When I got onboard the air conditioning was out, normal for the shipyard season, but that, mixed with jet lag, made it very hard for me to sleep the first night. I got up at 3am to say goodbye to some dear friends who were leaving after years spent on the ship (welcome back to ship life and that ever-changing community) and was finally able to go to sleep after that.
This past week has been filled with leadership meetings for myself (as the lead elementary teacher) along with my new, dear friend, Susan, who is the lead junior high/highschool teacher. My favorite part of the week was getting to go to each new teacher's cabin door (most of them are not here yet) and pray of that individual and his/her coming year! It felt very needed and holy and it is just such a privilege to get to be a part of the leadership team preparing for their arrivals! We also got to be a part of the grand opening and ribbon cutting ceremony of the brand new playground onboard, which I think Susan and I have actually spent more time on so far than the kiddos! The kids got to help our director of shipyard cut the ribbon after we counted down and then stampeded into the new playground! There were balloons attached to all the playground equipment and lots of people showed up to celebrate with juice boxes and gummy bears and the galley team even made cupcakes to pass around! There was so much squealing and giggling and joy and I loved seeing the grown ups zipping down the zip line and climbing up the ropes right along with the kids!
On Friday most of the new teachers finally arrived and I got to give them hugs and help them carry their luggage up the gangway before they were whisked away to sign papers and get briefed about security drills and such, and I haven't seen them since, but I'll get to see them all day every day this coming week because it's Teacher Orientation Week!
Yesterday I got to get off ship and my friend Katie and I rented e-bikes to ride around the island. E-bikes are MAGICAL!!! I was taking on San Francisco level hills like a boss and passing huge guys with super muscular calves (and I only felt a little bad about it since I was technically cheating). We drove to the top of a huge volcanic crater and drove along the ocean front with the black sand beaches and even stopped and jumped in for a while!
Today I went with a whole group to a Spanish/English church on the Island which was lovely and then came back to the ship and worked on rearranging my classroom. My classroom is in the very back of the ship and there are babies/toddlers in all the cabins around me so every few minutes I get a precious little congolese baby or a sweet little swiss baby toddling in on their own to say hi to me! I won't complain! I get to take a break every few minutes from work to say hi and escort them back to their cabins a few feet away! It's Heaven!
Disclaimer: There are not generally babies toddling around the ship on their own, but since there's not air conditioning, lots of cabins have their doors propped open to get some air and just have fabric hanging across the doorway, so it's currently much easier for little escapees to get out. Just so you aren't worried! :0)
