Ship Holiday

Last week officially marked one month of being on the ship! It is so weird because in some ways I can’t believe it has flown by and I have been here a month… but then in other ways I know my journey still has a lot of time left. I have been thinking a lot about this because some days I miss home so much my stomach hurts… how is it that an experience can be so good and so hard at the same time? I know that everyone at home thinks that it is so different here and it must be so bizarre to be in Africa… but it is funny how even in a completely new environment people need the same things. Even though everyone on board knows that Mercy Ships is just a season of life… we all still need stability and consistency. This manifests itself in habits of sitting in the same place in the dining room and creating routines… just like I would at home. So really… the elements of life on the Africa Mercy are really different, but the need for authentic conversations and stability day-to-day are still there. 

Because Mercy Ships has such an international population we don’t celebrate any national holidays as a ship. Instead every 6 weeks we get a Friday off, known as a “ship holiday,” which is a generic celebration… and no work! This weekend we had Friday off, which for me was spent lying around on the beach- and it was absolutely glorious! It is rainy season in Sierra Leone, meaning that it rains nearly everyday and sometimes for the whole day- also meaning it was a complete blessing from the Lord that it was sunny and blue skies all day on Friday. It made me feel like I was at home… and double so when I came back to the ship and was totally burned! 

Saturday and Sunday held an overnight trip! I know, I know… shocking- I shocked myself too. I think it might have been partially due to LOTS of encouragement from others (thank you Brian), but I must say that I had a really fun time! Just outside of Freetown there is a chimpanzee sanctuary located in the rainforest with a few waterfalls and dams within hiking distance. The premises also have bungalows that you can rent out for the night that are tucked into the rainforest and are lit with candles. They have small gas stove tops and proper bathrooms (one of my requirements for attending the trip… based on field service experiences) and hammocks! It rained on and off all day on Saturday which was kind of fun as we hiked to see a few waterfalls. It is amazing how desolate areas are so quiet because you are removed from the busyness of people… but nature is so loud! I was amazed at how noisy the rushing water of the waterfall and river was. Four of us from the hiking group stayed the night in a house at the chimpanzee sanctuary and spent the night chatting about all sorts of things and eating lots of snacks, including marshmallows roasted over candles. The rainforest lived up to its name on Sunday when it poured (and I mean POURED rain) all day. This was super fun when we had to make the one mile trek down a giant hill carrying all of our overnight gear (as you can imagine, I was incapable of packing lightly) to meet our taxi.  I will be paying the price of all of my things being wet as that laundry monopolizes my one-load-a-week maximum for the next two weeks. 

Best news EVER (maybe my entire life here on the ship) is that I am getting an UPGRADE to a 4-berth cabin!!! I can hardly wait to appreciate a little more space… and an entire closet (this is a true answer to prayers!!). I will be sure to post pictures so you can rejoice in my new room with me! 

Reunion of IOC roomies… it was just like old time!

Behind us in this picture was a waterfall! a.m.a.z.i.n.g.

I am a hiker!! I think I could use this picture to convince someone I hike on a regular basis… maybe?

The group that stayed overnight in the rainforest… in a house (with plumbing AND a kitchen… I promise we were still in Africa)

Okay… I don’t even really like animals and I have to say that these chimps were SO cute… I was completely shocked at how their hands were so “people” like.

The house we stayed in! On the other side there was a balcony with a hammock 🙂

A shot of the inside of the house. The second floor had 2 bedrooms and a balcony and behind the stairs was a kitchen and a nice bathroom.

Street View

The streets of the market come with a busyness that is almost indescribable.  The civil war in Sierra Leone caused a massive influx of people to Freetown and the city now has a population of nearly 2 million. That there are people everywhere is a complete understatement. The streets are pretty narrow; there is room for 2 lanes of traffic- but barely. If cars are trying to drive in two directions than there is absolutely no extra room on the sides of the street, which is a huge problem because the majority of people walk. The streets are lined with open sewers, which are not only gross, but they are also kind of a hazard because it would be really easy to slip and fall in them (not that I am stressed about that at all when I go for a walk). On the opposite side of the sewers there are buildings that are 2 or 3 stories high and the bottom floor is small shops. By shops I mean tiny cut outs in the building where random things are being sold. Most streets then have multiple stands in front of the buildings where the items being sold are displayed on tables made out of sticks and layers of things spread out all over the ground.

