So, we are finally back to Yoko, thankfully. There are only so many times one can live the song, "I'm on a boat," before life gets irritating. Most days were long, sweaty and hot, but I'd like to share some of the more amusing activities I encountered along the way.
During high speed turns if you are on the toilet, it is totally acceptable to brace for shock on the bathroom stalls. The first time I sat down on the toilet while the ship was rocking I feared I might just tip over and fall off. All while my pants were at my ankles! How tragic.
About two weeks into cruise, I returned to my division to do weapons work. Chief put me in the main bomb magazine with many cool people. Together, we form this great little family that meets every night at 1900. Bomb builds make the night fly by (so do two hour naps on the bomb kits). We really have a good time! We normally have anywhere between 2 to 50 bombs to build in a night, that range anywhere from 500 to 2000 pounds. We get off work the next day around 930. And then we do it all over again until we hit a port! Talk about exhausting. It was nice getting into a daily routine of work, gym, shower, sleep, repeat. When days are long like that, I find its the little things in life that really make the day shine. For example: apples, trail mix, kashi bars, new gym routines, a breeze in the hangar bay during GQ drills, or even a cold shower after a long day.
I became a vegetarian out to sea. I just couldn't bring myself to eat the meat on the ship (or wait in the long line.) Imagine, thousands of sailors eating at the same time at night. Yeah, standing in line...not an option. So ruling out meat made mid rats kind of a a difficult challenge. So what did I end up eating? Kidney beans, and cottage cheese, lots of salads, corn, apples, grapes, bread with peanut butter...I'm all tuna-ed out. I can't eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and also, cheese does NOT dress up bread like it used to! The first thing I did when I put my feet on land was eat pizza!
Brisk sweet tea from the vending machines was a favorite of mine, as well as, Esmeralda's. We would always take a break and drink tea together. Taking Esme and Thomas into the ship store was always hilarious. I felt like such a mom! "Greene, can I have this? Greene, will you buy me some crackers? I'm really hungry Greene." I was such a good mom to Thomas and Esme. Don't worry, I did just as much begging when I forgot my cash card too.
Towards the end of cruise, the GW had a gastro pandemic. Gastro, for those of you who may not know, is a gastro-intestinal disease caused by bacteria and people not washing their hands. It makes you have explosive diarrhea and puke bucket fulls simultaneously. The last couple days of cruise, I was very careful about the foods I ate. The girl who lives above me had gastro for three days. She was so weak. She kept her puke bucket on top of Thomas's locker every day. And you know what, everyday I went to sleep in fear that her puke bucket would fall on me. I was so glad she started feeling better.
Living with fifty girls certainly has its ups and downs. One of the many downs: running out of toilet paper. Occasionally, every single bathroom stall would be picked bone dry of toilet paper. How comforting sitting down to poop, only to find out there isn't toilet paper anywhere. Yeah, no words describe this. That's just a "shitty" situation, right there. (No pun intended).
Speaking of shitty situations...I did not realize that people were so disgusting. After a long night of work, you would think that most people would crave a shower and excitedly make that happen. Nope. I saw so many girls work all night (sweaty and smelly) then just climb in their rack. Eww. Gross, but true.
On that note, I think I'll hit the gym then SHOWER. If I think of more, i'll add part two. If not, to everyone back home-- I miss and love you all. Look for more posts on my random shananigans in Japan before winter cruise.
Dani
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