essay #3

Ahoy,

My final essay from class: 

They wear no masks. They bear no capes. They humbly perform their services throughout the day. They command no great certificate of achievement for a simple greeting is all the gratification they need. Much like the heroes of great comic books, the shipboard crew falls into the shadows of the walls only to come out when crushed ice is absent or soap needs replenishing. The great heroes aboard the MV Explorer aren’t the courageous students that braved the stormy waters, they aren’t the courageous faculty sent to wrangle the rowdy students, nor are they the courageous children sent to battle boredom at sea. No, the heroes aboard the MV Explorer are the crew that clean the cabins, serve the food, bus the tables, wash the laundry, shine the stairwells, and so much more no one ever knows about.

A tiny placard sits dangling off the shelf, it reads a name. It is the name of the cabin steward. The cabin steward is this guy that comes out at seven in the morning because it’s his job to be out there that early even though no one is awake at such an ungodly hour. He sits on his cart as the single student tiptoes out her door. His face, displaying an expression of boredom, lights up to greet her at said ungodly hour. All morning, he waits for students to clear their rooms. Given the demographic of this ship, that might not happen for hours, in which case he continues to sit on the edge of his cart with his chin resting on his hand, elbow on his knee, waiting, wishing for them to wake up so he can get to tucking those sheets more than snugly into hospital corners.

Upstairs, the crew has been at their business for several hours now. Before the break of dawn, the chefs have woken up to cook for the crew who has to eat before the shipboard community does. After the crew eats, they have to begin preparing the scene for however few early birds arrive. The clinging and clanging of plates and metal shout the news out to the students that breakfast is approaching. Follow the noise and smell of freshly baked pastries to find canned fruit and potatoes. Breakfast – quite arguably the best meal of the day. Consumers must arrive early to snag the good cereal. Orange juice, a staple of the breakfast of champions gets doled out before the bum hits the seat. The waiters wind their way around the tables and people to pridefully place that glass within the reach of sleepy, uncoordinated hands. Before the blink of an eye, that plate has disappeared and she still wanted that fork.

They’re always cleaning. Always shining. Always waxing. The smooth circular motions of their hands seem to dance in concert with each other. Just seconds later another student has stamped their fingerprints onto that shiny surface. They smile and continue their work. They continue shining the stairs that inevitably never stay pristine for long. Every so often, there is that student that opts to slide down the banister rather than grip the banister. Somewhere on the ship, the butt-shine method is making the crewmember whose banister that was smile. For once, his hard work will not be smudged, for a few seconds at least. 

For nine months out of the year, they live on the ship. They live most of their lives away from their families. They live through weekly phone calls for updates on how much of their salary the hormonal teenage boy has spent or what new career the non-committal teenage daughter has chosen. They keep pictures in their wallets to tide them over until they can get to Internet in port. Somehow, they always manage to find a connection. They give up their time to serve the voyagers aboard so that their children can have a future with their family for more than three months out of the year. Despite all of this, they seem to love their job.

Everyday they greet the voyagers with friendly smiles and a jovial “Hello.” A lot of times, they make the effort to know names. Upon entrance, she gets bombarded with greetings and requests to hold her tray or bring her juice. It was a busy day as she fought with a waiter over whether she could get her own dessert. “You guys are paying to go on this trip. We are getting paid to work.” Heroes come in many shapes and sizes, but it’s not everyday you get to know the person behind the disguise. You should get to know a hero today.

gratingly cheesed,

jt

and so my summer ended, more than once

Ahoy,

We were stranded on the ship for the longest time. They had told us we would start debarking at 1000 hours. I don't think anyone left until 1200 or 1300 hours. But I think we all appreciated those extra moments with each other. Though some were jonesing for real coffee.
I went through customs without a delay. They only asked us to fill out these cards. There was no x-ray to check my contents. They just took my word for it and I rolled on out of there. Charlottesville was hot and sticky.
And then hurricane weather seemed to strike Charlottesville. My flight home was delayed. And it was like the whole ship was stranded at the airport. We had probably all said 5 good-byes to each other by then. SAS at the airport. If I'm going to be stranded at the airport, I'm glad I found the friends I did.

desparingly land-locked,
JT

last days on land

Ahoy,

We woke up later than we had anticipated, but it was worth it. We set out for Fes sometime close to late morning. The train ride was almost 4 hours, but it was air conditioned. Arrival was around 1430 and we caught a taxi to the souks and where a lot of other tourist things were according to our guidebook. The last train back to Casablanca was about 1900. We walked around the souks and wandered our way to a tannery shop. It was super stinky. Later, we found out we were supposed to get some mint leaves to hold to our noses. There were these kids that kept trying to be our tour guides. They would tell us to follow them and we would just turn in the other direction. We stumbled our way into a wood museum I no longer remember the name of. What was so cool about Fes was that it didn't feel so touristic. There was significantly less hassling. The spirit of the place was so different from most everywhere else we had been. We left around 1900 because we didn't think we would find much to do at night. A tour guide said there wasn't anything interesting at night either.