There seems to be absolutely no organization to the chaos of the streets. Sometimes there are so many people you literally can’t even walk. Cars and 2-person motorcycle things zip through the streets so fast and just honk their horns, which cause everyone to move as much as they can to the side of the road. It is not a successful walk if a car, minimum of five times, hasn’t nearly hit you. It is funny how fast you learn to move. At first I always turned around so I could see what was coming, but now I just follow the crowd and squeeze together to the side.  Normally there is not traffic flowing in both directions because the people in the streets cause a barricade so that both cars can’t fit.  It is also common that a huge truck will try to fit down an alley that is too small, get stuck, and then cause a major traffic jam, which undoubtedly will take three hours to clear. I keep waiting for things like this to not be so absurd to me because it is just the way things are here… but if your truck is too big to drive down the street, why would you even try? 

On top of maniac drivers, the people walking are another experience entirely.  There are no sidewalks and most people are walking carrying things. Everyone is amazingly strong! Things that are so heavy I couldn’t push them in a wheelbarrow, the Africans are carrying on their heads.  On Saturday there was a man carrying a queen sized mattress on his head (yes, please envision this…. we, along with hundreds of other people, had to duck when he walked by!) .  

Attempting to take a picture was a failure. I tried to get my phone out really quick to snap one… but it resulted in a picture of just the road and people’s feet… oops. SO I totally stole one from a friend (thanks Heather) so you could catch a glimpse!

Pizza from Crown Bakery! It made me feel like I was at home a little bit… and Annika wanted to share so we split it and I got to try everyone else’s meal too- it was fantastic.

busyness… if only there was a person carrying a mattress in this pic… PS she was safely in a car when this photo was taken…

 

AFM IFF= Africa Mercy International Film Festival= Life on Tuesday Night

My sister keeps asking me about what we do here on the ship… and so I feel like it is going to be my new goal to expose you to the variety of activities that we have going on the ship! Tuesday was the Film Festival where crew members are invited to create a short film (which must include an assigned prop and phrase). It is a ship-wide event to dress up (it is shocking what things people have packed to live here- who knew I should have brought a fancy dress!) and attend the film festival. The movies are premiered… complete with a panel of judges, an MC, and an awards ceremony. Of course there is a video of the winning film- which I am not technology savvy enough to figure out how to embed it in here. I will post it another time if I can ever figure out. Bottom line is, it was a super fun time and I am so glad that people on the ship organize things like it.

On deck 5, across from the Starbucks Cafe, there is a table with an African fabric tablecloth where a collection of binders sit. Each binder has a label on the cover to offer crew various things. One of the most popular binders is the “Join Us” sign-up sheets where anyone can organize and/or sign-up for an activity. Most things are off-ship, meaning something fun to do in the surrounding areas. Life at Mercy Ships is a revolving door of new people coming and going ALL the time and I have found out quickly that people are very inclusive. It is almost strangely nice here… if it was your first day ever on the ship, you could go to the “Join Us” binder, sign up for an activity the next day where you know absolutely no one, go, and have a good time. I think that this is something really special about the community of people here. In Sierra Leone the off-ships activities include trips to the market in town, the beach, a picnic at a local waterfall, Aberdeen (a town about an hour an a half away) for dinner out, hikes, and local church visits. All of this talk of the binder… and I must admit I haven’t signed up for anything yet! But there are options… and one day I might go on an adventure. I feel like AT LEAST twice a week someone asks me if I am adventuresome and I always want to respond by saying “I am living on a ship in Africa… this whole thing is the adventure!!” I always manage a nice way to answer the question though… with the point always having to  be… no not really. 

