Things I have learned about my new home....

While settling into my new home, I have discovered many new things! Hopefully this will give you a brief picture into a few quirks of life here. But I will say that it is wonderful, and I am so thrilled to be a part of it. Since we have not had our big screening yet, we are currently patient free and able to take our time with set up and orientation. This is HUGE! It gives us time to adjust, get the lay of the land, make new friends, and explore our home in between meetings. It is really interesting to see all the different jobs on the ship. There are electricians, men in work clothes doing odd jobs, dirty guys from the engine rooms, captains, receptionists, HR people, cafeteria volunteers, all of the hospital staff, and basically anything else you would need in a city. It’s amazing to see so many people using their skills for a common goal---to serve the people of West Africa. There is also a bond between those who have chosen to dedicate their life here. They are interconnected so strongly as some of them have been living together for a year, two, six, or more. The children and too fun! Its great to see them running around, playing, and exploring their home. It really is a small village!

So here we go---> (it’s a big choppy, but you’ll get the point)

I’m on a ship-----Something I learned early on, is that the Africa Mercy is considered a SHIP, NOT a Boat as I was calling it, woops! There is some specification between the two based on their make up. I’m glad I only asked a few people, “How long have you been on the boat?” before they said it in our initial tour. 

Security------We have an awesome security staff called “Gurkhas”. They are a group of men from Nepal who man our gangway to the port, and keep us all very safe. I’ve heard that they probably knew my name the first day, and that you would be INSANE to mess with them. It’s hard to imagine what they are trained for since they are all so friendly. But really, look it up on google- I promise you will want to. 

Stepping through doorways-------I learned after about 3 stubbed toes that you must STEP over doorways. There is a 2 inch ledge in every door frame, and now it’s habit- I might make it so normal over the next 8 months that I bet it will stay with me for awhile. 

All toilets are not created equal-----Something interesting to see are our toilets. They remind me A LOT of airplane toilets in the way they look and the way they flush. We have a special “toilet juice” we need to put down them twice a week to keep them running, and on a side note the toilets don’t flush when we are running on generator power...they should have warned us. 

Coffee, Coffee, Coffee-------A fun fact is that we have a Starbucks on the ship that is manned by volunteers at specific times. It’s my understanding that Starbucks wanted to donate to us, but since we are a Christian organization they couldn’t. So now they just donate the syrups and coffee’s for our use on the ship. I’m not complaining, a latte is literally 75 cents!

That is all I have for now, but It was great to spend a few minutes sharing with you about my new home! As always feel free to email :)