Archive for August, 2008

I have so much to say that I feel like I could have explosive diarrhea of the mouth. I would love for all my thoughts to come out eloquently, but that’s just not me.

Every time I walk into D ward Cecilia’s mom lights up and gives me a great big hug. Cecilia had a tumor under her right eye that was causing her eye to bulge out and would have eventually blinded her. She is grateful to me because I started an IV on Cecelia and took care of her after surgery, Cecilia (age 5) , on the other hand holds a bit of resentment of the pain I caused her. But, her mother knows that those things that caused pain needed to be done in order for the problem to be resolved. I have been thinking about this a lot lately. I have been thinking this is how God works in our lives. We have an area that is causing us pain, but are not able to see that enduring a little more pain will lead to a full recovery in the long term.

Over the past couple of months I have been on the ward nurse activities team. In June we did Coffee night in the Queens lounge. We made coffee, had nice music playing, yummy treats, and just a fun time of fellowship with the ward nurses. In July we did a brunch in the dinning room. It was just so fun to hang out with nurses and organize something for these hard working ladies and 2 gentlemen.

Yesterday, I went to my friend Nalea’s house for a graduation party for her nephew. It was very fun and interesting. It was by no means the cookie cutter Mercy Ships activity. We ate with her family and chatted with her and her guests. They did some traditional dances and what I liked was that it was not for us the white people, they did it because that is what they do when they are celebrating. Of course we were the odd ones out and sort of a novelty but it didn’t matter, they invited us to be a part of their celebration.

So much to be grateful for.

Missing Camera (stolen?)

Remember this title where I thought that maybe my camera was stolen?  Yes it was stolen.  After talking with other officials on board there were a string of incidents around the same time that eventually brought a conclusion pointing to one very specific person.  Although the camera is ‘long gone’ and there will be no hope of recovery for that item I am glad to know that justice has prevailed and it was handled accordingly.  (I am sidestepping these details because it is in the best interests for the ship to also keep some discretion about safety and security measures, which I fully understand)

The Proof is in the Picture…

This story was about my pedicure.  I am secure in my ‘manhood’ so I don’t have problems trying things out that men deem for ‘women only’ or girly.  No, I would never pay for this service back in the states because it is way to expensive.  But I believe men with feet problems (like ingrown toenails, etc…) should have this done once in awhile to save their selves some pain and medical bills in the long run.  Besides, my clear coat still has a bit of shine to it and its been over a week now…

My Boss is Back

Peter, the Chief Steward (and my boss) is now back on board after a three month hiatus (he now has a new son)…We met together on Friday to go over some of the ‘happenings’ while he was gone.  So now maybe I can get a feel for what my job title, Galley Manager, really means.

What does my ‘changed’ job title really mean?

I like to stay more with the actual cooking, menu development, and overall strategy of galley, food stores, procurement issues that can be straightened out and organized to produce a better ‘flow’.  But my title changed shortly before my boss actually left and so there is some blur as to what responsibilities I get to hand back to him, and which ones I am expected to keep.  Which is not making me very optimistic because they are mostly technical, ‘paper pushing’, & meeting responsibilities which I do not enjoy and where not attached to the job or ‘title’ I committed my time here for…

Whats the effect?  It kills my creativity, keeps me sitting in a desk more often, and greatly becomes depressing and slows me down…not to mention it promotes weight gain (at least for me).  I need to be active in a kitchen/galley and that doesn’t include more time in meetings and behind a desk.  And considering that we are understaffed quite frequently I need to fill in, and ‘pull weight’ in the kitchen/galley.

I suppose if we come back next year (our finances are low for support, but its still an option we haven’t ruled out) I will have to take a different title or re-negotiate my current one.  Its not conducive to my productivity.

Estevam turns 1!

Back in this post Methods for moving up… I have pictures of Estevam (this is Portuguese, Stephen in English?).  Estavam turns 1 today, yesterday I made a nice train cake for his birthday party.  I won’t divulge to much else here but will post another blog about the actual cake.

