fire drill

Until we are finished sailing, I am official member of the dining room staff. I help set up, clean up, and serve the three daily ship meals. I like it much better then working on galley, simply because I realize enjoy jobs that involve multi-tasking and talking to people (which is why I'm an ICU nurse, and why the galley..12 hours in a steel kitchen box..made me slightly miserable).

Between lunch and dinner I have a two hour break which I have been utilizing to take a healthy jog. There are lovely running trails and I am enjoying them while I can. Here and at home, jogging is a calming, mind clearing experience. However, I believe my friend Crystal best described jogging in Liberia when she said

"After running in Liberia, how could you ever enjoy running at home ever again! Without the feeling of imminent death every step of the way, running will just be boring. You'll probably fall asleep going for a run back in your Mr.Rogers neighborhood."

I know that makes my mom feel good.

When I was coming back from my jog, I found Abby, a 19 year old from Australia, who I work with in the dining room, walking away from the ship. Apparently very shortly there was to be a fire drill. I took her advice and walked back towards town with her instead of going on the ship to attend the fire drill. I made sure I said thanks for the hot tip.

One of the nicest things about living on the ship is being surprised by people. SO I often, I fall into the trap of labeling people based on the impressions I form by what I see. At home, I would probably just keep people labeled without any further investigation. but here, due to the small living space, you can't help but get to know people.

I talked to Abby learned a lot about her that gave me a deeper appreciation for the lovely person she is. It was nice to miss the fire drill together.

But I'm not sure the captain would think the same thing. He scheduled a second drill for tomorrow, one of the reasons being lack of attendance at today's.

I'm not very good at taking fire drills seriously; maybe I shouldn't post such a confession.