly, Jason and I in Indonesia. This one is going on the fridge!)

My checklist: go for a swim, drink a beer and dance.

Did I mention the goats?? There were goats everywhere! All over the island and in the residences. Funny thing, I also saw chickens and cats everywhere but I never saw any dogs. Apparently they do have dogs though, one of our patient had a dog bite that had gotten infected.

While we were at the beach, they did a traditional dance? for us. It really was a bunch of guys holding a bamboo pole and shuffling their feet around while being chased by another guy with a bunch of burning sticks. Very different than the entertainment we're used to. Anyway, they got a couple of us to volunteer and yell the phrase "daddy go boom" (or at least thats what it sounded like to us)! :)

The beach covered in litter with kids playing soccer. Inside of our mystery machine (think ScoobyDoo)! We were rocking out to whatever pop music was on this drivers mp3 player as we cruised down the road with the door open and very little wiggle room. Our mystery machine named "RockStar" from the outside.My $10 beer in Ternate. They don't serve alcohol at the restaurants in town because this is a Muslim country. There are a few hotels that are exceptions to the rule, of course it's where the Navy put up their advance team. This particular place told me they had two options, Guinness and Bintang. But they were out of Guinness. So I had to try one of theirs...it was on my checklist. :)

It's all about who you are with...

Thank goodness for my roomie, Holly who got to come on the tour...way to represent 3-58-1!Practicing my "Consort" pose at the Sultan's residence. Wonder if I could bring some of this furniture home? Some of our friends! By the way, the two fingers he's holding up is not "longhorns" backwards, it means peace. Erin and I at the penus fort. No really, that's what they called it... small resemblence. Lava Rock! on the side of the road. Oh the sights we get to see in Indo... Actually it is pretty cool. Not your average American scenery.

Where we got to swim and snorkel. It was nice to finally go in the water after being near it for so long. Can't believe it's been over 4 months since I've gotten to go swimming. Probably will need to work on that when I get home so I can swim the PFA! At least I'll be more swimsuit ready by then after all my spinning. :)

By the end of our tour it was about 1600 and we hadn't really eaten all day! I'm just glad everyone packed some snacks. Also at this time, I had been up for 24hrs since I had to work nightshift before going out. I could have taken a nap from 0700-0900 but decided it would probably make things worse (aka I would have never gotten out of bed). This just added to the long bus ride between each sight and make it all feel that much longer (we probably only spent 20min at each fort and the Sultan's home).

The most boring...fun day ever!

My liberty buddies, Jason, Max and Shelly! All are Navy nurses and stationed at Balboa, except Jason who is stationed in Japan. My peds residents from San Diego, Stacy, Erin and Tim! So happy to have them on board with me! It's been a fun month! Squished in the back of the bus...it's where all the cool kids sit!
So I go to bed one morning after work and wake up signed up for this tour in Ternate. On the agenda are two forts, one Sultan's residence, a hillside full of volcanic rocks and two beaches. The second of those beaches we actually were able to swim around and snorkel a bit. Unfortunately the first beach was covered in litter. It was a gorgeous black sand beach but there was so much trash all over it. Regardless, the children were playing soccer on the beach and splashing around in the water. After all those attractions the tour drops off it's participants at the local mall. Sounded like a great idea...

Spin Class!!!

So I'm kind of sad because I won't be able to teach spin for a little while. I'm going back to day shift and will have to cancel my 1630 class. Luckily my friend Jason (teaching below) will keep teaching... I might just have to get motivated to wake up early everyday and work out.

Full class that day! Must be the great music... or the good tips he got from my class ;-)

Great news is, this won't happen till Timor Leste which is about 3 weeks away ...just thinking ahead.

Feels like home...for now

You've got MAIL!

You all are wonderful! Keep sending the packages, they're great! Just hit the halfway point...trying to get motivated to keep going. Thank goodness we finally have patients again. 23 days in Indonesia, should make time go by fast. Can't wait to get back to SoCal and enjoy a glass of wine and a good dinner at the beach!

Elephants, Scarves and lots of Stone.

A friendly welcome from the pachyderms ready to show you around Angkor Wat.

Other forms of Cambodian transport.

Detailed walls of stone...the whole temple was intricately decorated throughout.

Our tour group that survived the ride from hell. (More to come on that story.)

Sing-a-pouraaa-bring an umbrella!

No reserves at the Raffles Hotel! Enjoyed a $200 haircut, a $200 massage and a $30 Singapore Sling! Really it was delicious. Thanks Kevin for the Long Bar recommendation...totally worth the experience.

