Sailing

Sailing, Sailing to Tenerife. with Christ in the vessel we can smile at the storm, smile at the storm as we go sailing to Tenerife.

Sorry for my poor effort at rewording a song to make it fit my current situation, but it really does. We have been having a fantastic time at sea, with clam waters and great weather and even got to smile at a storm as we passed by it a few days ago when we were able to see a water spout (tornado at sea) just a few hundred meters from the ship.

We left the port of Cotonou, Benin on time at around 10.30am on the 8th and set sail for our next destination of Tenerife. This was no mean feat as in the days leading up to our departure there had been alot of last minute things going wrong and needing to be fixed, there was work that needed to be done on the engines and even our radar system was waiting for a part to come the night before we sail it was flown in. So thank you to everyone who has been praying for us, because if everything hadn't fallen into place just right then we could still be stuck in Cotonou waiting to leave.

The sail has been going great and I have been shocked with how calm it is and how little the ship is rocking compared to my past experience on board while sailing. We have been blessed to see all sorts of Gods wonder in nature, I feel like he is throwing something new at us almost every day. From the water spout I mentioned earlier, to dolphins, to whales, to flying fish, to a meteor shower and to top it off some of the most amazing sunsets you will ever see. I can truly say my God is an awesome God.

The sail has been a time where I have felt relaxed and rested but also it has still been a time of work as I have been finishing up and closing out some things from our time in Benin for accounting and as I prepare to hand over the job for when I go on holidays to visit my brother in just 4 days.

here are some pics of what I have seen on the sail, enjoy.

Water Spout

Dolphin playing
Flying Fish
(these are my favourite and yes the actually fly the don't just jump really far like I thought)
Hammer Head Shark
Amazing Sunset
Another Amazing sunset
This one looks like it has a face

If you couldn't tell just by looking at them none of these photos where taken by me, its good to have really talented friends.

Just a "quick" trip to Togo

On Tuesday I had the opportunity to join a convoy of some of 9 of the Mercy Ships owned vehicles that would be driving to Togo to leave the vehicles there for when we arrive in Togo in February. Of course not having been to Togo yet and wanting to see where the ship would be next year I jumped at the chance to go. So we had everything ready to go we had 9 drivers who all had the right paperwork and visas to get across the boarder and back. We even had 2 mechanics and a bunch of spare parts just in case.

You may ask why would we drive these cars to Togo and just leave them there for a few months when we could fit them on the top of the ship and take them with us to Tenerife. Well you see the thing is the cars that we took at the oldest ones in the Mercy Ships fleet and are at the point of after been battered around in West Africa for long enough that there is no way we could get them to pass any inspection to be able to drive them in Tenerife so if we took them with us it would just be taking some extra weight.

So now that you know the condition of the vehicles we were driving is not the best, you can imagine the inevitable happened. about 1.5 hours into our trip we had our first break down. The Land Rover we call the Ambulance suddenly started making a high pitched squealing noise out of the front left wheel and we knew that the wheel bearing was gone. So the whole convoy pulled over as we didn't want to leave anyone behind along the way. So the Mechanics and a couple of others set about replacing the wheel bearing (luckily we had 4 spare with us). This took about 30-40 mins and then we were back on the road again. Not much more than 15 mins later though it happened again, same car, same wheel. We weren't really sure what happened to make it break so fast, but all we new was that what was a brand new wheel bearing 15mins earlier was now nothing but a small pile of scraps of metal been pulled out. So this time the mechanics set about pulling apart the entire wheel section of the Land Rover and cleaning it out and rebuilding it piece by piece. There were a couple of resourceful local guys to came to watch to helped us out by getting us a hammer and chisel we needed as well as a few small metal rods and some wire to replace the parts we didn't have (a real good African fix). I would say about another 45 mins we spent doing this and then we were back on the road again and all the cars were driving well.

We finally made it to the boarder much later than we had intended and proceeded to spend a bit over an hour there getting our passports stamped and the vehicles approved to go across. After getting through the boarder we were on the final stretch to Lome the capital of Togo. We arrived finally at 4.30 in the afternoon after leaving at 10am and made our way past the port and stopped in at a restaurant to grab some food as we had planned to be there for lunch we were all quiet hungry. While we were eating the advance team from the ship who have been living in Togo getting things ready for when we come, met up with us. They then took us about another 30 mins away to a AOG compound where we left the vehicles to be stored until the ship arrives. We then went to the hotel where the advance team is staying and picked up a Land Rover to drive home in and we keep one of the ones we took across. We had a good bit of fun on the way back as we had a radio in both cars and were about to talk to each other and keep ourselves entertained for a while.

The trip back was much less eventful as everything went smoothly even the boarder crossing. We made good time all the way and got back to the ship a bit after 11pm. So all in all it was a good fun day, but a long day.

Remember, Remember the 5th of November

For those of you who don't understand what I am talking about in my title please click on this link Guy Fawkes Night.

Last Thursday the 5th of November after work myself and a friend of mine Sarah set out on a mission in town to see if we could find some sparklers or fireworks or anything to do with fire and is pretty to look at really. So we set out on my vespa and stopped in at several small shops that looked like they might have some sparklers or at lest a party section. And then there they were in this one shop actually not that far from the ship they had both sparklers as well as these small flare type fireworks as well.

We returned triumphantly to the ship and made plans for all the British as well as some commonwealth countries to meet on the dock at 9pm to celebrate. We had quite a gathering out on the dock with plenty of people wanting to come celebrate so we barely had enough sparklers to go round. We ran into a small problem though when it came to lighting the sparklers. We held them over the open flame of a cigarette lighter but because the humidity was so high it just would not light any of them. So we turned out focus to the 3 small fireworks we had bought and not really knowing what they would do as we could not read the packet we all stood back as one of them was lit to see what it would do. It shot a bright flame about 4 inches in the air and burned for about 30 seconds before running out of fuel. So after this test we knew what they would do so I went up and lit the next one and then stood close enough to light my sparkler off of it. It worked and then it was a mad dash from everyone to get theirs lit from mine and we all had fun as we were taken back to our childhoods withe fun and the bright lights of the sparklers. We then finished off the short evening with the last firework which suitably burned higher and longer than the first 2.

Some people had more imagination than others (note the scarf)

Me lighting the second firework

There it goes

Everyone enjoying their sparklers.

