Back to School for a Night

The Academy on board had an Open Day...
We all went back to school...
Should I say more?
Evidence...
N-Joy!
R

(Click on the pictures to see the larger version)

Our ca. 50 kids come from all over the world

Me concentrating hard on solving a puzzle designed for ages 8+ :)

Size does matter - giant smart board for the kiddos

Darren and Carol try to play the hand chimes... Ray disapproves!

 Doctor Sean is sent back to school to work on his cursive writing skills. We - non doctors who have to work with doctors and decipher their horrible hand writing - appreciate his efforts to make his writing LEGIBLE! 

 Funny. In my country they had 1= failed 5= excellent. Twas much easier to memorize 5 numbers...

Ali and I managed not to break the tiny chairs as we worked hard with Play-Doh

Freddy wasn't feeling well. He was about to puke his guts out.
 I told him not to eat off the ship, but did he listen???

And that concludes our visit to the higher classes. We walked out and went to the next deck where we entered the younger kids' kingdom. Strangely I felt straight at home. :)

 Apparently I wasn't the only adult who fit right in... :)

My IT specialist husband was playing with the wrong toy. The computer was sitting behind him, untouched, while the pirate just got stabbed by his swords.

I don't see what's the big deal with this puzzle. I solved it flawlessly within 15 seconds!

... then the teacher told us we had to play together like nice kids so together we did...

... in fact the Hospital Director / my honorary Father on board also joined us!

Gerrit and I worked together to appropriately illustrate the story!

This is one of the teachers on board, she teaches second graders, currently 2 students. 

BTW, we need teachers on board! 

Come for a school year, it's great fun! 

Email me if interested!

Kindergarten at it's best - me eating dirt when the teacher is not looking! :)

Playing twister on the Alphabet mat... FUN!

Who said that we ever have to grow up???

Conakry, Guinea - we are here at last!

AMAZING sunset, one of those rare ones when
the huge burning fireball sinks into the sea without any obstruction (aka clouds)

We left the Canary Islands on a Thursday morning and after only 5 short and uneventful days we finally arrived to Conakry, Guinea. This country is often called the "Forgotten State of West Africa" since this country wasn't torn apart by a brutal civil war unlike the neighbouring countries (Senegal, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Mali, Sierra Leone), so Foreign Aid agencies didn't focus much on this part of West Africa.I don't want to bombard you with stats and details, if you want to know more about this country, you can click here , here or here.

Here are some shots of the arrival, unless indicated otherwise, they are my pictures. It was cloudy all day with some rain. Sadly the rainy season is still here...

First sight of Conakry

That big round building is the President's Home. Yes, he lives "just around the corner"

LE PORT

Happy dock workers welcome us to Guinea

Our Welcome Band!

Some of the Advance Team members (in their funky outfits),
who have been in town for the last 4-5 months to prepare everything

Getting ready for the arrival ceremony

On the couch they had reserved seats for the Min. of Health, the Prime Minister and our CEO

Captain and other important peeps bringing us to our peer 

Sadly this little strip of pavement is our only Dock Area :((( Very small!!!

Our CEO being introduced to the Prime Minister of Guinea.

Donovan Palmer, our Managing Director and the Prime Minister

The Military Band made some noise to celebrate our arrival...

"Ants" on the dock :))

"Ants" on the decks :))

And here is our big problem: the dock side is not long enough for our ship. As you can see about 20 meters are missing for us to dock safely. I guess it would never happen in any European ports, but here everything is possible... :)

Welcome to Guinea!