Back on the Ship

Upon arrival in the Cotonou international airport I was met with one of the new biggest challenges for me, the language barrier. I was however able to get through passport control and customs with no problems after finding workers who spoke some English as well as some made up sign language. I made it to the luggage pick up point and stood and watched the conveyor belt go round and round with luggage on it until eventually i was one of only a few people left in the room and they stopped the belt moving, my luggage had obviously not made it. I was then approached by a French man who's luggage had not made it either and he spoke some English and asked me about mine and then we proceeded to go and find someone to tell about our problem. After we found the right person he was busy with something else so we sat and waited for a while until he was ready then he took our detail we put in a luggage claim with the airline and he said it should be here on Sunday. After that because I had decided to come in on a flight arriving at 5.30am which is outside the Mercy Ships recommended travel time I had to sit and wait until 8am for someone to come and pick me up.

When I got to the ship it was great to see some familiar faces, although there are a whole lot of new people on board there seemed to be a never ending amount of people I would run into and have all kinds of different reactions of shock, surprise and happiness to see that I was back on board. I went to my new cabin which is actually next door to the one I used to live in which is great because some of my old cabin mates are still there. I am in a 4 birth cabin (a cabin for 4 people) and I have 2 American roommates and one Ghanaian roommate. The rest of my morning on the ship I spent walking around stopping in on peoples offices and saying hi and getting my legal embarkation papers signed by all the necessary departments. Then it came time for lunch time and well I must say meal times were always one of my favourite times on the ship. I mean sure I like food and all but that isn't the only reason, its because I always had some of the best conversations and catch up times at meals and some of my most memorable moments happened around the table. And at that point sitting back in the dinning room I am sorry to say to my family but I felt It's good to be home (which is a good thing because it is my home for at lest the next 2 years).