Why I work for Mercy Ships

A friend of mine sent me these questions so she could use my responses in a talk she is doing and seeing the questions made me think of answers I thought I would post them here.

How and when did you first hear of Mercy Ships?
A friend of mine Kat Stout was a nurse on the Anastasis for 5 months and she told me all about it.
Why did you decide to join the crew?
I have always had an interest in Medical things, but never wanted to go into it as a field and recently before hearing of Mercy Ships I had been feeling an urge to go on a ship and had been looking at OM ships, but then Mercy Ships just fit me better
What did you plan on doing on the ship? What are you doing now?
I originally planned on been an assistant cook on board working in the ships Galley. However not too long after arriving I found myself been stretched as I learnt alot taking on the role of cooking team leader in the Galley. I did that for a year before leaving as my time serving was up, but later decided to return and since returning I have worked in the sales department helping to provide the essentials as well as a few extra luxuries for the crew, working in the ship shop and helping run the cafe. Most recently though I have been thrown (willingly) into a whole nother role entirely. I have taken on the role as one of the accountants onboard the ship for the rest of the year. I have no formal training for this but have a head for numbers so I am feeling stretched but learning alot. I take care of all the business transactions of the ship and transfers between US$ and the local currency as well as looking after the payroll for some of our locally employed staff such as translators.
How long have you been on the ship? How long do you plan on staying?
I have been onboard the ship for a total of 19 months over a time period of just over 2 years and at the moment do not know when I will be leaving, so I will keep working till that day comes.
What is your favorite part of Mercy Ship/ being a part of the crew?
I would have to say the community, it isn't the best point for everyone but I just love it. The fact that I am living on a ship with 400 other people from over 30 different nationalities and cultures and yet it somehow works. I like that there is always a friend around when you need one or someone to support you when you are down. And the crazy fun stuff you can get up to in you time off.
If there was one thing you'd like people to understand/know about Mercy Ships what would it be?
The fact that although Mercy Ships is a great organisation that’s main focus is Medical work with surgery there are opportunities for people with a whole range of talents and skills to come and get involved and play a role in helping support the doctors and nurses get there work done. The fact that without the non-medical staff there is no way that Mercy Ships would work at all.
What are a few of the lessons (if any) you have learned on/about Mercy Ships/mission work?
I have learnt to be aware of cultural differences even more than I was before and that to make any lasting change you need to work at the base of the problem and not just focus on the end result. Not only that, but changing the smallest thing in someone’s life such as a simple corrective surgery can drastically impact someone’s life here for the better.

80's Party

This Saturday just gone by some of my friends here on the ship decided that it would be a good idea to throw an 80’s dance party just because we could. A fair bit of work went into the planning and advertising of the party mainly by my friend Meg. There was an emphasis in the advertising put on the fact that everyone coming needed to try and dress up as “80s” as possible. Now been in a West African country this is not as hard as you might think with there been loads on cheap cloths in the second hand market in town (a lot of which probably are from the 80s) and also there is a boutique on the ship full of people old unwanted cloths free for the taking.

The party kicked off at about 7.30 and we had it up on deck 8 of the ship which is the top deck out in the open so we wouldn’t disturb too many people. There weren’t many people there to start with but once the music was going and some people started making idiots of them selves on the dance floor, people started showing up and really getting into it. The costumes that people (mainly girls to be honest) came up with were amazing and you could really see the people that enjoyed dressing up.

All up it was a great evening and people had loads of fun and we will defiantly have to do something similar again.

Football Match

Last Sunday was quiet an experience for some of us from the ship. A group of what ended up been about 45 of us decided we would go to cheer on the country of our current residency Benin as they played in a world cup qualifier game against Mali. I would have to say the Mali with a few more well known players than Benin would have to be the favourites in my book, but it was a do or die situation with both teams needing a win so it made for an exciting game.

The day started with us going to get tickets for everyone in the morning to make sure we got in before they sold out. There were 3 options in tickets a 1000CFA, 2000CFA and 5000CFA(460CFA = $1), we were told by a local driver who was taking us to pick up the tickets that the 1000 and 2000CFA tickets were the same the only difference was that one cost more and then the 5000CFA ticket got you a nicer seat in a sheltered area. So we bought a bunch of both tickets with some people wanting to the cheaper option and some wanting the nicer seats.

We went back to the ship and handed out the tickets and went about our days before gathering together at 1pm to head to the game. We hired a few local mini buses to take us to the stadium and made sure we left early knowing that the traffic would be bad and the line to get into the stadium would also be bad. After getting in we sat and waited for the match to start as the stadium rapidly filled up. We were easy to spot in the crowd a bunch of Yovos (white people) all sitting in a row in Benin supporter shirts.

For most of the match it wasn’t very exciting football although the atmosphere in the crowd was great. With about 10 mins to go though Mali scored a goal and then things got a bit exciting. Benin was doing all they could to try and get the scores back level but to no avail. Until just before the game finished Benin managed to get the goal and the stadium erupted with cheers from the crowd. The game ended in a draw 1-1 and now you would think this would be the best fair outcome, but what it means is now both Benin and Mali have no chance to qualify for the world cup.

Fire Drill Training

Well First off I am going to make an apology for my lack of blogging well that is if there is anyone still checking this almost dormant blog I am apologising to you.

Thursday last week we had a fire drill here on the ship. Now that is not at all an uncommon thing as we generally have a drill every fortnight (or 2 weeks for those who don't know what that means). This drill however was different because A. it was in the morning and most of our drills are in the afternoon, and B. we didn't simulate a fire instead those of us on the fire teams got to have a go at using some of our special equipment that we have heard and talked about but never used.

Some of the equipment we tested includes the foam dispensing nozzle and the container penetrating nozzle, as seen below. The foam nozzle is very good for laying down a blanket over the fire and suffocating it out and the container penetrating nozzle as the name suggests is great for penetrating through the side of a shipping container or even a thin wall in the ship and putting out the fire without having to open the door to the space. After we had tested and learnt how to use both the nozzles we did a test that no one was sure would work we tried pumping foam liquid through the container penetrating nozzle to see if it would be a possibility in a real situation with great success.

Foam dispensing nozzle
Container penetrating nozzleShooting the foam dispensing nozzle

Using a sledge hammer to poke the nozzle through a practice wall
How the nozzle works once its gone through the wall
Testing if the penetrating nozzle works with foam (success!)
Shooting foam over the side of the ship into the wind.

