Oh home belov'd, where'er I wander
On foreign land or distant sea,
As time rolls by, my heart grows fonder
And yearns more lovingly for thee!
Tho fair be nature's scenes around me,
And friends are ever kind and true,
Tho joyous mirth and song surround me,
My heart, my soul still yearn for you.
The flow'rs around me may be fairer
Than those that bloom upon thy hills;
the streams, great, mighty treasure bearers
More noted may be than thy rills.
No world renown my humble village
Like these great towns may proudly claim
Yet my fond heart doth thrill with rapture
When'er I hear they humble name.
Ye valleys fair and snow capped mountains,
Ye peaceful hamlets 'mid the trees,
Ye murm'ring streams and crystal fountains,
Kissed by the cool, soft, balmy breeze,
Words cannot tell how well I love thee,
Nor speak my longing when I roam.
My heart alone can cry to heaven,
"God bless my own dear mountain home."
-Evan Stephens, 1854-1930
Couldn't have said it better- 4 more days :)
Friday, September 10, 2010
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Timor Leste
Wow- where does the time go?! It seems like yesterday I was leaving to get on the ship and now I'm sailing on my way back home, it went by WAY too fast and at the same time I am SO ready to be going home.
Timor Leste was a beautiful country. It was a bit odd to have UN vehicles everywhere and armed guards around but the people were so friendly and welcoming. We were able to do a lot of good work there. I don't really have too many crazy stories from Timor, in the end it was kind of a nice gentle way to end the trip.
One of my highlights though was the opportunity to go with the chaplins on 2 different community relations projects. The first was to visit a whole pile of kids at a local orphanage. It was so much fun to get to meet them, play with them, and just be around such happy people. The kids had so much fun coloring, doing puzzles and playing soccer. We had the opportunity to leave them with school kits provided by Latter-day Saint Charities which was great to be a part of.
The second visit was to a women's shelter for women and girls who have been the victim of sexual abuse or assault. Many of the girls were in their teens and now had children as a result. The shelter was run by an organization who teach the girls work skills, give them an education and a place to live as many are outcast by their families or have to leave an abusive situation and have no where else to go. It amazed me though that the babies who were born into this situation almost have it better then many of the other kids on the island, they get food, medical care, their mother's are taught to care for them, they get an education (almost all of the kids spoke both Portugese and native Timorese and a few even spoke English). The women who run the organization were such a positive inspiration. I was also very impressed with how much these moms just loved their babies- many times babies concieved under such circustances aren't well recieved by their mothers but that was not the case here. All of the moms were so attentive and clearly wanted only what was best for their little ones. All in all it was a really amazing day and I came away really uplifted.
It seems like every country that I go to I come away thinking "That one was my favorite" and Timor was no different. It was great to see such a new country that is starting to get it's feet on the ground.
:)
Timor Leste was a beautiful country. It was a bit odd to have UN vehicles everywhere and armed guards around but the people were so friendly and welcoming. We were able to do a lot of good work there. I don't really have too many crazy stories from Timor, in the end it was kind of a nice gentle way to end the trip.
One of my highlights though was the opportunity to go with the chaplins on 2 different community relations projects. The first was to visit a whole pile of kids at a local orphanage. It was so much fun to get to meet them, play with them, and just be around such happy people. The kids had so much fun coloring, doing puzzles and playing soccer. We had the opportunity to leave them with school kits provided by Latter-day Saint Charities which was great to be a part of.
The second visit was to a women's shelter for women and girls who have been the victim of sexual abuse or assault. Many of the girls were in their teens and now had children as a result. The shelter was run by an organization who teach the girls work skills, give them an education and a place to live as many are outcast by their families or have to leave an abusive situation and have no where else to go. It amazed me though that the babies who were born into this situation almost have it better then many of the other kids on the island, they get food, medical care, their mother's are taught to care for them, they get an education (almost all of the kids spoke both Portugese and native Timorese and a few even spoke English). The women who run the organization were such a positive inspiration. I was also very impressed with how much these moms just loved their babies- many times babies concieved under such circustances aren't well recieved by their mothers but that was not the case here. All of the moms were so attentive and clearly wanted only what was best for their little ones. All in all it was a really amazing day and I came away really uplifted.
It seems like every country that I go to I come away thinking "That one was my favorite" and Timor was no different. It was great to see such a new country that is starting to get it's feet on the ground.
:)
Sunday, August 15, 2010
The Love Boat
So the other night at work it was a bit slow and a few of the doctors were hanging out at our desk and the subject of, how shall I say it, the "interpersonal relations" on board the ship came up. Now I may have been a bit naive about the relations going on board the ship in that I knew they were going on but I had no idea to what extent. I was a bit surprised by what I had to learn.
