Hot Dogs and Sculpey Clay

In this crazy world where we are living, it's the little things that make a difference! 

This weekend, our sales manager and friend, Jeff, has brought on a new feature: Hot Dogs!

Generally on the weekends we pack a sack lunch so the galley workers get a bit of a break.  Bread, cheese, ham, pb & j are the standards. 

But Jeff has decided to get wild and crazy and start offering another option! 

This afternoon Dan and I worked the ship shop and café - I rang up the totals for drinks, chips, candy bars, and the hot dogs, while Dan operated the hot dog grilling machine.

These 50¢ treats were a hit.  Anticipating selling 50 yesterday and 50 today, Jeff bought 100 of them, and organized with a local store for the delivery of hot dog buns.  However, they sold out of 100 in the first fifteen minutes yesterday!  He restocked the supply yesterday and we sold about 120 of them this lunchtime. 

Variety is nice!

While we were working the cafe, cousin Emily was wowing the girls with her Sculpey clay talents.  She had brought some as a gift to Kylie & Savannah upon her arrival last week, and today proved to be the perfect afternoon to work on their skills.

Here are some of Kylie's creations: a frog prince, a fruit basket, some beads and a cherry pie.

Savannah has some fairies, a dolphin and some other things (too small for me to identify)

Kylie was trying to hide from the camera, but to no avail (she also has shorter hair thanks to Jillian, our new hair stylist onboard)

Cousin Emily makes a beautiful dolphin sculpture as well- though hard to see the details here. :)

Savannah with her new big girl teeth growing in (and hopefully straightening out??) and her four missing teeth around the middle ones- watch this smile over the next few months- it's sure to be a work in progress. :)

And good friend Debra couldn't avoid the camera either.  You don't have to look far to find Debra or other new friends near the girls.

So, here's a little look of our "normal" day off on the weekend.  We have a coffee date with the new family from Sweden in a little while and hopefully will get a hike in to the University sometime this weekend too.

Toodles!

School is Back in Session!

Hard to believe it, but the girls have been back in school for nearly two weeks now! 

After a short eight week break, Mercy Ships Academy is back in session.

Yes, in Africa, a fleece jacket is a necessity for the first day of school (when you live on an air-conditioned ship, anyway)

Kylie's class is the biggest in the school.  Fourth and fifth grade is a combined class and Miss Angie (Savannah's teacher from last year) moved up to the challenge.  There are two girls and five boys to keep her on her toes. 

Savannah went from being one of two students last year, to one of four this year - including another GIRL who joined their class today, so she is a happy camper.  Her teacher is from the US and other than an allergy to chocolate (no, seriously), has brought a lot of fun to the classroom already.  The first few days it was just Savannah and Miss Rebekah, so they had some good bonding already.

To kick off the season, we were able to attend the annual African Mercy Independent Film Festival this week.  The whole evening was a lot of fun.  Kids, families and singles submitted films that had to be five minutes or less, and include the written or spoken phrase, "it's a trap" and a bottle cap.  The creativity on this ship knows no bounds.  Everything from Bollywood musicals to Spanish/Italian telenovellas to plastic lizard animation graced the screen.

The girls got together with three of their friends and put together a story about a journey to the center of the earth. 

The plot?  They "wake up" at a sleepover and they've traveled to a crazy land- they fall down a big hole (the stairs in their sleeping bags), go off to find the escape home, and encounter the crazy GUMBALL HEADS who tell them "it's a trap" and give them a bottle cap.  They rush out of there, fall down the stairs and wake up for real.  When their mom wakes them, they realize they've had the same crazy "dream" about the Gumball Heads and head off to school.  At school their teacher tells us they are going to learn about the Center of the Earth (which rocks their world), and then in Kylie's pocket, she finds....a bottle cap.... (dun, dun, dunhhhhhh). 

 Complete with lots of laughing outtakes, it won the prize of Cutest Film. 

The paparazzi was busy snapping photos of everyone dressed to the nines (one of few occasions to put on something other than capris and flip-flops).

The grand prize winner of the night was "So You Think You Can Dance," featuring many eligible bachelors (and Dan Bergman)....  If I can figure out a way to link you to the videos, I will.  Stay tuned...