Positioning, Fam Trips and Shipyard, oh my!

right then- a super quick blog after a very long day! We're in shipyard for the next two weeks in Alameda, California our 3 day positioning trip from Oregon (hurrah for some good rest, a LOT of sleep (a rocking boat, seasick tablets, eternal night from boarded windows and a formerly busy schedule can make you sleep more than you knew you were capable of. And I know I'm capable of a good deal!)games of Boggle, conversations with Jackie, Christmas lights, silly movies, milkshakes, and bowriding dolphins.)* and two - day and a half familiarization trips in San Francisco (ohmigoodness they were BUSY.)
So anyhoo, for the next couple of weeks the ship is going to be drydocked and we're going to be fixin her up and getting her in 'ship shape' as is the annual custom. I'm excited for the change of pace and type of work. AND, we get to stay in a hotel almost the whole time and I am so so happy about all these crazy little American conveniences like free wi-fi and taco bell. And my goodness it's funny what ship perspective does- Jackie and I are amazed by ALL THIS SPACE. I don't hit my head and wander around wondering if I have a concussion because of my low ceiling bunk. The ceiling looks so high and in the bathroom the shower has an actual tub and is entirely seperate from the toilet! It's crazy! I will say they don't fold their towels as nicely here as we do on the ship though. ;) Ohmigoodness this very normal size hotel room is about 4 times the size of our quarters built for three and we're delirously happy with all the space. Or maybe we're just delirous- we did work from 6:30am to 9pm.
I don't know for sure how this reads as I am tired but do know that these aren't actually complaints just funny observations. We like our little cabin ( we actually missed it when we had to move to guest cabins for positioning), like our crazy boat life, and work today was unusual prepping the ship to go drydock.

*wow. I didn't realize that whole huge runon sentence was all parenthetical. Sorry about that. :)

Smeeks and Baby laptops

Here I am, cold and wet, in the aptly chosen 'Wet Dog Cafe' in Astoria, Oregon. We are at the end of our river season of which I have written nothing and for that I apologize. Hopefully posts will be a bit more faithful now as I am the happy new owner of a brown 'baby' laptop. Darkness and I have been calling them (we ordered the same thing at the same time and so they are not only 'baby laptops' but 'sister baby laptops, Yes, we are silly.) baby laptops and looking forward to their arrival all smeek. And so now I get to sit here with a coffee and enjoy the wifi! How fun.

A 'smeek' is what we have been calling the small weeks that the river trips have consisted of. We begin in Portland, Oregon and travel through several locks up and down the Columbia and Snake rivers. I'm never quite sure if I'm in Washington or Oregon because one is on one side of us and the other on the other. So when we're in port and I call home or somewhere and they ask where I am I stall for a moment and then say 'I'm not sure'.

I'm kind of freezing here in my jeans which has nothing to do with the temperture of this establishment and everything to do with my rain soaked jeans. And so my happy wi-fi usage will be cut short so that I don't get a terrible cold before we position down to California. Hurrah sunshine!

More soon~

Month One

Hullo from the National Geographic Sea Bird! On Sunday I will have been working here for one month and I keep pretty crazy busy so haven’t had much of a chance to sit down and write. Internet is limited but lucky us, the week after I came on they added a perk of giving crew internet cards once a month. Sweet!

So it’s been quite a full month. There isn’t much of a transition time here, you get on board and you start your job. I am in general a steward but what the postions change weekly and there are six of them. Basically I start the work day at about 6:30 setting up for guest breakfast, serving guest breakfast, cleaning up guest breakfast, eating my breakfast, begin cleaning anywhere from 6-13 cabins. This week it’s 13. That’s the morning. Then it’s time for crew lunch, set up guest lunch, serve guest lunch, clean guest lunch- break til 5. Crew dinner @ 5, dress for dinner service, set up dining room, turn down guest rooms, serve guest dinner, clean up guest dinner, spend some crew time catching our breath and then to bed to start it all again. It is not easy, it’s often very difficult BUT I still think I have a great job.

And my goodness, the things I have seen! In fact sometime the hardest part of my job is actually doing my job. Last week I was truly grumpy while cleaning cabins and I turned the corner just in time to see humpback whales come up bubble netting. I’ve seen orca’s, seals, sea lions, otters, eagles, glaciers, jelly fish, sea stars, puffins, bears, wolves, moose. I’ve seen glaciers calving and last night I did the polar plunge in Glacier Bay. Fabulous. Cold, salty, and fabulous. I’ve been kayaking and looked down to see jellies and remembered I wasn’t in the Shenandoah anymore. I’ve met people from National Geographic and stayed up late singing old songs with them.

