first days part 2

The next day was my first day of work as the ship got underway. For the next three days I was constantly reminded of the old cartoon showing goofy as a sailor. The only part I remember was the scene where he was trying to walk across the main deck to dump out two pails of water as the deck was moving. I remember that his face, shoulders, and arms stayed at the same spot on screen while the deck tilted all over the screen and his legs moved with the deck. At one point the deck showed at the top of the screen so his feet were twisted over his head, but the water barely spilled. As much as my ship didn’t tilt over my head, I learned that walking in a straight line like one can on land is not possible on a moving ship. It’s disorienting at first, but my body adapted, I just had a continuous headache for a few days. Since then I’ve learned that my coworkers and boss are really laid back. As long as we’re at the right place on time and the job gets done correctly on time, I don’t get in trouble. Then again, my job is to be around if my system breaks and it’s best if I’m not visible while waiting. The whole out of sight, out of mind thing is quite true in my job and best for a good relationship with my coworkers. Unfortunately, I have yet to learn that art but it should work nicely for college work and all my various projects. I should be able to get a lot of things done by the time I leave which works well for me. I may have most of my bachelors done before I even get back to the States, possibly have a degree before I become a fulltime student. Cool. J

The next stop on my tour was Malaysia. It’s a lovely blend of Chinese, Arabic, and Western cultures in clothes but the road rules are crazy. Apparently tail lights are mere decoration there and not used. The speed is high and the drivers are yet again driving on the wrong side of the road but we all survived. Most places there were wide shoulders on the road that often had cars pulled over to create roadside stands selling any number of things that could fit in a car. Another thing you might see on the highways of Malaysia are the motor bikes. I found it interesting that there was a lane cut off from the rest of the street, similar to our car pool lanes that go over the normal lanes, only these were lanes cordoned off from the rest of the roads and just for motor bikes. Also, it was rather hot those days but the bikers still wore coats. Okay, so they wore them backwards with the full back protecting their front from the wind and the fronts were left open to flap behind and cool the backs. Also, about now I was realizing that the US is quite possibly the only country that drives as we do. Every other country I visited seemed to drive on the opposite side of the roads than us.

While, that’s all for now. Come back soon as I will soon have more on my trip.