I'm Hooommmeeeee!!!

Hi Everyone!
Thanks for checking in and keeping tabs on me while I've been traveling!!! I am back at home now and enjoying seeing family and friends again!!! I hope you are all well and I am looking forward to seeing you all again :-D
Love you all! Merry Christmas!!!
Love and hugs,
-Bethany

I'll be home for Christmas...

Things are wrapping up here on the MV Explorer! Last night I slept outside as we pulled away from Costa Rica, and now we are heading towards home! It was a beautiful night :) Tomorrow we will be traveling through the Panama Canal which should be very interesting to see! And I have lots of packing to do as well :-p I am soooo excited about coming home and seeing you all again!!! I hope that you are all well, and I will see you soon!

Love and hugs!

-Bethany

Happy Thanksgiving from Hawaii!!!

I just jumped out of a plane!!! wicked awesome! basically I can't stop grinning... :)

Happy Thanksgiving everyone and good luck surviving crowds for Christmas shopping!

see you all soon!

-Bethany

:-D

Life at Sea...

Things are going well here aboard the MV Explorer! We have a few more days at sea before we stop in Hawaii for Thanksgiving, and then we will be at sea for another week for finals… I enjoy life at sea a lot, even though by now I am quite sick of being offered potatoes and pasta at every meal. Yesterday we had a special BBQ and that was a lot of fun!

I figured I would tell you all a little about things here on the ship, since I realized that I have only really told you about all the other places I have been :) Here on the ship we have 7 decks, though the lowest is for crew only. I live on deck 2- lots of stairs to climb :) I work four hours a day in the computer lab on deck 6, though most of the time I just end up hanging out or doing homework there- we don’t have a lot of work to do :) Every four days at sea we have a Bible study and some worship time, and that’s always really nice. I am leading Bible study for the first time on the 26^th- please pray for me! We will see how it goes…  Days of the week don’t matter much here; our schedule goes back and forth between “A” and “B” days. I have two classes each day so it keeps me busy, but I still manage to have time to watch random TV shows and go on coffee and tea runs with the people who live on my hall :) Every couple nights or so we lose an hour of sleep as we turn the clocks ahead- one of the downfalls of traveling East- but yesterday we crossed the international date line and got to have a second November 22^nd! So that was cool :-D They even gave us a day off from classes so it was like a real Saturday…

Well I won’t bore you with any more details, I just figured I would check in and say hi even though I don’t have any crazy stories from ports in different countries. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!! You should all eat extra pumpkin pie for me!!! Have fun…

-Bethany

 

:-D

Japan :)

I got to see two different ports in Japan, Kobe and Yokohama. The leaves were changing colors which was beautiful, and overall both cities were very nice! I spent all of my time in Kobe staying with a nearby family on a homestay visit. My family was very friendly and sweet, they had a one year old daughter named Yuki who was very cute :) I got to bike to a huge park in the area where we played on the playground (yay!) and then enjoyed a picnic with LOTS of sushi… which was  pretty good actually, though I think I prefer my food to be cooked :) It was a nice time.

After our time in Kobe we had a day off while we traveled in between Kobe and Yokohama. Do you realize that we have not had any days off since this trip began? No weekends or anything- we are either traveling or having classes. So I finally had a chance to play some guitar and relax… Needless to say, I enjoyed my day :-D

When we arrived in Yokohama my friend Kristene and I wandered around the city for a while… we found Chinatown, ice cream and a nice park :) I got to ride one of the world’s largest Ferris Wheels, visit the Ramen Museum, find a 100 Yen store (like a dollar store) and do a lot of people watching. It was a great time! It was so nice to be walking around, it was so beautiful out...

So now I am back on the ship until Thanksgiving! It is weird to think that now we are starting on our trip home. Lots (and lots!) of work to be done by then! :) And I will try to get some pictures up sometime as well! I hope that you are all doing well and are enjoying the Fall weather! I will be home soon and look forward to seeing you all! :-D

love and hugs,

-Bethany