Friday nights are a little different because it is ice-cream night. Crew gathers by the ship shop and stand in lines socializing while they wait. Tonight I volunteered to be a scooper- which was fun because ice-cream is a real treat on the ship and everyone that comes through the line is super happy to be getting dessert. It even comes with rainbow sprinkles and other toppings- definite plus. Ice-cream night was followed by a barn-dance, conveniently located in the International Lounge (can it still be called a barn-dance? just wondering), where we learned how to do line dances. Tonight has been finished off with lying around midships… with the option of playing cards and planning tomorrow’s events.

A small group of us are heading into Freetown tomorrow to visit a fabric market (hooray and I miss my sewing machine) and go to Crowne Bakery for lunch… which one of my students told me had the “best pizza in the world.” I am going to attempt to capture the “busyness” of town tomorrow… but whipping out my camera has 2 possible risks…. one: I might get mugged (slim possibility…. but still a possibility) and two: I might get surrounded by LOTS of people wanting me to take their picture (which would freak me out). I will weigh the consequences of photography tomorrow… if I can capture the experience, than pictures to follow! I am so looking forward to the walk there and I am praying for sunshine. Today was the first day of sun after 3 days of straight rain… which makes the ship chillier than normal and makes it near impossible to function without just wanting to be curled up in bed watching movies. Which, by the way, I wouldn’t hate doing!

Q & A

I have been getting similar questions from most people who I talk to… so in honor of all my list-making friends (and those in support of the question game!) I think a below is a good way to document some aspects of living/working on a ship… in Africa. I am trying to remember most of the questions that people have asked, but if you have others- leave it on a comment and next blog I will try to answer!

favorite ship activity: lying around in mid-ships (we can see this is very different from my “at home” favorite activity… which is lying around in the living room!) Playing games is a big thing here… but our Gateway group killed UNO on our field service and that is at the top of the “most popular games to play” list.
best thing about living/working in the same place: it is simple. (as long as you like where you work) Sometimes at the end of the day when I out of habit say to my students I will see you tomorrow… they remind me that I will probably see them later at dinner- haha, love it!
best ship meal: one night we had mexican and it was great- fresh guacamole and all
worst ship meal: the lunches that are a questionable combination of the previous night’s dinner (these are the days when I am so happy that there is grilled cheese)
most challenging thing: not being home. I miss my people! I really do like being on the ship. I remind myself everyday that  I am so lucky to be a part of an organization like Mercy Ships where I can serve God and serve others. I have met some really amazing people and I already know that this experience is going to be such a special part of my life… but sometimes I wish I could be here and home… I know, impossible. ps… the time change is super challenging too.
something that I have learned: the world is so much smaller than I thought. Africa seems like worlds away from home because life is so different here… but it is just a plane flight. I think I have underestimated the importance of being exposed to different things… and I have a newfound understanding of the saying “ignorance is bliss.” 
do people stare at me because I am white? yes. haha this sounds funny, but it is true. Good news about it is that 90% of the white people walking around in town (and by that I mean if I go for a one hour walk MAYBE I will see one other group of white people) are from Mercy Ships and the people of Sierra Leone love Mercy Ships… it is almost like I am famous by automatic association. BUT then the people think I am a medical professional and they don’t know what a dangerous assumption for them that is! I barely like band-aids!
how many students are in the Academy? 50ish.
do the students in the Academy have specials/fine arts?  yes. The elementary students in the Academy have PE, art, music, drama, library, choir, and computers each week. That is pretty impressive isn’t it! The junior-high and high school students have most of those things as well as a student work program for two hours every Friday. This is where they get to choose from a variety of classes that other crew sponsor for about 4 weeks at a time. Examples are cooking, carpentry, sewing, auto-mechanics… anything that any crew comes up with!

I just feel like I should add that I am currently sitting in my classroom looking at the abyss of an ocean and a very sketchy bunch of garbage just floated by… which included an unidentifiable gross looking, dead, floating rodent.Maybe a rat? I am gagging and I wish one of you had been here to witness it too. 

This is the view of Freetown from the end of the dock. It doesn’t do a justice at all to what it actually is… but it is the best picture I could get!

Welcome to Grade Two! Please note the porthole window on my door! I love the nautical-ness of living on a ship! (duh it is nautical… I know, but I like it a lot!)

at the door… to the left

… to the right

…straight

This is the view from my classroom window. The small boat had 13 people on it and was overflowing with bundles of giant sticks that I presume they will take back to their village and sell.