I’m meeting new people, becoming part of a new community. It was really good to know someone before I came- it was hard enough that way so I don’t know how I would have done without Jordan. I’m learning to talk more about my faith, about truth, about God. It isn’t easy though and there is opposition there. It’s hard to not be part of a church community right now and getting into my own schedule and order is also difficult. God is gracious and I have found a couple of Christians on board and last week I had good conversations with some of the guests actually! We had Sister Rose Marie (rosemary) on board last week and it was a joy to meet her. She prayed for me and I was grateful. I met another lady last week too who turned out to be a sister in Christ. It was a great comfort to meet her and talk with her. We didn’t even talk much and I think we both realized we had a common faith before we really talked about it. Just knowing she was here was comforting and an answer to prayer. I haven’t begun a bible study but we did start a book discussion on Blue Like Jazz.

We are heading out of Alaska this week, into Canada and back to Seattle and Portland. After positioning we’ll begin the next cruise on the Columbia river. I hope this finds the reader well. Thanks for reading! ~Faith

Petersburg Alaska. We've been having beautiful weather! The mountains are simply incredible. They are massive and it's wonderful to see such granduer with no cars around. When I woke yesterday morning we were going past chunks of blue blue gem looking ice in the water. I saw a glacier for the first time.

my computer time is running out.

Love my job though I'm overwhelmed with information right now.I feel very blessed.

Juneau

Today I left my one day adventure in Seattle for an early morning flight to Juneau, Alaska. I grew up hearing about Alaska because it's my Mom's dream to go. And I understand why. It is truly beautiful here and I look forward to when Mom can see it for herself! It's been a long, good, full day. Sometimes in my travels backwards weather follows me. When I visited Florida last they had the coldest day in 100 years. After not living in Harpers Ferry for five years when I return this past year we have a really cold, really long, really really snowy winter followed by the hottest WV summer I've seen in a long time. This time it worked out very nicely. Yesterday rainy Seattle was bright and sunny and actually kind of hot. And today in Alaska? Same! A bright, clear, sunny, gorgeous, day.

I got to go hiking today! My legs hurt, I'm so tired, and I'm loving this adventure so far. At the end of my hike there was a nature center and I saw a bald eagle up close. He was incredible and truly took my breath away. I'm not sure why he's in captivity but he does have one blind eye so maybe that has something to do with it. I also saw an eagle's nest through a telescope. And I ate wild blueberries.

Other people at the hotel are waiting for the computer so that's all for now. Thanks for reading!

:Holy is the Lord God Almighty. The earth is filled with His glory.:

Seattle

I'm in Seattle! Good grief I've wanted to see this city for a very long time and it is so cool. I'm only here for this day but I honestly didn't expect to see anything but the Lindblad office (which has a jimongous National Geographic world map on the wall and I also saw a picture of a whale) but I got to spend the afternoon walking around Pike Place Market. Ohmigoodness. Fresh flowers, fish throwing, rose jelly, European chocolate, New York pickles, RAW MILK!, so fantastic. I ate dinner near the water by the aquarium.

I've been up since 5:08 am Eastern time. Mom, Luke and Sam took me to the airport & I enjoyed the car ride over with them. I was praying I'd meet some nice strong guy at the airport because my bags are HEAVY to lug around, but alas no guy. :)

Anyhoo, I am super tired but I wanted to take a few computer minutes since I have the chance! I'm excited about this job and tomorrow I leave for Alaska! I can hardly believe it.

Oh! Oh! and I hailed a cab myself for the first time. :) It's the little things.

Brothers

Today my brother Sam and I went out for milkshakes at Chik-Fil-A. He wanted to have some just us time and I'm glad for that. I got a chocolate milkshake with a little coffee in it and Sam went for peach. When we got to the drive-thru he dared me to order in an Australian accent so I did. Then we were accosted by the cow. I'm pretty sure the Chik-Fil-A cow doesn't usually come to the cars in the drive thru but sometimes things are different when the bovine is also your brother. Your other brother.

It's been good to spend time with my brothers while I've been home. They're getting so grown up. Sam doesn't look like a little kid anymore, Luke is dating someone (she's a cutie too! ;) ), and Dev is hoping/working to head to California at the end of the month. Luke, Sam and I play cards sometimes and laugh and laugh. Mostly at each other. I'm lucky enough to get to teach at a children's theatre camp with Dev this week and next. It's been a lot of fun and I've really enjoyed it. He's good with the kids and we both enjoy brushing up on our own theatre know-how.

Yup. Glad for brothers.