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After 162 Days of traveling, I am today preparing to head back to Florida to start the next chapter of my life… Having spent the past few days with my family in preparation for my older brother’s departure to Afghanistan, I am both happy and sad to be leaving Utah. Happy for what God has […]
Over the past week, I have had such an amazing time here in Utah… I’ve spent a number of days and nights with my brothers and cousins, playing golf, hiking, running, hanging out at the American Legion (three of my brothers are Veterans), and simply enjoying each others’ company. Though I was really reluctant to […]
Today is our last day in Mexico… : ( As such, I decided it would be only fitting that I spend most of the day sitting at the kitchen table of my Tia’s house. This was made very easy as the conversation was flowing as soon as we heard that Sarah Palin had been selected […]
Basketball and Bible Study. Armando and I ran a set of ball this morning at the gym down the road and then I headed over to my Tia’s house to hang out with my cousin Eduardo in his Internet Cafe (pictured above). This evening, I again attended Armando’s Bible Study. God Always Provides. Until next […]
I spent the morning in bed, answering emails and working a flyer for an upcoming event that Bonnie is running. After rolling out of bed and making the 40-yard walk to my Tia’s house, I took my place at the kitchen table with my sister Hilda and there I stayed for the next thirteen hours. […]
This evening, my cousin Gil treated us all to a live fútbol match between the San Luis Potosi Gladiators and a team from Ecuador. It was really great because Gil brought his son Jorge and his daughter Michelle, his nephew Gerardo, and then me and Armando came too. All in, we had a great time! […]
As the weekends always seem to be so packed with activities, Monday’s tend to be my day off. Thus, I woke up, did some email from bed, and then headed down stairs for an awesome breakfast with Armando and Maggie. After breakfast, I did some more work on the computer and before I knew it, […]
This morning, I went to church with Armando and Maggie. Since Armando leads the Young Adults Bible Study, I was right at home. The pastor’s message was also very good… 1 Corinthians 9: 24-25 24Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such […]
Today, the whole crew headed up to La Media Luna (“the Half Moon”) which is a natural springs preserve about two hours from here. The place is actually in the middle of no where, but the local farmers whose property the springs are on have banded together and have commercialized the place just enough… In […]
Today was a mellow day. I started off the day by going running with my cousin Toño. We decided to get aggressive and do 9K today. Running through Tangamanga Park really is nice. There is so much open land there… A tennis complex, volleyball courts, a lake, soccer fields, basketball courts, and tons of trees […]
When I woke up this morning, I had planned to spend the day working on some design projects that I had on my To Do List. But that was my plan. God apparently had a different plan for me… I started off the day by going with my Dad to the Saucito Graveyard to visit […]
And then there were four… All of our group has gone home except for my parents, my sister Hilda, and me. Thus, the party factor has gone down significantly, but we’ll do the best we can to keep the vibe going : ) For the most part, I spent the entire day simply hanging out […]
As most of the group is heading back to the U.S. tomorrow, we spent today running through the Centro (“downtown”) and the Mercado (“open air market”), picking up souvenirs. This evening, our cousin Hector invited all of us over to his house for dinner… And of course, it turned into a party! (group picture above.) […]
This morning, we got an early start and boarded our own private tour bus at 6:30am this morning to head off to Guanajuato and San Miguel de Allende for the day. As there are so many of us traveling together, and because one of our cousins owns a Bus Line, we decided to go ahead […]
This morning was really nice… Woke up, enjoyed the cool air of Mexquitic, and milled around the retreat center compound. A small group went hiking, but most of us just hung around and enjoyed the morning with omelets, coffee, fresh juices, and smoothies! My cousins, Mom, and Aunt spent soooo much time in the kitchen […]
My cousin Armando (who is an Architect) built a small Christian Retreat Center on some land he owns up in the hills just outside of the city. So today, we all decided to take a trip up their and stay the night… What a blast! All together, there was about 40 of us who came […]
