My Address...

For those of you that actually know me send me an email or comment here and I'll give you my mailing address. It's an APO address so its the same postage amount as if you were sending something to New York.

Garmisch, Germany!

So I made it to Germany! I left New Hampshire on Sunday afternoon, flew to Washington DC and then took the overnight flight to Munich or "Munchen" and arrived almost an hour early thanks to a tail wind. I sat next to a gentleman who I believe(what I could hear over the roar of the plane and my half asleep memory!) works for the Army and had lived in Germany for a total of 12 years and was last at the Edelweiss Lodge about two years ago for a conference. So we chatted about Edelweiss for a little bit. My mom paid for me to upgrade to Economy Plus so I had some extra leg room which was nice and made sleeping a bit more comfortable. Once I arrived I had no issues with my passport, they didn't ask to see any of my paperwork. But once I got to baggage claim and waited for about a half hour I figured out that one of my bags was missing. So I filled out the paperwork and took my other bag out through Customs and waited for Jay and Ben from the resort. We got a bite to eat and waited for 5 others, Melissa, Merissa, Lisa, Caitlin, and Nicolas, to arrive on the flight from Chicago. One more, Mike, would arrive several hours later because of missed or delayed flights. Ben took us in one van for the 2 hour ride to Garmisch. Most of us fell asleep for atleast a few min and evidently my eyes were half open which I was sleeping! Creepy! We awoke to see the snow capped Alps around us. It was cloudy for the tops of most but still awe inspiring. We were brought to the dorms which are called Abrams and were given some rules and our key. My roommate, Melissa and I went to our room but our bags were in the other van still at the airport so we couldn't unpack or anything. We then got a tour of Garmisch and stopped at a grocery store for some things for our dinners. Trying to figure out the types of cheese with everything written in German was interesting! We were then brought back to Abrams and had the afternoon free. The 7 of us that all arrived together went downtown at 430 in search of a place for dinner. We wandered around and finally found a local place. I had Wiener Schnitzel! I think it was the first time I'd ever had it. We then walked back and unpacked a little, took a shower, but my missing bag still hadn't arrived and wouldn't until 9:55pm. I made my bed with the sheets that were in that bag when it arrived and promptly went to sleep. I got up at 6:45 to get ready for orientation. We had breakfast and lunch at the resort and lots of paperwork, meeting the General Manager, a tour, sizing for uniforms, etc. We got back to the dorm mid afternoon, unpacked a little, then we were going to walk around downtown but one of the older staff that lives in the building picked us up and drove us around, we went to a bar and had beer(yes I had one) and then he showed us where some key stuff was and then went back to Abrams, hung out, and went to bed. Today was up nice and early again and to the resort for breakfast, then we went to the actual base and did ID cards, bank account setup, shopping at the commisary and px. When we got back we did room inspections and finished unpacking and sorting out items we bought from another staff member that's leaving. Tomorrow morning I work at 6am. I will be a "waitress" at the Market Station restaurant. It's a buffet style that's open for 3 meals a day. We get 3 sets of uniforms that are laundered for us on site and lockers.
Some pictures on Facebook... http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2081230&id=44801562&l=12a6e25656

Geo-caching

So mom and I have been out with my gps on all kinds of adventures lately. We've started geo-caching after Justin and Emma introduced me to it. So far we've found 13 caches around New Hampshire and Massachusetts. We took Shadow with us the first time and found the cellar of what used to be Marchmont Castle. Mom researched alot of history behind it and the people that owned it. We went biking along some of the rails to trails some parts still had the large wooded ties in the ground making it very bumpy. The second half was nicely paved. Our most recent trip was on the rails to trails in Rindge and one cache was set way back in the woods and we had to cross several streams. Luckily we didn't bring Shadow on that trip and neither of us got wet.
I plan to bring my gps to Germany and will see how it goes in Europe!

Well the summer is over...

