We left Jebal Ali last night, (3DEC) leaving the
dock at 8PM and taking departure around three AM. It turns out the refer
containers we loaded in Egypt were full of produce bound for here.
While in port I re-built the main engine air start valve changed the main
engine turbo-charger filters and pumped the sludge tanks ashore (have I ever
mentioned that I much prefer steam to motor?)
I did get out one night and found Syrian beer in short supply so I mostly
drank Indian Whiskey, the cadet was a bit shocked to learn that Syria made
beer, so I explained to him that Syria while a dictatorship is not a
theocracy but instead Baathist, I told him that Baathism was a Pan-Arabic
Stalinist philosophy and that one of the major architects of it was a
Christian Army officer in Syria back in the fifties.
On to the cadet, the basics are that he is nineteen, and attends The State
University of New York Maritime program majoring in marine engineering, he
is from Eastern Colorado, where him, his three brothers and two sisters were
home schooled, he hasn’t really been able to explain why he wants to ship,
but my guess is that he wanted out of where he was.
The home-schooling shows, I myself cannot claim any great amount of
education, but still. For starts his social skills are lacking, he really
has no idea how to relate to people, especially people different than
himself, though I give him credit for trying. Also his education was “bible
based, but that strange U.S. fundamentalist Christian bible view, and the
most simplistic view of history that you can imagine, he was shocked to
learn that at the time of the U.S. revolution the U.S. people were not the
only Europeans in North America, I told him that to the west were the French
and to the west of them were the Spanish.
He does seem willing to learn though, but un-doing the damage of his early
education will not be easy.
It’s a little past seven thirty and I need to get back to work I’ll write
more latter.
Say hi to the gang at the Ale House for me.