Another great day! (I know I say that everyday was a great day, but candidly, for a long time now everyday has been amazing…) This morning, Bonnie, Hilda, Joe, my cousin Toño, and I all went running at “El Parque Tangamanga” which is a huge park in the city center. We ran an easy 6K […]
As always, when one chapter ends, another chapter begins… This morning, I jumped on a plane in Nashville and headed to Dallas to meet up with my four of my siblings (Hilda, Araseli, Tony, & Joe) and Bonnie, so that we could head out to Mexico together to meet up with my brother Noel and […]
Today was our last day of debrief… Talk about going out with a bang. I started off the morning with a two mile run through the dry Kentucky air. After that, we headed out to this park on the bank of the Ohio River where the weather was amazing and conversation was deep. After a […]
We landed in Nashville at about 9am this morning. Fortunately, we had zero delays, all of our layovers (Hong Kong, Los Angeles, Dallas) went smoothly, and all of our luggage arrived! Upon arriving, Mark and Roy picked us up in a giant van to cart us up to Owensboro, KY where our journey began two […]
First thing this morning we jumped in a van and headed to up to KL to start our long journey home… When we arrived at KL, our host Rodney was their to meet us and take us out for a farewell lunch. On our way to lunch, Rodney gave us a tour of some newer […]
This morning, we lead music at SBC for the final time. It was a great worship set, but it was also sad to say goodbye to our Malaysian family after the service was over. : ( During the service, I picked up a great quote from the guest pastor who said… “The famous last words […]
Today was our second full day of debriefing… Good stuff. The team is really getting a chance to get some closure on a number of issues. After a good lunch, we headed to band practice at the church. Following practice, we headed out to dinner with our crew from the Youth Group and from the […]
Did you see the Opening Ceremony of the Olympics? It was amazing… The “footprint” fireworks, the screen on the floor, the giant type face machine, the athletes walking across the paint, and then the guy flying through the stadium to light the torch!!! Awesome! The entire team sat through all four hours over dinner and […]
Today was our last day at Pay Fong High School…. As challenging as our time here has been, it truly has been rewarding and I am definitely going to miss these students! They are all really great kids and they have definitely left an impact on me. Our last English class today was so much […]
I started the day off by running 5K. As the air in Melaka is hot and humid, I count running in the heat of the day the same as spending an hour breathing in front of a humidifier. Hence, my cold seems to have taken a back seat today. For lunch, we met up with […]
I’m sick with a head cold. So, I slept most of the morning. For lunch, we met with one of the students name Jonathon. This kid is 13 years old and knows more about World Politics and American History than anyone on our team. Really great kid. After lunch, I taught one english class and […]
We came back to the school first thing this morning, still riding high from the weekend activities. I taught one English class after lunch and then hit the basketball court. After a 30 minute set, I ran a quick mile and then hit the courts for another 30 minute set. After that, I took a […]
We started off the day with a completely chaotic sound check for a church service this morning. The band was hurried, I hadn’t finished the power point (since my computer died) and the service started earlier that we had originally expected. Nonetheless, God came came through and the worship set actually turned out great and […]
The morning started off well as we opened the morning session with a worship set at 9:00am. After than, I was trying to finish the Power Point slides for the next music set and my laptop completely dies… No matter what I do, I can’t get the dumb thing to start up. Oh well, everything […]
We had this morning free so the guys (me, Ross, and Job) headed over to the mall to take advantage of some little luxuries. We started off with a 60 minute Traditional Thai Massage. Unlike the massages in India, you remain fully clothed during this session, which essentially entails the masseuse performing WWF submission holds […]
This morning we headed into KL by bus (about a 90 minute ride) as we will be performing at a Youth Conference here this weekend and attending the Passion ’08 Concert on Sunday night. In addition to the normal team, we have been fortunate enough to have Job come with us on this trip… Job […]
