Tenerife

Hello Friends and Family!

I arrived safely in Tenerife after a fun week with Lisa & Kelly in Madrid & Barcelona. We had a great time exploring around Puerta del Sol, Gaudi's amazing mosaic masterpieces, Picasso's incredible museum, Palaces, marketplaces, and alley cafe stops to warm up. They are dear friends and old roommates and it was so good to have quality time together again :)

I'm already feeling pretty settled here on the Africa Mercy. I recived an amazing warm welcome and many hugs after boarding, by old shipmates I didn't even know were still here! They are my big, crazy international family and I feel really loved and honored to be among them again. I know this is where I'm supposed to be for this season, I can't stop smiling since I got here. This ship and everything it represents is my deepest passion and love :)

The ward preparations do not begin until near sail time in 2 weeks as everything must remain tied down until we get there, so until then I have been recruited to work in the kitchen galley as prep and clean up staff for mealtimes. For any of you that know me well, you can clearly see the humor in this, as most people like me to stay OUT of their kitchens ;) I already broke a blade on the bread slicer! But alas, i'm having a blast and learning the ropes. Its like a whole other world in the ship's kitchen. Our team is great and we have a lot of fun working together.


My room is again... ha, not ideal near the engine room and underwater- (so no window)... but i'm finding the alarms and passing ship sounds to be a rainy calming white noise, ha. The first day I kept thinking they were practice alarms where i needed to get to the dock, but I'm so turned around on this 7 Deck ship that I'm still working on getting around 1 week later.


I haven't had a lot of free time yet, but inbetween mealtimes I've had fun running different directions out of the port seeking outside the tourist hotspots and up into the neighborhoods where woman sweep their porches and siesta activities are takin seriously ;) For my birthday yesterday some friends and I did some exploring between the mountains and ocean on the northing tip of the island. It reminds me of a Greece/Romanian landscape mixed. The small section I've seen so far is breathtaking.

Not to much else to update you on for now. We sail Jan. 31st for 9 days before we arrive to Benin...in the meantime..i'm hoping to grow sealegs!
The ship has really slow internet right now, so it won't let me post pictures, but check facebook if you have it and I have some albums already made.