appelsbosch

a little more about the campus. some of this is from the friends who have lived here all along and are telling everyone with t-shirts emblazoned "i survived the bosch". some of it is from my first week here.

estelle "it's what i think living in a cloud would be like". the campus is located in a hilly area and mists often settle around it. the last three days have been grey, with a constant fine mist wetting everything and everyone who is outside, and actual mist clouds surrounding and blocking views at times. it is cool (although that to me is a welcome relief from the humidity/heat blanket that sat on us on sunday).

dorms...you know, i didn't even do the dorm thing when i went to university so doing it now is a bit interesting. thankfully, i have a single room (a luxury considering on ship i will share with 3 other ladies). there are toilets and showers on each floor but they are shared so you may be brushing your teeth when someone walks out of the toilet stall behind you. not as bad in the girls only dorm or boys only dorm as the family/couple dorms where you may have some guy wander out of the toilet while you're brushing your teeth.

water...when i first arrived, we were on a bit of a restriction as the area was having to divert water away from the hospital to the campus (hmmmm, the nurse in me doesn't like that even if it meant no shower for me). this has been an ongoing struggle for those who've been here the last many months when there would be days without water. in fact, in the galley/dining room, we had to fill large vats of water in case the water should go out again so we would have water to cook with and drink. but, it has been running well since the first few days of my time here.

internet...sluggish and occasionally just doesn't work. nothing new there really.

bugs...i think i acquired 10 mosquito bites the first night, all on my left side. and over the days a few more bites, not all mosquitoes. there are bugs around called termites that swarm occasionally. in the few moments it took to close my windows the other night, we had 5 come in. which was 5 too many but apparently only a minor swarm. they come in and shed their wings and mate and crawl around. the next morning lots of wings littered the corridors. not a fan of those things for sure.

other aspects are similar to ship life or community living minus the constant hum of the generators in the background or the gentle rocking. tuesday morning and thursday evening meetings. hanging out in central area (gym here, mid-ships on-board) to access internet or play games. gathering in someone's room/cabin to watch a video. dining at the same time every meal with people who you wouldn't see in the "real world" like your next-door neighbor or your friend's kid's teacher or the banker.

from my friends' blogs/newsletters/emails, in the first few months, they were very isolated here. not able to get out and about and adding in the frustrations with internet and water and decreased crew, it was the struggles of "missional" living without the benefits of actually being involved with the local culture. although the restrictions have largely lifted and especially with the daily trips to the ship for preparation for moving back on board, it isn't quite the same frustration but there are many here who are burnt out and just done. i don't have that same frustration but i am with them on saying i can't wait to get back on ship. (of course since everything isn't quite up and running, when we get back to the ship, it will be interesting but more about that once i've experienced it ;-) hehehe)

africa again, the first week

I’m back in Africa! Because of the delays with the generator replacement, the ship is still docked in Durban, South Africa and I am living with many of the crew at an unused teacher’s college called Appelsbosch about an hour and a half drive from the ship. We are still unsure of when we will return to the ship and when we will sail towards Sierra Leone. This means many of us who are generally in the hospital, which is closed until we get to Sierra Leone, have been involved in cleaning the ship in preparation for the crew to return and also moved to different jobs at Appelsbosch. I spent my first few days after arriving taking it easy so as to get over the upper respiratory infection and jet lag. Tuesday after I arrived was my first journey back to the ship with all the cleaning crew. It was so good to see “home” even if I’m not yet living there. And then, the fun began =) Tuesday and Wednesday I was on cleaning crews working throughout the ship doing various fun jobs such as washing the walls, wiping down chairs, stripping and waxing floors. It was a hot, dirty and smelly job. And the start and end of each day involved the 90 minute drive back and forth from the campus. And unfortunately, my motion sickness isn’t relegated just to sailing so each day started and finished with some motion sickness. Because the work was progressing well for the cleaning crews on ship, my boss moved me to the dining room crew at the campus so I could miss out on the 3 hour transit/motion sickness time. So, for our time here at Appelsboch, I will be working in the dining room.

I have always known it was a hard job but have a new respect for both the dining room crew and galley crew. Imagine getting up at minimum an hour before the rest of the crew arrives for breakfast to set out food and fill water/juice/milk tanks. When the crew arrives, then you have to keep the food topped off, dishes washed, water/juice/milk filled, check on the coffee and tea supplies, check on the condiments. Now the crew leaves for work and the galley crew arrives to start getting ready for lunch as the dining room crew continues to clean up after breakfast—wipe down all surfaces for food, wipe down tables, clean toaster, restock water/juice, sweep and begin the mopping process that will take all week to get through the entire dining room. Then, the dining room crew gets an hour break before coming back and setting up lunch that the galley crew has been putting together. It’s lunchtime, and now time to repeat the keeping food topped up, dishes washed, etc. Lunch is over, clean up again. This time there is a 3 hour break before dinner and then the fun begins all over. The galley staff has been working this whole time to prepare food for the evening and often end up cooking through the dinner time and just eating as they go. Although I got several thank you’s because it isn’t my normal job, I know it is often a thankless job—people who don’t like what has been cooked complain, dishes don’t get washed fast enough and someone has to wait on a clean plate, or food isn’t quite ready because of the way the crew comes in spurts and someone has to wait. The staff become part of the furnishings—crew drop off their plates for washing up without even noticing there is a person in the room. So, my hats off to the dining room and galley staff. I have gained a new respect for how hard you work and will enjoy my brief sojourn here in this department.

There are pictures around somewhere of the hard work but I don’t have them yet. Hopefully I’ll be able to add some later on so you can appreciate the work in photos.