ferry ride

Thank you to anyone who's been praying for my health. This past week I was pretty wiped out, and when I wasn't working in the ward I was just sleeping a lot. It seems to have worked though, because I'm feeling much better. I finally got my computer set up to use the wi-fi here, and uploaded some pictures. These are from the day I arrived, on the ferry ride across the harbor.

travel-weary and happy to have finally arrived

just some random ships that we passed by

the Africa Mercy, all lit up

safely arrived

I'M ALIVE!!!

Of course, if you have facebook, you probably already know that by now.

The last 2 days were spent traveling from Texas, to New York, to Brussels, to Freetown. Besides an hour delay on one of my flights, there were no problems in any of the airports. AND all my luggage made it to the same place I did! :-) Getting from the airport in Freetown, Sierra Leone, to the ship was a bit of an adventure. There were 8 of us coming in to the airport at the same time, and we all found each other and were met by 2 drivers who were going to take us and our luggage to the ferry. The airport is across the harbor from where the Africa Mercy is docked, and to go by land would take much longer than the ferry. On the way to the ferry, the car I was in ran out of gas. There weren't exactly any Shell stations in sight, so we were in a bit of a pickle. Our driver, a Sierra Leonean, flagged down a man riding a motorcycle, and hopped on the back with him to go in search of fuel. The rest of us were left to sit in the car on the side of the road. There were some people across the street staring at us, and adorable little kids smiling and waving and yelling something in their language. We found out later that they were saying "white man! White man!" After about 15 minutes our driver returned with enough gas to get us the rest of the way to the ferry. The ferry ride was nice. About an hour long, and we could go out on deck and enjoy the breeze. We saw the Africa Mercy as we went by, but had to be picked up by someone farther on down the coast where the ferry took us to. The drive from the ferry to the ship wasn't a very far distance, but took awhile because of traffic. They told us that Freetown is a city for 200,000 people, but has a population of abut 2 million. Think small roads crowded with trucks, cars, motorcycles, bicycles, and pedestrians, with no traffic signs or stoplights. Lots of honking horns. People out on the streets selling just about anything - sodas, loaves of bread, lanterns, shoes.

Finally on board the ship, we got registered, had ID badges made, had some dinner, and went to bed. Today has been information overload with orientation, paperwork, and getting accounts set up online and in the crew bank. The rest of the week will be more orientation, and next week I'll be on my own working as a nurse in the hospital. I'm still kind of lost around here, but we'll have a tour of the ship this afternoon.

Praising God for safe travel and friendly people! :-)

pictures

here are a few of the snapshots i took on my drive from Colorado to Nevada. they're not exactly in chronological order.

this was the view from a rest stop in Utah

i think this was the most trees i saw in one place the entire time. most of the landscape was just dirt and rocks.

this was outside of Salt Lake City. it's hard to see the mountain because of the fog, but it was beautiful. the ugly smokestack was a stark contrast.

cool rock formations in Wyoming - or maybe in Colorado, right before Wyoming.

my wonderful driving buddy. this is from the balcony of my new apartment in Reno.

and a couple of pictures from our costume party, about a week before my road trip. there are some more pictures on Hannah's blog.

quick update

so i guess i'm not very good at the blogging thing. sorry. i'll try to be better.

just a quick update/recap on my life, so i can move on and my millions of readers (ok, maybe 2 or 3 readers) won't be lost:

i just spent 3 months on my first travel nursing assignment in Lafayette, Colorado. that's in the suburbs in-between Denver and Boulder. it was a good first assignment, not too challenging or overwhelming. i was doing the same type of nursing i got trained for in Austin - telemetry/cardiac. it was my first time working night shift, and that was tough. i was tired almost all of the time, since i still tried to do stuff during the day on my days off. but half the time i just slept on my days off, so i didn't get to do everything i wanted to while i was in Colorado. i did get to learn how to snowboard though, which was hard but awesome. i discovered muscles i never knew i had, fell on my face a million times, and sprained my wrist, but had a great time. oh, and my family came up for Christmas, which was wonderful.

anyway, now the Colorado job is over and i have 2 weeks off, which i'm spending in Texas visiting family and friends. then on February 6 i'm going to start another 3-month job in Reno, Nevada. doing the same type of nursing, but this time day shift - hooray! :) Reno looks like a fun place, despite all the drinking and gambling. when i was at the doctor for a check-up the other day, i mentioned i was going to Reno and he just starting laughing and said "haha! sin city number 2!" that's not why i'm going there - i promise.

well, i'll try to be more faithful about updating my blog over the next few months. oh, and Hannah and i are having a costume party this weekend. i'll be sure to post pictures. :)

one week down, twelve to go

Well, I've been in colorado for a week now. It feels like longer. My wonderful 19-yr-old cousin Noah drove up with me from Texas, and he definitely made the drive easier. On Wednesday we just drove from Magnolia to Dallas, so I could see my grandmother before heading to CO. Thursday we drove to Salina, Kansas, which was a long boring drive. Both Wednesday and Thursday it rained and was cloudy most of the way. We ate a lot of junk food, and played with the GPS. Finally, on Friday things got more interesting. The sun came out, and the drive was beautiful. Right before crossing over the border into Colorado, Noah looked out the window and saw white stuff on the ground. Trying to be cool and nonchalant, he casually mentioned it.