The next day was spent getting Internet at this hotel across the street from the port in Casablanca. And also Rick's Cafe - after the movie was made. They had Casablancalooping on television screens. I also went hunting for stamps, which the post office did not have. I had to go searching for this kiosk around the corner and down the street. Morocco is a place I would want to go back to, but the port entrance was so far from the ship. It was a good half hour or more by foot to get out.

tramplingly sullied,
JT

left behind

Ahoy,

Our last and final port was Casablanca, Morocco. We left a few days ago. I'm in the midst of a flurry of papers and tests, but while I'm trying to stay awake in class right now...

Friends and I left for Marrakech on the first day there. We packed to stay for one night in Marrakech. The train ride was almost 4 hours long and it was deathly hot. There was no air circulation and the seats were vinyl. As we got closer, the mercury climbed. Someone had told me it had been 140 degrees recently in Marrakech. The taxis were such a hassle to deal with. It would take more than 20 minutes to negotiate something that was far from reasonable. Public transit was not something that was available to us. The buses don't stop, people just clamber on. There are these petit taxis that only let 3 people on, when there are obviously 4 seats. I hate taxis in Morocco.

We got there and found a hotel that night right on Djemma el fna. We slept on the roof terrace. The drum circles were going on until late into the night. The room was nice, but the air conditioning wasn't working. It was so nice and breezy on the roof. It even got chilly during the night. So I heard that it was up to 140 degrees in Marrakech the day before. It was dry heat, but still not fun at all. We woke up and it was hot and sunny again. Djemma el fna looks completely different during the day. It's so bright and lit up at night. The snake charmers and monkey tamers are out during the day. Storytellers and drummers come out at night.

We didn't do a lot of tourist things the next day. We rented bikes and rode around the city. It was a lot of fun to be seeing the city by bike. We arrived back to Casablanca that night on another hot 4 hour train. We went to Fez the next morning.

blaringly burnt,
JT

final stop

Ahoy,

While I'm on the subject of procrastinating... We're leaving Morocco right now. We are on our way to Norfolk, Virginia, USA right now. I just felt that I needed to put that out there. I'll be back with Casablanca, Marrakech, and Fes, but for now, you just need to know that I'm coming back home.

astonishingly secured,
JT

last stop

Ahoy,

We were stopped in Gibraltar today for refueling. For the first time in a long time, humidity was nonexistent. It was glorious. We'll be in Morocco tomorrow. Four days in Morocco. Nine days across the ocean. I'll be home soon.

On a side note, I think my laptop is crooked now from when I dropped it the other day. It doesn't sit flat on the table-top anymore.

On another side not, I think I relinquished my room to my roommates. I technically should only have one, but I think I've acquired multiple from my roommate's friends who are in there more often than I am. And I'm almost never in there for more than 5 seconds other than to sleep because they are always in there. And they are always in there because I'm never in there. It's a feedback loop.

I saw dolphins today.   

salutarily inadequate,
JT

tourist Egypt

Ahoy,

Cairo is where the Pyramids are. I went to see them on the 2nd day in Egypt. We also saw the Sphinx. Seeing these monuments reminded me of a story my city planning professor told us. She said a friend of hers lived in Vegas and everyday he would park his car in the Sphinx parking lot. He eventually went to go see the actual Sphinx in Cairo and was sorely disappointed. He said it was so small. His idea of the original was completely distorted from having been exposed to the fake so often. I guess I'm glad I had not been exposed to the fake. I thought the Pyramids and Sphinx were quite impressive. 

The tour guide told us that it would not be worth it to pay to go into the big pyramid because you would just be in an empty room with blank walls and getting down there is incredibly stuffy and claustrophobia inducing. She recommended we go into the small one that is free. I did that. It was just so gosh-darned stuffy in there, but I wasn't sorely disappointed like she warned we might be. 

