Big News!

As some of you may already be aware, I have been fortunate enough to have been offered a career course. This course is the same engineering course that Kevin is currently on, and is a requirement to progress in our trade. It means a posting ashore at the Fleet School (located on base in Esquimalt) for 20 months and is rather academically rigorous. The catch is the course commences on the 2nd of April this year. Therefore, in order to still take my earned holiday time after completing a Gulf deployment, I will be flown home early out of Hong Kong. The good news is, no more threat of ‘death by seasickness’ at the mercy of the Alaskan coastal waters! Yes, I am absolutely thrilled and relieved. Although, part of me is rather depressed by the prospect of leaving all my sailing companions behind, only a few weeks from our scheduled homecoming. I was really looking forward to pulling alongside the jetty to all the media and fanfare. But those sad thoughts are quickly replaced with excitement at the prospect of sleeping in my own bed and cooking in my own kitchen… and of course having Kevin close enough to hug. Happy Valentine’s Day Everyone! I hope it was an enjoyable one for you all. Holidays aren’t really that big of a deal out here lately. Although I’ve discovered it has a lot to do with our homecoming approaching so quickly. Everyone is anxious to see there loved ones, so the festivities have been somewhat subdued with our thoughts on home. We did have ‘chick flicks’ playing in the lounge (Cave) all day though and chocolate cake for dessert with supper. Since I wrote last we have visited Male, Maldives. It is a small island that seems to exist purely for its having an airport. There really wasn’t much to see or do there, which wasn’t such a disappointment as we only had an overnight stop to take on fuel. I did manage to window shop and enjoy a wonderful outdoor buffet dinner with friends though. After Male (pronounced MAL-LAY) with steamed on to Port Klang, Malaysia. What a beautiful country. We were docked about an hour drive from Guala Lumpur and enjoyed 5 well earned days alongside. I learned that Malaysia is actually pronounced MALAY- SEE-AH by the locals. The country is ruled by a constitutional monarchy, much like Canada, where the parliament has all power. However, instead of one royal family, the Malaysians have 8! Every 5 years a new Sultan from a different family is voted in as ruler… which, like Canada, is mainly as a figurehead of the country. I spent my time taking in the downtown sights; the Petronas Twin Towers, with a 4-story shopping mall; and the Menara Kuala Lumpur, is the world’s 5th tallest communication tower which had incredible views of the city and an informative tour via mp4 player (it plays videos). Of course there was plenty of shopping as well, with some great buys. I even managed to fill my camera’s memory card to the limit in this port – so lots of pictures to add to the site once I return home and have a good internet connection again. I stayed at the Holiday Inn Glenmarie in Klang along with several others from the ship. Our Logistics PO managed to make all the arrangements and get us all an excellent rate on our rooms ($52/night). The hotel had two golf courses, several restaurants and pubs, as well as my personal favourite, a fully equipped spa. The spa quickly became the highlight of everyone’s stay as we all managed to make a visit there for some much needed relaxation and pampering. I was lucky enough to be in port (and not Duty) for my birthday, which we celebrated mostly on the 11th. I was spoiled by my Mom and Oma, who both sent me ‘birthday-in-a-box’ packages containing all sorts of party decorations and goodies. Two of the guys took on the duties of party coordinators and confiscated all of my decorations, as the “birthday girl shouldn’t be burdened with such tasks.” That evening, after spending nearly 5 hours at the spa with everyone, I was surprised with a poolside party, complete with decorations, candles, sparklers, balloons floating in the pool and a large decadent chocolate cake personalized with my name spelt correctly (huge bonus!) and a group of great friends singing. What a wonderful way to ring in a new year of your life! I was completely spoiled and am so grateful to these people for making my birthday so special and truly memorable. The next morning, my actual birthday (at least on Malay time), I shared breakfast with the two party coordinators prior to our trip back to the boat and was surprised yet again with another piece of cake, complete with icing wishes and candle glow. Can you understand why it is going to be so hard to leave this place? The following morning I was up at 3 am to get all the machinery flashed up for our departure of Malaysia. At 6:00am the rest of the ship was awaked with the typical whistle blast over the loudspeaker and the traditional “Wakey, Wakey. Hands to breakfast” pipe. I was in the MCR (Machinery Control Room) when the first bars of a very familiar song start to play across the airwaves. I was in shock and kept searching the faces around me asking, “Who did this? Who put this on?” No one really understood what I was going on about until the first verse began, “Corrina, Corrina.” I was welling up at this point, but still needed to perform my roundsman duties. I was in the engine space when the song ended and the CO came over the pipe wishing me a “Happy Birthday from your Mommy.” What a wonderful surprise! He came down to the MCR to congratulate me shortly after and explain that he wanted to wait to play the song until the 13th as that was when everyone would be onboard for our departure. I don’t know how you managed to pull it off, Mom. He is a pretty tough sell when it comes to playing songs on the broadcast system. It’s the whole, “if we do it for one, then we have to do it for all” adage. I believe that saying I had a memorable birthday experience would be a terrible injustice to the emotions and pride I was privileged to feel those few days. The well wishes posted on the Guestbook website and all the emails and messages sent via my Blog where gift enough. I felt so loved and close to all of you. To be honest, I don’t know how I would have coped these past months if it weren’t for the ability to communicate with my loved ones through such real-time means. I don’t think having to rely on “snail mail” would have cut it. Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to read my words and share your strength with me. I’m looking forward to telling you all about the next port! With the Chinese New Year upon us, there should be plenty to share in the next entry. Oh! What a silly thing to nearly forget to tell. We also received our SWASM medals and ribbon for our deployment to the Persian Gulf on our first day in Malaysia. The Commodore presented them to us with much praise and gratitude for our sacrifices. It’s really shiny! I’m pretty excited about the whole ceremony of it all. I’ll try to include a picture that was taken when I was presented the medal. Of course I couldn’t keep my personality from shining through though. The Commodore approached, I saluted and began a friendly conversation with him… not really the typical “parade” protocol. I managed to make him laugh though when he asked me if he was pronouncing my name correctly, to which I replied, “Yes Sir. The P is only there for conversation.” I think he’ll remember me. All for now!

I thought everyone would truely enjoy these words written by Rick Mercer. http://www.theindependent.ca/article.asp?AID=1333&ATID=6 Hope to write again soon... computer time is hard to come by these days. The bosses are all working on our quaterly reviews and in desperate need of all available computers. But I'll sneak on when I can to keep you all posted. Two nights ago I was the lucky recipient of a "Spa Package" that was won by my buddy Charlie Chamberlain. Charlie wasn't really interested in the package which included an one hour massage and bath in the sickbay soaker tub... I'm lucky to have been the one he thought to give it to! I managed to bring in my MP3 player and a small set of speakers, some shampoo to make bubbles, and a mint chocolate (courtesy of my brother, Mike). So I enjoyed a bubble bath with dim lighting while Enya serenaded me. Something really cool about taking a bath on a war ship in the middle of the ocean. The bath water moved with the gentle rocking of the ship. I'm not sure if we are in the northern or the southern hemisphere though - I could tell which way the water went down the drain. Will try to write again soon!