Here's the story, morning glory

You guys are smart. 

Or experienced.

Or both. 

SO they really ARE celery stalks. 

But here's the story. 

So I work in the galley now. The galley is the ship's kitchen. 

It's big. We have 3 walk in fridges and we prepare something like 1500 meals a day, everyday. 

We arrived in Holland on a Wednesday morning, and people were bringing in tulips ( like, you cannot get more Holland than that ) and I was thinking that it'll be really nice to get flowers, like real life tulips. (  before this I've only ever seen plastic ones - when I actually DID see real ones it took me quite a while (and a lot of touching & sniffing ) to realise that they were actually real and not plastic. *pffbt* )

So I remember saying, when we 'landed' on Holland land keyside : "God, I'd like some flowers please, thankyouverymuch."

The next day I was working in the galley, yes? And my job for the afternoon was to cut lots and lots of celery. 

Like two pans of this. (600cc each ) 

A lot. 

But then as I was cutting I slowly realised that the remaining-to-be-thrown-away stalks looked like roses. It was amazing! 

It was much more amazing when I realised after awhile that I have 'received' my bouquet of flowers, one day after I had 'asked' for it - No, not in a typical way, not quite what I had hoped for - this was better, waaaaaay better. :) 

Gawkingly beautiful, no? I had to stand there for a very long time. In awe. At this. 

Interestingly, the Head Chef decided to cook the celery stalks differently this time by way of 'baking'. 

Not a good idea. 

They didn't turn out, I think they had to be thrown away. 

It was a sad waste, and all that work!.

But then - heh, maybe this time it was just for that bouquet. :)

owh, and it was hard for me to cut some bits of the celery. 

These bits :

If you have an imagination akin to those who spend a lot of 'quality' time with veggies and fruits, you would realise that these particular stalks look very much like the wooden figurines with a head and hands praising. 

I was supposed to cut exactly at the 'neck' area, thus beheading this 'worshipping stalks'. It was hard. 

Okay, here's the local Celery Church Choir : 

I beheaded them soon after. 

Ah, cruelty. I know.

what was I to do? 

The green thing behind them? Chopping board. 

So what have we learnt today?

1) God's a real Gentleman and He gives amazing gifts.

2) Celery is not only good for you, it's beautiful too ( took me awhile to appreciate this green thing though)

3) Michelle spends a loooot of time in the kitchen, but she'll soon master the art of kitchzadry. :)  

6am coffee and cups and dishwashing liquid

My least favourite chore in all of chores is probably washing dishes.


When I was younger I used to be exempted because of a hand skin condition.
Happy was I since I never really liked doing it anyway.

It's interesting then that when I joined the ship, I was assigned to the Galley, and more specifically, the Pantry.

What happens in the Pantry?
We wash cups dishes etc all day long EVERYDAY.


We're talking about 1200 each per day. And they never stop, cos they're like cups and plates - people need to keep using them. I think in my time there I've washed like millions.

And so you wake up 6am in the morning to this :

In case you're wondering - no, it's not easy to wake up to do this.

And yes, the hours are long. Or it feels long.

8 hours a day, 5 days a week.

Two shifts. 6am - 2pm / 1pm - 8pm

It takes a lot to run a ship.
And to feed the ship community - takes a lot too.

So our time IS pretty packed. We work full time on real jobs that keep the ship + ministry running, and then we also have all the extra activities like church and prayer meetings and devotion and street evangelism and youth conferences and visits to drug rehabs and shelters for homeless people and etc.

We have a designated 5 work day, 1 ministry day and 1 Off day. But most workdays, we have night time activities as well.

Which probably explains why I had been in Koge for more than a month, but have only really gone off ship less than 10 times?

But it's fine - it's been such a humbling,learning experience. And I've learnt how much I am not a fan of routine jobs. ( but more of that in another post ) . And if my two weeks as a DEEP volunteer on the Doulos has taught me how to make a toilet spick and span, the time here will definitely teach me about the washing of dishes, and the cutting of vegetables.

Yes, after about a month of washing plates, I got to move on to cutting vegetables ( and cheese and meat )

But again, more on that, in the next post!
( it's really late at night and i maybe shouldn't be doing this )

Just thought it would be good to let you in on my 'day job' here. :)

cheers.

Note : The 'Galley' is what you call a ship's kitchen.