"Um, Ruth, what's that?" (pointing out the window)

Me: "Oh, it looks like snow!"

Then he lost it, started giggling hysterically and bouncing up and down in his seat.

The snow got thicker and thicker as we drove west, and we stopped at the "welcome to Colorado" rest stop to have a snowball fight and make snowmen and a snow angel. Noah was excitedly rolling the balls for the snowman, when a man came walking out of the nearby building and started talking to us.

"Is this your first snowman of the season?" he asked

Noah: "No, it's my first snowman EVER!"

"Oh, well then, I gotta get a picture of this." and he pulled out his camera phone, snapped a picture, and walked off smiling. I think we made his day. Here's our snowman. We named him Duncan.

And of course Noah had to make some Calvin snowmen (if you don't know what that means, then you must read Calvin and Hobbes). This amused several other passers-by.

Friday afternoon we arrived at my apartment. It's the nicest apartment I've ever had, in one of those "luxury" complexes I've always been a little afraid of. You know, the kind of complex that's big enough to be a small village, and every building looks the same. I think some of Austin rubbed off on me, as far as gentrification goes. But it's a very nice apartment, and I do like living there. And it's paid for by my travel company, and they provided the furniture, which is actually pretty nice. I can't see the mountains from my window, but I do get the sunrises.

After moving my stuff in we did a little exploring in the area, bought a bunch of stuff at Walmart that I couldn't bring with me (you can only fit so much stuff into your car), and rested. I'd been sick for about a week and a half, and that on top of driving 1100 miles, and getting used to the altitude made me pretty exhausted. Saturday Noah flew home, and I spent the rest of the weekend resting and exploring some more, and trying out a couple different churches in the area.

Monday through Wednesday I had long, overwhelming computer classes at the hospital. The computer system is probably going to be the most challenging part of this job. At my job in Austin, we were still doing mostly paper charting, so the computer system is going to take a lot of getting used to, though I don't have much time to get used to it. I only get 2 shadow shifts on the floor, then I'll be on my own. But everyone seems pretty nice so far, so hopefully they'll help me. Last night was my first shadow shift, and my first night shift ever. It was kind of quiet and laid back, and after doing some charting I don't feel quite as intimidated by the computers. I didn't realize it, but I'd missed working. The 3-week break in-between jobs was nice, but once I was back on the floor working with patients, it occurred to me that I had missed it. Missed the patients. That's a good sign, right? Well, I made it through my first night shift without falling asleep, though I came close a couple of times. I hadn't had much of an appetite and hardly ate anything the whole shift, so I was starving when I got off work. So I ate my roast beef sandwich on the way home at 7:40 am, went to bed at 8:30, and woke up 4 hours later feeling awake but slightly jet-lagged. I think my body is going to be very confused for awhile.

Well, that's about it so far. Oh - except we had a massive snow storm Tuesday through Thursday, and I thought I was going to die trying to drive in it. But I didn't. I just drove really really slow, and probably ticked off all the experienced Colorado drivers in their 4-wheel drive trucks and SUV's. Hopefully they saw my Texas license plate and had mercy.

under way and off to see the world

I'm about to drive to Colorado to work as a travel nurse for the next 3 months. Most people know I've been thinking about it for awhile, so I won't write a bunch of details about it right now. I got a phone interview for the job last Tuesday, and they offered it to me a couple hours later. Then I had to drive from Austin to Magnolia to get some labwork done, do a crazy amount of paperwork, and see my little brothers while they were home for fall break. Then I drove back to Austin Monday to quit my job, pack the rest of my things, and spend 2 days saying goodbye to my brother, sister, friends, and coworkers. After they all gave me hugs, said nice things, and tore my heart out, I drove back to Magnolia last night. Now I'm at my parents' house, and have a few hours to cram all my belongings into the back of my car. If I thought about it enough, I could probably come up with something poetic to say about what lies before me. But all that comes to mind right now is this:

When the course is laid and the anchor's weighed

A sailor's blood begins racing

With our hearts unbound and our flag unfurled

We're under way and off to see the world

Under way and off to see the world

Hey ho, we'll go

Anywhere the wind is blowing

Hoist the sails and sing

Sailing for adventure on the big blue wet thing!