A Day in the Life of Georgia

Every morning Monday through Friday, I wake up normally a little before seven. I get out of bed and get ready for the day. Then I walk downstairs to the breakfast room and eat Special K, or Honey Nut Cheerios, or a banana. We try to get to the Wheelhouse, which is right across from where we are living in right now, by 7:45 or 8:00. The Wheelhouse is where Kids Onboarding takes place, which is the training for kids. Something that you should know about the Wheelhouse is, that it’s freezing, so if you happen to visit, bring a jacket! 

Every morning, someone comes in and speaks to our small group of seven kids and two adults, almost like giving a small devotional. For example, one lady came in and talked to us about the Titanic. And no, it wasn’t to scare us into thinking that we were going to crash into an iceberg and sink, but it was to teach us to listen to warnings. Or, sometimes someone will come in to just share their experience with the ship and answer any questions that we may have about the ship.  

One of the good parts about Kids Onboarding is that we get a lot of free time. In this free time, we relax and play a lot of games. Some of the games that we have played are Yahtzee, Spoons, Dutch Blitz, and Phase 10. But, we mostly play Dutch Blitz which is really fun. 

Then we have our lesson. We learn about culture, transition, and other things in that category. We have learned about what makes up a culture, and that when you go to new places and experience their cultures, it will seem different and possibly wrong because we were raised differently. But we have to realize that it's not wrong, it’s just different than what we are used to. We once read this book called Swirly and it was basically about how when you move to different places with different cultures, they become a part of you and you become “swirly”. We have also talked about “where is home?” and what makes a place home; also, how God speaks to you. There are usually activities that we do to go with the lessons. 

Sometimes we watch this video series called My Mercy Box, which is about this girl who was on the ship and it shows what life on the ship looks like from a kid’s perspective. One time, we watched this video about one of the patients that was on the ship. 

After lunch, we either go to the pool, do field trips, or go to the gym to play. Some of the field trips have been to the zoo, to a museum, and to a place to get ice cream. 

After dinner at what we call the Oasis, I normally come back to our room, sit in the really comfy chair in my parents’ room or at the desk in our room, and read my book. Or I’ll go to the tire swing with my mom. And sometimes, if we’re lucky, we can see these two stray cats that wander around and they let us pet them!

That is what a normal day for me looks like here at the Mercy Ships International Support Center!