New Delhi Bound!

After a nearly 4 year hiatus from this blog I am powering it back up.

There hasn't been much to report - at least not about traveling and working simultaneously - in those four years, but now there is. Huzzah!

The first week of June I will begin an internship with the Self-Employed Women's Association in New Delhi. I will be working with them for about five weeks this summer as a legal intern. I got this amazing position through The Center for the Global Legal Profession, which is run out the Maurer School of Law at Indiana University, Bloomington. I am currently finishing - only a few weeks to go!!! - my first year of law school at Maurer. Today we had our first meeting of all the interns. The internship program matches students with both NGOs and law firms in New Delhi. In total there are nine of us going. We even did publicity photos for the press release that will soon go out about us. I don't think I've made a press release before so I know I've finally made the big time!

I am not entirely sure yet what I'll be doing with and for SEWA, but it looks like I may even get to go to court in a supporting role to the lawyers that work with the organization in assisting women. No matter what I am sure it will be an amazing and very educational experience.

Well, that's all for now. I don't leave until early June so there may not be much to report before then, but I'll be sure to keep everyone posted once I get there! Check back in June!

Seattle ("Go West" my Mother Told Me)

My mother has been encouraging me lately to go West. Why you ask? Because there are more men and fewer women west of the Mississippi. Thanks to my job I end up out West with some regularity these days. Here I am in Seattle - I did it Ma, I went West - and I love it. I maybe didn't come for the men, but it's fantastic out here. I could see myself living in Seattle when I finish up with boat life. I don't know when that will be yet, but probably before long.

A few weeks ago I went to the famous Pike Place Market for the first time. It's an amazing place with so many levels and crazy stores to browse around. We went to magic shops, book stores, jewelry stands, ate lunch overlooking the water, and saw a ton of food and seafood stands. That whole day I spent wandering around downtown Seattle and I must say it was a day that ranks up there with the best.


I have also had the pleasure of eating at the top of the Space Needle. The restaurant up there is one of the only if not the only rotating restaurants in the world. It was a great experience, getting a fabulous 360 view of Seattle and some amazing food.

Downtown and Me, up high on the Space Needle

Looking West from the Space Needle

The time I have spent out here has all been great so I am glad my mother is pushing me to go West, even if it worries me that deep down she is anxious to see me met The guy and all that follows that.

Statue in honor of Salmon at the fish ladder, Ballard Locks

Another statue in Ballard, where my boat docks in Seattle

Coming and Going - The Nature of My Job

It is the nature of my job that people come and go. Some stay longer than others, but we move around a lot. Some people may get transferred to another vessel, or they may get another maritime job that better suits them, some go back to school, and some just get sick of life on a boat. For whatever reason we are all moving in and out of each others lives. It is also the nature of my job that the relationships formed with my co-workers are intense. These relationships cross the spectrum, but those of my co-workers that I am close to have become like family. For so much time we are all we have. When we are out in the middle of some national park we cannot contact our families and friends at home so we rely on each other for laughter and support and sometimes even a loving hug that makes the day easier to deal with. Our universe is so limited that all we know anymore is life at work, life on our boat, so all we have so much of the time is on that vessel - each other. This makes the loss of a co-worker potentially so much more than usual. I have spent my entire time with this company, excepting 11 days working on the same vessel. Because of this I am one of the more stable (at least in terms of boat assignment) people I know within the company. In some ways maybe that makes it easier because I have more time with the crew, but also as I stay in place and people leave it seems so noticeable to me because of all the memories on that one vessel. One of the things that I love about my job is that I get to meet so many exciting people, both among the passengers and the crew. That being said, some are really hard to see leave. So, tonight on the eve of my return to Seattle for work, here's a thanks and a hug and a heartfelt 'I miss you' to the folks who won't be there when I report to work. You should know who you are.

Tim, Nancy, Pete, Me, Whitney "Pumpkin", and Charlene in Seattle March 2007.
They are five great crew members and friends, three of whom I've lost to other adventures.

As for all the folks at home I know it is I who is coming and going through your lives. In the time I have off I see so few people as there is always so much to deal with in my time on land. I feel horrible that I don't even see my friends in Chicago when I am so close. There are so many more phone calls I should make while I can. I too am guilty of coming and going in the worse sort of way. My thanks to everyone I leave on land for not giving up on me. I promise one day I'll come back, I'll won't be so boring, I will return phone calls and emails, and most importantly I will show up at the bar when I say I am going to. I miss you all too. More than you even know.

Ungrounded at "home" in Indiana

I am at a point in my life where I have nowhere to call home. I suppose it makes sense to call my family home and therefore visiting them is like going home, but the town where my family now lives is not my home - I have never and will never live here - and their new house has never been my house. I am a guest here. This makes coming "home" difficult. Going to Chicago is like going home, but also not quite. I have many friends and people I know in Chicago, but it never seems like I am coming home when I am there either. I always feel like I don't quite belong. I guess in many ways the boat I work on is the closest thing I have to a home these days. It's the only place I have felt at home since I returned from Spain last year. The only problem is that it is a home that I can only go to when I am asked. It's not really home, though going back feels like a homecoming each time.

