The past few weeks..

Well its been quite awhile since I wrote one of these things...

Over the past few weeks, Ive worked quite a bit, played down in the wards, gone out to eat, played with my babies again, and met the President of Guinea!

Just over a week now, my bunk mate from Togo, Tori, arrived back on the ship! She is here for two months, and I am so glad to have her back! We now have 7 people in the 8 berth, so its quite full at times! We also won the Captain's award for the cleanest cabin, after failing our inspection last week, whoops. The next people to leave the 8 berth, will be Lauren, and myself, in just over two weeks!

Over a week ago, i ventured out with some people from the ship to the local hospital. We visited the pediatric ward, for about two hours, of playing, coloring, and loving them! We played soccer with balloons, made bracelets, and played with playdoo! We also saw a precious baby of only 2-3 weeks old, that was not doing well at all! It was a real heart wrencher night, but a very nice night and it was good to be off the ship and in Africa!
This past weekend, was our ship holiday. So we has a crew, had Friday off, with only a skeleton crew working. Tori, Kelly, and I headed off to a water fall, near a city named Debruka! They had two sets of waterfalls that we could visit, the first one was literally a stream, so we headed onto the other one! This one was beyond beautiful, and we could go swimming it it! We also got to eat fresh cooked fish, and fries! One of our many adventures of course, always comes with a long, bumpy taxi ride, but we got to see the amazing scenery of Guinea, and the lush green for miles! On our way back to the ship, we stopped at the local super market, and got some various different items, for our baking day on Saturday. That evening, we all headed out for supper, with Michelle this time! We went to Indochine, which is a nice Chinese type of restaurant. We all enjoyed our food, and flamed dessert! Saturday, was Tori's birthday! So for the first event of the day, we wrapped our door with Saran wrap, and put balloons in between the two, so that when she opening the door, they came down on her. She was completely shocked, and loved it! Then in the afternoon, we headed out to the Baby Rescue Site. They gave moved to their new site, and it is much nicer! Much more quieter then the other place. I got to see my George again ( real name Sage) They were a bunch of sleepy babies this time! But the one girl who is going to Canada, may be going in the next couple weeks, she is getting less and less shy too!

Once back on the ship, we started cooking up a storm, and made, red velvet cupcakes, and many other pastry dishes that I cant even remember the name... It was a fun evening of laughter and music, with of course some panoramic pictures too! Sunday was a rest day! Literally slept a lot and hung out on the ship.

This past week, well before Thursday at 1:30 pm, was going well, nice and relaxed. Then Marilyn comes into our office and says " we have one hour, the President is coming at 3pm. GO!" Well Ive never seen the ship come together so fast! Marketing was ready in 30 mins, we were ready in uniform, 20 minutes to spare, and Our Chief had our food ready with time to spare as well! The president was also visiting the French Navy Vessel behind us, and decided to drop by to see our ship! So we had a quick set up, and I even got to shake his hand! He was very moved by what we are doing here in his country!

Before all that craziness happened, we were calculated numbers, since this Field service started.

So As of August 1st, 2012:

New Crew ~ 211
Guests~ 40
Vision Teams~17
Mercy Teams~ 20
Personal Guests ~15
Formal Functions ~16
Formal Luncheons~ 2
Departures ~ 114
Cookies made~ 340 dozen

So we have been a very busy department at times, and our work really has paid off!

So last night, after being on this ship for over 6 months, i finally can now say i have been down to deck one! The Engine room! It is very loud at hot, but it was beyond cool and interesting too see! We saw the different air compressors, main engines, oil pumps, sprinkler tanks, vacuum system, bottom of the elevator, and many other things! We also found all the "secret doors" so once Michael leaves we can sneak around, haha. It was a great tour!

Michael!

Michael, has been all of my time, and more. The time has now come, for him to leave this ship. This time next week, we will be one less bearded person on board. He's off to the states for some sort of school.... But this past Wednesday was his last bible study, so we brought our past works. Rolo cookies, Apple Crisp(Penelope), Flavored Popcorn ( Josh Callow!) and of course cause he thinks he's Canadian, a Canada Flag Cake! We had many laughs that night, that none of us will forget anytime soon! For his last community meeting, Amy, Bronte, Tori and I dressed up as his security team for the night, in our sunglasses, heels, and uniforms!

Well the past two nights have been going away dinners, for Mykola, and Michael. Both are two of my closest friends, and I am so glad that i got to meet them!
I recieved my departure notice today! Two weeks today I fly away! :)

As my time here on the Africa Mercy is also drawing to a close, this time. I can truly say that this time has been amazing, and life changing to the fullest. Ive seen so many eye openers, and hurtful sites. But i really do see myself coming back here longtime, maybe not in the near future, but its defiantly very possible.

I am really going to miss this place. The Sense of community living, all the people that Ive met, and have formed relationships with, and of course all of the patients, with so much pain, a little smile can brighten anyone day. I'm going to miss our day workers, they bring something to the ship, i don't even know how to describe it. I'm NOT going to miss 2 minute showers. I will miss living with at least 9 other people, my room might feel too big! I'm going to miss movie nights, and game nights. But I really will cherish these memories forever, no matter where i end up in life!


Pictures to Follow :)