caffeine machine

First, I apologize for neglecting this blog for so long. That being said, lots has happened!! :)

It seems silly to some, but I have always wanted to be a barista. I love coffee. Espresso. Hot and cold beverages with caffeine in general. The smell. The taste. Smooth and rich. The excitement of the first sip of a vanilla coconut latte. I love it. Love it all.

I recently found out that a friend of mine, who owns an amazing coffee shop business, needed a couple extra girls to work part time for her. I prayed about it, felt a peace, and ended up getting the job! A barista dream fulfilled.

My co-workers on the boat call me "BaRISA" now :)

Some things I thought I knew about coffee, but really did not know at all:
1. Differences between espresso and slow drip coffee. Fast energy versus slower energy.
2. Pulling a shot of espresso is a lot of work!
3. I am extremely intimidated by steaming milk.
4. A dirty chai latte has espresso in it.
5. How specific, and generally demanding, being a barista is. I love it :)

Don't fret. I still work on a boat. In fact, in preparation for our yearly Coast Guard check, here is a video of me trying to shimmy out of the wing decks of Lady Odyssey. Imagine a small, damp, and salty attic crawl space. We took head lamps, wire brushes, and towels, and scrubbed that place clean! I now know what it feels like to be a pretzel! Salty and twisted up! Please scroll down to the bottom to watch the awkward and awesome video of me trying to manipulate my long limbs out of the wing decks. You'll probably chuckle.

Nautical Nonsense stories:
1. When I was kayaking at Molokini, a lady swam up and asked me to throw her a spaghetti. A whaaa? Spaghetti! Oh, you mean a pool noodle? Ha, no problem :)

2. I was perched on the starboard hatch in the cabin during a whale watch. A baby whale was doing lazy breaches on the port side, but I had heard something and wanted to see if it was my imagination. I looked out and there was a puffer fish, expanded to his full capacity, on his back, flapping his fins! It may have quite possibly been the saddest thing I've ever seen in the pacific ocean. And the sound of his fins hitting the water rivaled that of a child crying through his snorkel. That's a pretty sad sound. I hope the little guy was able to calm down and deflate back to his normal life.

3. Odyssey did a private charter for 120 high schoolers from a Kamehameha school on Oahu. They were on Maui for their senior trip. Part of the trip involved a swim test. They split into groups and had to complete the task of swimming around the boat. It was highly entertaining. Flora and I lifeguarded in the kayaks just in case. I lingered at the bow, her at the stern. I was the halfway point. All of them made it, with a few random exceptions. One dude was complaining so loudly that he couldn't make it, I paddled over to make sure he was okay. He gripped my kayak, and mumbled something about not wanting to swim. I assessed the situation, and said "You just wanted to hang on to my kayak...." He looked at me, smiled, said,"Yep!" and swam away. The energy was totally different on the boat with them. I love high schoolers.

4. Tap on the shoulder. "Excuse me (looks at my nametag) um, Reeza? Is all of this on right?" I do a once over at the passenger standing before me. She is wearing a life jacket. Backwards. How did she buckle them in the back? Also, her mask is on upside down. But the mouth piece is twisted upside down to reach her mouth. She's holding the bottle of canola oil we use to grill chicken and she's about to spray it into her mask thinking it's our defog. I smile and lightheartedly switch everything around, inwardly wondering how in the world snorkeling can be so complicated!!

5. Last week, we witnessed a lady, wearing full floatation devices, flip onto her back and panic. She still had her snorkel in her mouth and was trying to breath through it even though her mouth was out of the water and the end of the snorkel was under water. In the end, Jeff jumped in to help her out and all ended well.

6. I rounded the corner of the galley a few days ago and was taken aback by not just one passenger throwing up over the edge, but three! All lined up in a row, getting sick over the edge while we were tied up at Molokini! Team effort.


Sigh. I will never be able to say my life is uninteresting :)

In Him,
Risa

Emerging from the wing decks (Click on the link to watch the video!)