Aaron and Thuong at the Long Bar

Thuong and I in the Raffles Lobby.

Impressed by the "food court", countless types of Asian cuisine. Quite the opposite of our usually greasy fast food.

Chili Crab at Palm Beach Restaurant. Definitely one of my favorite dishes. Although in Cambodia they picked the meat for you...much less messy. PS note $200 hair cut and color :)

The first 3 days all it did was rain. Of course it rained the hardest during our 4 Cultures Tour of Singapore. Here we are right next to Raffles Landing trying to stay as dry as possible.

Smile!

Dirty Pollywogs Emerge as Trusty Shellbacks

Here are the roomies and I at 0515 Saturday morning. "Bright eyed" after not sleeping all night due to the anticipation of being awoken by banging pot and pans and whatever our Shellback roommate had instore. (Turns out she likes to sleep in and we had to wake her up. haha)

Our Trusty Shellback and her Slimy Pollywog.

Status post exposure to LOTS of seawater, a little jello, some yelling, workouts and green eggs.

Yo Ho Ho and a Bottle of Rum...

My Pirate Airmen

Lizzie, our British pirate and another one of our arrrrmen. :)

Our Fearless Leader, Shelly and I.

Pediatrics getting ready to "Sweep It" for our Pollywog Talent Show.

Please send a personal instructor.

I need a personal instructor. I need one to teach me how to use my MacBook…how come everytime I try to burn photos or a slide show it doesn’t work? I need one to come lift weights with me so I can stay in shape and kick the PFAs butt in the fall. I need one to teach me Spanish…walk and talk to me because I don’t have time to sit and learn. I need one to teach me the settings on my camera so I can take damn good photos in these amazing places to send home. I need a personal instructor to decode the SWMDO lectures…no I don’t remember what code dictates which regulation from manual of whatever.

I’m starting to collect quite a few books. I’m in the middle of reading two of them with two more on my bedside shelf to go. I had planned on finishing them before today and sending them out in our mail call…but as I haven’t even gotten halfway, they will have to wait.

There are so many new people on board, it is weird. Several of my peds docs from Balboa came on in Singapore so there are a few familiar faces…but most I’ve never met before. It’s frustrating being on almost 3 months before them because when they start complaining on day 3, you don’t feel much sympathy. For example, our new roommate introduced herself by first asking how often we field day (clean) our room and then mentioning she was hoping for a bottom bunk. Granted she is older than any of us (in her early 50’s), but she’ll only be here a month…the rest of us are living here the whole summer. Since the first day I’ve gotten to talk to her and she’s actually very nice…but terrible first impression. We had a lot of transition in Singapore. Luckily our department only lost 4 nurses (out of 12) and 2 corpsmen (out of 12)…that’s great compared to the adult wards which had about a 90% turnover rating. Also the new nurses we got are actually PEDS NURSES!! Yay!! I can’t even contain my excitement! Not that we wouldn’t have time to do a little bit of training…but it’s just nice to have peds billets filled by nurses who work peds. One of my CIVMAR (civilian mariners) friends also left us in Singapore. Sad, because we were starting to be good friends…and those are hard to come by on the ship.

Side note, I know I have to update about Cambodia and Singapore but an important fact first…Aaron got the nutella confiscated while trying to go through security in the airport. Sad day.

How Long Have You Been In the Navy?

The correct answer is:

All me bloomin life sir

Me mother was a mermaid

Me father was king Neptune

I was born on the crest of a wave

And rocked in the cradle of the deep

Seaweed and barnacles are me clothes

Every tooth in me head is a marlin spike

And the hair on me head is hemp

Every bone in me body is a spar

When I spits I spits tar

I’se hard I is I am I are

 

Just one of the few things we have to memorize for the “Cross the line” ceremony tomorrow. Off to class for now. We have 3 practices today for the Pollywog talent show tonight…6 hours of class or so in between. No spin today, thank goodness.

Today we toast ourselves (as no one else is likely to concern themselves with our welfare).

Just one of the few toasting occasions in the British Royal Navy as instructed by our friend Surg Lt Laura during one of our many student presentations for SWMDO. The rest are as follows:

Evening Toast

Sunday ............... Absent friends. 
Monday ...............Our ships at sea. 
Tuesday .............. Our men. 
Wednesday ..........Ourselves (as no one else is likely to concern themselves with our welfare). 
Thursday ............. A bloody war or a sickly season. 
Friday ..................A willing foe and sea room. 
Saturday ............. Sweethearts and wives (may they never meet). 