The tour guide also warned us about the vendors. They were VERY aggressive and persistent. She told us that they would give you something as a 'free gift' and then expect something back. And if you didn't give them money, they would start speaking to you in a manner that would be not as nice as they had been. Someone told me that a vendor hurled a pack of postcards at someone's head. She also warned us about the camel riding people. If we stay still long enough, they would pick us up and put us on the camel and refuse to let us down until we paid. Avoid the camel dudes. I did end up riding a camel at the 2nd stop where the camel rides are at a fixed price. She recommended riding a camel there.

Our final stop was at the Archeological Museum with King Tut's stuff. It was this mammoth ginormous whale shark of a place. There is so much stuff in there, and none of it is well kempt. There was no air conditioning, which you think would be there because it would preserve the artifacts better. It was so humid and hot in there. All those artifacts are just going to crumble to bits so much faster. There was so much stuff, but I felt like I was looking at the same things over and over again.

anticipatingly anxious,

JT

gaining speed

Ahoy,

We're traveling at about 19.5 knots. The most efficient this ship goes is at 21 knots with two engines running. The fastest is about 30 knots. We'd been traveling mostly at 15 for most of the Mediterranean because it's all so close to each other. We're going to Morocco now and there are 5 days between Egypt and Morocco. So let's recap Egypt a bit before I get too far away.

Egypt was so different from all the other countries we visited. You can definitely tell the poverty is there, the lack of infrastructure. It's all so third world. So different.

~ Security was heightened extensively in this city. We had to have our passports checked 3 times before we actually got out of the port. The police are everywhere but they are still probably all corrupt.

~ All the buildings look way sketchy and run down. They're mostly incomplete. The tops have metal and rebar sticking out. My tour guide told me it's because if you live in Alexandria for more than 10 years, you start to qualify to pay taxes if your house is finished. So people just never complete them to avoid taxes.

~ It's a Muslim country. Dress was way conservative. Women had their hair covered, wore many layers, some only showed their eyes. Men wore long pants and t-shirts at the very least. Even though it was 100 degrees. Women were never alone or out in the street without a guy. It was very gendered.

~ The vendors only spoke to men. It's funny how in the States, vendors talk to the women. And the guys always look over to the girls to, in a way, ask for permission, but in Egypt, the men make all the calls.

~ Trash is everywhere. They don't have a system for waste disposal or something. The streets are so dirty. I felt like I could contract 20 different diseases from just looking at the payphones. People just take it and toss it into the rivers. The city streets are the landfills. It's disgusting.

~ Traffic has no rules. There are lines nobody follows. There are a few lights no one follows. Nobody signals, they just go. They honk. All the time. They honk just out of habit. It's such a normal thing here. People just jaywalk across the highway. They cross the street whenever they feel like it. It's insane.

~ The air is so polluted here. Coming into port, we could see the layer of smog. I slept on the deck that night. Did I mention that already? We woke up to the sunrise over Africa. Then we went right back in and slept some more. It got so wet overnight from dew I guess. Everything else got moist.

~ The kids were always asking "What's your name?" Then they would giggle sheepishly and shy away. People stared at me and giggled with their friends. I guess I look funny to them.

~ The taxi drivers are so exhausting to deal with. You can never tell if you can trust them, and they most likely are giving you a jacked up price. There are so many right outside the port and they all bombard you before you've gotten past security. It's very hectic, and before you know it, you're in a taxi and you have no idea what happened.

Alexandria was fun, despite how I"m describing it. It was a good experience and I liked that it wasn't as touristy as other ports. Am I giving you an idea of what Egypt is like? I'll talk about Cairo next.

chronologically mismatched,

JT

which country?

Ahoy folks,

We've been going through this so quickly that all the places seem to blend together. I often find myself blanking on which country we're in and which one we just came from. This is common among most people too, so I'm not the only strange one. So I'm just going to confirm right now that I'm in Egypt. Egypt. We just came from Bulgaria. We are now in Egypt. Alexandria. 

It didn't quite sink in that I was in Egypt until we saw the Pyramids in the distance. It was my second day in Egypt that I went to see the Pyramids in Cairo. Before that, you could have guessed that Alexandria was just like any other third world country. It's an extremely dirty, busy, hectic, dirty metropolitan. Very dirty. They must not believe in trash cans or something because there are just piles of trash in the street and canals. It's disgusting and terribly poorly kempt. I'd been forewarned it would be really dirty, so it didn't shock me so much as astonish me at how much trash can accumulate in the streets. It's awful- the poverty and conditions in which these people have to live.

I guess that was a bit depressing, and it is. I'll be back about the Pyramids and stuff later.

trivially important,

JT