“Whoa! What happen to you?!?!” said the Chinese man behind the counter as I entered into his restaurant. “I stepped in a ditch” I replied. “You a real mess!” he commented with a thick Chinese accent. “You clean up in here…” he said as he showed me to the washroom… You see, I went out […]
This morning I worked on the India video for a few hours and then headed out for a 5K run. After that, I taught a class I called “Using Flash in Websites” to a group of high school IT students (pictured above). This went really well! After class, I spent some time finishing up “Mere […]
Today, I taught to English classes and both of them went well. After class, we headed across the street to small restaurant where the student CF meets once a week to fellowship. Though the group is really small, it is a blessing to be a part of what seems to be just the beginning of […]
Today was the first Sunday that the team wasn’t responsible in some way for serving at church… The regular band played and the Youth Service was cancelled so our Sunday was actually light. After service, Joyce (one of our hosts) wanted to get a team picture (see above). After service, we went to lunch and […]
Today, the IT Faculty and Staff invited the group to have lunch with them… The meal was called Satay-Everything (ok, so I made that up). Essentially, there is a Peanut Sauce called Satay here that they dip their meats in. Well, today, we treated the Satay sauce like a fondue sauce and dipped everything in […]
I was supposed to go golfing again this morning, but just like last week, it was pouring rain all morning. So instead of golfing, I spent most of my day off simply laying in bed watching movies. After 110 days of travel, I really am starting to wear out… This evening, we headed over to […]
I taught two English classes today and then attended a student meeting this afternoon to discuss the formation of a CF (Christian Fellowship) at the school. This was really interesting… You see, though there is every other kind of student group at this school, religious groups are not allowed. Thus, the students (on their own) […]
I taught one Web Dev class this morning (Fundementals of Flash) and one class this afternoon (Introduction to SPRY). In between, the IT Faculty took me out to get some Laksa Mee for lunch (noodle curry shrimp fish soup)… So good! If I haven’t said it before, I really like teaching the Web Dev classes! […]
Today was pretty eventful… I taught a Web Dev class this morning and then taught an English class this afternoon. After that, we all headed to the University as the band was leading music at Student Service this evening. While the band was finishing up sound check, I went across the parking lot with a […]
I had one English Class this morning and then headed to the Computer Society’s Senior Design Contest this afternoon. Since I have been teaching classes in the IT Department, I was actually invited to be one of the six judges on the panel. All of the projects were either videos (i.e. fictional movie trailers or […]
This morning’s service was awesome! The team led music and this was part two of the pastor’s series on “What to do with the Youth?” It really was a great sermon on how we are all responsible for the youth in our society whether we have kids or not… And he related everything back to […]
Today was great! We started off by having a 7:00am breakfast at the Worship Pastor’s house… His wife made an awesome breakfast complete with chocolate cake, muffins, fried chicken, rice, cheese egg casserole, guacamole & crackers, samba (chile / salsa), and mango steam fruit! So delicious!!! After breakfast, we headed to the church for band […]
What a day! This morning, we met up with Ron, a local guy who invited Ross and I to golfing at his country club. Knowing how much I love golf, there was no way I was going to miss this. So, at 7:00am Ross and I were on the curb, in the drizzling rain. With […]
Our first class this morning was cancelled due to some exams happening, so our day was kind of light. Our second class did take place, and went off fine. Since I was pretty tired from yesterday’s run / b-ball set, I decided I would just go for a stroll and takes some pics this afternoon. […]
I started off by making some major progress on the intro of the India video. After that, we headed out for a walk through the city to do a little bit of gift shopping. Just as we were getting back from our excursion, Jerry pulled up and he has Melissa (our sixth team member) with […]
I started off the morning by doing some work on the video from our India trip, followed by a nice 2-mile run. After that, I hit the computer lab to sit in on a Photoshop class and catch up on my email. At 2:30pm, I taught one class and then headed to my room to […]
