Becoming "known" onboard

Anyone else feeling really weary?  Normally at this time of year, we are in the countdown to our annual beach holiday at South West Rocks in northern New South Wales.  We call it our "bum holiday" because we do very little other than sleep, eat, swim and surf and catch up with family and friends.  It is really relaxing because we always aim to stay within walking distance of the beaches and our other favourite haunts.  And also because we know "The Rocks".  I have been going there since I was born. It is the first place Mick and I went on holiday together.  My parents have been going there since they were born.  And even my grandparents went there when they were kids!  I feel like I know the place so well, it is almost in my blood.

Main Beach, South West Rocks, Australia

I think one of the reasons that we are all so tired now, despite the fact that it is the end of a long year of change, is that we are still adjusting to our new life onboard the AFRICA MERCY - in essence we don't know it here yet like we do with The Rocks.  When you don't have that longer term connection with a place, it is exciting because you are always making new discoveries and learning more about it. However, it is also really tiring;-long term tiring and that is where we are at now.

Fortunately, tomorrow is the last day of school for Semester 1.  Exams are over and Academy play week is in full swing.  Children have been painting stage sets in the passageway outside our cabin for the last few days.  There has been much discussion around the table about "cow costumes", which toddler might be play baby Jesus without escaping and whose slide design is on the rolling screen.  This will all culminate in a performance that includes all children from Kindergarten to Grade 12 Thursday night at 7pm.  And all of it pulled together in only 4 days!  I can't even begin to imagine how tired our school teachers here must be..

For children who have been halfway around the world, adjusting to several different countries in the developed world and now here in the Congo, I wonder what they think about all the changes they have experienced this year. Then I listen to what they are discussing and it is not a lot different to what they were discussing 6-7 months ago in Australia - computer games, pokemon cards and Lego all feature heavily. Whom they are chatting with - friends from all over the world, and where they are talking - in a passageway on a hospital ship in Africa, is completely different from earlier this year.  What strikes me as I write this, is how quickly they have made the ship their new home.  They have made friends here, they love their school and they have become apart of what the ship does.  They even practise speaking French! So whilst I am feeling weary at this point of time from all the changes and new experiences that we have had this year, this ship is slowly becoming known to us and as this happens, we feel more and more at home.