Cam to the Bodia

Yay we're here! It was a short sail over and I was kinda sad cause it's very peaceful when we're steaming. The view is wonderful from the deck and there's the cutest island just off our port side and I'll try and post a picture of it later. I get to go on a service project on shore tomorrow to help paint a school and I'm way excited to get on land and see what it's like. The people here are so friendly but they're all really short - bascially everyone is my size and my navy friends keep telling me I fit right in and maybe this is where I belong - hah. I can't believe I only have like 2 weeks left. Luckily every day is better than the one before.

Qui Nhon, Vietnam

I have had such an amazing time here! I can't believe we're leaving in a couple of days. I have grown to love the Vietnamese people so quickly. They are gracious, friendly, happy and loving kind of people that I want to be more like.

I work in an area call CASREC or casualty receiving. So we see all of the patients who come aboard first and assess them and get everything started for surgery or another service who's going to see them like audiology or something like that. The days are very busy but I like it that way. I have met so many people and it's crazy how quickly you can become friends and share something special together in such a small time. I have definitely loved them as I have just tried to make things work or find the right doctor for their baby. It's beautiful to be able to just serve them and not have any other motives in doing it.

I've been in the OR twice just observing. One of them was a cleft lip repair on a baby boy. The surgeon is from the Navy and asked to come on the project and he took as much care and detail with that little guy as he would have anyone else. Once it was finished to looked great and how huge of a blessing that will be for him and his family. The other favorite patient I had was a 6 year old boy who had burnt his hand and then it hadn't healed properly and 3 of his fingers had healed together and he couldn't fully stretch them out. So they separated them and skin grafted on the exposed sides. His hand looked amazing once it was finished. How blessed we all are to have people with those special gifts and talents to fix our bodies. They're going to have his hand in splints for the next couple months to stretch out those tendons and to make sure the skin graft heals properly.

I've also gotten to go to our off site clinics on the main land. They see from 600-800 people per day. They have physicians, pediatricians, optometry, pharmacy and dental. From those sites only some people are referred to the ship. But those clinics reach so many people and help them with smaller problems but make a huge difference. We are unbelievably blessed to live where we do. I am so humbled by the material things I enjoy and just how much more my comfortable my daily life is.

Vietnam is a cool country, especially cause I've never been to anywhere Asia before. On my day off I got to go to a Buddhist temple and to some ancient Hindu towers and to the market and the fruit market and ate local food. It was such a fun time! The temple was gorgeous and so intricate in the detail on every building. It's a really peaceful place because it's so quiet, even in such a loud city. It was especially great cause our friend Taylor speaks fluent Vietnamese from his mission so he could talk to everyone for us. I have fab pictures but the internet is way too slow so you guys will have to see them when I get home!

I only have just over 3 weeks left! So crazy but I'm excited to be back with all of you but I don't wanna leave at the same time.

Philippines

So we were headed into a huge storm on the way to Vietnam, so we're taking a detour through the Philippines! k and when I say through I mean that you can see the islands on either side of the ship! It's crazy amazing and the water here is a lighter blue and incredible calm- it just looks smooth like a calm lake would. We had an abandon ship drill this afternoon, which is my favorite too.

Last night we went and watched the sun set and the stars come out on the stern (back) of the ship. It was beautiful and we all just hung out and talked. Such a cool night. I'm trying to soak up the semi-relaxed days before it gets crazy on Sunday.