 

Week One: Check!

Week one on the ship has been explored, lived, and checked off! So many new transitions to make and it is the weirdest to think that soon enough the corridors and different rooms on the ship will be familiar.  It is funny how life at home automatically gets compartmentalized in your mind into sections like “things to do at work”  and “things to do at home” but here those lines are so fuzzy because work and home are the same place. I have really been thinking of the implications of this… and there is a definite pro to my work-time commute only being 25 steps. 

I began my first week of school on Monday and just like in the States there are no children the first week. We spent the majority of our time in meetings with the faculty (there are 11 of us total) learning different aspects of teaching in the Mercy Ships Academy.  Teacher friends, let me start by saying don’t be jealous that there are only three students in my class!! Can you handle that? I am SO excited to get to know them so well and be able to do so many fun things because they are such a small group. The crew galley is literally two steps away from my classroom, so I am allowed to cook with them! I know that there are definite challenges to having such a small class because major components to my teaching style won’t really function well… like what is group work if you only have three children? BUT on the other hand I think I will have so much flexibility in trying new activities and really comprehensively being able to understand the strengths and weaknesses of each of my kids. I can’t wait to start!! My classroom is super tiny (but I prefer to use the word cozy) and has 2 windows, a computer that is just mine, as well as a phone that I can access whenever I would like… all of which are total LUXURIES on the ship. The windows are on the port side (which actually don’t face the port, funny enough) and so when I look out all I see is the vast ocean and an occasional little boat go by. It is really the neatest thing… pictures to follow next blog. My classroom is in no shape to be photographed at this point- if you can please imagine what it looks like as I am trying to plan for next week. I don’t think that there a clear path to the door because I have spread out so much… I will just let you envision that on your own.  OH! One last schooly thing- today we met with the Hospital Ward Programs Coordinator to discuss how to organize activities where we can take our students into the hospital wards to spend time with the patients.  I love that we will have such unique opportunities to practice serving others and things that we are always teaching children are important- and all we have to do is walk down a few flights of stairs to get there.

Living on the ship is taking a bit of getting used to. Even though we are at port the ship moves a lot. I wish I could explain this better but sometimes it feels like we are sailing (so I have heard… clearly I have not sailed yet). You can be sitting in a chair and just kinda feel in your stomach the slow swaying back and forth. It is a super busy place. There are always people in the common areas and because it is a hospital ship there are shift workers that must stay up all night. The cafeteria is a hub of the ship (of course because the food is there!) but you have to plan around meal times because if you miss it… you miss it- and then you are forced to make a meal of things from the snack bar. FYI there is salad everyday and stuff to make grilled cheese, so I am surviving just fine.  The berths are… ummm, berths. The word I like to use to describe it is… small- that is the only word for now. I will add more pictures of the ship asap, but here are just a few! 

Classic pic! This is my new home!

This is at the top of the gangway right before we can get onto the ship. The containers that baracade us in are in the background. There is also an area where the patients for the day check in- it is under the white tent that is in the background.

Laundry is a BIG deal on the ship. You have to sign up for a time and then you only have ten minute grace period of running late before someone else takes over your machine. It requires punctuality- or your wardrobe suffers!!

This little area is midships and is so nice because there are lots of windows. There is also an internet cafe. Our Gateway group has taken over this area of the ship and there is almost always one of us sitting on these couches!

Okay- my cabin is on deck 3, which is the same deck as the hospital. This big door that is half open separates the living spaces from the hospital space. My cabin is the first one on the other side of the hospital. Please note that my common wall is with the Men’s Locker Room- and I can hear ALL of their conversations during each shift change.

My cabin!

One word- SMALL. I am in a 6-berth cabin, which is so small I am kind of claustrophobic in there. There are no windows (kill myself) and all my clothes have to be stacked in that half-closet (half-closet, how depressing is that??).

I just thought that this was necessary. I couldn’t capture the tiny shower in the picture, but it is on the right side. Enough said.