We have been friends of his parents Tatyana & Rodrigo (from Brazil) since our days back on the Caribbean Mercy.  Additional stories including the Brazilians are: Zoo? Brazilians? Black Sand? Tears of Laughter and then if you remember correctly Tatyana was our culinary challenge winner -Winner Update

Tatyana has now officially taken over doing Thursday night community meeting deserts(in place of/for Vandi).  Vandi (from the galley) has recently completed a year on board and has went back home to pursue culinary school, and hopefully to come back!

(this is a personal rant)

I was talking on the phone to a friend recently who is in multiple facets of the food service business.  One thing we have had in common in the past (many times) is the frustration and anger of being judged negatively by your ‘bosses’ personal taste buds, even though everyone else’s taste buds are being satisfied every day.

Here’s the scenario:  You have a boss that eats some of your food and because he personally doesn’t like the meal he feels like your ‘heart’ was not in the meal.  But later your boss eats a meal that he really loves (you know the standard ‘meat & potato’ meal with no creativity) and he thinks your doing ‘better’.  But really that was the least amount of work and thought you ever put into a meal, actually it almost cooked itself.

Its really hard to be judged according to someone else’s taste buds when their taste buds are inexperienced and offended at anything different.  My friend is in a similar situation to me.  He cooks by menu’s he’s developed to help accommodate some international ‘taste’ so its quite easy to ‘offend’ the ‘meat & potato’ mouth.  Especially when the ‘meat & potato’ mouth accuses you of not putting your ‘heart’ into your job.  Frustrating.  Wouldn’t the boss like to know it took like ‘zilch’ effort to cook the meal he liked the best?

I had a similar experience in the past…cooking a certain lunch crowd I pulled out the creativity and went a little ‘Asian’ style with some grilled chicken salads.  Later a ‘colleague’ commented that the interim boss -a temporary boss- asked them (the colleague), if I was ‘ok’ or doing well because they felt like something was wrong with me AND THATS why my lunch chicken salad was not what he liked or expected(not the BIG BOSS that arranged the lunch who I have cooked for over & over again — and they know and like my ’style’).  He thought I made a poor lunch and questioned whether I did it on purpose because I didn’t like my job.  Does he not realize that everyone else doesn’t enjoy the boring food he likes?  Or even comes from the same country or cultural background? 

Hello, the lunch was not for him or arranged by him.  He was just a guest of the bigger boss.

I hate it when people judge our performance or ‘welfare’ based off of their BLAND NON-CEATIVE taste buds…Ah, but that was in the past, in a land far away…but it does really make me MAD for my friend because I recognize the ‘mind-set’ he is dealing with.

SORRY my friend, I feel your pain and It makes me just as mad knowing you have to deal with it!

(End Tyrone’s personal rant, sympathy, & empathy for a fellow Epicurean)

My mother writes about my niece & nephew (Noah is 8)…

They are studying the presidents, and we talked about them when Noah and Katy were here last night. Noah is impressed with little quotes and sayings, and he told me that Kennedy said,

“Ask not what your country can do for you!  Ask if you can do one for your country!”

I asked them which president left the White House in disgrace, and they didn’t know, so I told them it was Nixon, and then they asked me what he did (to bring disgrace on himself)  and I told them that Nixon was involved with a bad thing that folks call “Watergate”.

Noah said: “Oh!…….I thought he was involved with POLITICS!”

I have been working in Recovery Room for the past 3 weeks and I really love it. Although, I must admit I do miss the relationships that i have with the patients on the ward. I truly believe I have the best of both worlds by switching back and forth from the recovery room to the ward.

I am really happy, well actually I think I can accurately use the word joyful to describe where I am at right now. I think the reason why I finally have this joy and the undertones of being miserable are gone, is because of the time I have been spending reading the Bible. I have known forever that reading God’s word is important but I did not know that it would quench my thirst. I did not know that it would allow me to rest easy, as the Liberians say.

When a patient wakes up from surgery the first thing they say is “I want drink”. See, they have not been allowed to drink anything since midnight the night before and by the time they waited most of the day to go to the OR and then they finally woke up after their surgery they are truly parched. This is a huge picture in my life right now. I have been parched, but no more I know the keeper of the well, and I will thirst no more.