Friday, April 25, 2014

Nothing important but lots of stories. :)



Remember that Nothing Important Part 1 post waaaaaay back in October? Here’s part 2. Just a bunch of random stories, some maybe a little bit important than others but mostly just what’s been going on with us, with some "life in Africa" bits mixed in. :) 

{I hope you don’t feel too let down that I haven’t written since February (gasp) because I do post a lot of pictures on Facebook and Instagram so none of this should be too new.}

What can I say? We absolutely love it here. I never expected our experience to be like this. I remember one of my first posts after we boarded the ship about how excited I was to not feel any fear, just this incredible peace and satisfaction in being totally where God has called us. That “feeling” still hasn’t left. :) 

I do tend to write better with pictures so here goes. 


Pretty much from November through March, my department (Hospitality) was incredibly busy. For the beginning of that period, I was new to the ship and just figuring out my way around the department. In mid-December, I took the Head Hostess position and was busy figuring out how to be a manager. January, February, and March were crazy busy for the team; we seemed to have events every week plus a lot of guests. There are four different types of guests that typically stay on board: personal guests, Mercy Ships staff from other locations, business guests, and Vision Teams. Vision Teams are groups that are interested in seeing what Mercy Ships is doing. We set up and greet/embark guests but for Vision Teams, we typically also set up and serve them a luncheon while they meet with our senior management team. Believe it or not, a luncheon can pretty much take up the whole day! Plus we also had the President of Congo visit. I was incredibly nervous about it, since I’d never been a part of a presidential visit before. The Hospitality team is responsible for decorating and preparing the “hang out” area for the President and his entourage, and then serving hors d’oeuvres to the entourage when they arrive. A lot of hours go into that one sentence but (I've said it before and I’ll say it again) I was so proud of my team! Hard work is really all about the attitude you put into it and they were joyful right down to their closed-toed black flats. :) 

But the last two weeks have been a bit slow for us--we typically have a changeover rate of about 4 crew members a day, which equates to around 30 beds to make up and 30 new crew members to embark and 30 current crew members to check out each week. The last two weeks though have been super slow--one week we only had 7 new people arrive! So since work has been slow, we decided to take a morning off and visit one of the ministries that Mercy Ships has been a part of. These are called Mercy Ministries; they are local organizations that we come along-side with for the ten months that we’re here. I think there are at least 9--four orphanages, including a baby orphanage; a senior center; handy-capped tailors; deaf school; Jesus film (shown twice a week in different locations around town); and a ministry that teaches young women how to sew to support themselves. We went to the baby orphanage for the morning. It’s one of the favorites for new people to sign up for--all that is “planned” is to hold and love on babies for two hours. But everyone I've talked to about it has come away affected. These babies have either been orphaned or abandoned and brought to the Baby Creche (literally: Baby Manger) to be taken care of. They are all malnourished. Of course the women of the center care for them but it’s a lot of work for babies that don’t have a lot of energy because of how underdeveloped they are. And when one of them gets sick, they all get sick. Most of the time when we go, they are laying on the floor because it’s cooler. 

It’s really heartbreaking and it’s even more heartbreaking to leave--you can pretty much guarantee that they will all start crying when we head for the door. It’s really a perfect example of how hard it is to help sometimes: if you can’t give it all, how beneficial is it to give just a little? I'm not trying to be a downer; just writing down the question I wrestle with every afternoon after visiting these precious ones.

One of the other ministries is to a boys’ orphanage. Jordan was asked to coordinate showing the Lion King for them one Saturday evening on the big screen. (Jordan helps out with the Jesus film showing every Friday night so he knew how to set up the screen.) It’s really pretty neat what somebody (I don’t know who) came up with to show films on a projector in the middle of nowhere. Anyways, Jordan set up for the Lion King and then we got to enjoy! It was super fun and I was surprised how many of the boys had seen it before. I also noticed (again) how different culture is in unexpected ways. We were watching the movie in French but with English subtitles. Of course all of the crew members had seen it before so even though we were listening in another language, we laughed at all our favorite parts--which turned out to be totally different from when the Congolese would laugh. Not once we did we laugh at the same part. 

Watching the Lion King--it never gets old! 
Another weekend I went on a riverboat “adventure” with some ladies to be the French speaker for the group. We left the ship around 8:45 and walked the mile to the port gate and then past that to get a taxi. Our taxi had an extra row of seats so we crammed in and were on our way.  


There was a sort of flyer for this activity on the ship and it said that up to 8 people were allowed to come. I had called the guide on Friday and told him we would be a party of 6. On Saturday night, two girls asked if they could join and since the maximum group size was 8 people we said sure. We got to the river and as we all start piling out of the taxi our guide just watched and counted us ... and then his face started falling. He said, "You have eight people." I said, "Yes! That's how many we're allowed!" "But you told me six," he says. When we got down to the river I saw his predicament: he has three boats to take these trips on--two of them are big and one of them was small. 


He had gotten the small one ready for us complete with chairs and everything. We apologized profusely and told him we would do whatever since it was our fault but he said (and I kid you not): "Well let's just all get in really carefully and see how low the boat gets." So we all got in super slowly and gingerly sat down and him and his brother (our other guide) perched on two pieces of wood in the back of the boat and declared that we were safe. Then they popped a beer each, and we were on our way. I later found out that the small boat we were on was the only one with a motor--the other two were rowed by hand so I think they had a bit of motivation to get us all seated in there. We were really low so he told us we would go slower than normal. About 5 minutes into our "sail" he stopped the boat and explained to me that the motor was too low in the water and he needed to raise it. It was just definitely one of those African moments. I was sitting in the back of the boat so I tried to get a picture of him adjusting our motor and his beer all in one but I only succeeded in snapping a photo of his back end. Bummer. (No pun intended.)

