[*this entry was written saturday, posted sunday*]
i've learned a lot so far about life on the ship and am becoming rather well-versed in ship speak...for instance, my cabin is on the port side of A deck, port being left and starboard being right as you face the bow (front) of the ship. the aft (rear) deck is where the all-important snack bar is (only place where you can procure soft drinks, as the dining room serves just water and tea). the anastasis has five main levels...starting with the bottom is the C deck, which houses the laundry room, ice machine, ship shop (sells toiletries, etc), inpatient ward and a host of cabins. above the C deck is the B deck, where the crew clinic, hair salon, bank, post office, lab, CT, xray and operating rooms live. (that's right...post-op patients have to be moved down stairs (no elevators) to the ward...i'll give more details about that process in a later post as it is really quite interesting and deserves an entry and pictures of its own). as you may have guessed by now the next level up is the A deck, which is the level you are on when you enter the ship from the gangway. on the A deck is the reception area, pacific and aft dining rooms, email cafe, academy (K-12 school), library and lots of cabins. above the A deck is the "upper deck" which has cabins/offices in the center and two large outdoor sections at either end...the area at the aft has a small basketball court, snack bar and bike rack. finally, the top deck is called the "promenade deck" and it has a central, indoor area with the gift shop, med lounge (called the living room of the ship...lots of couches and coffee tables) and the international lounge, which is a large auditorium where we have ship-wide meetings and worship services. the outdoor area of the promenade deck encircles the indoor part and is a large deck that you can walk laps around...it has tables and chairs on it for sitting and reading, looking out at the ocean or whatever. i'm just starting to feel somewhat comfortable finding my way around the ship...it is rather maze-like as many of the stairways only connect between one or two levels and on some levels you can't walk from fore to aft of the ship because it's blocked off, so you have to go up or down a level, walk to the other end of the ship and then find stairs that go back to the level you want to be on. argh! at least it gives me some exercise.
so that's my intro to the anastasis. the ship overall is in very good condition although she is definitely showing her age in areas and will be retired in november when the africa mercy is launched. i haven't yet gotten a picture of my cabin but i took one today of the ship from the outside...A deck is the row of portholes that is right above the blue line...one of those portholes is right next to my bed, which is kind of cool.
i have weekends off so today jessie, oliver (guy on the ship from benin) and i went into tema to one of the markets, which was pretty crazy...it was super-crowded with people selling all sorts of things. women grilling bananas, lots of ghana soccer jerseys, various nuts, fruits, vegetables, raw meats, fabrics, etc. i bought a whole pineapple for 4000 cedi, which is equal to about 40 cents...i didn't even bother bargaining with her as i generally have to pay around $2 to get one at kroger. afterwards we went to a chinese restaurant for a late lunch...i know it sounds crazy to go to a chinese restaurant in ghana but there are lots of them here and are known on the ship as some of the best restaurants around. i will definitely find somewhere to eat some good local food but at the time we were really hungry and it was all we knew of so far. it turned out to live up to its reputation...food was great and service wonderful. (see pic above)
the day was blazing hot...by about fifteen minutes into our little trip we were all soaked in sweat, covered in dust and had drank most of the water out of our nalgene bottles. so what to do but head to the ave maria health farm? hee hee! the name cracks me up...it's basically an outdoor pool and spa right next to the ocean, about ten minutes cab ride from the ship. around here it's pretty common to go to a hotel or spa if you want to go swimming...most of them charge a small fee (in this case $2.50) to use their pool. it was a salt water pool (easy to float!) and we swam around for a couple of hours, feeling greatly refreshed afterwards.
lest you think my time here is too vacation-like, i'll give an update on my work activities tomorrow...this post is already too long and i've got to get to bed now.
# posted by Jenn @ 9:11 AM