Hello
Hello from somewhere off the coast of Africa. 1 month down and 5 to go before I see the US again.
Quick recap of the trip so far: A week and a half crossing the Atlantic; a couple of days in Malagas, Spain; a week crossing the Mediterrainian; almost a week in Rhodes, Greece; and about a week transiting the Suez Canal and the Red Sea.
Spain was a lot of fun. I drank a lot of Sangria and tried a few local dishes (but mostly local beers). Did some shopping and hung out. It was awesome.
Rhodes wasn't what I was hoping for with Greece. I was hoping for ancient ruins and the like, but what I got was massive fortifications build by the Knights of Saint John around the 16th century and later rebuilt by the italians during WWII. Not to mention how dificult it was trying to find anything. I truely understand the phrase "it's greek to me" now. In the end I didn't much care for Greece.
The underway periods have been pretty hellish for me. It's not the pitch and roll as this is actually quite comforting. It's that I've been cranking since Sept 6. Cranking is a 90 day period during which a sailor gets the immesuable pleasure of being a slave to the cooks (a.k.a. the dumbest people on the ship) I lucked out and have been working in the wardroom (officer's mess) which is really cool because I get to bull shit with the captain and my department head doesn't even do that. What sucks are the hours 0500 to 2000 7 days a week for 90 days. Then on top of that the supervisors are morons. You ask them something and they give you an answer then ten minutes later you're getting chewed out for following their guidence while they stand there tight mouthed. It sucks worse then boot camp and more then NMT, and it's longer then both. 64 to go...
Quick recap of the trip so far: A week and a half crossing the Atlantic; a couple of days in Malagas, Spain; a week crossing the Mediterrainian; almost a week in Rhodes, Greece; and about a week transiting the Suez Canal and the Red Sea.
Spain was a lot of fun. I drank a lot of Sangria and tried a few local dishes (but mostly local beers). Did some shopping and hung out. It was awesome.
Rhodes wasn't what I was hoping for with Greece. I was hoping for ancient ruins and the like, but what I got was massive fortifications build by the Knights of Saint John around the 16th century and later rebuilt by the italians during WWII. Not to mention how dificult it was trying to find anything. I truely understand the phrase "it's greek to me" now. In the end I didn't much care for Greece.
The underway periods have been pretty hellish for me. It's not the pitch and roll as this is actually quite comforting. It's that I've been cranking since Sept 6. Cranking is a 90 day period during which a sailor gets the immesuable pleasure of being a slave to the cooks (a.k.a. the dumbest people on the ship) I lucked out and have been working in the wardroom (officer's mess) which is really cool because I get to bull shit with the captain and my department head doesn't even do that. What sucks are the hours 0500 to 2000 7 days a week for 90 days. Then on top of that the supervisors are morons. You ask them something and they give you an answer then ten minutes later you're getting chewed out for following their guidence while they stand there tight mouthed. It sucks worse then boot camp and more then NMT, and it's longer then both. 64 to go...