Ship Life

My new home: The Africa Mercy

Well, my first few days on the ship have been really great! It was awesome to get here the first day and see so many familiar faces! I was thankful that even though I'm in a 6-berth cabin, I only have 2 roommates for now, so there is a little more space than I expected (for now anyway!)...It was still a bit of a squeeze finding a place for everything because the ship quarters are small, but somehow I managed just fine! I love my roommates too! One is from Germany and the other is from Canada...so once again, I am the only American in my room and I love it! (not that I don't like living with Americans...I just like interacting with people from foreign cultures ;)

  My little room...the closet is open

so you can see how small the space is!

From the other side of the room...with my desk space :)

I've met a lot of great people so far...there are quite a few pediatric nurses, so we all have bonded! It's funny because so far, I feel like I'm adjusting pretty well...one other new girl asked me the other day "Are you completely overwhelmed because I am!"....but really I don't feel like I am...not yet anyway..we'll see if that hits when the hospital opens...I am just loving the people and community...it's always a little crazy being around so many people nonstop, but thankfully, I've been able to find time to be alone and have personal time too, so I'm trying to stay pretty balanced! It's funny too because everyone seems to think that I've been around for awhile...or been on the ship before....maybe just because I know a lot of people...but it's pretty funny...a lot of the new people seem to ask me questions about things...even finding places on the ship..so I guess I blend in pretty well with the long-term people :)

The other day my friend Jen had a sudden realization and said "guys, we live on a ship! Isn't that so crazy!"...sometimes I forget I do...every now and then, I'll look out the window and see a ship sail by into the port...and I think to myself "Hmm..that's kind of wierd...I live on a ship"...But I really do like it a lot...there are some challenges here and there...but overall, I think it's a great place full of lots of really great people! I'm pretty sure I'm in for the adventure of a lifetime!

So far, this week hasn't been too rough...a lot of orientation to the ship, tours, procedures, and my assigned task for the week...working in the dining room! They had to find jobs for us for the time before we open the hospital and there was a gap in the dining room because one of our friends had to unexpectantly fly home with his wife because she had some health issues and ended up needing surgery (please pray for the Winns!) so I took over that spot and have been enjoying the dining room team! They are a lot of fun...although I didn't completely appreciate the "welcome" by Sam with the dish hose (he sprayed me pretty good!)...but it was still pretty funny...I love how everyone is so helpful and the constant worship music playing....And we get to greet people coming to dinner in the line, which is fun because then we get to see all the people on the ship! It's a nice combination of work and socializing for someone like me :)