I'm back...like a bad chest cold
The moon is shining brightly. Even though the sun has come up and is no longer dark outside. It looks like a giant back-lit hanging orb. Nothing but the tops of the buildings are visible through the thick, ground hugging fog. You can hear, but not see the traffic zooming on the nearby road. Wow, what a unique morning. Glad to be alive.
Really cleaned up my laptop last night. It was getting pretty grungy. Especially the keyboard. And I know where my fingers have been. Eeewww.
The interpreter story. Ah yes. Mr. Nishida-san is with a joint US-Japanese company that provides the navy with, among other things, interpretation services. The 4 guys that work with us come to the office every day, study the material and get our lessons and notes and bone up on them so they will be better prepared. As I'm sure you know, we squids have a language all our own.
Of the 4 guys, Nishida-san has never been in the navy; Maki-san worked closely with the navy for years, but as a civilian; Tall and quiet-san, who I think is in charge, was a naval officer; and the 4th guy is just a freakin' mystery to me. Only Nishida-san actually translates. The others assist him.
Well, Nishida-san has been at our office for months and has done one other mission which was all classroom lessons down in Sasebo. This was the first time he has had to work on a ...da da da dum (suspense music)...ship. He was so funny. If we had to go out of the office and in to a space to observe a technical drill he would get so lost. He was all big eyed at the size of the equipment, the complexity of the equipment and, of course, the weaponry. He amazed at the lack of space or privacy. And the strict adherence to protocol and traditions and our unflinching deference to rank. But by far the most alien to him was the navy's propensity to keep starting earlier and earlier and finishing later and later. Navy is definately not a 9-5 job.
Then came the small boat rides. There he found himself, standing on a pier before 6 AM, on a foggy, drizzly morning waiting to go to a ship that was out at anchorage. When the boat arrived he had this real funny look on his face. He didn't expect the small boat to be so small nor that it would have no formal access point, instead requiring you to clamor aboard wherever you saw an opening. In your street shoes. Carrying a briefcase and computer. And umbrella.
Then he found out that on the ride, you get sea spray. No way around it, you get the spray. And the small boat rocks and pitches. And vibrates up through your butt. Constantly, and not in a particularly pleasant way, either.
And then, we arrived at the giant, hulking, grey hulled monster of a navy warship. And he was ready to be there. "Just show me to the door", his eyes said. Until he saw the acomm ladder. Then his eyes got big again. An accomm, or accommodation ladder is kinda like stairs going up the outside of the ship, if stairs went almost straight up with only the slightest perceptable incline, and were in a constant to and fro motion with a little up and down thrown in for good measure, and you accessed them from a small boat that was doing the same...but not in synch. In street shoes. With a briefcase and computer. And umbrella.
We arrived in our makeshift office. Set up and went on to have a normal training day. 10 short hours later we were done, and headed out for the accom ladder to disembark. Going home was much the same fun as the ride in. Plus it rained. Welcome to the navy, Nishida-san.
Peace, out
Travelin' Ed
Really cleaned up my laptop last night. It was getting pretty grungy. Especially the keyboard. And I know where my fingers have been. Eeewww.
The interpreter story. Ah yes. Mr. Nishida-san is with a joint US-Japanese company that provides the navy with, among other things, interpretation services. The 4 guys that work with us come to the office every day, study the material and get our lessons and notes and bone up on them so they will be better prepared. As I'm sure you know, we squids have a language all our own.
Of the 4 guys, Nishida-san has never been in the navy; Maki-san worked closely with the navy for years, but as a civilian; Tall and quiet-san, who I think is in charge, was a naval officer; and the 4th guy is just a freakin' mystery to me. Only Nishida-san actually translates. The others assist him.
Well, Nishida-san has been at our office for months and has done one other mission which was all classroom lessons down in Sasebo. This was the first time he has had to work on a ...da da da dum (suspense music)...ship. He was so funny. If we had to go out of the office and in to a space to observe a technical drill he would get so lost. He was all big eyed at the size of the equipment, the complexity of the equipment and, of course, the weaponry. He amazed at the lack of space or privacy. And the strict adherence to protocol and traditions and our unflinching deference to rank. But by far the most alien to him was the navy's propensity to keep starting earlier and earlier and finishing later and later. Navy is definately not a 9-5 job.
Then came the small boat rides. There he found himself, standing on a pier before 6 AM, on a foggy, drizzly morning waiting to go to a ship that was out at anchorage. When the boat arrived he had this real funny look on his face. He didn't expect the small boat to be so small nor that it would have no formal access point, instead requiring you to clamor aboard wherever you saw an opening. In your street shoes. Carrying a briefcase and computer. And umbrella.
Then he found out that on the ride, you get sea spray. No way around it, you get the spray. And the small boat rocks and pitches. And vibrates up through your butt. Constantly, and not in a particularly pleasant way, either.
And then, we arrived at the giant, hulking, grey hulled monster of a navy warship. And he was ready to be there. "Just show me to the door", his eyes said. Until he saw the acomm ladder. Then his eyes got big again. An accomm, or accommodation ladder is kinda like stairs going up the outside of the ship, if stairs went almost straight up with only the slightest perceptable incline, and were in a constant to and fro motion with a little up and down thrown in for good measure, and you accessed them from a small boat that was doing the same...but not in synch. In street shoes. With a briefcase and computer. And umbrella.
We arrived in our makeshift office. Set up and went on to have a normal training day. 10 short hours later we were done, and headed out for the accom ladder to disembark. Going home was much the same fun as the ride in. Plus it rained. Welcome to the navy, Nishida-san.
Peace, out
Travelin' Ed
That's what I'm about. Ramblin' Ed at 5:51 PM
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