After One-Hundred Days away from home, all is well. Today was a pretty simple day… I taught to classes this morning, got in a good set on the basketball court, went for a one mile run, had some dinner, and then decided to watch some movies on my laptop. Nothing to crazy, just happy being […]
Today started off with the morning church service where the team performed and I ran the powerpoint for the lyrics. After service, we headed out to lunch with a basketball team from the U.S. that is doing the same thing as us (except they play basketball and we play music). The church set us up […]
I started off the morning with a two-mile run through the city. After a quick shower, I headed to the IT Office to finish preparing for my lecture… Everything went well with the lecture! After about an hour of training, the Faculty said that they had learned a lot and would be able to apply […]
Today was supposed to be my day off, but instead I started the day with an 8:30am meeting with the IT Faculty. We met to discuss whether I could help out with any of their Media classes… After discussing my background qualifications and going through my portfolio, they asked me if I could do a […]
Today, we finished up our classes for the week. Overall, I think we did a pretty good job at fulfilling our teaching duties, especially since we were only supposed to observe this week, but ended up teaching a full schedule right away. (picture of my morning class.) After class, I headed directly to the basketball […]
A fantastic day all around. I spent the morning preparing the Powerpoint Slides for the Assembly. After that, it was off to the sound check… Our performance this afternoon went off without a hitch! The students were into the songs, and our set list was 80% worship music. In between each song, we took turns […]
First thing this morning, we had an impromptu meeting with the Principle. Over breakfast, he informed us that we would be doing a 1-Hour performance during tomorrow’s assembly. Though it is short notice, I’m sure we can handle it. Candidly, this is a really great opportunity for us as the entire student body (2500+ students) […]
Today was our first day of classes. We were only supposed to be “observing” the classes this week so we could get a feel and understanding of what was expected of us, but instead, we were immediately led to the front of the room and handed full control… “When given lemons, make lemonade.” Thus, on […]
This morning, I got up at 6:00am to attend a Chinese Cultural Day show near the school where many of the students were performing. The location of the event was actually on top of a hill that was part of a 500-year-old Chinese cemetery. As there are not many tall buildings in Melaka, I was […]
Last night was really warm. Even with the fan on, my skin was damp all night. It actually reminded me of the hot summer nights in Utah when I was growing up (maybe 5-years-old) when my brother Noel and I used to share a bed… With no A/C, the fan pretty much just blows the […]
First off, Happy 4th of July! I am truly grateful and convinced that we live in the greatest nation in all of the world. Prayers go out to all of our veterans and our troops who have fought and died to make it so. We started off today with Wendy, the resident English instructor, to […]
This morning, we landed in Kuala Lumpur safe and sound. Our host Jerry was there to pick us up and take us to the boarding school we will be working at (about 1.5 hours outside of K.L.) As we were all excited to be in the city, Jerry decided to take us for a tour […]
Today was our last day in India… As such, we decided to go out on a high note. Paul and I started off the day by heading to the spa again for another massage. This time, we both got the Sports Medicine treatment, which basically means they do WWF style “elbow drops” on you for […]
Today was great! After my morning office routine, we headed over to the home of the African musicians we had played a few gigs with. They actually invited us over for a late lunch, but it turned into a lunch and a jam session all in the same. The fellowship and the music made for […]
Today, I spent the morning in the office and then we headed out to the Botanical Gardens after lunch… Nothing too exciting. In the evening, the band performed at the Monthly IT Fellowship where many of the Software Engineers in the area get together. In the middle of the performance, I got the opportunity to […]
Today was a packed and eventful day. We started off by playing at a small Methodist church in the morning. Though there were only about 50 people in this service, I guarantee that everyone was moved by the pastors message on Ephesians 5:21-31. He talked about how our family life is the foundation of spiritual […]