Me and Heather, a fellow hostess. :)
We sailed up the river to a big lake, where our guide pointed out the Angolan border (we are very close and often reminded not to wander too close as the border police don't like that too much) and Pointe Noire in the distance. Then he pointed out a big baobab tree over on the shore and said it was 150 years old and we were going to see it. Around the tree is a fishing village. I think it must have been only men in this village because as soon as 8 white girls rowed up about 20 strapping young men popped into view. 

Sailing into the village.
We took pictures around the tree and then he led us through the village where a young boy had climbed a grapefruit tree to pick grapefruits for us. It was so random that we all looked at each other and said, "I hope this isn't some sort of marriage agreement ritual". But it wasn't so we all took our grapefruits and got back in our boat and downriver we went. The river truly was beautiful--green all around, perfectly serene, and ducks and egrets flying and floating beside us. 



Typically the group goes to his farm which is quite impressive and his wife makes a meal. But on this day, there were some other family events going on so he took us to a little hole-in-the-wall restaurant instead where we ate "lunch". 

The bread was good, the salad was good, the drinks were good … the meal though required some more bravery than we had to offer. 

 

It was good to see our home at the end of a hot day. :) I expected my bag to get lighter as I drank all my water but adding a grapefruit to the mix didn't help with the weight!



Meanwhile, Jordan had taken the day to go visit a friend in town and was treated to a delicacy: ngoo moko, otherwise known as bush hog boiled with bananas. 

Next story. I enjoyed this food a little bit more: my friend KJ and I both got promotions so we went out for dessert to celebrate! 

KJ will be going on the Advance team to Guinea--a team of about 8 people that leaves months in advance for country next and does most of the groundwork for the ship’s arrival (a BIG job!). She will also be the sales manager next year in Guinea--I’m super proud of her and know that she will do a great job!! 

I will be the Crew and Guest Services Manager starting July 1. Right now I am the manager for the hospitality team; next year I will be managing hospitality, hospital housekeeping, regular housekeeping, as well as being responsible for the hair salon, social activities, and library. I've actually enjoyed the managing side a lot more than I thought I would so I’m pretty excited about next year! The Crew & Guest Services Manger position is a new one and part of it will be starting to combine hospital housekeeping and regular housekeeping, which up until this point have been separate. It will be a lot of groundwork and new things to figure out but I am looking forward and would appreciate your prayers!

Next story. :) Last weekend we took a train to Dolisie, a town about 4 hours northeast. The train ride was by far one of my favorite experiences so far and incredibly surreal. Inside we sat in a very nice train, only about 4 years old with air conditioning and a food car and everything! Outside was lush JUNGLE for 4 straight hours. 



We went with Derek (who Jordan works with) and Elisabeth, a nurse who happens to be dating Derek. :) It was a super fun day; most of it was spent in a train or a bus but that was just fine as we loved every bit of scenery! I like Pointe Noire but as everyone knows, port cities aren't just famous for their beauty so it was super fun to get out of the city and see some of the country. 

The party of four. 
Our bus for the ride home (the train continued on to Brazzaville, 
the capital, so we had to find alternate transportation!) 

And that about brings us up to this past weekend! The whole of last week was full of Easter activities. The International Lounge was completely stripped of chairs and transformed into the Garden of Gethsemane where crew could come and pray all night on Friday. On Sunday we woke up early to go to the sunrise service on deck 8, the top deck. We started singing in the dark and just as we were finishing up the service, the sun burst through the clouds! It was really beautiful. After the sunrise service, we met in the Starbucks cafe, where the dining room crew had laid out all some snacks to tide us over until brunch. I got to experience a hot cross bun for the first time and it was delicious! :) At 8:30 we had our Easter service and afterwards there was a big brunch in the dining room. The galley and dining room crews really outdid themselves this weekend; some of them were up at 3:00 to start cooking! I couldn't believe their level of service! 

Jordan and I went to the beach with some other families that afternoon and enjoyed a peaceful afternoon chatting, reading, napping, and playing in the waves. :) It was a gorgeous beach away from town so super peaceful and basically just perfect.



It's not every day that I watch the sunrise AND the sunset. :) 

And that is just a fraction of the stuff that happened last week to celebrate Easter. I love that there has been such an emphasis on Easter--it IS so much more than just a Friday night and Sunday morning! The Chaplaincy really outdid themselves in providing an environment for Jesus’ sacrifice to be remembered. I can definitely say this has been a favorite year! 

Last night we finished out the holiday weekend with an open cabin night. We made cinnamon rolls and (attempted to make) Red Lobster biscuits (you know, the real reason people go to Red Lobster), Chai, and iced tea. I love open cabin; you just open up your door and lots of people come by to chat and hang out! It was a perfect end to a perfect weekend. :)

In a little less than three weeks, we are getting some visitors!! Brian, Sandy, Luke, and Sara are coming to see us! We can barely contain our excitement--actually, we can't!! I don't think a day goes by that we don't mention it. :) So tag along if you'd like! We would love to host you all! :)