Packwoods in Edinburgh supporting Logos Hope: New recruits and Liam's birthday

Sunday, 10 February 2008

New recruits and Liam's birthday

It has been an exciting week for us here on Logos Hope.

On Monday it was Liam's 8th birthday. He had a fantastic day.

It all started at 9am with an emergency evacuation drill where we were all instructed to leave the ship and line up on the quayside. That was the first time Liam had "Happy Birthday" sung to him that day. Then a few friends joined him for a McDonalds lunch and birthday cake and the whole ships company singing happy birthday in the dining room.

Then after school all Liam's friends came to the cabin to watch a DVD. We had our ship family together for dinner with more birthday cake. He did very well with birthday presents, particularly Pirates of the Caribbean toys.

Check out all the pictures at http://picasaweb.google.com/stehevpackwood/LiamSBirthday

On Monday and Tuesday, I undertook a Crisis Management and Human Behaviour course which I passed. This is designed to help deal with emergencies on board the ship.

Then on Tuesday we had 55 new recruits arrive on the ship from their PreShip Training. Twice a year we get a new intake of recruits and it is always an exciting time on board. They got a big welcome when they arrived and then in the evening we had a Scottish Ceilidh to welcome them.

It was very emotional for them to come onboard the ship.

For the rest of the week they have been doing their basic safety training which they need to pass in order to sail as crew. This has included coping with getting off a smoke filled ship and going to a pool for liferaft training.

Also this week, our friends Alex and Beth and their kids came up to Kiel from Mosbach for a few weeks. This is the family that we lived with in Mosbach during the Summer. Liam and Kara loved having their friends Nick and Amy around to play with. I worked with Alex for a couple of days sorting out the furniture for the offices. Heather enjoyed having Beth on board to talk to.