Talk about an amazing day… First thing this morning, my friend Max (the Trance DJ turned Worship Leader) came to pick me up. As I’ve stated before, there the traffic in India is the craziest I’ve ever seen and there are more scooters here then in Rome. On top of that, it is completely acceptable […]
The last time I slept in my own bed was 3/26/08 and since then I have slept on a firm (rock hard) bed on the cruise, approximately eight different couches, one floor (Thanks, Noel!), and have spent over 45 hours sitting in airplanes. Needless to say, my back really started bothering me this past week. […]
Today was good. Aside from the regular daily activities, the team got a chance to have lunch with the Pastor of one of the local congregations. He and his family have been here for just under two years and they hold their Sunday Service in the conference room of a local hotel. The band actually […]
“So, what exactly are you doing there? Because it sounds a lot more like a vacation than a Volunteer Trip…” Often times, when we think about reaching out to other parts of the world, we tend to focus on the same demographics: The orphans, the poor, and those in need of medical attention. And though […]
After ten straight days of training, traveling, and being in a foreign country, I decided to take some personal time today… After our morning devotional, I spent some time in the office helping out with the web redesign until about 1:00 pm. I then headed up to the apartment and spent a couple of hours […]
Today was the one day that the band didn’t have a performance scheduled. As such, I decided to go into the office and work with some of the volunteers who are here on 2-year assignments. Tina is a retired programmer here from Dallas who is porting a couple of old websites into one new one […]
Today was another great day… We started off by leading the music worship for a small start-up church who holds their service in a hotel conference room. After the service, April was speaking with some of the local children when they busted out their rendition of “This is the Time to Worship” in the middle […]
It’s Showtime! Today we had our first two performances… The first was at a small coffee shop and the second was at the Alliance Francaise Cultural Center as today was World Music Day and they were having whole bunch of different bands performing. As the coffee shop gig was the first real performance for “De […]
“This is the True Story… of Seven Strangers… Picked to Live in a House… Play in a Band Together and Have Their Lives Changes… To Find Out What Happens When People Stop Being Polite and Start Getting Real: The Real World: India!” As funny as it may sound, our first day here really has reminded […]
During our fourteen hour flight from LAX to Hong Kong, I was actually able to sleep about ten hours, thus minimizing the jet lag since we arrived in Hong Kong at 7 am. You may have notice that there is no entry for Wednesday, June 18… This is because we crossed the international date line […]
Today was officially our last day in the U.S. along with our last day of training. We started out the day by having breakfast at the world famous Pancake Pantry in an upscale neighborhood in Nashville. Above is our team picture: (from left to right) Ross, 20, from Baton Rouge, LA; Wes, 23, from Sinclair, […]
Today was our last day of training… As you may have guessed, another 15 hour day. Good stuff all around, but once again exhausting. Two highlights for the day: 1. We had a guy named Byron come in to facilitate one of the training sessions on “Arts in Ministry” and how we should see ourselves […]
We started the day off with a really good Bible Study about how God defines “Beauty” and how that contrasts with how we as Americans define it…. Pretty deep stuff! The rest of the day consisted of church, eating, rehearsal, team building, and trying to fix my stupid video camera. Unfortunately, it appears that the […]
Today was another good day. We spent the morning doing cultural training / personal stories and then the band rehearsed throughout the afternoon. After dinner, we spent some more time working through cultural training and ended the night with our second-to-last personal story… As great as it is to learn about my fellow team members […]
Today was a really great day… We started off the morning with some prayer and some worship songs and then jumped right into our team building activities. One of our assignments is that each of the team members has to take turns telling our life story / faith story, complete with all the messy details […]