Generators

One thing I would like to bring up that is needed here on the ship is the fact that we are in need of some new generators to replace the ones we currently have, which we are constantly having problems with. The way things are set up in the engine room on the ship is there are 2 large generators which we call the harbour generators and then there are 4 smaller generators called the Fricks generators (spelling probably wrong). In order to have enough power to run everything on the ship we have to run 3 out of the 4 Fricks generators or the 2 harbour generators or a combination of both. Now we don't have any major problems with the harbour generators, but the Fricks have been giving us lots of problems. So why not just run the harbour generators you may ask well you see the problem is that the harbour generators while running cause alot of noise and vibration through some of the hospital wards and even some of the operating theaters. So therefore we try and run the fricks generators as much as possible so that none of the hospital needs to be shut down. Except when we have problems with the fricks we need to run the harbours and thus the hospital is not going at its full potential. So the plan you see is that we are hopefully going to get 4 new generators to replace the fricks, about the same size but slightly more powerful so that it only takes 2 of them running to power the ship and then the other 2 can be on standby and maintenance. The plan was to hopefully do the change at the end of this year, but due to lack of funding it has been postponed until hopefully the end of next year, because it is quiet a process as a hole needs to be cut in the side of the ship to get the generators in and out. So I would ask that you pray for this, That the money would come in over the next year so that this generator switch is possible and also pray that the generators last for another year without giving us too many problems and don't hinder the running of the hospital at all.

A new means of Transport

Well I have done it what mum probably never really wanted me to do even in Australia because its too dangerous, I have bought a motorbike. Well not a motorbike exactly more of a scooter or moped really, in fact its a Italian made 1982 Vespa 150cc. You may ask why this rather strange choice of bike. Well there are a few reasons the main one been the person who owns the other half of the bike only wanted to get a vespa and nothing else, and then there is the fact that they are very well built and reliable I mean there are lots of 1960s vespas on the streets here. The only other real choice unless u want to spend alot of money is to get a cheap Chinese made bike that are everywhere but are known for breaking down. We got the bike for US$600 so my half was $300 and I am quiet happy with it at the moment. I got the bike mainly to help with getting around town as there are not taxis everywhere like Liberia and I am unable to drive the ships vehicles due to been underage for the insurance.


On this Saturday just gone by I got to give the bike a good test out as I went on a bit of spontaneous bike cruise. I was sitting in the dinning room just eating some lunch and one of the other guys that owns a bike came up to me and asked me if I was interested in going for a ride to Porto Novo which is the capital of Benin. I said sure why not I didn't have any other plans. So at 1 o'clock we gathered together 4 bikes in all and set out on our road trip adventure. It was great fun riding up the highway to Porto Novo and really getting to test out the vespa fully and I must say I was impressed with her. I was able to keep up with the other 3 bikes without too much effort at all and it was great just feeling the wind in my face cruising along the highway (although next time some sun screen for my face would be good as I forgot this time and regretted it a little). Once we got to Porto Novo we took a short break and then proceeded to drive around the streets all over the city just looking around. It was a lot of fun and we got a lot of strange looks and shouts our group of Yovo's (white people) on bikes just riding around. We had a great day and ended up been out for about 5 hours which is the longest I have ever spent on a bike, but the vespa was surprisingly comfortable for such a long ride.

meeting Ambrose

First of all I would like to say sorry for my period of silence. I don't have a good excuse for not writing so I won't give one.
I have been well, as you may remember I gave blood not long ago, well I thought I would follow up with the rest of the story.
You may recall that I had struggled a bit with giving blood as I was less than sufficiently hydrated. You also may remember that I was videoed a bit for a documentary, but it seems that I missed out the fact that there was also a photographer there taking pics for the ships communication department (they write stories about the crew and patients on board). Well this photographer came up to me at work about a week later and asked if I would be willing to come down to the ward and have my pic taken with Ambrose who was the one who received my blood. I was one of eight people to had donated blood to Ambrose so he had lost alot in surgery and it was good to see the end result that all the cysts had been removed and he could now use his right arm again. I posed for a photo with him and then sat and talked with him for a while through a translator, it was good to just get to see and meet the person that I had given some of my own blood too.

A Short Sail

Well this Saturday just gone by we packed up the ship and decided to go on a short pleasure sail......

Well not exactly, what really happened was we needed to get some fuel for the ship so we can run the engines and generators and power everything on the ship. The good news is that compared to Liberia there is actually a ship refueling station here in the Cotonou port, but the bad news is that we have to move to get the fuel where as in Liberia a tanker ship would come to us.

So it couldn't really be called a sail because we went such a short distance and most of the way we were been pulled by tug boats. But I would have to say that it defiantly benefited alot of people. We spent the night there and came back the next days so all the technical crew could put it down as sea time for their log books. Then also there are all the short term crew that otherwise would never get to experience sailing on this ship because we sail so rarely, and especially there are some crew such as doctors that come really regularly to the ship and have done for years but may have never gotten to sail with it get to experience it as well.

Giving Blood

It was my first full day of work because I had only done a half day before because of my knee. We had just finished work for the day and one of that ladies I work with just came up from giving blood and she is the same blood type as me so I wondered why they hadn't called me because I was on the list. Then I walked past reception and the receptionist called out to me and said the lab needed to see me straight away and I knew it was for my blood. So I rushed down to the lab as fast as I could, where Sarah one of the lab techs and a fellow Australian saw me and took me straight into the ward to start taking my blood. I walked into the room to find there were some others already in there giving blood, one of whom is a nurse but they were having problems getting the needle in her veins so it took 5 tries but they got it. There was also a photographer and a video camera (not a little hand held one but a bigger portable movie making one) in the room also and I later found out it was because the patient we were giving blood for is been operated on by a surgeon that is having a documentary made about him.

They came to get my blood and the needle went in ok (and what a needle it is its a 14 gauge needle they use for those of you out there that know what that is) and my blood started flowing fine. Then there was a bit of a problem. my blood started coming out slower and slower and then eventually just stopped all together(I later worked out it was because I wasn't hydrated enough because I hadn't really had very much to drink all day). After it stopped I started to feel sick in the stomach and was sweating alot and they said I looked really pale. I had no idea what was wrong at this point because this had never happened to me before when giving blood. So i lay back and just prayed for a few minutes while the nurse tried moving the needle around in my arm to get the blood flowing again. Then all of a sudden just like that it started coming again and they brought me a sprite to help me feel better. I was able to just make it past the minimum amount before it stopped flowing again, which I am so glad and thankful to God for because If I had not made the minimum they would have had to just throw it out and not use it.

