Community life

I've been living on the ship now for two months and have pretty much adapted to living in community. I never lived in the dorms in college so this is a unique experience for me. One thing I've learned is that you have to be flexible and give people a lot of grace - it helps to be laid back like I am. This is not a place for people who need to be in control and have everything their way because it is the opposite here - you have almost no control over anything and you can't insist on your way since you have between 5-9 other people living in your cabin (yes, we have ten-berth cabins).

I've been so lucky to have the roommates I have. Our ages are 24, 26, 32, 33, 42 and 57 and we come from 5 different countries (5 nurses and 1 doctor). The opportunity for conflict and misunderstandings is huge but we all actually get along really well and everyone is considerate. I know many other cabins where people just can't seem to make it work...so much for the Christianly attitude of grace.

The hardest part about living in community is that you are never alone, not even when you are in your bed sleeping because you have a bunkmate sleeping as well. You eat meals together, you do laundry together, you watch tv or movies together, you check your email together, you worship together, you work together. You can't go anywhere off the ship without at least one other person and preferably in a group. You are sick together (we've had lots of this lately - it just gets passed from person to person).

And it doesn't matter what time of the day because this is a hospital and a ship that operates 24 hours a day. I did laundry at 3:30 a.m. the other night and there was someone else in there doing laundry at the same time! I tried to go into the International Lounge (where we have all our community meetings and church) at 1:00 a.m. a few days ago to pray and there was a group of musicians in there practicing.

For the most part, I like the community living but as I've been thinking about whether I can do this long-term (two years or longer), I'm not so sure. Long-termers have better cabins - some have single-berth cabins but many are in four-berth cabins. I've heard the family cabins are great, just like apartments with multiple rooms and a kitchen...maybe I can get a family to adopt me while I'm on the ship:)

Some great things about community living: always someone to talk to or play games with or pray with or eat with...someone else prepares all your meals and cleans up after you...there is always a birthday to celebrate (meaning chocolate cake)...I have many, many friends from all over the world...no one cares about what you do for a living or how big your house is or how much stuff you have because you don't have anything here - just your small little cubbie. Most people are just here to serve God.

We have youth pastors who work in the kitchen, retired couples who work in housekeeping, doctors who are on call 24 hours a day and don't care if you call them in the middle of the night, nurses who spend their off-hours down on the ward just hanging out with the patients even though they just spent the day working on the ward, mothers who bring their young children down to the ward to play with the kids who have had surgery, teenagers who live on the ship that hang out with teenage patients after school, nursing supervisors who stop by the ward at midnight just to make sure we're doing ok.

I'm not saying everyone is perfect and we're living in paradise! We're living in a country that is so poor that it doesn't even rank on the list that ranks how poor countries are. And we take care of people everyday who have tragic stories to tell and many, many people who come looking for help and we can't help them. And we're living in community with 400+ other people and we are working a lot of hours and shifts and people get cranky.

So, for now, I'm fine with community living...it's just a different way to live. We'll see what my attitude is 10 months from now!

One last note: I'm coming home for Christmas, thanks to frequent flyer miles! I'll be in Des Moines from Dec. 14 - Jan. 5th. See you then.

I'm going to leave you with some photos of community living:

Ans and Melanie just hanging out.

Music night. Every two weeks or so, we have some kind of musical event in one of the lounge areas. Last week, we had a gospel singer, Tina Greene, visiting the ship so she sang for us. One week there was a talent (or lack-of talent) show. This photo is a night where some of our crew put on a concert. At times, someone will just sit down at the piano to play and others will come up and start singing and, the next thing you know, there is an impromptu worship service going on.

Jo and Jo out on the town. Jo (on the left) went home to England today. Jo (on the right) is my roommate and my friend - she will be going home to Wales in two weeks.

Celebrating a birthday in the dining hall.

Out on the town - Melissa, Rachel, Jo and Megan. Melissa and Rachel are nurses here for two years. Megan is a nurse here for one year.

Dessert after the Thursday night worship service. Every Thursday evening, groups of crew members make a special dessert for the rest of the crew and we basically hang out and socialize after church.

Peace,

Michele