So here's my Anne Landers style advice for anyone coming on board the ship
1- it's a small ship be aware that EVERYONE knows your business and nothing is private even when you think it is
2- please don't be the person that gets a reputation
3-PLEASE don't be the person who gets a nickname
4- don't be the cougar who's know for "initiating" the still teen aged crew members from partner nations
5- and please don't be the NGO group who have confused the ship with a frat house
because trust me when I say that once you have gone home you'd rather people talk about what a great nurse/doctor (or whatever) you were and NOT your reputation for "interpersonal relations".
Peace!
Amy J. :)
So here's my Anne Landers style advice for anyone coming on board the ship
1- it's a small ship be aware that EVERYONE knows your business and nothing is private even when you think it is
2- please don't be the person that gets a reputation
3-PLEASE don't be the person who gets a nickname
4- don't be the cougar who's know for "initiating" the still teen aged crew members from partner nations
5- and please don't be the NGO group who have confused the ship with a frat house
because trust me when I say that once you have gone home you'd rather people talk about what a great nurse/doctor (or whatever) you were and NOT your reputation for "interpersonal relations".
Peace!
Amy J. :)
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Indonesia
Wow- long time no blog- I've been busy- and lazy (couldn't be bothered to haul my computer around Darwin). So here's the recap of Indonesia which ended up being our longest mission site (technically it was 3 sites we were in Tobelo, Ternate and Ambon). I have a couple of stories from our time spent there that I'd like to share...
First of is the story of my friend Santi (she turned into everyones friend). Santi came on board in Jakarta with her aunt and was here to see if we would be able to operate on her congenital cataracts that had made her blind and stopped her from being able to read and write (she previously could before they got bad) and also stopped her from just being a normal kid. She got to hang out with us from Jakarta to our first mission port of Tobelo (about a week) where we were finally able to operate on her left eye. During our time with Santi we learned a lot about her, she's a HUGE Shakera (spelling?) fan and has the "Latina" style of dancing down to a tee- she even taught us some moves. Santi was also one of the most patient and thankful kids too- I mean how many 7 year olds when faced with eye drops that sting- a lot, jump into position on their bed, hold their eyes open, don't freak out when the drops go in and after you're done say "Thank- you" in a foreign language and then run off to play?! Speaking of the foreign language she practically had English learned by the time she went home. Fortunately for Santi her first surgery went so well that the doctor's decided it was safe to proceed with her second eye and only hours after having surgery she was up and about- dancing for the other patients who had had surgery as well trying to make them laugh or smile and feel better. I think this kid has a future in medicine or maybe show-biz who knows but whatever she does she'll be able to see her family, read, write and get an education and I'm thrilled for her.
My other story is about another girl who is not as lucky as Santi. She also came on board for cataract surgery but once here we knew that surgery wasn't going to be an option. She was 15 years old but looked a bit like a 90 year old woman. She weighed just over 50 pounds and in doing a history with her family we learned that she was diabetic but they had very limited access to insulin and even when they did have insulin they had no way of testing her blood sugar so no idea of how much to administer. When she arrived her blood sugar was over 3x the normal limit, I spent one very long night shift working with our pediatricians to try and safely get her level to something closer to normal. This was another time when I had to think to myself- "If she lived in North America, she'd be a healthy teen with a relatively normal life". Diabetes isn't like a cleft lip where we can come and in one day change the course of a kids life. Diabetes is every day, day in and day out and it's expensive- there aren't many organizations out there that I know of that have figured out how to combat this disease in the third world. We managed to get her levels down and were able to get a 3 month supply of testing strips and insulin. So we put a band aid on a problem for 3 months- then what? She was so far gone that I don't know how she'll end up doing- even if someone miraculously were to send her to America and give her state of the art care I don't think she'd come back from 15 years of no treatment. At the end of the day her family was so grateful that we'd tried, that we'd given them something- a small amount of hope for the next few months and after that I guess it's in someone elses hands who knows better then me.
Indonesia was a beautiful country with some really beautiful people. The part of Indonesia that we ported at is more remote but more beautiful and unspoiled because of it. Of all the places that we've been to so far I think that Indonesia and in particular the outer islands would be somewhere that I would come back to. Fortunately for the people here the government is starting to make them a priority. PP2010 was a part of an Indonesian festival called "Sail Banda" that was recognizing the potential of the smaller Indonesian islands in the future and I think that potential is huge. So if you're looking for an amazing place to visit, with gorgeous diving- check out Indonesia. (I'm starting to sound like a vacation add so I'll stop now!)
Cheers!