Talk about a great day! Not only did I finally get to meet all of the people I will be going on the Mission Trip with, but I also got to see the Celtics beat the Lakers in a 24-point come from behind victory!!! : ) Seriously, everyone on the Mission Team seems really great… […]
Obama ’08! The past five days here in D.C. have been spectacular. Hanging out with my brother Noel, my sister-in-law Patricia and their two kids has been such a blast! We took the kids to the pool on Saturday, Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday, thus setting the record for the most consecutive pool days for the […]
I’ve got two words for you: Southern Cooking. The past five days in Atlanta have been fantastic. Not only did I get to meet up with Bonnie again, but we were able to stay at her Grandma’s house and make it up to Rabun Gap too! At her Grandma’s, we were fed like Southern Royalty: […]
The past five days here is Dallas have been great! Not only did I get to spend time with my brother Joe and his family, but I also got to hang out with Heather (one of my best friends). In general, the week / weekend was packed: I went to my nieces End of Year […]
Home Sweet Home!!! For the past week, I have been eating home cooking and enjoying all of my family and friends… Talk about being blessed!!! Not only have I been able to catch up with my folks, but I got see two of my brothers (Tony & Efren), two of my sisters (Araseli & Corina), […]
Oh, to be in college again… For the past five days, I have been hanging out with my NAK (Nu Alpha Kappa) Bros and doing my best “Old School” impersonations :) Candidly, I have been away from the organization for the past three years and this weekend was a great opportunity to meet many of […]
Well, the original plan was to meet up with my brother-in-law Bob while here in Seattle…. Unfortunately, his new job called him out of town the day I arrived so I have been left home alone. :( Normally, this wouldn’t be a bad thing as I am staying at his house, but because he and […]
First thing this morning, Bonnie and I caught the shuttle to Vancouver Airport where she would be flying back to Tampa and I would be taking the bus to Seattle… After forty amazing days, we are faced with the decision whether we will be sad because they are over or happy (and grateful) because we […]
Today we went horseback riding through the woods… And as beautiful as the scenery was, it was really hard to concentrate when my hands were completely frozen to the reigns! This was the coldest day I’ve experienced since December when I was in Utah. Needless to say, right after horseback riding went to get some […]
Boy, was God on our side today! Though disembarking from a ship can tend to be a long and hectic process, the day couldn’t have run more smoothly for us… We were among the first 100 people off the boat (out of 3000), and probably the 20th to actually leave the port! We quickly caught […]
Just like all great things in life, this ferry ride too must come to and end. Today was our last “Sea Day” aboard the Coral Princess. We spent almost all day hanging out around the boat with our new friends. At night, we went to the evening show, which happened to be a hypnotist show […]
What a fantastic day! We got off the ship at 8:15am and my sister Hilda, her boyfriend Moises, and my nephew Meissa were right there waiting to pick us up… We headed straight to the Nob Hill Grille (my NAK bro Fabio’s Restaurant) for an awesome breakfast! It was too bad Fabio couldn’t show up, […]
Today we completed our last duties as Pottery Instructors aboard the ship. For the next three days, we will solely be passengers. Whoohooo! All in, the gig was a success. We had a ton of great students and have made some really great friends! Tomorrow, we will be heading into San Francisco for the day […]
For the past four months, I haven’t experienced anything but 80+ degree weather… So you can image my surprise when I woke up this morning to find the temperature off the coast of San Diego to be a balmy 59 degrees!!! This wouldn’t be an issue if I had any clothes other than swim trunks […]
We started today off with a 60 minute Sea Kayaking trip and then followed that up with 30 minutes of snorkeling. When compared to the 90 degree gulf waters of Florida, this 72 degree was freezing! Either way, we had a great day on tour and then headed into town to get some authentic tacos […]
Since today was another Sea Day, I had a chance to solidify some more dates for my upcoming travel… I can’t wait to meet up with all of you (and sleep on your sofas) as I make my way back across the nation in preparation for my upcoming mission trip! Here is the current plan:
