"Welcome to Madagascar!" "Mada-whoha?" "Not 'whoha', 'ascar'!"

   Well, I'm not in Madagascar, but I'm close! Well...not really, I'm actually on the complete other side of the continent, about 4,000 miles away (I don't have an exact mileage because Google maps can't find me a route, Madagascar is an Island).

   I am in Ponte-Niore, Congo.  I am currently sitting in the "Internet Lounge", there are 18 computers here, but there is wifi throughout the ship.

   I gotta tell ya, traveling for 24 hours will do it to ya.  And overnight flights are SO overrated. However, if you ever find yourself with a 10 hour layover (yes 10, no less.) in the Charles De Gualle Internatinal Airport, and you're in terminal K, around gate 33, you are in for a treat...they have an upright grand piano! And people are encouraged to "Share a Tune".

   So, in between watching movies on my new external hard drive with lots of movies and music already on it, I wonder how that happened? (Many, many thanks to Brekly and Ted for that! Seriously) Walking to and from the bathroom (I was making sure I stayed hydrated) and writing in my journal and praying, I definitely shared a few tunes. It was so fun!
  And since my flight was the only one scheduled to leave from that gate at 11:25pm, there weren't people around, thus, I didn't feel like I was bothering people who weren't there.
 
  I made it to the Africa! And let me tell you what! It is warm here! And humid, so basically it feels like Kentucky in the summertime. There was one other person from Mercy Ships on my flight, we met after we went through customs. Seriously, we didn't know that we both were going to Mercy Ships until we made it through customs and were waiting to be picked up.
 
 He is a Dentist from New Zealand, and he will be on the ship for about 2.5 months. Juan picked us up from the airport, he has been working with Mercy Ships for 6 years.
 
 It was about a 35 minute drive from the airport to the ship, it was some pretty good driving, and there was a lot of traffic. It was kind of like Atlanta, if Atlanta had sandy roads and no sidewalks or road dividers, and lots of taxis and people crossing the street.
 
 I filled out some paperwork and had my picture taken for a photo ID (what a great time for a picture to be taken!) and was given some brief safety instructions when we arrived on board.  I was showed to the mess hall where cereal, toast and hot chocolate waited us (Hadleigh, the New Zealand Dentist has been with me the whole time) then I was showed my room and the unpacking began!

  It really only took me an hour to unpack and put most everything away.  I met some of my roommates when I was unpacking, they are some pretty cool girls.  We didn't talk much as I was about to pass out from being so tired.  So I climbed into my bed (the top bunk) and fell asleep, fully clothed, with the lights on and girls laughing and talking.

 I slept for 4 hours I think. I had a meeting at 4:00pm, but Jesus woke me up at 3:00pm thankfully. Because I had not set an alarm.  I showered in 2 minutes, as this is the amount of time that is suggested you should need to take a shower (in what universe, I don't know).  I went back to the reception area and met my boss, the Purser, Lincoln.  He was really nice and asked if everything felt fuzzy and like it was moving. I answered in the affirmative, he said that was normal and that I just needed to make sure I get plenty of rest and stay hydrated. He also told me to take the weekend off and that I will start training on Monday.

 So I did just that, I went to my meeting, which was a tour of the ship. And yes, I got turned around; I'm still working on that. I ate supper and then watched a movie on Movie Night (the ship's version of Netflix) with some of my roommates and a few new friends.

  I was in bed and asleep by 10:15 I think.  I slept till about 8:00 this morning and slowly rolled out of bed, after hitting my head on the ceiling, and got dressed to go to breakfast.  I'm still feeling groggy and if I stop and stare out the window I feel like I'm going to fall over.

 On the weekends you pack your lunch at breakfast, because they don't serve lunch.  So I packed my lunch in my nifty lunch container (thank you Clara and Zach), and went up to deck 6 and had my quiet time.  Deck 6 has outside access, so I sat facing the side of the port that the city is on as apposed to the side of the port the ocean is on.  I also enjoyed playing my harmonica for a little while.  I'm not sure how much other people enjoyed it though. haha

 Well, I am super tired, so I am going to go take a nap. I will try to figure out the best way to post pictures until then, You can Google pictures of Mercy Ships and the Congo!