I then rested a bit before going and having some food and drink some more. The next day the videographer came up to me and asked if I could answer a few questions for the film so we sat down and she filmed me while asking the usual "how did it feel" questions. So I guess I am going to be in the Documentary then.

changing jobs

Well This has come sooner than I thought it would, but I have just gotten back into the swing of things in the Galley and I am changing jobs already. This has always been the plan except I wasn't supposed to change until later in next month. Although the job I have changed to which is working in the sales department will be understaffed very soon with people leaving and others going on holidays so they wanted to train me up before we were understaffed. What is the sales department you may ask, well basically put we are the department that sells stuff to the crew. We run a shop on board as well as a snack bar and a cafe. The shop is a place of constantly changing stock that we get shipped in from the USA and Holland. We sell things like cooking and baking supplies for the crew that may not like what is served in the dinning room or maybe just love to bake, toiletries such as toilet paper, toothpaste, shampoo etc, mercy ships clothing and many other things. The snack bar and the cafe on the other hand is more of a luxury for the crew so they can get a cold soft drink and a snack or maybe a nice coffee at a decent price and we are open when most of the crew take their break time in the morning and afternoon. More than just running these 3 places working in the sales department also includes a lot of time spent stocking up and working in the store rooms down on deck 2 and also alot of work when new shipping containers come to be unloaded.

So far I am really enjoying it but I am also sad that I am no longer working in the Galley, I enjoy both jobs but it is unfortunately not possible for me to do both at once and working in Sales will hopefully allow me to get more involved with other things on and off the ship.

A little Slip up

On Monday I was at work in the Galley, it was just another normal day at work and we had almost finished getting dinner ready and sent down to the dinning room. I realised that I needed to go and get some aprons I had been washing from the laundry so I went to walk out of the hot prep side of the Galley like I have done hundreds of times before, except this time I hit a bit of water on the ground as I rounded the corner and both my feet went flying out from under me and I landed heavily on my left knee cap. I sprung back to my feet straight away hoping that no one had seen me, but everyone had so I continued on to pick up the laundry. I limped there and limped back and when I got back it was really starting to hurt so I went for my dinner break thinking some rest would do it good before coming back to clean up. I went and sat in the dinning room with my friends 2 of which at the table are nurses. Then when I went to get up after dinner I tried to stand on my left leg and found it was too painful to even put any pressure on my left knee at all. So my great friends sprung into action and in no time my knee was strapped I had ice on it and another friend had gone and gotten me a pair of crutches. So I spent the rest of the evening getting used to using crutches on the ship with all the stairs we have while also answer the same question a thousand times "Tim, what happened to you?". The next day I went to the crew doctor to find out how bad it was and I was happy to hear that it was just bruised and I needed to keep off it for a couple of days. So after 2 days of been on crouches I got the ok to stop using them and since then I have just been taking it a bit easy on my kneed and now the only time I am still noticing it is when I am using the stairs (which is actually fairly often).

Easter weekend

Well as probably most all of you know it was Easter weekend last weekend just past. I really enjoy times like this on the ship because they really make an effort to make it a special time of celebration. We had a 4 day weekend on the ship over Easter to that people could take a break and enjoy the celebration or as alot of the West African crew did as well as some others go home for the weekend.

For those that stay on the ship over the weekend there is a Friday morning service with a showing of The Passion of the Christ in the evening. Then on Sunday there is a sunrise service up on the top deck of the ship followed by a big brunch put on by the Galley and then in the evening there is a service followed by and open house night. They way the open house works is people volunteer to open up their cabins for anyone to come and have a look and they usually have something to eat and drink in there as well and you can go around all the different cabins that are open and meet the people and also see all the different sorts of cabins and how people decorate from family cabins to couples cabins to even single berth cabins.

There were also other small events going on every night of the week leading up to the Easter weekend as well so the Chaplains really do a great job of organising the whole thing.

Abomey

This past weekend I went away for one night with a few friends to a town about 3 hours up country called Abomey. Abomey is a town rich in history and stories and interesting places to see. We left on Friday morning been driven by one of my new friends John, he is a day volunteer worker on the ship and is from Benin and he offered to help show us around and translate a bit for us. Once there we went and met John's sister in law at her house which is where John had organised for us to have our meals while we where away. Her name is Clementine and she has 2 sons Mike and Jeff, but her husband is away the Ivory Coast working. It was really easy to see how deeply rooted into society that women are worth less than men still just by the fact that John who is a Christian didn't even know Clementine's name and just referred to her as "Mama Jeff" (Jeff's mother).

After our quick visit we set off to see what we thought would be one of the main attractions of town, the old palace. Well I don't know how many places would class this place as a palace, it is an old mud building with a large courtyard and a big mud wall around it, but none the less it is the palace of the king of Benin. The king these days is more of just a figure head and hasn't really had any power in the country since the French invaded and took over. Even so we felt very honoured to get to met the king and have an audience with him that resulted in about a 45min conversation on the different countries the 4 of us were from as well as several other interesting topics. And was followed by a photo session with the King (which is apparently usually not allowed at all, but he liked us) followed by the exchanging of email addresses (so he can invite us the next time he has a big celebration). We said goodbye to the king and headed on our way and went off to see a big statue in the center of town, the statue is of one of the former kings named Behanzin and he was ruling the country at the time of the French invation. The way the story that we were told goes, the king stood up to the French as they tried to enter Abomey and he held up his hand and because he was so powerful everyone stopped, even the French. But he was eventually captured and the French took over. After that we went to see one of the few world heritage listed sights in West Africa, it is a very old large wall that used to surround the residence of a king and is made from mud and human blood. It wasn't that much to look at but after hearing the story behind it I was in awe and a bit shocked by it.

We then headed back to Clementine's house to find a ready made meal of delicious local style food. We ate and hung out for a bit and after working out which local hotel would give us the best deal we went and called it a night.

The next day we headed out with the aim to take it a bit easy and see an underground village in the area. Now this was a place that John didn't know so we went to see one of his Brothers who has a friend who is an English teacher in a local school and they came with us to help translate and show us around. The underground village was really cool to go and see although there was a definite Voodoo presence there. The way the village was set up is there are a whole lot of underground rooms with several other rooms connected on, but none of the main sections were connected so it was about 4 rooms together all on their own. They say that the underground village was only recently discovered when they were building a road along side where the village is and they think there are about 1600 small rooms but they haven't yet found them all.

