Yes, I am in Africa!

WOW! First of all, I want to apologize for not updating this sooner!!! I have sat down to update it many many times, and only gotten through the first or second sentence... so Im praying that I will get further with it this time! My goal really is to update this once a week, even if its a little blurb...and honestly, things are settling in a little better now, so I can manage my time better. I cannot believe that I have already completed FOUR weeks of school so far!! AND already been on the ship for about SIX weeks!! Time has FLOWN by! If I was to recap every event these last few weeks, I think the site would have to be renamed Christina's Book rather than Christina's Blog! haha! But I definately want to share with you some exciting pictures and adventures! Because you don't just live on a ship in West Africa for 6 weeks, and not have some adventures! haha! ...so where to begin... well at the beginning is good :)

After all of our orientations, and finally beginning the school year, Im finally beginning to get settled in :) I am teaching 6th grade Bible, Integrated Sciences (7-8th grade), Physics (9-10th grade), Math grade 5, Fundamentals of Science (grade 6), and 4th & 5th grade sciences, which leaves me one prep every other day...for a "first-year" teacher, it has been a wild ride, yet SOOOO much fun! The students are amazing! My largest class is 4th & 5th grade science which is 7 students! And my other classes average 5 per class, which makes for a very nice group---but they get their work done so quickly! I usually have to plan extra activities, because with so few students, we go through the material at a MUCH quicker pace! Its a lot of fun though! :) I usually work monday -friday 730am until 5pm (dinner is at 5!) and then usually end up going back for another hour or so...but hopefully that will ease up a little bit as the school year progresses. Then on weekends I usually go work for a good couple hours too... BUT! On the weekends, I also take some good ol' off time!!! :)

Some of my favorite events on the ship are weekly planned events, such as Thursday night community meetings- These meetings are kinda like a church service, which there is worship and a speaker. Then afterward there is fellowship time in Mid-Ships. Mid-Ships is actually where I am sitting right now, as Don Stevens would say, "it is the hub of the community"... and actually it is. Downstairs the starbucks and the Ship Shop (that Danae and I have named The Walmart...because it is litterally a mart with one wall! haha!) and there are also a lot of tables and chairs all gathered around that area, then upstairs (which looks down on the starbucks area) has an internet cafe, a bunch of couches (on which i am sitting on right now), and an open room area where chairs are gathered around, which easily converts into a game night area, or even a karaoke party area! Speaking of Karaoke... It was Danae's birthday last week, so I got a group together and we planned a surprize karaoke birthday party for her!!! It seriously was my favorite night so far!!! we combined two people's bdays, and almost EVERYONE on the ship (including the Captain & family) came!! It is very hard to plan a suprize birthday party for your best friend on the Ship, because 1, we're connected at the hip, and 2, its a SMALL ship and news travels fast! ...but "fortunately" last week, Danae caught the mean bug thats also been traveling fast around the ship, the stomach flu, and she was bed ridden for almost 2 days... and it made planning the party a little easier LOL!! (oops! there's me being too optimistic again ;) lol! The party was a hit! and she was SOOOOO surprized!!! and we ended up timing it perfect!...but she REALY wanted to know why I wanted to get my laundry out of the laundry room before it was dry! LOL! ;)

Last night, Friday night, is another new favorite :) As soon as 5:00 hits, I run and get changed into some sports clothing, grab a plate of food, beg the dining hall crew to store my food for when we get back, and hop into Land Rovers and all head out to the "Football Field" which is a sand field meant for soccer or ultimate frizbee!! but last night we got kicked out of the Police Academy field... so we hopped into the Landrovers again, and did a little off roading, through Cotonou, looking for the 40ish of us for a place where we could play....but we got stuck in the WORST traffic ive ever seen!! (which coming from So. Cal...that says alot!) So one of our friends Juan jumped of the jeep and literally started to direct traffic!! Zimmie Jons (motorcycles with 2-5 people AND cargo on it!), semi-trucks, cars, and landrovers!! there are no traffic signals, but everyone definitely has a HORN!! and it is the most important part of the vehicle! ...but we finally found a field! and all of a sudden a ton of people came out, and we could hear "Yo-Vo! Yo-Vo!" which means White person! White Person! and I think we provided the entertainment for the evening for that little village! hehe!! Then after we got to play Frisbee, we came back home to the ship, and had a "Gates Family" (the people from our training in Texas...which really have become like a family to me and for all of us! and we named ourselves the Gates Family!) worship night... Danae and Leah led worship on piano and guitar.... it was such a needed night for all of us...it amazing how when you get a group of believers together, who worship in a similar way, how God just really speaks to you :) Kelly and Jamie even made Red-Velvet cupcakes! with frosting and chocolate sprinkles! :) yummy!

Wow! Okay, I will stop writing, and show some pictures for this next part!

We went to Ganvie (Gone-vee-yay) last Sunday, which is a village on stilts, because the whole village is basically built on the river! We had to take an hours boat ride to the village, and then we went to a few different little shops getting a soda-pop at, and we had to ride the boat to each place. They didn't have roads in this village, only waterways!