So one stage of my life is over and
another has begun. I am now sitting comfortably in a faux heated room
in Colorado, USA. Yes, I am home again. Funny that, I keep referring
to the ship as home and have to change my wording mid word. It's very
different. Traffic is no longer crawling at an aged tortoises pace,
and I've slept in a bed in the basement alone. Last night I had to
turn on an outside light on so I could sleep without getting scared.
I'm not used to sleeping alone. Of course, part of that is because I
watched Criminal Minds at
around twelve in the morning. Ooops. Still,
I find myself listening in the darkness for the noises of incoming
criminals. Silly me.
It's
also expensive. I spent over a hundred dollars on clothes today (I
really needed clothes). I about fainted at the cashier's counter. I
see a lot of that happening in my future, what with college and an
apartment. Yep, I'm moving into my own apartment on the seventh to be
shared with my cousin and a friend of hers.
Ok, so
enough with that. What did I do on my last few weeks in Africa. I
worked. A lot. I no longer worked at reception my last two weeks, as
my replacement was by that point trained. But I did do some freelance
ship work. I helped the off Ships team pack up, the sales team do
what they needed to do, and Becca get ready for her wedding. That
really isn't all that much. In all reality I only helped the off
ships team one very sweaty back breaking day, and the sales staff for
two days. The rest of the two weeks was getting ready to leave and
helping Becca. But believe me adding on the fact that I needed to say
goodbye to so many friends, it adds up to a lot.
Mercy
Ships has been amazing. Not so much because it's in Africa but
because it is a community of believers who work together to serve
God. I loved that. I loved going Salsa dancing, exploring, impromptu
bands, and everything else that went with being with a large group of
people on a large ship. It became home.
On my
way home, I stopped off to visit my sister in England for two weeks.
We had a lot of fun. At one point we saw Les Misrables (amazing) and
on the way back I broke down in tears because I had to convince my
mind that no we were not getting into a land rover and heading back
to the ship.
England
was nice though. I stayed in London for a few days, and we went to a
modern art museum, a gypsy market, and of course the theatre. After
that we left for Sheffield, my sister's home. Now, the English who
read this may wonder what could I ever do in Sheffield, but I wasn't
there to get the cultural, touristy experience. I went to get to know
my sister and her world more. I haven't spent time alone in her world
in a very long time. I learned a lot!
It was
fun.
So
yah, now I'm here and for any Mercy Shipper reading this: I miss you
a lot!
