My Dad Forgot His Toothbrush

Titles are supposed to capture the reader and make them want to read more. So this is my title. True, my dad did forget his toothbrush but he got a new one today. So, fair warning, this post has almost nothing to do with that. I just wanted a good, hooking title. Yesterday we left Kara at six thirty, and got to Lome around twelve. We made good time, and the weather all day was rainy, but not pelting, chilly, but not freezing. It was a pleasant trip. After we got there, we got to go see the MercyShip. Let me just say this: It was not what I expected. When I think of 'hospital' and 'africa' together, my idea was indeed a ship, but a ship with maybe a few American doctors operating on people on small cots, hundreds crammed together in a large room with the smell, the flies, and the moans of the sweaty, miserable patients. In short, a typical African hospital. Well, may I start with there was a Starbucks aboard. It was a huge ship, with one gangplank and about a hundred people going up it at one time. There were four or five decks, and you entered in the... One of those decks. There was a cafeteria there, and we got some juice. Then there was a Starbucks, with a candy store place, and a living room place. There was a school for the kids on board, which was bigger than my school definitely(it's in our backyard) but only had a few more students. The very top of the ship was mostly storage, but since the weather was nice, we went and had a look. The actual place where they control the ship, does not have a wheel, and a surprisingly low amount of buttons too. No idea how they actually control it. The hospital was in the lower decks. lots of people are there, and honestly, it's more like an American hospital. The rooms are bigger though, and you may have twenty-five or so patients in one room, while there are a few operating rooms(that were sterile so we couldn't go in). I was very surprised at the kind of things they did and how much like a huge family it seemed. I didn't know too much about the MercyShip before, and had never even been on one. It was a pleasant first experience. Anyway, so now we're in Accra. We go swimming tomorrow and then to a sleepover on Saturday night and to a movie on Monday. Our visitor, Elizabeth, arrives Monday as well and then we make the entire twelve rickety driving hours back all on Tuesday. Let's just say we'll be ready to crash. Overall though, I'm excited for all our trip, and glad we got to see the MercyShip. I might even get to go back there someday. It's late. I'm tired. I was able to do my math at the border this morning. Now it's not a pile of bricks strapped around my neck(hah! Clever isn't that? I made it up just now. It's a metaphor. Like when someone says 'it's hanging over my head' or something. Except this is better because I made it up. Ha! I'm being original).