wow two days of not blogging and i get in trouble. lol.  Anyway....lets see the last couple days have been pretty chill.  I think that God has really been showing me the pain that Africa has and is still facing every day.  I've had the opportunity to get to learn more of the past of some of our day workers and it's mind blowing.  I'm not really sure how much is shareable information on the internet.  He talked about how he survived the war by pretending to be a rebel.  he learned all the verbal and non verbal codes the rebel leaders used to identify each other.
I also learned today about an organization called Fambul Tok.  After the war the rebel leaders just moved back into their villages and homes and things were pretty much just dropped.  Imagine living next door to the man who raped you or killed your family or burned your home?  Nothing is ever talked about or restored.  So Fambul Tok comes into the villages and works with the traditions of the villages to restore relationships and bring forgiveness.  They have bonfires and have an open time of sharing for people to confess, forgive and really just talk about what happened.  So...I was invited to go see a film screening tomorrow of a film made by Fambul Tok about what they do.  So tomorrow there will be more info about that.  I'm really excited!
So...today marks me having been in Sierra Leone for one month! yay!
I feel like these pictures are random but...here are some pictures.

Hannah, Jessie and Clinton getting ready to head to bible study.  

Gifty and Bintia making Casava leaves, a traditional African dish.  It basically consists of potato leaves and hot african peppers

This is my special hang out place.  It's the climbing frame on Deck 8.  I started reading "praying God's words" by Beth Moore.  It's really good.  Thank you Krissy for recommending it.

As you know the last paragraph of the night is always special and tonight it's extra special.  Krissy is amazing. I'm so blessed to have her as a roommate.  She spent two years working with the peace corps in Benin.  It's been really cool to get to hear about her experiences living in the bush.

So today the question was asked "what is the Hope Center?" The Hope Center is the recovery center.  It's located about a quarter of a mile from the ship.  Crew is encouraged to go and talk with and hang out with the patients who are there.  I'll try to take some pictures of it in the next couple days.
Here are some more pictures from dinner last night :)

Notice the sign that we are so in awe of.  This was the sign advertising the bathroom. So funny!

After dinner we came home and made popcorn before we watched Blood Diamond.  I'm showing you all the butter im gonna melt in the pan to pour over what Juan called the 'artery clogging popcorn'

last comment is: I CAN'T BELIEVE MY FAMILY REPLACED ME WITH A PUPPY!!!!

absolutely fantastic day!!!  We went out to dinner at a lovely little restaurant on the beach.  I can't remember it's name but it was WONDERFUL! Here are some pictures:

We ate in this cool little hut with the sound of the waves crashing around us .  At the end of the meal the moon  and stars were out.  It was so insanely gorgeous

The beach was lovely, the food was delicious, the company was wonderful.  it was such a nice day off!

The emotional part of the evening came when we went back to the ship and watched Blood Diamond.  I highly recommend watching this movie if you are interesting in knowing what Sierra Leone has gone through.  The war only ended 10 years ago.  Watching that movie made my heart literally break.  It opened my eyes to the fact that the people I work with every day (day volunteers) went through the war.  I'm amazed.  I'm blown away actually.  

Tonight I saw the beauty of Africa and truly i feel blessed to be here.  But I also saw the pain of this country. 

HOW COULD I FOGET THE PUPPETS!?!? I'm insanely forgetful i guess.  Anyway...we are starting a puppet team! Mourad and I are heading it up (Mourad has puppet experience and i'm the organizational half).  We had our first practice last night and boy was it hysterical!!!!

I'm really excited for this new ministry of puppets!

Hello world :) so sorry that i didn't post anything last night.  I had a very quiet day.  Went with my new roommate and a couple other people to the Hope Center.  But when we got there we heard music coming from the next building.  I of course was intrigued.  It was definitly live music and i wanted to find out who and where so i could listen.  We wandered around for a bit and eventually found these guys practicing.  We took some picutres, but of course my camera is dead and Clinton took the picutres.  Hopefully I will get them from him today and then you will see where these guys practiced.  It was really crazy! they had no music, no director, and no end to the song! we watched them play for like half an hour and they never stopped.  Another weird thing they did was switch instruments all the time.  One guy got a phone call and so he handed his trumpet to a guy standing next to him who immediately picked up from where the first guy was.  Really strange.  Totally amazing to watch though! After their practice we talked to them and they offered to come play on the ship which i think would be totally awesome! I'm not sure who i have to talk to about it but i definitely want to try to work that out.
We finally went to the Hope Center and taught the kids the Hokey Pokey.  They loved it!
Those two things were definitely the best part of my day

Welcome Heather! She's my new bunk mate.  yay!  I'm trying to remember what happened today...and i'm drawing a blank.  I worked...and then skipped community meeting to take a shower.  After community meeting they always serve free ice cream in midships.  So Krissy and I volunteered to be two of the ice cream scoopers. It ended up with us girls at one table and two boys at the other table.  Krissy and I had such a good time cuz we made it a competition between the boys and the girls to see who could 1. serve the most people and 2. work the best together as a team.  We totally beat the boys.
Saddest news of the day is that Stefan left :( It's really quite sad how often people leave.  You become friends and then they leave.  The saddest part is when you look for them at a meal or something and they aren't there.
The other day we had a very large accident on what we call "bad boy lane" It's a road that leads in and out of the shipping yard/port where we are docked.  HUGE trucks drive up and down it all the time transporting things.   Well the other day a truck's brakes went out and it crashed into a cement wall.  The driver passed away immediately.  It was really quite tragic, it's the second accident in a very short period of time.  So please be praying for safety.
I don't really have any words other then goodnight! :)

Again another unexpected day.  I couldn't sleep last night so I was up really late.  I actually got up and went up to deck 7 to just watch the ocean and get away from my room for a bit.  I woke up this morning feeling fine but as the day progressed i started to feel really sick.  After lunch my boss sent me home cuz we didn't have much to do and it would be better for me to rest then to stand around in the galley doing nothing.  I felt so much better after i'd slept and taken some medicine.  I think that my body is reacting to the stress of the last few days by becoming physically ill.  wonderful. I felt a TON better by dinner time and was invited to go out salsa dancing.  It was a BLAST!  There weren't actually that many people there but i had a very good time.  It was so insanely humid i had sweat literally dripping off me by the end of the first dance.  usually that doesn't happen till at least the end of the fifth or sixth dance! Unfortunately my camera died but a friend did get some pictures so hopefully they will be posted soon.  Just as we were leaving the song "dynamite" came on and Stefan and I danced around the whole restaurant.  It was ridiculous! and so much fun.
Tonight I also got more lessons in African culture:
-nose rings and ankle bracelets mean that your a prostitute.
-it's ok for two girls or two guys to hold hands, it means your good friends not gay.
-it is NOT ok for a guy and a girl to hold hands.  To African eyes that is as inappropriate as having sex in public.
So folks there's a little bit of Africa for you.