 

SWMDO stands for Surface Warfare Medical Department Officer. It’s the course we complete to qualify to stand boards and earn our Surface Warfare pin…the shiny bling we get to put on our uniform. Since we’ve gotten back on the ship since Singapore we’ve had class everyday from 0800-2000. Breaks are included for chow and working out but we’re only 4 days in and my butt and brain are starting to hurt. This part of the course is called SWMI…basically an indoc of the medical/supply and non-SWO (surface warfare officer) side of shipboard life. We’ve finally completed the Damage Control aspect of the course. We had our final test right before Singapore. Unfortunately I failed the first time…so I had to take it again after 4 days off the ship. I blame it on the lack of sleep :-P Second time, I passed with flying colors but not sure I could take it today and do as well. They’ve tried to make earning this pin easier by bringing us the information (instead of making us go around the ship and learn about it) but I think it’s harder because it’s just a lot of facts to memorize instead of learning hands-on.

Other things consuming our time are our wonderful drills. We frequently hear the alarm for a “Man Overboard” drill…everyone reports immediately to their work area to muster and be accounted for. Other drills include the “Fire” drill which calls us to report to our workstation and convert our uniform to battle dress…pants tucked in to socks, shirt buttoned all the way up, sleeves down and covers on…looks HOT! Haha Most of the time this drill turns into an “Abandon ship” drill. For the nurses this means preparing to evacuate any patients on board and take them up to the life boats. For the rest of the crew it means standing on the hot, disorganized mess of a flight deck while everyone takes muster and turns it into the bridge.

Last night I actually had 30min to take part in a “corn hole” tournament. Yes ladies and gentleman it was a completely legit, regulated version of cornhole. Regulation boards were separated by a rope which kept them at equidistant lengths. Sadly I didn’t practice much so I only lasted one round…but next time!! The prize is usually a gift certificate to the ship’s store or such.

As we prepare to “Cross the Line” on Saturday we’ve been working on skits, songs and sea tales to entertain the Shellbacks during the talent show. Crossing the line is a ceremony which takes place when the ship crosses the equator. A shellback is someone who has already gone through this ceremony. The rest of us are known as “dirty pollywogs”. As a pollywog we have to memorize lots of songs and wear a t-shirt designed by our shellbacks. Hopefully I will get a picture of mine before it gets destroyed during the ceremony. Unfortunately we’re not allowed to keep them…that might be a good thing as mine is already covered in Tabasco and I can’t imagine what else will be thrown at it on Saturday.

The other time issue with the ship is we keep crossing time zones. Going to Singapore it was great. Every 2-3days underway we’d gain an hour…extra hour of sleep!! Now we’re headed back East from Jakarta, Indonesia and we’re starting to lose hours. Blah. It makes it really hard to keep track of what time it is in the States too. Phone calls are always an issue because we only have 1 phone and usually it’s being used after working hours. The only good time is during night shift (which won’t start back up until next week) or very early in the morning…which takes a lot of motivation because 1) it’s early 2) it’s far away from my bunk 3) it’s early.

                I have been able to keep up with my spin class. It’s an afternoon class now so it has to be shorter than 45min, usually about 30min(so everyone has time to go get chow). It’s fun though! I got a few new CDs in my packages so I have new material for class. Thanks Jess and Christina!! Most of the classes are full…about 20 people. One of the other nurses offers it on the days opposite of me so potentially everyone can go every day.

                For the most part everyday really is groundhog day.  I’ve gotten in such a routine here it just all blends. Getting to see Aaron in Singapore and going on liberty really broke up that routine. Kind of made me sad though because when I was in my routine I didn’t think about how long I had left. Even though I’m more than halfway there, breaking up the routine made me think about *all* the days I have left. *sigh* I think I’m not the only one though…there is a general “global depression” on the boat as they call it.  It really helped when I got back on the ship I had packages waiting!! They had bubbles, stickers, snacks and pictures in them. The pictures were the best idea and the worst idea ever! Best because it made me smile and glad to see my friends so happy. Even more tangible than facebook pictures too because they were sent to me (Thanks Stacie and Dave)!!! Worse because I miss everyone. I think I’ve reached the point that returning is close enough to start making plans. All I can think of is everything I want to do…wine tour in Temecula, camping on the beach, jeep trails in Julian, a beer at The Field…

               

                Pictures and more to come soon!