A Relaxing Weekend on the Ship

Saturday


On the weekends, breakfast is served from 7:30-9 during which you have to make and bag your lunch for the day. This gives the kitchen crew a break :)

I have met so many new people in the past 24 hours it is hard to keep track of everyone! Thank goodness for name tags!!! Saturday morning after breakfast I had a tour of the ship and then unpacked and organized my stuff. I met another one of my roommates, Hannah from England. She is a dental assistant and arrived last week. Her first week was spent off ship in a remote community where they slept in local hospital, so she had some very interesting stories!

A view of Freetown with lots of fishing boats

Fishing huts near the water

The freight yard. There is a wall of cargo boxes surrounding the ship.

The rest are being loaded and unloaded onto barges during the week.

Hannah with a little fishing boat in the background

We decided to take it easy and spend the afternoon at the pool. The pool is tiny but great! It almost feels like you are in a mini ocean because as the boat rocks so does the pool water. We caught some sun and had a very nice afternoon. As this is the beginning of the rainy season in Sierra Leone, there have been big storms every night. Last night was no exception. Hannah and I were in our room and we could feel the boat swaying back and forth. We went outside to see sheets of rain pouring down along with massive bolts of lightening. A dance party had been scheduled for that evening on one of the outside decks. Instead it was moved inside. We had a great time and it felt almost like home listening to Black Eyed Peas and Lady Gaga!

This morning I met some more nurses who work on the wards. One of them Timo (one of 2 male nurses on the ship) is a Dutchie from Holland. I told him that I will be finishing my trip by heading through Holland so he is going to try to teach me some Dutch while I am here! Another girl Sara came up to me and said I looked familiar... it turns out that Sara is Emilie's friend from work in Ottawa. She also goes to Church in Ottawa at the MET where Christina goes (I met Sara at Emilie's going away party and at a wine and cheese that Christina took me to when I was in Ottawa last year). What a small world!

This afternoon I am going to take it easy, do some reading, meet some more people, maybe go for a walk and sit by the pool again.

Take Care,
Karin