So, here I am in Indiana visiting my family. I have returned to the only place that comes close to home. I knew that this stage in my life was coming when I graduated from college and moved back home because I gave up the only place of my own I'd ever had. On top of that I knew that my parents were going to be selling the last of my childhood homes as soon as possible and that I would run off to Spain and come home and have no home. When I came home my parents did not even have a home so I felt completely ungrounded in my life. Funny to think that the place that gives me a sense of being grounded now is a boat and if it were to be grounded, well that would be a very bad thing.

I know this posting is a bit navel gazing, but every day that I am here I think about how rootless my life has become. For the most part I am glad about this fact. I love that the only thing I have to be responsible for these days is a small monthly fee on my storage space. The world is my oyster and I am enjoying all my travels, both through work and independently, but it would be nice to have a home to come to. One day in the future I will make a home of my own. For now I guess home is wherever I put down my suitcase.

I've decided to go back North.

After weeks of thinking I would not do so I have decided I want to stay on the ship and go back to Alaska. I have asked for a job, been giving an offer I like, and accepted. So...in mid-April I will be getting back on my vessel to cruise British Columbia and Southeast Alaska all summer. I will working in my current position most of the time, but also as the relief bar tender. This means that for two weeks of each rotation I will tend bar while the regular bar tender goes on her off rotation. I very excited to get this chance to have a new position. Many of my co-workers will also be staying on this vessel so I am not loosing my new family just yet. I feel some trepidation at going back because it can be so hard, but I am excited to see Alaska, and glaciers, and Victoria, and be with my boat family for another six months.

All this being said there will be much more to post as I keep on the move. Including stories from my time off before the next season starts. Check back in!

Thanksgiving in February

Well in 2006 my family was not really able to celebrate Thanksgiving in any way like we normally do. My family was living in temporary housing while their new house was being fixed so we spent Thanksgiving in Chicago and ate Indian food. While Indian food is my favorite I felt the lack of Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday because it is not about material things or one up-ing someone by giving better gifts. There is no disappointment when you don't get what you don't want. Thanksgiving is so hard to commercialize. I adore it. I understand that there are some problems with its history, but the spirit of Thanksgiving is a spirit that I love. It's my favorite day of the year. So while I was home we celebrated Thanksgiving in February with some dear friends here in Valparaiso. Ken and Noel are two of the most important friends I have and I find a great deal of inspiration in them. They have an adorable little girl Rue, who also celebrated with us.

Ken, Noel, and Rue came over for a night of chili, cornbread, beer, pumpkin pie, and thanks right before I returned to Mexico. This meal of chili and cornbread just warms my heart. It is our special meal for Thanksgiving because we were all vegetarians for so long the norm was not available to us so we eat my father's chili. It was fantastic to get to have a night of thanksgiving and share it with our dear friends. It may have been a few months late, but I was all the more thankful that we had it at all.

Noel and her beautiful daughter Rue


My family with Ken, Noel, and Rue.


Me with Moira and Ken.


Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Winnipeg and the Festival du Voyageur

This February I did something a little bit crazy. While on vacation from my job in Mexico I went to Winnipeg, Manitoba. Let's just say that the difference in temperature from Cabo San Lucas to Winnipeg was noticable. I was quite cold while there, but had an amazing time. I went to visit some friends and also to attend the Festival du Voyageur. It is a festival celebrating the history and culture of the French Canadian voyageurs, many of whom ultimately settled in Winnipeg. Most of my friends in Winnipeg are French Canadian and I know them all through a program called the Voyageur Wilderness Project. It is through this program that I go canoeing in Ontario each summer. I had a fantastic, if chilly, time and hope to go back someday. Many thanks to all who entertained me while there!

This is the St. Boniface Cathedral. It is the cathedral for the French Canadian community in Winnipeg. The original cathedral burned and a new one was built within the ruins. The photo is of the exterior remains of the original cathedral.


This is from within Fort Gibraltar. Back in the day the voyageurs would come here to trade.


At the festival one of the games one can play is Beaver Ball. There is a volleyball that has been covered with beaver pelt and basically Beaver Ball seems to consist of whatever one might want to do with the ball. We started out trying volleyball, but the ball was essentially frozen and that was painful so we moved onto soccer and finally cuddling with the ball. It is surprisingly warm.


My hosts, Marieve and Guy, have a new Beagle puppy named Kano. I adore him.


At the festival there is a snow sculpture competition. This was the main snow sculpture, located at the entrance to the grounds. What does it remind you of?


Marieve and Guy took me 5 pin, or Canadian, bowling. Some of you may know that I love bowling and I have to say that I might even love Canadian bowling more than our US 10 pin bowling. There is a whole different art and strategy to Canadian bowling.


These are my VWP buddies. It was great getting to see them all. I wish the rest had been in town. I have so many more friends up there I was unable to see, but it was great seeing these guys. Thanks for a great night!