Thinking about leaving...

So, I admit I've been slacking a bit on my blog. But here goes a little update. The ship is winding down a bit. 2 of the 4 hospital wards are now closed and we are in the process of cleaning, bleaching and packing everything for the ship to sail to Tenerif. There are still 2 wards filled with patients. One abdorable boy who is 6 yrs old who had a tumor in one of his eyes which turned out to be cancerous. So he will now be getting chemotherapy at a local hospital. He had malaria, but was still running around teasing all the nurses and cheering us up with his contageous giggle. He went home yesterday. He has a very good chance of survival with the chemotherapy. Some of the patients still need a lot of healing to go before the ship (and modern medical care) sails away. Please if you can, take a chance to ask God to really step in and heal their bodies.

I've been starting to think about leaving and going back home. Home is going to be my grandparents house, not my apartment, so it will be a little adjustment. Its hard for me to describe what its like here, its something you really have to experience for yourself.

I'm going to miss the laid back attitudes you have to adapt to while here. The culture is not focused around time. So for example, I had some friends come visit us here on the ship yesterday. They said they would meet us at 4pm. They came around 4:45. So we stood and talked and waited for them at the gate. Totally normal thing here. Not to mention the fact I don't have to leave for work until 1 minute before work because I only have to walk down the hall. It really does save time! :)

Today was my last trip to the market (at least I think so) and I was just taking in the environment around me and wondering what it will be like to go back to having so much and seeing so much wealth again. Many young men wanted to talk to me or "be my friend", children came and shook my hand. Large gross mud puddles, uncovered sewer holes in the middle of the sidewalks. Cracked concrete sidewalks (I mean really cracked, not bumpy) or plain dirt. An old man came up to me and told me he needed food, and couldn't work. He asked for tablets for his fever. Another one came and told me I looked like an angel from God who would help him buy 7 liters of gasoline. Taxi's packed with 8 or more people. The smell of garbage not properly disposed of/unavailable sewage management. Lime/Orange peels on the ground, coconut shells. Bring colored lapas(fabric). Women with incredible strength and grace carrying big containers on their head. Baby's sleeping comfortably swaddled to their mamma's back. Little kids selling random things. Water in little plastic bags. Taxi's falling apart, with signs on the bumper that says "God lifts me up". I really will miss it.