Today we took a whirl-wind tour of Acapulco… What a great place! Tons of history, plenty of great resorts, and some very nice beaches. We started off the day by seeing the world famous Cliff Divers (I took the picture above)! These guys dive from 138ft into a narrow canyon pool only 16ft deep… 2.5s […]
Holy smokes… Today we went on a “Hill Climbing Bike Tour” through Huatulco, Mexico. Talk about a workout. Not only were the hills challenging, but we were riding the worst mountain bikes ever. During the first hill, we couldn’t get the bikes to shift out of the highest gear! On top of that, it was […]
What a great day! For the first time, we took full advantage of the activities that are constantly happening on the ship during our Sea Days. We started off the day by holding our last pottery lessons of our contract. After that, we headed straight to one of the onboard bars for the 2pm “Classic […]
Costa Rica is officially batting 1.000 in my book. After Kayaking in Round One and Zip Lines in Round Two, we decided to do some River Rafting through the Rain Forest for our third tour of Costa Rica. Though the river was pretty mellow (Class II), this meant that we had to do quite a […]
So we woke up this morning, got ready for our River Rafting Tour in Costa Rica and headed out the door… Only to find that today was Thursday and not Friday! With our swimsuits on and our cameras in hand, we were a day early for Costa Rica! Today was a Sea Day and we […]
Today sucked :( Though we were going all the way through both the Atlantic and Pacific locks of the Panama Canal, both Bonnie and I were forced to watch most of it from our bunk beds… Unfortunately, last nights’ Escargot wasn’t very happy about being in either of our digestive systems and decided it wanted […]
Today was a good day. Since this was our third time in Colombia, Bonnie and I decided to go out on our own and get away from the tour buses. We took a taxi downtown and walked through the Mercado (open air market) and all around the business district. Then we headed out to shanty […]
Like the old saying goes: “Third times a charm!” Today in Aruba was great. We went to a small island off the coast that had been converted into a little beach resort / water park. After doing some snorkeling and hanging out on the beach, Bonnie and I headed over to the slides. Now, if […]
After Bonnie casually mentioned to the Cruise Director (VP of Passenger Services) that we had cancelled two days worth of lessons due to not having, a box of clay magically appeared five minutes later! I’m pretty sure his subordinates who had been giving us the run-around about how long it takes to process the inventory […]
Due to the fact that that we ran out of clay last cruise and our new clay is still being processed through the ship’s inventory store, we had to cancel eleven scheduled lessons for today. So, I spent the day coding in the sun while Bonnie glazed all of the pieces she had made during […]
Today started off pretty interesting… We disembarked at 7:30am in order to beat all of the passengers through customs as we weren’t taking our luggage off, but only our backpacks. Apparently, carrying gifts for our friends in our backpacks wasn’t the best of ideas. You should have seen the looks of the Immigration Officers when […]
It’s Official! After three long years, I have finally updated the Bravo DMS site! Though the old Flash site was great and cutting edge for it’s day, this new site uses all of the latest and greatest technologies and should load faster, function better. If it doesn’t, let me know asap! http://www.bravodms.com As you all […]
The first time around, Bonnie and I both considered Jamaica as our favorite port… However, today was a much different experience. Despite being on a Cruise Ship, we have really done well to get away from the “tourist traps & shopping malls” at each port. Unfortunately, Jamaica took us hostage today. The day started off […]
Nothing crazy to talk about today… I spent the day coding and Bonnie spent the day reading and napping. Granted, all of these activities took place on the Sun Deck next to the pool. : ) …Not bad, for an office job. God is good. Until next time, Omar
Today, Bonnie and I headed into downtown Limon and spent the morning doing a little souvenir shopping. After lunch, we headed into the Rainforest for a Canopy Tour & Zip Line excursion… Way fun!!! And seeing as how this was the first tour that we actually had to pay for, we actually got our money’s […]
Today was a nice easy Sunday, cruising through the Canal. We slept in, checked out the Canal from the top deck, got caught up on a ton of email, and watched a couple of movies on TV. As awesome as the Canal is, the true highlight of the day was the French Onion Soup we […]
