Rome In A Day

Well, I went to Rome for less than 24 hours. Not how I envisioned going to Italy for my first time. As many of you know, there are quite a few of us here on crew with the Africa Mercy who's visas expire today!! Our Management Team (of which I am one) decided we needed to have a 'test case' to go out of the country over night, come back in the next day to see if we could get a visa status changed from voluntary worker to ship's seafarer as we have now been able to sign on to ship's articles... well, guess who got to be the 'test case'. I rushed to Rome leaving at 7:30 am, and arriving just before 2 pm. I threw my backpack onto the bed at the hotel, and rushed to find the metro...took the metro down to St. Peter's Square, hopped a City Tour bus and got off at the Colloseum (which you see above). It was absolutely fantastic. And also bittersweet. Italy has been on my 'must see' list for quite sometime, so knowing that I was going to be there less than 24 hours was very sad for me. But the good news is... I got my visa changed! I know that I want to revisit Italy in a 'proper' fashion as the Brits would say! and I paved the way for others to feel more comfortable about going out of the country and coming back in to change their visa status. I am also now the first person to sign on as an official crew member of the Africa Mercy (photo to come next week :-) ... stay tuned!

The Furniture is Coming in Weekly!!

This is a typical picture of my work day over the last several weeks and next month to come... furniture is typically arriving two times a week. And when it gets here, I meet the large truck along with several of the shipyard workers. We begin the 5 hour process of unloading. They unload; I check for damages; we both keep count of which piece has arrived; we move into the warehouse...then usually the next day, we might end up loading it onto the ship via the huge cranes on the dock. Needless to say, I do not like the style of 'hat hair', but then again...there's not much room for vanity when one works in a shipyard!!

I am very excited that the furniture is finally being installed. The cabins are starting to take shape, and I do have to say - I am pleasantly surprised at the quality. The furniture originated here in England, given to Scotland to order who placed the order with a Polish company who then delivers here to England... how's that for efficiency! I'll be glad when it's all done. I'll try to get a pic up soon of what the furniture looks like!

This will be the view from the AFM ... next April

Planning ahead for London
This past weekend, I went to London (no, not to see the Queen...) but to attend a planning session for the Africa Mercy. London will be our first port-0-call. We will sail under the Tower Bridge (shown in this picture) and dock alongside the HMS Belfast. It's all quite exciting as we continue to plan and move forward in getting this ship to Africa!!

Soup, Anyone???

We often get big donations to the ship... seems like the one we get most often is soup. Soup for breakfast, soup for lunch, soup for ... well, you get the picture.

We are grateful for the many donations given us (and it's not just soup). Since we are in a shipyard, we often have other ships come in for drydock. Rather than have their food supplies go to waste, they will often donate it to us. Most recently, we were given supplies of flour, sugar, cereal, onions, apples, pears ...

If you ever come visit me on board, and we serve soup ... you never know!