At the wharf

As we stepped out of the bus, we realized that the journey was finally beginning. Of course, the real trip will begin on Sunday, but three preparation days are something special either way. We got to know all the people, we are going to spend the next six months with and to see the Ocean, that will be our new home soon.

Well, the first task was to find our stuff in the huge pile of bags. After unpacking the most necessary things we walked over to a tiny house where we finally had a delicious dinner, that the crew had already prepared for us. But this was only an exception, as we have to cook on our own from now on. When we were finished with some early information about the next day we went back to our apartments, which we shared with four other people. Exhausted but happily we went to bed, the gentle whispering of the sea in the background and already full of energy for the next day.

Even on the first day we had to get up at 6 am to be on time for our next meeting. We split up into different groups with specific tasks which we are going to do during the next days. Many of us went by car to Kiel to sort all the donations for Dominica and Cabo Verde or to prepare our food and camping stuff for the trip. The amount of donations was really astonishing and hopefully they will all fit in our ship… Thanks to everybody who helped to collect so many different things! Some tasks like the project assistance or sorting the sea maps, we will need for the journey were preferred, as they could stay in the warm office instead of working in the cold.

As a reward when we had finished our days tasks, on our way home we passed the Thor, our fantastic ship, for the coming six months. It was really fantastic and astonishing for us, especially for those, who saw the ship for the first time. At first, the ship looked huge but imagining 50 people will live there it suddenly seemed pretty small.

When everyone was home again, we had lots of fun cooking together in one house, which was very crowded but fun. Although it wasn´t really helpful while cooking, as we hadn´t really any space to move and so our noodles burnt at the bottom of the pot.

In the evening lots of us went to practice songs for the farewell on Sunday and everyone sang and played with lots of enthusiasm, although the result wasn´t satisfying yet, as only some notes were correctly. Until we were finally back in our own houses and in bed, it was already quite late.

Our second day began not as early as our first one as we had learned from our mistake of getting up so early yesterday. It was very rainy but that couldn´t stop us from a happy atmosphere because Mika had his birthday today. With the rain as background music we sang a happy birthday song which was rather better than our practice yesterday.

With new energy most of us already started to Kiel early. But staying at our apartments wasn´t as boring as you might think, as we had a secret job: We had to bake a delicious birthday cake. We are very proud of our result, even though we don´t know how it tastes yet. Sadly our kitchen is now an even bigger mess that we will have to clean until tomorrow…  Because tomorrow is the big day, we will finally move to our new home, the big ship. Tomorrow we have to clean the whole ship from inside and outside. We can´t imagine how much effort that will take. Of course, this won´t stop our anticipation to learn and experience so many new things.

But first, the job of cleaning our whole apartment is awaiting us.