I thought I should put up some pictures of Princess Anne's visit to the ship even though I was not there (see my last blog) and most of you know what Princess Anne looks like (you know, daughter of the Queen, bouffant hair). Seriously though it was still a pretty special visit and everyone seemed to be excited to meet her. The feedback was that she seemed genuinely interested in everyone she met, asking them lots of questions about their work and where they were from. I think a lifetime of talking to people means she has had a lot of practice.
On the wards with Kirstie (R), the ward manager from the UK
Arriving at the ship to be met by Donovan Palmer, our MD, and his wife Mae
Meeting some of the children in the ships academy (as you can see they were all a little overwhelmed!)
Princesses aside, normal life carries on. One thing that has been a weekly ritual for us since the beginning is Africana Friday. According to Esther Friday is the day that people here dress in their glad rags. Don't ask me why, as she doesn't really know herself. That's just how it is apparently. Every Friday for the past 9 months Esther has duly turned up in African garb looking very smart. As always we complement her and as always she says it's because of Africana day.
Somehow last week the conversation got round to this day and Camilla and I found ourselves agreeing to join in. And I knew just the thing to wear. My birthday present from last week (see my blog). Once I put it on however, vanity stepped in. Now I don't have the most svelte figure in the world but I like my clothes to not make me feel like I am wearing a sack. Oh, and I also looked like I was 8 months pregnant. So a belt was duly added to the ensemble and I was good to go (sadly there was not much that could be done about the puffy sleeves). So we started our day much to the amusement of my friends and the obvious delight of Isatu, the patient we were visiting that day, and her family. She also happened to be wearing a Krio dress. The dress was pronounced a success and I was told I was now a Krio/Sierra Leonean girl which I am taking to be a good thing!
With Isatu
With Camilla and Esther
Living on a ship with 400 people and around 30 different nationalities means you come to learn about many traditions/celebrations from different cultures. Yesterday was our turn for bonfire night. Of course, many people were curious as to why we celebrate the 5th November. When you begin to explain the origins behind it, that we basically celebrate a man being hung for trying to blow up the Houses of Parliament, it begins to make us, well, look just a little bit crazy. Craziness aside, we started the evening with a BBQ on the dock (for everyone) and one or two people decided to organise a party (for the Brits). To try and summon up a cold night (not too difficult in air conditioning) people came wearing hats, scarves and gloves. We played games, ate British food and even had 'fireworks' (from New Year, on the TV). To top off the evening, we all gathered on the dock for sparklers. A few, rather bemused, non British crew gathered to watch us all running around waving said sparklers which made us look even more mad. But somehow, nobody really cared.
The BBQ on the dock
Playing games in mid-ships
The 'guy' (sadly we couldn't burn him!)
Sparkler waving on the dock
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