Cambodia

There's me on the voyage from Bangkok to Cambodia, with the end of the world in the background. The water was so blue! It was beautiful compared to the muddy river we'd been living in in Bangkok for a month.


Ok, don't get any crazy ideas. I don't remember the last time I was up in time for sunrise. I didn't actually see this, but the picture was so great, I thought I'd post it anyways. Our first glimpse of Cambodia.


This is Doulos in Cambodia. Isn't it tropical and exotic and beautiful? I live here, by the way.


This is me working at the info desk. The Cambodians welcomed us with floral wreaths/crowns for the ladies and scarves for the men. My uniform for work looks much prettier when I wear the scarf that goes with it, but I wasn't wearing it that day.

your mom

This story might not actually be that funny to you, but to my friends and me, it's hilarious!! I mean, when this happened, we laughed for about 7 minutes. I was laughing so hard I started crying. Now, with that build up, I'll tell the story, and it won't be nearly as funny to you, but I'll tell it anyways.
Kris (a girl from Minnesota) and I have started kind of a game. If someone uses an adjective, let's use sweet for example, then Kris says "your face is sweet" and I say "your mom's sweet." It's really catching on.
The other night, we were sailing, and the satellite was down, so there was nothing for me to do at work. Cat (my cabinmate from England, my favorite person on the ship) and Caleb (a crazy guy from Canada. Imagine my cousin DJ 20 years old and from Canada, and you've got Caleb.) were keeping me company, because I had to sit at the info desk even though there was no work. I don't remember the exact conversation, because it's not as important as the ending, which I do remember. I'll do my best to remake the conversation for you, though, using x and y, because I don't remember what they were actually talking about:
Caleb: x is like y
Cat: x and y aren't the same
Caleb: I know, that's why I said they're LIKE each other, not they ARE each other
Cat: You North Americans say like all the time, whether you mean exactly or similar. You say like as much as you breathe
Caleb: Brits don't say like, I bet you don't breathe either
Cat: Your face doesn't breathe
Caleb: Your mom doesn't breathe
I don't know why, but it was one of the funniest things I've ever heard.
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One more thing: as I was typing this, Cat called to tell me she lost The Game, which means I've just lost The Game. The object of The Game is to forget about The Game. If you remember you're playing The Game, then you're not forgetting about it, and you lose The Game. When you lose, you have to announce it to whoever's around you (which, for me right now, is my blog). If they're already playing, they also lose. If they aren't playing yet, you have to explain it, so they can be playing. You start playing again as soon as you forget about The Game.
* * * * *
Rachel

moooorin stations

"Attention all deckies, please report to your moooorin stations now."

That announcement means we're fixin to leave Bangkok! (I love sailing-have I mentioned that before?) But you can't say "report to mooring stations" like you normally talk, you have to say it in a Scottish accent, roll the r and drop the g, and I think you also add an extra o or two. The officer who generally makes that announcement is from Scotland. And everyone loves to immitate him saying "moooorin stations".

The sad thing is, once again, I'm working when we leave port. (I was working when we left Sattahip, too.) Here in Bangkok, we're in a river, so I think it would be pretty awesome to see how they get us turned around to leave. I saw some pictures that someone took the other day of a big ship turning around, but I was working when that happened, too, so I didn't see it. Man, this life on a boat would be so sweet if it weren't for working. I guess that's why cruises are so popular...

hi mom!

I think I've probably been on TV in Thailand. It's not as exciting as I thought it would be to be on TV. Maybe because no one watching will know me. I mean I could say "Hi mom!" to the camera, but Mom won't see. There may be some people I've met on my ministry days (aka E-days) who will recognize me, but I can't shout out to them, because I don't remember their names. There's a camera right in front of me right now. One of the Thai-speaking volunteers is giving a tour to some people from the press, and talking about the Info Desk. Now the press are standing in front of me too...And they're taking a picture, maybe I'll be in the newspaper too. I'm like a celebrity or something. I hope I don't have anything weird on my face. There's not a mirror in here, so I can't check. I should get a mirror for the Info Desk. I wish I knew Thai so I could know what Noi said about me when she was talking to the news camera. Since last week, we've had TONS of news crews come through the ship. I think there's at least one every day. Oh, and, last week, some Thai teen heart-throbs came for a Doulos tour. I saw them. Also kind of anti-climactic, since I don't watch Thai teen soap-operas. I see a piece of candy. Think I'll eat it. I'll write more later.

Life-raft Training

The importance of this skill is, if the life raft inflates and winds up being upside down, you have to flip it over or else the 25 the raft is made to support will die of exposure. So you have to pull yourself on top of the raft, keep in mind you'll be wearing long sleeves and pants (to keep you from getting hypothermia) and a life jacket, which is extremely bulky. Then you flip the raft over and you're everyone's hero, because they can now all get in the raft and not die.
first, i finally got up on the raft, and was trying to help gameeda get up too. two other girls got into the pool to help her as well.
then, they pushed and i pulled, and gameeda got on the raft too! then we both collapsed and tried to convince the instructor that we could survive on the upside down raft well enough, and we didn't need to flip it over.
but he didn't agree with us, so we flipped it.

Hope you like my story. Later!

Rachel

Some pictures from pre-ship training

This is where we stayed for our 2 weeks of pre-ship training! Jomtien Beach in Pattaya, Thailand. Looking in this direction, it's beautiful, but if you turn around and look back at the city, not so much.
Me with Kaylee (from Oregon) and Karen (from Ohio), two of my favorite US friends here. This was the day we got to Thailand. Trying not to fall asleep too soon...
One of my new favorite fruits, rambutan. Tastes good, looks awesome, could be the world's perfect food.

Our amazing welcome-on-board when we arrived at the Doulos. Look, that's me and Kaylee in the top picture.