Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone! I am sitting in No Name Bar in Cozumel the crew bar. Basically the crew from all the ships come here to swim, eat, drink and get online. I was just swimming and looking at a sunken plane under the water.

Christmas is right around the corner. I still am not that sad because it doesn't feel like Christmas when I am in my bikini every week. No snow means no Christmas. I am of course listening to Charlie Brown Christmas and Christmas carols 24/7 in my cabin. Someone called me weird the other day for that. really? I am busy this week treating. Still love my job and my patients and making people feel so much better. I always have very interesting people. I like to joke with them. They always ask me questions like how I like living on the ship, how did I get there, etc....

I now have a new friend, the new medi-spa doctor. My other friend Yuri went home a few weeks ago. I think it is in my contract I have to be friends with them. hahaha The new doc is a 25 yo from Columbia, Rafael. He is funny. Today we rented scooters and went for ceviche and pina coladas to my favorite beach on the deserted side of the island of Cozumel.

I come home in 3 weeks! I am excited. I might go to the Phillipines in February to visit some friends, hopefully if plane tickets are not too pricey.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Holiday season and Happy New Year!! I know we will have some pretty wild parties at back deck.

Ciao!

Christmas Love

Stayin' a little longer..

Going to keep making the most of my stay. At a quick stop in Whole Foods in NOLA to stock up on stuff. Communication is still difficult and sporadic. Going to try and stay till Jan. 14th at the latest. Will let you know!!

enjoy pics. swam with the dolphins in Mexico, was amazing!!

and hired a little boat with friends and went to a deserted island in jamaica. My friend Stefan pictured stepped on sea urchins and got spikes in his foot.

Have a wonderful holiday season. There is no concept of time here so i don't really feel christmasy. I bought some xmas lights for my room so that will make it cozy. Kind of funny with my weekly bouquet of Bouganvillae flowers
(tropical flowers) from Jamaica that I sneak on the ship with xmas lights.

signing off for now my worldly friends!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Love you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

and thank you for support on helping me with my decision on staying here or leaving. i think leaving early is a good compromise.

Now I don't know

postponing decision....

Changes

Sacrificial Offering to the Gods of the Mayans.
Quick post, I am resigning this week. I am ready to go home. It has been a great experience! ok, hold on, more posts in a minute.

They say if you can make it past 4 months you are good to go. But, I don't want to really make it that long. I miss my old life. My biking, my skiing, MY FRIENDS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My last day will be next Saturday and I am flying home to Michigan for Christmas, probably Boulder or somewhere in Colorado in January, who knows!.......

The Caribbean!!

Cozumel, Mexico,
swimming with stingrays in Grand Cayman, Naval museum in Toulon France and food! Cool sculpture in Barcelona. Halloween! We put on a great halloween party.
Wow, it has been a crazy month! Communication has been hard since I left Italy due to internet costs and time. So we did the crossing. I don't think I sat down for 8 days straight while we were at sea because I had so many patients. Literally 13 hour days for 8 days straight! I was dead and have been taking this past week easy and going on mini vacations every day in Mexico, Grand Cayman and Jamaica mon. Now I am in New Orleans and will be here every week for a few hours before we set sail at 4 every Saturday for the Caribbean. So much has happened on my travels that I can't list them all. I was in Italy, France, Spain, even the Canary Islands Tenerife. Whoever thought... The first thing I did in Nolo was find a great place for a hamburger, fries and a Coke, need that American shit ya know. It is good to be back in the US, but I will miss Europe as well. OMG, the food in France was amazing and I gorged myself on pastries, croissants, bread, mussels and frites, you name it, it was in my stomach.

Here are some random pictures of Halloween, France, Grand Cayman where I swam with my friends the sting rays, amazing experience even the second time around.

Ok, will talk to you this week on another mini vacay in Cozumel, a great place!! I love my acupuncture office!

Miss all of you. Will be re-instating phone service soon so I can get back to the communication world.

Raining in Roma, nice day to explore. The crowds will be lighter and I can spend some quality time in the Forum and the Pantheon and find some new stuff. I have been to Rome before and it is a great city.

Some new adventures this week. pause....

wow! just made it back to the ship, almost late! ahhhh

Pictures! Dubronik, went on a bike tour, saw houses with bullet holes in it. My friend Jonathan is just like me! He likes to sneak into abandoned houses too. I snuck into the house to look around. There were still cups still sitting on a kitchen table, probably sitting there for at least 15 years.

Climbed Mt. Vesuvius yesterday. Mt. Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD and covered Pompeii with over 6 metres of ash, preserving it for centuries. We got to the top of the crater and there is steam coming out, no lava. :( I brought back a bag full of rocks if people want souvenirs! And yes, I am laying on a brothel bed. The Romans had a very large red light district.

Off to Livorno tomorrow, a lot of people going to the Leaning Tower of Pisa. I think I will just relax.

Have some cool patient stories coming soon.

Hope you are well!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Work Hard, Play Harder

Greetings from the "Bridge", where the ship is driven. I just got my personalized tour of the bridge, the command center of the ship. It is pretty cool up there. Will post pictures after. This is our last day in Venice. I went ashore, said my goodbyes to the Venetians, the canals, the boats, the cute gondoliers, the labyrinth of corridors. My friend got lost for 4 hours a few weeks back in the maze. haha! We now start "The Crossing". Next week our itinerary will be completely different. Roma, Firenze, Pisa, then on to Spain, Cartegena, Barcelona, Cadiz and then....the Azores Island. Our last stop before 5 days at sea to New Orleans. Kind of excited to get back to the USA, things will be much cheaper!! I didn't buy much here in Europa at all, too damn expensive.

Ok, lot's o pictures! Rented scooters with Kim in Dubrovnik, played in the bunkers from the war in 1991. I was looking for bombs, obviously didn't find one or I wouldn't be able to type right now. We are on the border with Bosnia-Hervecgovina. Remember that Cranberrie's song, Sarajevo? Yeah, it's about this place. You can see Bosnia in the black and white photo of Kim.

Also, pictures of old town Bari, Italy where I took a nap and a homeless man thought I was homeless and gave me a hat to shield my eyes. He scared me as he was standing about 3 inches from my face, I screamed, then he called me his wife, gave me a hat, asked why I wasn't in a hotel, and then we had a nice conversation and I got a nice hat out of the deal. haha fun!

getting ready to work now, Later!

Noel