Amy J:)
First of is the story of my friend Santi (she turned into everyones friend). Santi came on board in Jakarta with her aunt and was here to see if we would be able to operate on her congenital cataracts that had made her blind and stopped her from being able to read and write (she previously could before they got bad) and also stopped her from just being a normal kid. She got to hang out with us from Jakarta to our first mission port of Tobelo (about a week) where we were finally able to operate on her left eye. During our time with Santi we learned a lot about her, she's a HUGE Shakera (spelling?) fan and has the "Latina" style of dancing down to a tee- she even taught us some moves. Santi was also one of the most patient and thankful kids too- I mean how many 7 year olds when faced with eye drops that sting- a lot, jump into position on their bed, hold their eyes open, don't freak out when the drops go in and after you're done say "Thank- you" in a foreign language and then run off to play?! Speaking of the foreign language she practically had English learned by the time she went home. Fortunately for Santi her first surgery went so well that the doctor's decided it was safe to proceed with her second eye and only hours after having surgery she was up and about- dancing for the other patients who had had surgery as well trying to make them laugh or smile and feel better. I think this kid has a future in medicine or maybe show-biz who knows but whatever she does she'll be able to see her family, read, write and get an education and I'm thrilled for her.
My other story is about another girl who is not as lucky as Santi. She also came on board for cataract surgery but once here we knew that surgery wasn't going to be an option. She was 15 years old but looked a bit like a 90 year old woman. She weighed just over 50 pounds and in doing a history with her family we learned that she was diabetic but they had very limited access to insulin and even when they did have insulin they had no way of testing her blood sugar so no idea of how much to administer. When she arrived her blood sugar was over 3x the normal limit, I spent one very long night shift working with our pediatricians to try and safely get her level to something closer to normal. This was another time when I had to think to myself- "If she lived in North America, she'd be a healthy teen with a relatively normal life". Diabetes isn't like a cleft lip where we can come and in one day change the course of a kids life. Diabetes is every day, day in and day out and it's expensive- there aren't many organizations out there that I know of that have figured out how to combat this disease in the third world. We managed to get her levels down and were able to get a 3 month supply of testing strips and insulin. So we put a band aid on a problem for 3 months- then what? She was so far gone that I don't know how she'll end up doing- even if someone miraculously were to send her to America and give her state of the art care I don't think she'd come back from 15 years of no treatment. At the end of the day her family was so grateful that we'd tried, that we'd given them something- a small amount of hope for the next few months and after that I guess it's in someone elses hands who knows better then me.
Indonesia was a beautiful country with some really beautiful people. The part of Indonesia that we ported at is more remote but more beautiful and unspoiled because of it. Of all the places that we've been to so far I think that Indonesia and in particular the outer islands would be somewhere that I would come back to. Fortunately for the people here the government is starting to make them a priority. PP2010 was a part of an Indonesian festival called "Sail Banda" that was recognizing the potential of the smaller Indonesian islands in the future and I think that potential is huge. So if you're looking for an amazing place to visit, with gorgeous diving- check out Indonesia. (I'm starting to sound like a vacation add so I'll stop now!)
Cheers!
Amy J:)
Monday, July 19, 2010
In the Navy...
You sort your trash... (or "rubbish" as our resident Brit calls it)
You get used to...
You never get used to...
- This took some getting used to and it goes something like this: when finished a meal you have to separate out your left over food from the plastic, paper and possibly metal on your plate. You then have to go and dispose of each into the proper receptacle. The paper gets burned, the plastic gets carted around until we're in port and it can be disposed of and the food gets ground up and chucked over board- free food for the fishies. The whole sorting thing is not such a big deal it's just really annoying if you get stuck behind someone new who hasn't figured out that it goes faster if you sort at the table BEFORE you're standing in front of the cans with 50 irritated people behind you.
You get used to...
- Seeing guys wander around your place of work with automatic weapons. Made me stop and do a double take the first time, now it's just a normal thing. At least they don't bring them to the dinner table.
- Always wearing shoes. It's out of the work shoes and into the flip flops that double for shower shoes because in communal living you just don't put your bare feet on the floor (let alone the shower floor)- cannot wait to be bare foot on carpet.
- Showers. There is no such thing as a bath tub here (not even a baby one- we had to McGuyver something out of a toy bucket). One of the first things on my list when I get home- possibly before I unpack, will be to take a long, hot, bath.
- Polite guys. For the first week or so I got a tiny bit weirded out by the constant, door opening, "yes ma'am"ing etc. Then I got so I liked it, I really think that guys back home should have to join then Navy just to relearn some of these things that should be the basics.
- Wearing the same clothes...all the time...every day. The military are in their uniform and I am in mine. It consists of khaki or scrub pants and a blue t-shirt (sometimes a blue polo for variation). At first it was liberating to not have to think about clothes every morning and while that is still true I may never be able to look at this color of blue the same way ever again.
You never get used to...
