First Impressions

Today marked our first complete workday.  What is my current state?  Physically exhausted.  Despite popular belief, physical exhaustion is a beautiful thing.  There is something profoundly satisfying about working one’s body for hours on end.  I have been a stranger to such work for far too long.

I must say: TJ and I made outstanding first impressions.  Within minutes of beginning morning readings/soundings, we successfully guillotined a sounding tape, sending its dense, brass plumb bomb and twenty centimeters of tape into a hydraulic oil tank 173 cm in depth.  It seems bent wire is not a foolproof method of holding open a sounding tube.  A note to future cadets: when your first casually mentions you can retrieve brass tank contaminants using a brass magnet, do not take his word.  In retrospect, I knew this.

Following our noon meal, TJ and I served as kitchen slaves along with a navy brigade of twelve sprightly young adults.  We quickly learned several things.  One: nineteen palates of food is a lot of food.  Two: loading nineteen palates of food is a great team building activity.  (It is a quite a sight to see a train of muscular, camouflaged men and two green cadets collectively hauling food to a vessel’s kitchen.)  Lastly, one can always use more freezer space.

We ended the day as observers.  Per the captain’s suggestion, we braved the cool night air at 21:00 to witness weighing anchor.  At 23:30, we watched as deck hands dropped anchor outside Piraeus.  I will be blunt: weighing anchor, while interesting, is not particularly thrilling.  Dropping anchor, however, is a different story.  I cannot describe what it is to sense a bow rumbling beneath your feet, what it is to see and taste a cloud of rising rust, what it is to see sparks fly where a plummeting anchor chain brushes a hull.  I can only say this: I walk away from today with a newfound appreciation for the beautiful giant on which I stand.