Gone in Ten, Nine, Eight....

Hi Everyone.

I'm off in 10 days, crazy! Anyways, I'm packing up my apartment today so I thought I'd send out the addresses of the Port Agents while I still have my computer with me. So just in case anyone wants to send me mail (*wink *wink It's so special to get mail when you arrive in port!) well now you have that ability! Make sure my name and Pacific Grace appear on the outside somewhere to make sure it gets to me. Don't forget to send me your info if you want to start collecting exotic stamps. So there you go, love you all.

Papua New Guinea: send by November 1

Sarah Brizan, Pacific Grace
C/O D&S Seko Ltd.
PO Box 993 Madang
Papua New Guinea

China: send by December 9

Sarah Brizan, Pacific Grace
C/O Penavico Shanghai Pudong Co., Ltd.
5/F.,No.175 (Wang Jiao Plaza), Yan An Road
Shanghai 200002
P.R. China

Japan: Send by February 19

Sarah Brizan, Pacific Grace
C/O Waldron Norton Lilly Intl Osaka (Branch) Heisei Shipping Angencies Ltd.
Wakasugi Grand Bldg 3F
5-25 Tenjinbanshi 2-Chrome
Japan

Hawaii: send by April 22

Sarah Brizan, Pacific Grace
C/O Waldron Norton Lilly Intl
521 Ala Moana Blvd. Suite 255
Honolulu, Hawaii
96825 USA

--
Take Care,
Sarah.

~Sing, Dance, Floss, Travel

Under the Knife

Although possibly, more appropriately titled under the q-tip perhaps.... turns out that my ear drum wasn't ruptured after all but that I had wax melted onto it, hence the pain. In the end I had to go into day surgery to have it removed and after fasting and not drinking all day yesterday and not being able to go in I was glad to receive a spot this afternoon. All went well, but they ended up having to take off a layer of my ear drum as well so besides the fact that I'm still doped up feeling my ear is possible more tender and sore than it was before. The good news is that it should heal up in a couple days and then off to Fiji, no problems.

Oh and I'll be out on the boat this week, but have been promised as much as I need to recover (albeit on the boat)...should be okay though, my crew loves me.

Update

Now that title seems a little redundant as this is a blog, and what else am I going to do but update....
But I mean update on my ear, which still has not healed.
I went to another doctor who said the same thing as the last one, its just needs some time. I want to believe them, but I have this sinking suspicion that it needs more than time. Hasn't there been enough time elapsed already? It's been 10 days since I tore a hole in my ear drum and the pain seems to be increasing, arrrraaaaarrrrrgh!
Anyways, hopefully the T3's will help, now that I have actually accepted a prescription for them.
Cross my fingers and pray.

Back to School

Well I'm not back to school, but back to doing school trips which make up the majority of my year. I was thrilled to have a chance to visit with a good friend and past coworker, Rebekah, in between the break of summer and fall trips. She is an amazing girl, with such servants heart.
I was excited to sail with my old highschool for the first trip this Septmeber. College Heights is always a trip looked forward to by the crew and a really good transition trip from summer trips, where there are multi ages and no one knows eachother before hand, to school trips, where its a class that has been going to school together for a while. College Heights brings multi age student who may or may not know eachother but have fundraised together for a year before hand to get there. Going from a ten day to a five day feels so short, so the extra day with this group was great to have.
I usually feel like the longer a trainee spends on the boat the more they understand the routine, the more they learn and the more chance I have of getting to know them even just a little. Most schools come for five days and the difference between school trips and summer trips in terms of growth, learning, and understanding are huge. This is another reason that I am so excited to have the chance to go offshore again. Having the oppotunity to spend months on the bo at is so incredible. I am excited for the immeasurable amount of potential it brings.
On a completely different note... I ruptured my ear drum! Warning: No one should ever candle their ears! A friend of mine wanted to try it out so I thought, why not?. Well I didn't know what had happenned at the time, but turns out that the loud noise pain I felt was my eardrum rupturing! I went on to do the next five days with a constantly plugged feeling ear, and the pain got better and then worse as the week progressed. I didn't get to see a doctor until we came in five days later, but I am happy to know what is wrong with me, unfortunately there is nothing I can do but wait it out, it should heal a few more days though. My crew was great to me, picking up where I had no more energy left. The boat is that last place I'd pick to be sick. I feel awful and useless because I can't do my job the way I'd like to be able to, but I was so happy to have a crew that cares so much.
Back out again tomorrow. We have a replacement cook for the next two trips. A long time SALTSer, Christina Vanderkamp, who I am really excited to be sailing with again. I am also looking forward to next weekend when one of my best friends ever, Ronelle, is coming to visit for the weekend! Lots of excitment in the next few weeks before I leave, but I'm feeling organized and my passport is back and the visas all came through which is a big weight off. Now I just need to worry about buying enough toothpaste for the year!