So the season at Sea Base is coming to a close and I am back home in New Hampshire. I left Sea Base on Wednesday morning and flew to Newark and then on to Louisville KY for a job interview with Edelweiss Lodge in Germany. I did the interview and got the job. I'll be starting out as a hotel attendant and after 3 months I can transfer or get a promotion. If a recreation aid position opens before I arrive I'll go straight into that position. Edelweiss is a US military resort and conference center located in southern Germany. The contract is for 13 months and they fly me there and back. I am very excited to be selected because of the opportunities to travel and experience Europe. I'll be home for a few weeks visiting friends and family before I leave around the first of October. Look for posts about my travels right here and links to photos on facebook. Germany here I come!!

Mayday Mayday Mayday... This is Scout About

So I'll start by saying that everyone is ok and no one got hurt.
It all started on Saturday morning the 25th of July 2009. I was getting ready to take my certification crew out on Scout About, a 26 foot Dusky, with Capt Ted with Divemaster Paul as my assistant. We checked the radar and decided to go to a site called Labyrinth. The ocean was literally like a lake, the water was so calm I could see my reflection perfectly. We did Open Water Training dive 1 which was just a tour and returned to the boat with no incident. We raced another Dusky back to base and got back with plenty of time to change our gear over before lunch. After lunch we met back at the boat at 12:45, did one last radar check and went out to a site called Pillars of Atlantis. The water was still calm but there was some thunderstorms in the distance. We did training dive 2 and when we came up the large black clouds were between us and land so we decided to take our time and let the storm pass. So we did a few surface skills and Capt Ted got a call on his cell from Capt Alex about the radar and which way we should go. We got back on the boat as the wind picked up and the storm started towards us. We pulled anchor and headed towards Tennessee Lighthouse. On the way the wind and waves picked up nothing out of the ordinary, the kids were laughing and having fun. Paul, Ted and I put our masks and snorkels on because of the waves splashing in but no big deal. There was a break in the storm and I pulled out my cell to check the radar and it wasn't looking good. We started going again and the waves increased in both frequency and intensity at first it was not bad, I had seen more water in a Dusky. Then Ted pulled out the bilge pump and I started pumping and the participants were using their water bottles and our staff mugs to bail the boat. Over several minutes the water level kept rising with more waves and we weren't making much headway. The boat was listing over to the starboard side and the waves just kept coming. I asked Capt Ted if we should put on lifejackets and he said yes. So I opened the hatches which were full of water and began pulling the jackets out and giving them to the kids. They all had them on and I looked back at Paul who was pointing at himself. I had one jacket left which was a child size and most of the foam appeared to be gone. I gave it to him and he put it on and then realized that there was one more adult sized on the deck of the boat. He put that one on. It turns out that one was for Ted and there was one more in the hatch that I didn't see. Within about a minute of everyone putting on the jackets the boat capsized. Paul's gear bag got caught in the propeller as we went over and we were floating. Gear everywhere. We huddled near the boat and started gathering some gear. Ted got the backpacks of the adult leaders, Paul's BCD and tank and mine as well. We sang a couple songs at first and then I started to use my Dive Alert Plus which is an airhorn attached to my gear. Between that and our waving signaling devices we got the attention of a fishing boat and we saw the Coast Guard go by in the distance. The fishing boat came and we got 4 or 5 of the scouts onto their boat and then Coast Guard boat came up. The rest of us were hauled up onto the CG boat and we transfered the kids from the fishing boat over. At that point two of the big dive boats from Sea Base were on the scene and helping to pick up floating gear. We were transfered over to one of the Sea Base dive boats because the CG got a call of another boat in the area needing help. We stayed in the area looking for gear and collecting floating items. The other dive boat put some divers in the water to pull out gear and electronics still on the boat. All of the tanks and BCDs were recovered and most of the snorkel gear but not all of it. Several pairs of sunglasses and some other small items including my cell phone were water logged or missing. One of our other boat captains works for Sea Tow as well and he came out and after a few attempts flipped the boat back over and it was towed back to base. The cost for Sea Tow to come out like that is about $7000. The motor on the boat isn't usable and the electronics are in various states of disrepair, the canvas top is ripped but the hull is fine. We had alot of paperwork to fill out and Ted, Paul and I had to get alcohol swabs and urine drug tests but all in all not too bad. I have a sweet bruise on my right thigh that is lots of pretty colors. Well, life goes on. It was a very interesting experience and I'm proud of my participants and how well they listened and we all worked together. Thank you to everyone for their love, support, and well wishes.