A lttle late i know... old news!

Rouen 7th of July early in the morning.

Well eh L’armada de Rouen, so far it’s been okay, we have “open ship” every day from 10-17 in those hours we have at least 5000, yes 5 thousand!!! people on deck so eh 2hours to clean and make ready for the evening party is a bit tight. Tonight we had 200 for a buffet… so many people on deck, I’m still amazed by how dirty it actually gets in a day… oh well I was QM of the day, and even though I didn’t get that much sleep last night, (luckily, I only had 2-3beers so I wasn’t even tipsy when I went to bed, it was just late) I was totally on top of everything today, I was at all times one step ahead of everybody else, deck crew, officers, Bosun…. Everyody! I saw that we might run into some problems, a little chitchat here and there and it was solved long before it became a problem (our Hotel manager likes to say that “we never have problems, only issues!”) or before it became an issue… But it felt good, we have a lot of time off here in Rouen, so that means a lot of work, the days you’re actually working. For me that’s okay, I’d rather be off than hang around with 2 fingers up my nose, but it means long boring days for the ones on watch. “open ship” is always hard work and without offending anybody, the French a bit eh how can I put it? Eh difficult, so eh it can be long days on the gangway. But as mentioned it means we can have whole days off. And later on tonight we have a big crew party onboard, every other ship participating in this event can join in with 4 crewmembers. We had a similar party last year during the Tall Ships race, and that was a huge success and such a blast, so I’m looking forward to the one tonight, even though I am on watch again tomorrow morning again from 4-8 So eh I can’t party as hard as last year… hehe last year we continued after closing on the ship, I came back onboard pissdrunk at 7o’oclock in the morning, went straight down changed my clothes, brushed my teeth and slept for about 45min then I had to be back on deck!!! Luckily it was my last working day and early the next morning I flew home. Had a connecting flight and almost missed it because I fell asleep in a chair by the gate… damn I hate connecting flights and airports!
But eh I already know that won’t happen again… cause I have to be ready at 7.30 to go on a daytrip to Paris and in the evening we have no parties so it’s my only chance to go out for dinner with my SweetS. Since he’s one the cooks, he’s off tomorrow night. He leaves here in Rouen and I won’t see him before he comes back onboard a few days before I leave, and then he has to work all august, So next time we’re off at the same time will be in September. And who knows where I will be by then! I think that’s a pretty good reason for not “going through the roof” at the crew party tonight.
Oh well it’s 5.20 the sun is slowly rising, I’m sitting on deck it’s a bit chilly, but eh they left a few tables and a chair at the gangway so it’s more comfortable than on the bridge… it also gives me the chance to sit here, write this, drink tea and smoke cigarettes all at the same time. Great!
Unfortunately we don’t have internet up here, but our 1st mate has made sure we at least have it down below, so eh I can upload this later…
Oh well I just make myself another cup of tea and then I’ll be back!
Mmm Nice!
Actually when I come to think about it, I should be doing something. Looking around the ship is a mess and we only have 2hours to make it ready for “open Ship” oh and in between the 8o’oclocky (morning breefing) and 10 we get a VIP tour around our sister ship “Cisne Branco” a training ship for the Brazilian navy. It’s the first time ever we actually meet, so that’s gonna be interesting. And I think we’re all very curious to see what it looks like. We are built as a passenger vessel, they’re built as a training ship. We pretty much look the same, but with a few obvious differences, we’re black, they’re white (that probably has something to do with the name, apparently “Cisne Branco” means “white Swan) minor differences on the structure of the deck and the rigging. But eh it’s our sister ship and the 2 beautiful Square riggers are the only fullrigged clippers sailing around on the 7seas… That’s a ship that would be fun racing!!!
In 20min I’m halfway trough my watch and then it’s time to do something, we have no night orders, but I think I’ll keep up and see the work myself. After all I still get paid, and it’s the least you can expect from a good AB and indeed from a QM. And since I’ve decided not to leave with a closed door behind me I’ve found my inner strength and to some degree also some of my motivation. So I’ll show them all, maybe especially our sometimes too laid back deck crew that if we all open our eyes and help each other out, life onboard is so much easier and so much more fun. We’re all in it together, so helping somebody else also means helping yourself which a lot of people seem not to get or to forget sometimes… I’ll rise above it all and be a good example!! Because I can, and because it’s actually required of me. It’s a large part of my job description. It’ll also keep me warm and awake! So all in all it seems like a great plan.

I guess that you by now have figured out that I’m actually doing okay, the first 10-14days we’re hard on me, and I really had a hard time getting use to it and find the rhythm. But eh I’m much better now, realized that I’d better get the most out of it, enjoy it and leave the ship with a good feeling. 8weeks of feeling miserable would be a nightmare for both me and everybody around me. So eh did the only right thing there was to do, stepped up and stopped caring too much about the small things that I can’t change or that has nothing to do with me. I must admit it feels good and I’m sure that everybody around me agrees that I’m much nicer and fun to be around now than I was when I came back.
I’m much more relaxed and less stressed out by things I have no control over. All do is trying to be as good at my job as possible and give my watch room and space to learn and to grow. So I think they’re pretty happy with me at the moment and obviously that feels great. So I’m a happy little cookie!!!

As much as I enjoy writing, I’ll stop for now, get back to work and hopefully the last 2hours will pass quickly… The quicker the better!!!
Take care and enjoy whatever you do…

*Ninon