We’ve finally made it to our last mission port, Timor Leste. Can’t believe how fast this summer has gone… I have a feeling this is going to be the hardest part of deployment. All of the people I’ve gotten close to are leaving… I’ll be on the ship all the way to San Diego, dropping people off here in Timor, Guam and finally Hawaii. Thankfully two of my roomies will be riding back with me. J
We had another mail call the other day…I now have enough girl scout cookies to supply the ship! Thanks Brenda!! I saved most of the thin mints for the trip back (they’re my favorite)! I also got a restock of good hot sauce-thank God because the food has taken a turn for the worse. And also some crab meat and old bay! Crab totally beats tuna any day!! I know there are still a few more packages in limbo so hopefully I’ll get them before we get back to San Diego!
Last weekend was our R&R in Darwin Australia. They survived our visit…apparently they were prepared by the several thousand marines that had come a month before us. Darwin was beautiful! Great weather and less humid than most of our other port visits. Not a lot to do except run up and down Mitchell Street (think PG13 rated Bourbon St). Did a LOT of dancing with friends and had a great time! It was nice to sleep in a real bed and not have to wear shower shoes. Sadly we didn’t have very good internet access there. It seems that wi-fi is not as common in the Northern Territory as it is in the US.
Our last mission in Indonesia was so long. It was broken up in 3 different parts with a day or two of transit between, that helped us quickly recover after each mission site. We had record of 26 admissions in one day! We ended up babysitting a lot because they would bring patients onboard who didn’t have surgery for a few days. Night shift was still pretty busy, but I had a great team on with me! Also some of my favorite peds residents were here with me so that helped with pts and it was great to see friendly, familiar faces. The only bad part about night shift has been not being able to bond as much with the patients. Usually we put them to bed shortly after coming on shift so we don’t get to play as much or talk. I hope to remedy this in Timor when I’m on days.
Luckily was able to get off the ship once in each port in Indonesia! The first port was Tebelo, a very small town that we spent the least amount of time. There I attended a COMSERV (community service project). It was supposed to be a 5K run but as we were getting ready to warm up and stretch, all the locals started walking…so it ended up being a morning stroll watching the sunrise. After the stroll they fed us breakfast (some kind of rice roll with fish inside and a heart shaped sweet waffle-both were delicious) and teaching us some of the traditional dances. Ternate was the second port. I was on nightshift the entire time in Indonesia and didn’t have much time to make plans for my liberty day. Some of my friends had the same day off so after sleeping all day I woke up to find myself signed up for a MWR tour. It ended up being an ok tour. Considering the minimal amount of tourists they have in the area they did a good job showing us the sights of interest. We went to two forts, the residence of the sultan and a local swimming area. The first beach we arrived at was gorgeous black sand (from the volcanic rock) but it was covered in litter! There was so much trash all over the city it was gross. After the tour and a decent meal at the food court in the mall, we found a mystery machine (like in Scooby Doo…refer to the pictures) that was blaring it’s music, with the side door wide open as it cruised down the road. We ended up at a local hotel where the ADVON (advance party) was staying and enjoyed a few local beers before heading back for the night. Our Ambon port was the most fun! Somehow I was able to work out my liberty buddies and I getting off the ship early! As we left in our “VIP” boat the Indonesia Air Force flew overhead…it was quite a start to the day! I packed a portable speaker to play my iPod on the boat, at the bar, at the beach and in the taxis! J The beach was beautiful! All the locals stared at us the whole time, don’t think they’ve seen many people in bikinis and board shorts (most of them wore shorts and shirts into the water…it is a conservative Muslim country). The food in Indonesia wasn’t quite as good as the other countries we’ve visited. No dishes really stood out to me. We ended the night by renting a karaoke room. It’s a room set up with a TV and karaoke machine just for you and your friends. Quite different than the standard American version of a karaoke bar…you actually have to sing instead of just watching other people. Thank goodness they had plenty of music in English…most were common pop songs or classic tunes. We had a great group go out and had so much fun!
Will post more later!
Lunch at a local place with a local singer-which we eventually took over and turned into a karaoke event. 
Day at the beach :)