- The noise. Seriously since getting on board this ship back in May I have not had a single quiet moment. There's always an engine or boiler running, the A/C is on, the ocean is outside, it's raining, the kids are crying, the helicopter is taking off from the roof over the dining hall, there are a thousand other people eating in the same room and to speak to the person across the table one must shout. I work nights and when I'm trying to sleep during the day there are constant overhead announcements of the comings and goings of the higher ups, announcing the start of flight quarters, the end of flight quarters, followed by the ever popular helo refueling announcement. Ooh and did I mention the bell?! Anytime that 2 of the higher ups (I won't mention which ones) come on or off the ship they ring a bell, a very loud and slightly irritating, baby waking bell. It's so annoying that someone actually stole it (no idea who- the perp has yet to be caught and if he/she ever is they're in BIG trouble) and for half a day the bell was blissfully gone, however it turns out they have a spare. Ear plugs don't help- tried that. Anyway all this means is one of the first things I'm going to do when I get home is find somewhere quiet and relish in it! (probably while in the bath)
Navy life ;)
Amy J.
Friday, July 16, 2010
A few of the places I've been to..
Friday, July 9, 2010
At sea, and crossing the line
So long time no write on the blog- I've been busy, and sick. I got a really nasty cold our last day in Cambodia and ever since then have had a lovely hacking cough thanks to my reactive airway. It's been great- my bunk mates are all nurses and analyze every morning if I'm sounding more or less phlegmy. So in the time since we've left Singapore I've been doing a lot of napping and trying to get feeling better.
Last weekend was spent in Singapore which was a lot of fun (accept for the being sick part). It truly is an amazing city and really beautiful. Almost creepy how beautiful- no trash, no garbage, no homeless, perfectly manicured and you could eat off of the floor of the subway- but if you did you'd get fined because eating on the subway isn't allowed. Neither is chewing gum, spitting and more then a few other things. Adds up to a safe and clean city but feels a bit like a theme park after awhile. The food there was amazing as well- there are several different ethnic neighborhoods that all have authentic food and a "food court" with "fast food" is a whole different concept then what you see in North America. I have to say that I like Singapore's fresh made non-greasy version better.
This week has been spent at sea getting to Indonesia. We were in Jakarta for a couple of hours on Tuesday to pick up supplies and more personal and now we are back at sea. It's been weird to be at sea and sailing east- the sun is in the wrong spot every time I go outside. We've been headed west up until now and so to go outside and the sun be in the wrong place is a bit disorienting. I'm also excited to head out at night now that we're in the Southern Hemisphere and see the stars.
This is truly starting to feel like an international project, right now on board we have personnel from the Army, Navy, Air force, Canada, the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Cambodia, Indonesia, and even Chili. In the past we also had Japanese on board. It's nice have other "non-Americans" to share the experience with.
Now on to crossing the line, I'm really not allowed to say too much about it but suffice to say this "Canuck Wog" has now become a shellback through a process involving lots of jello, sea water, crawling, calisthenics, and I may never think of "row, row, row your boat" the same way again. I'm off to steel beach 2.0 to celebrate and then back to bed. Ciao.
Amy J.
Last weekend was spent in Singapore which was a lot of fun (accept for the being sick part). It truly is an amazing city and really beautiful. Almost creepy how beautiful- no trash, no garbage, no homeless, perfectly manicured and you could eat off of the floor of the subway- but if you did you'd get fined because eating on the subway isn't allowed. Neither is chewing gum, spitting and more then a few other things. Adds up to a safe and clean city but feels a bit like a theme park after awhile. The food there was amazing as well- there are several different ethnic neighborhoods that all have authentic food and a "food court" with "fast food" is a whole different concept then what you see in North America. I have to say that I like Singapore's fresh made non-greasy version better.
This week has been spent at sea getting to Indonesia. We were in Jakarta for a couple of hours on Tuesday to pick up supplies and more personal and now we are back at sea. It's been weird to be at sea and sailing east- the sun is in the wrong spot every time I go outside. We've been headed west up until now and so to go outside and the sun be in the wrong place is a bit disorienting. I'm also excited to head out at night now that we're in the Southern Hemisphere and see the stars.
This is truly starting to feel like an international project, right now on board we have personnel from the Army, Navy, Air force, Canada, the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Cambodia, Indonesia, and even Chili. In the past we also had Japanese on board. It's nice have other "non-Americans" to share the experience with.
Now on to crossing the line, I'm really not allowed to say too much about it but suffice to say this "Canuck Wog" has now become a shellback through a process involving lots of jello, sea water, crawling, calisthenics, and I may never think of "row, row, row your boat" the same way again. I'm off to steel beach 2.0 to celebrate and then back to bed. Ciao.
Amy J.
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