Goodbye Sucks: Update on December 22nd, 2010

I am officially in Jamaica, and have yet to find a bob sled track (or team) anywhere! Who would have thought?! So since I am in Jamaica, it means I am not in Aruba, which means I can reminisce of one of the nicest ports we had, and one of the tougher things one has to come to deal with on the Logos Hope. Aruba was absolutely gorgeous. It had some pretty nice stuff too, like Taco bell, Wendy’s Little Caesars, and Quiznos, as well as easily my favorite beach in the Caribbean yet (still not quite Lake Huron in early August). It had loads of night life, geared for the tourists that come with the 2-4 new cruise ships every day. We obviously avoided all of that, unless on the way to Taco Bell or Starbucks, where one may get solicited for drugs, and obviously decline. One of my good friends even told the drug dealers “it’s not good for you, man” when asked if we wanted some ecstasy (a first for me). My wallet took a bit of a hit in Aruba, from all the nice stuff around.

Another thing that took a hit was my emotions. On the ship, one grows fairly cold to goodbyes, since every 3 months or so a bunch of people leave, and a bunch of new people join. Well, the time has come for the big changeover, with some 50 people leaving to do whatever they are called to, and around 110 people joining from the recently decommissioned Dulous and the new PST. What is so important about this one is that two of my best friends on board and, along with the Ogres, maybe ever are going their own way. My closest mate (since he was an Aussie, I will use mate) is gone. This has happened before when someone I have grown close to has left, but usually they are not too far from home for me (if within the US is considered close), and I know without a doubt I will see them again, but this is different. It was also different since this was the guy I told everything to, a deep connection on every level. We understood each other well, and got along like we were meant to. I already miss you Fitz!

So I got to do a hospital visit in Aruba too, and it was decent. We went into the center where people get their blood cleaned when they have Dialysis, which I had never before heard of. I met a guy who was a tour guide of the Island for some 40 years, and was currently retired. He was kind of falling asleep, and didn’t have direct answers for my questions really, but he was a nice bloke. Then I talked to a Hindu guy who owned a Hugo Bass store in town, he was really nice, but when questioned about faith said he believes in Jesus, but is a Hindu. Very typical Hindu answer, but I thought it would be folly to get into a religious debate in the middle of a hospital while he was getting his blood cleaned. I felt sort of bad for not standing up for Jesus, but one must pick their battles, or else we look like jerks. On the way home I had a decent chat to another lady on board too.

So now I am in Jamaica looking at the next stuff to do, probably some swing (forgot to mention that we did another event in Aruba where I had to transfer a black dot to two others to represent aids) since this port will be busy. We expect tons of people to come on board, so pray that we love each one of them, even those that seem impossible.