the first few days

We have had a few busy days of exploring the ship, we've been trying to master collecting everything we need in the dining room before we sit down (still rarely done- its harder than you think!! esp. with kids who make a mess!!), finding the areas of the ship where kids can play, visiting the bank to pay crew fees, visiting the shop to buy washing powder, soap etc, visiting the supermarket as the ship-shop had run out of washing up liquid, finding the laundry and trying not to shrink our clothes in the dryers...... its all very different but already starting to feel more familiar and less daunting...

We have only just begun to catch up with friends as we surface from the daze we arrived in and as the feeling of wanting to sleep for a week passes. We are so grateful for having familiar (and friendly but not familiar) faces around us who have made us feel really welcome.

The boys are settling in - Joshua didn't fall out of bed last night (he would have struggled with all the things we put to wedge him in the bed so we hope that will be the end of that!), cabin is his favorite new word and he seems to understand that's where we live now, although remains very confused as to where everyone else is (where Nanny? where Grandad? where....?).

Tom is pretty happy, he's met some nice kids from his class (although most of them are on holiday so aren't around much). He is getting used to the idea that the people we know will not want to sit next to him at every single meal time (!!) and that he will need to behave if he does not want to spend so much time on his bed or with his lego on the shelf. That aside he is enjoying looking at the maps of the ship and watching other ships coming and going. He is quite impatient to get to Africa as that is 'where we need to go to help the people in Africa'. Very true, we will just make the most of the time we have here in Tenerife, getting to know people before the outreach starts in Benin and making sure we have enough chocolate spread and peanut butter in our cabin (although I'm sure they might sell both in the ship-shop so we'll probably be ok).

Sarah. (who has not drunk hot chocolate since she arrived and wonders whether the strange tired ill feelings over the last few days were in fact withdrawal symptoms??)