La Citronnelle

Today we celebrated our first week on board with a little outing to a patisserie (pastry shop) for brunch with friends. Since we've only been on board a week it wasn't like we had cabin fever and just had to get off the ship but it was a really fun way to spend a few hours of our day off. Every 6 weeks the ship has a 3-day weekend in order to give people a bit of a break and a chance to do something fun. It doesn't affect everyone as there are jobs that can't stop (should be fairly obvious why: the hospital can't exactly send all the patients home for the day) but for a lot of people, it provides a little holiday to look forward to. 

Our first week has been fantastic and I'm sure this is because of two things: 

1) We have fantastic people praying for our transition and adjustment back home; and 

2) The people here are the most welcoming I've ever met! 

Everyone has been so friendly and even forgiving when I can't remember their name or what they do or how long they've been here for. 

I will post about our jobs and more of ship life steadily and as I take pictures but for today, here's our town adventure in color: 

La Citronnelle. It was a restaurant as well--we ordered off of menus and then bought a pastry for dessert. Thankfully they have good prices (read on and you’ll see this is not always the case in Pointe Noire). 

I asked him to look excited for his ham croissant.. he delivered.

I love how in this picture and Jordan's, everyone is being goofy..

 And then there's Derek. 

We walked down town where there is a grocery story appropriately called "Casino"

 where everything costs 5x what it should.

We walked by the Atlantic Palace Hotel which you can stay at for a mere $200/night we've heard. I just looked at their website and it does look absolutely gorgeous. Sorry for the poor quality picture; I was trying to be quick and sneaky with my camera since you never know who might take offense.  

You can buy just about anything you want in Pointe Noire; as long as you are willing 

to pay the price. This was in a little office store we found where a basic desk lamp was $320. 

:)

Waiting for our shuttle. If someone volunteers to drive, there is a social shuttle from the ship to a train station that is a good dropping off point for those who want to go into town. 

And back home. :)