So all in all it was a good weekend where I learned alot about Benin's history and a bit about its culture. And also it was great to just get away from the hussle and bussle of Cotonou and see a bit of the beautiful country side.

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).

London

Well London Is the last stop on my round about way to Africa. After having a few problems with phones I met up with my friend Colin who I had just met at Gateway and we headed back to his place where I was staying. He lives in probably one of the nicest parts of London, in Wimbledon with a nice big part near by and almost like a smaller town sort of vibe. On Saturday we headed into town to Hide Park where we met up with some other friends of mine I had met on the ship, Grace, Hannah and Natalie. We had a picnic lunch together and then just hung out and walked through the park and stopped for a cup of tea (so British). We eventually headed our separate ways and Colin proceeded to take me on a quick tour of all the touristy sites. We went past Buckingham Palace, Big Ben (Colin's favorite), Parliament building, Trafalgar square, the London eye and a few others. We then walked down the south side to Waterloo, to this little hole in the wall cafe that Colin knew about where they were having an open mic night and had some really good musicians and singers there. The thing that surprised both Colin and I was the amount of Christians in this place, it seemed like almost everyone we met and talked to in there was a Christian. So we had a great night listening to good music and having some great conversations.

The next day we had a bit of a lie in and then went to see Colin's parents as it was mother's day in England, we then just hung out for the afternoon before going to church. Then on Monday Colin had to go to a course for his work all day, so I decided to head over to Gerrards Cross to a place called Bulstrode Manor which is where the office for the mission organisation called WEC my parents work for and also where some friends of mine used to live is. It was a bit wet out that way but it was good to be able to see the beautiful old building and the surrounding grounds again, the last time I was there was when I was 5 so I didn't remember too much.

On Tuesday I decided to go and visit my friend Jon up north in Preston and stay the night up there (Yes yet another last minute travel arrangement change). So I caught the bus up there it was a bout a 6 hour trip and then met up with Jon and just hung out for the afternoon/evening it was great to catch up a bit. That night we went to one of his friends houses who is a Film student and had access to some movie that wasn't even out in the Cinemas yet so we watched that. Its called Geneva and is a bit of a strange movie because as far as I could see it didn't really have any story line and no real ending, but you can't complain when its free I guess. The next day Jon roped me into helping him out with handing out some fliers at his university for an upcoming event the Christian university group was putting on. It actually turned out to be good fun once I got the hang of what to say to get people to take the flier, but defiantly a new experience for me. Then in the afternoon we met up with a bunch of Jon's friends and went to the local Chinese buffet and stuffed ourselves. It was pretty good food although I must say only in England with you find a Chinese buffet that does fish and chips.

I then caught my bus back to London and hung out with him for the evening. then this morning we said our goodbyes as he went his course and I stayed to start packing before catching a train to the airport, which is where I am now writing this so the next time you will hear from me I will be in Benin (well hopefully at lest).

Philadelphia

Well guess what I had yet another last minute change to my travel schedule and decided to go down to Philadelphia for the day after I realised how close it was to New York. I caught the train down and was picked up at the station by my friend Megan and she then set about giving me the Philly tour. Our first port of call was to a little local restaurant to get a real “Philly” cheese steak, which was actually the first one I have ever had and I must say it was very greasy but quiet nice. We then headed off and picked up a large soft pretzel (I could start to see a trend appearing involving me eating a lot of food) and some drinks before heading on into down town. We found ourselves a park and proceeded to walk around the old part of the city looking at some of the old buildings. We then found ourselves at the Liberty Bell, which for those of you that don't know is a big old bell that was rung when America gained its independence among other things. Once we had finished walking around the old part of the city we jumped back into the car and headed over the University area where we stopped at a small cafe type place and had some bubble tea which is cold flavored tea with these little bubble balls in the bottom. We then headed over to China town for dinner at this great Malaysian restaurant called Penang which I loved having lived in Malaysia before it was great to have some food of that style and I must say it was good food. After dinner we drove back to the train station and said our goodbyes, all in all it was a great day hanging out with a friend. :)

New York

New York, New York oh New York, its defiantly a place you hear a lot about see a lot of in movies but would it live up to its name? Well I arrived after my flight from Seattle and after waiting a little while was greeted by my friend Jay from the ship. We went back to his place and I got my first taste of New York food as we ordered a large pizza, and it was good. The next day we went on our tourist sight seeing tour around the City. We first headed out to go and see the Statue of Liberty which Jay had actually never been to before. It was cool to look around and see it up close and find out more about how it was made. After that we continued on the ferry and went to Elis island, which is were they used to process all immigrants before they came into the US. And that was also cool to see and find out about that whole process, even though I am not from the US its was cool to found out some of the history of the country. Also while we were there it was St Patricks day and they had a group of Irish dancers that did a show there so that was cool to see as well. After that we went to see the museum of natural history, which was really cool but unfortunately we only had a short period of time there before it was closing time so we were only about to see a small amount of the large 4 level museum. We headed back to Jay's place and had dinner and then decided to stay in after originally planning to go back out, but we were both really tired after a lot of walking all day. Then on Thursday we planned on getting up and going early but ended up sleeping in late, which for those of you that know me and/or Jay wouldn't find that hard to believe. Then after our late start Jay had to go to School for a few hours so I headed back into town by myself and went back to finish off the Museum. Its a great museum and I highly recommend seeing it to anyone that goes to New York, I did have to pay for entry this time because this time I was there while they were fully open and busy unlike the other time we went when they were close to closing. I managed to complete the whole museum before Jay came to meet up with me at 4pm, so then we headed off to see the Empire State Building. Another well known site that people say you need to see while in New York, although I would say if you are tight on time you can skip this one. The building is very nice and looks great on the inside, but it costs $15 just to take the lift up to the top and I wasn't going to pay that much just for an elevator ride. After that we headed for the ferry to Statin island where we met up with 2 friends of Jay's and we headed to this group that Jay found through his Church which helps Liberians learn to read and write. I thought it was amazing that Jay had found a group like this after all the time we had both spent in Liberia so when he mentioned it I jumped at the chance to go and help out. We were there for about 2 hours and were just helping out 2 people each with going through workbooks they had to learn to read and write. The 2 that I was working were an older man named Morris and he was from Grand Bassa county in Liberia, which I have actually been to and it was funny because he did not believe me that I had been there until I started talking about the area and the surrounding counties. The other person I was working with was a woman from Serra Leon named Alice and even though she wasn't from Liberia I could relate a little bit because I had made friends from Serra Leon while on the ship. It was a great experience and brought back some good memories hearing them speak in Liberian English. After that was finished we caught the train into the famous Times Square were we stood and looked at all the pretty lights for a bit and just hung out in some of the cool shops they have there like ESPN sportszone and the M&M shop.