Love you guys and thanks for your comments and letting me know what's going on with you!!!

pictures

'Spanish Steps' into paradise

So I didn't tell you about the most breath taking place on this island. It's called Spanish Steps and it's on the Navy base. First you hike down a jungle cliff. The first half km is like straight down but there's ropes and ladders along the way. Totally something right up my alley - just the hike alone was great. Then you tromp through the jungle and try not to step on all the hermit crabs along the way. There's so many of them and they're purple, red and brown and big too! It's like being under a huge green umbrella as you go along the path. We saw a huge iguana/lizard thing that Georgia called a dinosaur. It's body was like the size of brando plus a tail. We only saw it for a few seconds before it got scared and took off into the trees. Once you break through the trees, you're on a coral rock beach at the edge of a coral reef inbetween two towering cliffs that are covered with bright bright green foliage. Between the cliffs are other smaller rock formations that are also cover with some kind of plants and then you get to swim all around them. There's so many fish!!! The best part were the bright blue star fish. I'm not talking about blue tinged - they're brilliant, bright blue. The water is ridiculously clear too. It's like looking into a fish tank, even without goggles on. Hopefully I can post pictures soon so you can kinda see what I'm talking about!

We just set sail again this morning from Guam so now it's back to just being surrounded by water. As we looked out we kinda agreed that it felt kinda comforting to be back and the water is super smooth this time, like I can't even tell that we're moving ahead.

Guam is Heaven on earth

I'm gonna try and give as many details in about what I've seen and done in the small amount of time I have on this speck of an island in the middle of the pacific ocean, it's a wonder mother ocean hasn't just swallowed it up by now. k so the beaches here have sand but not always the super soft kind and the ocean bottom isn't that friendly cause of the sharp jagged rocks and nasty mean coral but other than that it gets two thumbs up. Poor Georgia had never encountered coral before and got assaulted on her back. Not nice in salt water. The water is crystal clear and shimmers as the sun hits it. You can see little fishies and sea cucumbers- so many and crabs. Our friend Kent (he lives in Hawaii) says never trust a crab and it's true cause one chomped right onto my foot and it's still sore. Kent also has a waterproof digital camera so we've been having a blast with that. It's tricky for me to post pictures cause I don't have my laptop or a card reader and I didn't bring the software I need for my camera to use the cables. We're gonna visit our IT friends tomorrow and see if they can help me out with that.

The sunsets are unbelievable and would rival any national geographic.

We tried hiking to a place called Tarzan Falls - they turned out to be twice as far in but we made it to Tarzan pools which were still cool. The hike though was great! The trail head is a mall sign on the sign of the winding road. It looks like you're embarking on an Indiana Jones jeep trail into the depths of the jungle. The plants are a funny mix of coniferous and deciduous with a random palms trees all around. It's crazy to be walking and say hey look it's a mango tree. The dirt here is red so that's kinda cool too. The land is rolling hills and valleys just wrapped up in a blanket of green hues. The sun just loved us and it was like she wanted us to have the best day possible.

After that we drove down the coast of the island and outside the window we saw something amazing. It was a natural swimming hole of ocean salt water but calmer as it was enclosed with boulder rocks, kinda like a reef but very very deep. All around it on the land were permanent gazeebos and fire pits. The best part was the diving tower make of something concrete but who knows what I used to be before. Bit it's the most amazing recycled water park. To get up you first use te wooden palate ladder being held up against it with webbing and rope and then pull yourself to the top. As soon as we saw this local lparadise, we all yelled pull over and instantly started scrambling to get ready to be in the water ass soon as humanly possible. Right over those rocks you could play in the very powerful, crashing ocean waves, so basically best of both worlds.

Then we went and found a sandy beach to just hang out on, and again the best one was just on the side of the highway. We had goggles to watch all of the sea life and there was TONS! My favorite was this silver, pinky/purple fish about the side of a my hand stretched out big. He was just as intrigued and curious about me as I was him. He'd get like 7 inches away from me and then get scared and back away and then swim up closer and quickly retreat back or come up from under a rock to get a better look at me and hopefully maybe I wouldn't notice. I even went up for air about 4 times and every time I came back down he was just waiting there for me to come back and then would stare right back at me with those big, round fishy eyes. So crazy! I've never had an experience like that with a fish before!

I've gotta go - that was all of Saturday almost so I'll try and tell you all about Sunday cause it was spectacular and the members in Guam are so charitable.