I will preface this entry by pointing out that this was completely Bonnie’s idea… : ) Today we visited a natural Mud Volcano about one hour outside of Cartagena in the countryside of Colombia. Being a potter and having an intense love for mud (clay), Bonnie really wanted to go on this excursion. Though I […]
What a great day! Our first stop in Aruba last week was nice, but we took a tour around the island that was less than inspiring. Today, we spent the whole trip on a Catamaran snorkeling through the crystal clear waters and then had a complimentary lunch at this restaurant whose patio seating was literally […]
We made it through another day of lessons… All is well. Now, onto the real news: I just received some more info on my upcoming Mission Trip! Here is the schedule as it stands right now (I think it speaks for itself): June 12th – 17th: Training in Owensboro, KY June 18th – July 3rd: […]
Today was a great day. We had a full schedule of pottery lessons again today, but all of the students were really great and Bonnie and I are really working well together. Our only issue is that we are starting to run out of clay, but I think we will be able to make it […]
Back in the USA… We landed in Fort Lauderdale this morning, thus completing our first 10-Day Tour. As fun and exciting as it has been, it was nice to catch up on voicemail and I was able to get online with my own laptop! One of my best friends, Ricardo, picked us up at the […]
This was our last day at sea for this cruise. Really rather uneventful. I spent most of the day coding, we had our Champagne Party where all of our students came to pick up their finished pottery, we saw a comedy show, and then had dinner again with our new friends Mary Ann, Jerry, Roger, […]
No problem, Mon! Ocho Rios is absolutely amazing… We started off by taking a 45 minute drive into the rainforest where we were to put in for our river tubing adventure. After that, Bonnie and I enjoyed some authentic Jamaican Jerk chicken and a Red Strip on the water. The river we were on had […]
Today was the first day that the “vacation” feel started wearing off and the reality that we are “living on this boat” started to sink in. I spent the day coding on the 14th Deck looking out over the water. Same old grind, but a much better view! I must say, not having internet access […]
This morning, we landed in Costa Rica where we went kayaking through the rainforest and then did a little tourist shopping. The kayaking trip was absolutely gorgeous along with a workout. The pictures speak for themselves. Until next time, Omar
We are making our way back through the Canal as I type. We went through the first few “locks” this morning and entered into Lake Gatun, which separates the two main sections of the canal. Though there are a limited number of excursions here, Bonnie and I decided to simply hang out and catch up […]
Like yesterday, we decided to serve as Escorts and jump on the “Best of Cartagena” tour… Unlike yesterday, there was plenty to see in this small Colombian city! It actually reminded me a lot of the cities in Mexico. Traffic was crazy, the architecture was very Spanish, and the people lived in humble dwellings. As […]
We landed in Aruba this morning and took our first excursion entitled “The Best of Aruba”. Since we are considered both Crew Members and Passengers, Bonnie and I were able to go on this excursion complimentary, in exchange for helping get the 500+ Passengers seated by their excursion groups in the morning, prior to disembarking […]
Today was our second “At Sea” day and round two of our Pottery Lessons. This time, as opposed to having both Bonnie and I focus on the “Wheel Throwing” lessons, I was in charge of the all the people who took lessons yesterday who had come back to glaze (paint) their dried pieces, while Bonnie […]
Today was our first “At Sea” day and our first day of giving Pottery Lessons. First off, our studio is amazing… It is located above the Lotus Pool on the 15th Deck, enclosed entirely with glass walls and ceiling and air conditioned. That said, my role was to get people to sign up for the […]
Well, we made it safely on board and we able to find our room amongst the chaos on the Crew Deck. For those who don’t know, the crew to passenger ratio on a Cruise Ship is about 1:1. Thus, there are almost 1000 members of the crew running through hidden hallways throughout the ship at […]
Having completed the first 90 Days of my Unofficial Sabbatical, I thought it would be a good idea do a “Quarterly Performance Review” with myself… As you might have guessed, I received Outstanding Marks in all areas : ) And as a reward for my 1Q2008 Performance, I’ve decided to take some time off from […]
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