An unexpected surprise

So, I had an unexpected surprise today when I was getting ready to do lunch duty...My friend Lewis from the PR department came in and told me he needed me as a translator because the Minister of Health for the Canary Islands was coming to tour the ship (and he knew I speak Spanish since I translated on our trip to the Dominican Republic)...so he told me to hurry and change (I was all scrubbed out in my baseball hat & apron for the kitchen team :) and meet him at the reception desk by the gangway (that's where the main entry point to the ship is located)...I really had no idea at that point what was going on...I was just hoping it wasn't a mean joke to get me to go get dressed up for nothing! But a few minutes after I arrived at the reception, the Minister of Health and her group of officials arrived for a tour of the ship...thankfully there was one main translator and I didn't have to say too much to her (I get a little nervous with all the big cameras in my face!)...But all the reporters were asking me questions like I had been around the ship for ages...So I just tried to be confident and had other people chime in help me out when I didn't know the answer...

The tour ended with one of the reporters asking if I would translate for them to interview Dr. Gary, one of the head surgeons...so we did an interview and when that was over, they asked if they could interview ME!! I kept thinking "Oh crap, they're gonna realize I am a total newbie on the ship even though I pretend like I know what I'm doing"...But, they mainly asked a lot of questions about living on the ship...what it was like to live with so many people from so many different countries (there are over 30 nations represented on the ship), how long I had committed to Mercy Ships, how my family felt about me leaving, why I wanted to do it, etc. So, it went really well...It was a little wierd having a big camera in my face and talking into a microphone...I didn't expect to be interviewed, but my PR friend told me that his PR friends were impressed and said they'd save me a position in the PR department if I learned French (that could take awhile though!)...it was quite an experience...not anything like what I was expecting...but it was pretty cool...