The next day was an early start with me having to leave at 6am to go to the airport, but it was good to sit in the airport and reflect a bit on my time in the US and the fact that I was actually a bit sad to be leaving. It was quiet funny as I sat there and heard on the TV that it was officially the first day of spring and I looked outside and it started snowing, after all the good weather they had while I was there.

Vancouver

Well I had a great time in Vancouver staying with my friends Tom and Cindy and also hanging out with some other friends Niki and Chris. It was good to just hang out for a few days with Tom and I went with him to work one day(he is a truck driver) and did deliveries around Vancouver which was a really good way to see the city and it was also good to hang out with Tom. Then on the Friday Tom and I meet up with Chris and we went snow shoeing which was actually a first for all of us. It was a great day out and heaps of fun exploring one of the local ski hills. After snow shoeing Niki came and picked up both me and Chris and then they took me to a Hockey game! It was loads of fun I love sports of all kind and it was my first hockey game I had been to. It was a game in the WHL (Western Hockey League) and it was between Vancouver and Everett. Not that it really affects me either way but Vancouver ended up losing 5-3. Then on Saturday Niki and Chris picked me up again we went out for breakfast with Niki's parents and then went off to play paintball. It wasn't the best day for it because it was raining and the paintball fields were all muddy, but it was still heaps of fun. We were there all afternoon and had a great time and there was surprisingly a lot of people there playing as well. After paintball we headed back to Tom and Cindy's place where we got together and had dinner which was nice to then just sit around and chat. Then on Sunday Niki picked me up and and took me to her church where I got to see her parents again (they are great fun ) and then after that we went out for lunch and went bowling. After that we picked up Chris and went to see a movie, we saw “Watchmen” which I would have to say I am disappointed with.

Anyway well that pretty much sums up my time in Vancouver after that I caught a bus to Seattle and then a flight to New

My Time in Revelstoke

My time in Revelstoke was very good and relaxing which is just what I needed as I was coming down with a cold but with some good rest was able to get over it very fast. After Nathan returned we set about seeing some more of the local area. We went to the flats, which believe it or not is a large flat area that is occasionally covered with water due to a dam further along the river. It was beautiful out and we even managed to get really close to a young deer without it running away. Unfortunately we have no photos because it was so cold that Nathan's camera would not work and as usual I had forgotten mine. Due to the cold we couldn't go as far as originally planned so we headed back to the local Damn to have a little look see, but because of the large amount of snow on the side of the road you could not see very much from the lookout.

Anyway I left on Tuesday at 04.30am on yet another greyhound bus(and I thought I was done with them) and I am now back in Vancouver.

Hanging out with Nathans Mum

Well I had a small change of plans from what originally had been planing to do here in Canada. You see unfortunately my friend Nathan found out that one of his friends back in his home town had died and he needed to go back for the funeral. So we left the island on Thursday and I was able to get in contact with some friends I have in Vancouver and we stayed the night there. My plan from there was to just stay on in Vancouver and just spend the rest of my time in Canada there, but my friends told me that if I was here I needed to come out to Revelstoke because if nothing else the drive here is just so Beautiful that I had to see it. So I left some of my stuff in Vancouver and we jumped back in Nathans beloved Land Cruiser and headed of on our drive. Now Revelstoke is about 7-8 hours from Vancouver, but we took the scenic route and it took us about 10 hours or so with a few small stops. I have to say that we had the most amazing weather for the drive just a clear day with blue skies the whole way, just driving through some of the most picturesque mountains you can find. Just so I could say I have been there Nathan took me on a little extra detour to the hottest place in British Columbia, I guess kind of the Canadian desert(which sounds kind of weird because I always picture Canada as really cold).

So we got here Friday night and Nathan's mum was here to greet us and had already prepared a meal for us. Then on Saturday we just went into the town for a bit and just walked around and went to a few shops and in the afternoon Nathan left for the funeral which is a further 4 hours away so he was going to spend the night and be ready for it the next day. So since then I have just been here in his house hanging out with Nathan's mum.

A Manly Time on the Island

After spending a day and a bit in Seattle Josh and I packed up our stuff and headed out on a road trip. We went north and crossed the boarded into Canada and met up with another friend of ours from the ship Nathan. Then we took a ferry across to Vancouver Island, where we met up with a friend of Nathan's named Chris who we were going to stay with and he was going to act as tour guide for us.

The first evening we were there we just hung out and watched a movie because we had all done alot of driving that day. Then on Sunday which was the next day we went along to Chris' church for both the morning and in the evening and in the afternoon we drove down south a little way on the island to meet up with some more of Nathans friends.

Our Manly adventures really kicked off when we decided to go and do some caving. Now this is a sport normally reserved for more summer type weather so we could be pretty well assured that we were the only crazy people going out to these caves. We drove a few hours to a place called Gold River where we stopped on the side of the road because the road to where we were going had not yet been plowed so we had to walk the rest of the way. We were walking through several feet of snow and it was also pouring with rain so it took a bit longer to get to the caves than it otherwise would have. Once we got to the general area it was hard to find the caves because of all the snow so we spent quiet a while walking around until we finally found a good entrance that was safe enough to go into. We managed to find our way through the cave even though we weren't quiet as fully equiped as we could have been although we did have a 3 headlamps between the 4 of us. We went through some smaller areas and eventually came out at a nice waterfall and then climbed up a little bit higher and found a small cave where we got comfortable as you can see in the picture of Josh below. After that we climbed out and headed off to go see a small little town of 300 people called Tahsis and find some food.

After our time in Tahsis we decided to try and head up the local mountain near where Chris lives in Comox. We got there at about 11pm and then we had to take a snow mobile ride about another 15 mins further up the mountain, but because it was dark and the snow was deep we had too many problems trying to get up so we gave up at about midnight and decided to come back another time. The next day we were pretty tired so we just rested and drove around a little bit and didn't do anything too crazy.

