An Anastasis Catastrophe

This blog entry is dedicated to ‘friend’ who said she’s been checking this quite regularly and has sadly and correctly reminded me that I haven’t written since February 20. Reasons . . . definitely no valid ones :-( To be completely honest, I had quite given up on ‘my blog’ . . . But here we go again. I have been on the ship for a long time. I joined August 13, 2004. Today is May 20, 2005. I’m going on my tenth month. Yikes! The one thing that blows me away – still – is the turnover. So many come and go. A bunch come for a commitment shorter than your own and the long-termers all know and love each other, so it’s hard to break into their cliques. I have, quite successfully, made some lasting friendships with those who will have been on the ship a similar amount of time as me – which is great . . . but relationships are difficult on the Anastasis. Intense. Heartbreaking. Amazing. Hard. I’ve felt quite at home this last stretch. About a month ago, I was more than ready to pack it all in and come home. But, alas, His grace is sufficient. Another hard thing is how the Anastasis forces you to be uncomfortable. There are a lot of variables. Apart from the long stretch of zero air-conditioning and extreme heat conditions, we had another bout of zero AC last night for about six hours. :-( And every now and then, when you’re really not in the mood for it, the hot water will go out for a day or four. These instances along with the story I’m about to share, make life that much more difficult and make the comforts of home seem to far away, but also a great reason to shed a tear. For the last week my amazing roommate Myra has been on vacation, so I’ve had the cabin all to myself – SPLENDID! It’s been so fabulous, to be able to be loud or bump into things without feeling bad about it. It’s been wonderful to wake up and then hit the snooze button on my alarm over and over and over and over again – a delight I’ve had to forfeit since living with cabinmates. However, last night and this morning, I truly wish she’d been here as it’s easier to deal with some things when a friend is around. I was in my bed for quite some time, when I heard this scratching on the plastic above me – two panels above my bed have been removed because for about two months a pipe had been dropping a substantial amount of water on me from time to time (another not so great thing . . . ). So, I flicked on my light and about three feet above my face is a disgustingly large cockroach – separating us were only two pieces of plastic. YUCK! I tried to ignore it, but it’s little legs were making a feint, but horrible scraping noise and I couldn’t ignore it. So, I took one of the vases we have some fake flowers in and punched the plastic, causing the cockroach to fly upward and to the right, into the ceiling where I couldn’t see or hear it. PHEW! I would have been extactic if that were the last of my incident. But I was not so fortunate. This morning, as I was stepping into the bathroom, there was another, Large cockroach on it’s back, wiggling it’s little legs as I hastily captured it under a cup. Yuck! Then I squashed two more baby cockroaches as I was in the bathroom. AND then there was another medium-sized one in my dishes/bathroom accessories cupboard. AWFUL! AWFUL! AWFUL! I will say that I have become somewhat more brave when it comes to them. However, if they’re moving fast, you’re likely to hear me scream . . . LOUD. That’s my story for today. I took some pictures of my cabin, and will hopefully put them up today too. I also hope this entry will be the start of many more :-) Love and miss you all!