The day after that after doing a few things around town we decided to head up the mountain while it was still day light. So we packed up our stuff and got some great manly food to our night like steak and more steak. We got up there and although it was still hard riding with 2 people at a time plus backpacks on a one person sled we managed to get all our things up to the cabin where we were going to stay. I was the last one up there so by the time I got there Nathan had already got a fire going and it was nice a warm in the cabin. By the time we had everyone and all the stuff up at the cabin it was dark so we couldn't do anything outside so we played some cards then I cooked us dinner of steak and fried eggs. Then the next morning we had steak with scrambled eggs for breakfast so we were having a good balanced diet. After breakfast we decided to go explore up the top of the mountain which was called Forbidden Plato and is an old abandoned ski resort. So we had good fun snow mobiling around and then we met up with another few guys up the top one of which had a snow mobile as well and was snow boarding and he got Nathan to ride his snow mobile down and then tow him back up and then me and Chris took turns on his machine, which was heaps of fun.

For our rest of the time on the island we didn't do anything too crazy or manly we just kind of drove around and did some sight seeing which was good. We did try to drive to a really cool place called the cable cookhouse which is a building made entirely out of cables from thick logging cables to even thicker sea cables, but it was closed.

Meeting Friends I have never met

Well for those of you that don't know I am a little bit of a nerd at times and like to play some computer games. There was one computer game that I used to play a little bit too much, but from playing that game online I made a few friends and it was good because I was able to visit these friends. Two of the guys I know from the game own a pub in Everett in Washington, which is about an hour or so from where my friend Josh lives. So he was kind enough to drive me up to met these guys I was friends with but had never actually met. We had a bit of trouble but finally we found the elusive O'Finnigan's Pub, where it was good to finally put some faces to the names I knew. We had a good time just hanging out and chatting and playing a bit of pool and it was all in all a good evening.

Snowboarding in Seattle

Well this happened just over a week ago now, but I have been traveling and just have time to try and catch up on my writing.

Well I arrived on time in Seattle where I was greeted by my friend from Mercy Ships Josh. It was good to see him again, he took me back to his place which is a nice little house right on the water front with a great view that he rents for cheap off someone. I had arrived late so pretty well as soon as we got back and settled in we went to bed.

We awoke the next day with the goal of teaching me how to snowboard. Well I was looking forward to it I had only ever been skiing once and only seen snow about 5 times in my life so I was up for the challenge. Lucky for me Josh had decided he needed a new snowboard so this meant he now had a spare which I could use and he had boots that fit me as well. So we headed out and stopped to pick up Josh's friend Sarah and she had some snow gear for me to borrow which was good and then we all headed up the local mountain. Once we got there Josh gave me a quick lesson on how to strap into the board then we went up the ski lift and at the top he gave me a few more instructions on how to lean on the board and then off we went. I spent pretty much the whole first half of the course we were doing falling my way down the hill, but after a few more words of wisdom from Josh I found myself on my feet actually snow boarding most of the rest of the way down without falling too much. After that Josh took me to try and teach me to turn and be able to go down backwards which u need to do in snowboarding, but that didn't go so well I could turn one way but not the other so for the rest of the day I just went down the different slopes facing the one way but it was heaps of fun.

After all was said and done I thought my first attempt at snow boarding went ok and after now having tried both snowboarding and skiing once each I would have to say that I liked skiing a little bit more because I picked it up a bit easier. Although that been said ski boots are incredibly uncomfortable and snowboard boots are the oposite and are really comfortable.

Here is a couple of videos of the recent screening day that was held by the ship in Benin. So if you want to get a taste of what it is like to screen thousands of patients in one day to fill surgery spots for the next 10 months. Enjoy.

Screening Day
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prJxp346a6U

February update
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmcKmdHenq0

My time in Iowa

Well my time has come to an end here in Iowa. Sorry that I haven't really written anything but I guess I just haven't done anything all that blog worthy. Not that I haven't had a great time here I have enjoyed every day, but for the most I have just been hanging out with my friend Vandi not doing too much special just having fun.

One thing I am really grateful for is the way Vandi's family really just welcomed me in for the few days I was here. They took me along the second day to a Birthday party for her uncle out at a restaurant and I got to meet both her grandparents while here and even hang out and play some soccer with her brothers and sister.

One special thing we did get to do is because Vandi is a student in culinary school at the moment is her Chef was holding a special wine tasting evening and 3 course dinner and he let Vandi and I come along for free. The wine tasting was first and all the wines came from a local Vineyard that was still fairly new. There were a few wines that I liked but I am not a big wine drinker. They let us try 9 different wines before dinner then another 2 desert wines after dinner. The dinner was a seafood and pancakes theme because it was international pancake day. Each course had 3 options to choose from and for the starter I had a seafood pancake, which was a crepe filled with 3 different sorts of fish and shellfish. For the main course I had a nice piece of salmon on a bed of open lasagna with asparagus and green beans. Then for desert there was a choice of 3 different filled crepes and I chose the one with raspberry and lemon and whipped cream. All in all it was a great evening and excellent food and I got to meet some of Vandi's class mates as well as her Chef.

Now I am just sitting here in the Des Moines airport waiting to be able to board my plane. The weather today is not that good its very over cast and has been raining a lot, but is much better than the predicted ice rain and possible snow, which if it had come I possible would not have been able to fly out. I am heading to Seattle next so when I post this I will be there.

Traveling part Two

Well I had an amazing time in Colorado with Ben and Rose, but unfortunately all good things must come to an end as they say. I left Montrose, Colorado on Friday at 10.30am and embarked on my second(and hopefully last for a little while) long bus ride in the US. This time though was a fair bit different from the last. To start off with it was only 26 hours long not 30 like the last and the bus was alot more crowded than the first ride. Coming from Texas to Colorado the bus was never more than 50-75% full and I always had 2 seats to myself. Whereas the first bus of my second trip was about 99% full and the second one was over booked by about 6 people, so thank God I was one of the last people to get on. To say the lest it was a far bit harder to get comfortable and get to sleep so I was only able to 1 to 2 hours sleep in total. So apart from the lack of sleep the bus ride went well and I got to Iowa where I got off at a truck stop and was picked up by a small local bus for my last little bit of the trip and I was the only passenger on board(there are some pictures of the bus inside below). It was about a 40min ride to my final destination so I just sat up the front and chatted with the driver. We arrived in Fort Dodge my final destination on time and my Friend Vandi was there to meet me at the bus station which is a good thing because the bus station was closed so I would have been waiting outside in the cold had she not been there.

From Snow to Sand

Well today my friend Ben and I decided we would go for a change of scenery, so we took a road trip to Utah. We got up early at 4.30am and had some breakfast before heading out on a 3 hour drive West to the next state. Lucky for me Ben drove the whole way which meant that I could catch up on some sleep. We arrived in a small kind of touristy town of Moab and then a short drive from there we reached our destination of Arches National Park. We got a week pass(because there is no such thing as a day pass apparently) and proceeded to drive through the whole park just taking in the sites. Then at the far end of the park we parked the car and went on a 7 mile (11.5km) little hike around some of the more spectacular rocks and arches. We took our time and went off on most of the little side trails off the main track to see extra arches and things. After the hike which took us a few hours we sat on the back of Ben's car and had a delicious packed lunch that his awsome wife Rose had made for us, while starring out at the awsomeness of Gods creation and the great day we had to view it on. After lunch we took a nice slow drive back through the park before heading into Moab, where we aimed to grab and ice cream before heading back. This proceeded to be more difficult than we first thought as most small places in town were closed because the tourist season has not yet really started there. So we went from place to place asking where we could find some ice cream and after finally giving up and deciding to have a smoothy we were pointed in the right direction to the local diner where they had a nice selection of ice cream for us to choose from. After our ice cream we headed on home and got back around 6pm so it was about a 13hour day in all so we were quiet tired.

To finish off the evening me and Ben cooked dinner for Rose who had been working all day so couldn't come play with us and then had a nice game of Apples to Apples before bed.

Yurt Pics

As promised I have some yurt pics although the quality is not the best as i took them with my webcam on my laptop.

Me and Kitty Poo
The Yurt

The outhouse

Inside the yurt

Canyon Day

Today after been picked up from the Yurt by my friend Ben. We went to a place called Box canyon falls which is apparently the place where the world ice climbing festeval gets held every year. I was cool to go and just watch a few people doing some ice climbing which is similar to rock climbing only with ice and u use 2 small pick axes to climb with. We met a guy named Victor from Chili there who was just visiting to do some ice climbing and he explained it a bit more to us. After watching for a bit we went and did a little walk they had there into the little canyon down by the stream which was cool.

After stopping back at the house for lunch we then headed out about an hour away to a place called Black Canyon. Now this is an impressive place and if you ever get the chance I highly recomend going there. We stopped at a few points around it to take in the view before heading to the visitors centre and taking a short trail around one area of the canyon. We were lucky cause even though there was several feet of snow it was fairly compact so we could walk on it ok without the recomended snow shoes that we did not have. There was just one spot of about 10 meters where there wasn't really any trail so we had to wade about knee to waist deep through the snow so that was lots of fun. After walking the trail we watched a little video about the history of the canyon and the guy that got it listed as a national park, so that was cool. The canyon is not as deep as the Grand Canyon but is much steeper and narrower so is just as cool to look at.

My night in the Yurt

Well tonight I am staying at my friends Yurt. I wanted to try sleeping here for a night because its one of those things that how many times are you going to get to spend the night in a Yurt. So my friend dropped my off here and is going to pick me up again in the morning. So its just me here in this large family size tent, well my and a 20 pound black cat named kitty poo (no joke). So the first thing I had to work on was trying to get some heat going so I currently have a propane heater going as well as a wood fire while snuggling with kitty poo. This is something I was really looking forward to doing as I had been interested in Yurts (also known as Gers) because I have a friend living in Mongolia. Although this yurt is slightly different to the Mongolian ones, the outside is made of nylon where as the Mongolian ones are made of felt and this one is a permanent structure and the Mongolian ones are made to be packed up and moved from place to place. Other things are similar though I think, a wood fire to keep warm, no running water or electricity. Well I have survived so far I will wait and see how I go during the night because I can't leave the heater running all night, but I should be ok I will write more in the morning.

Well morning has coming and I am still here. I didn't get too cold last night, although it did take me over an hour to get out of the warmth of my sleeping bag this morning. The sky last night was just amazing I don't know if I have ever seen quiet that many stars in the sky at once. I slept on the little second level that has been built into the yurt and could see the stars through the sky light in the top of the yurt while lying in bed. When I woke this morning I found kitty poo waiting at the bottom of the ladder meowing for some company or maybe he just wanted me to come and put the heater on. Unfortunately I was silly enough to forget to bring my camera with me for this night in the yurt so I have no photos to show from my experience although I will try and get back here to take some just so I have some proof of my time in the yurt.

To conclude I think I would be able to live in a yurt, but it would take some time for me to get used to the cold. But during summer I think it would be great.

Traveling stage one

Well I had a great start to my visiting of friends in the US. My first stop was in Dallas just 2 hours up the road from where I have been spending the last month. Where I met up with a lovely nurse named Lisa who I had met on the Africa Mercy last year. She opened up her house and we had a good time chatting and hanging out for the afternoon and even went and got some nice Thai food. Unfortunately my stay there was only short lived as I just spent the night before catching a bus early in the morning onwards to my next destination in Montrose, Colorado.

Apart from been long the bus ride went well, although it did seem a little bit indirect but I hear thats how greyhound works. I went from Dallas up to Oklahoma City, to Ambrose Texas, to Albuquerque New Mexico, and then finally up to Montrose Colorado, 30 hours in total. Fortunately I was able to got some sleep on the bus so I wasn't totally wrecked when I got to Montrose although I did get a nice little surprise when I got there I found out that my checked bag had not made it all the way with me. So I will be going back and checking if it is there tomorrow as the guy said it would probably take 2 days to sort out the problem. So please pray it will turn up.

I was met at the “bus station”(small one room building with one guy inside) by my friend Ben and his wife Rose who I had not met before, I had also met Ben during my time on the ship. They then took me back to where they are house sitting at the moment in a town called Ridgway. The house is this amazing large house on a little bit of a hill with one of the most amazing views I have ever seen just looking out at the rocky mountains. They are house sitting there for the next few weeks or so, but they normally live in a Yurt (Mongolian nomad tent) which I hope to spend the night in at some stage while I am here.