Ahoy 5170 Century Builders,
At dinner on the 12th, as he does everyday at dinner, the Captain handed
us a summary of the news which he receives on his computer from the
Satellite. Cindy and I were quite shocked to read about the beheading
of the American POW as we were before by the mistreatment of the Iraqi
POWs.
It is an illustration of how much bridge building there is to be done.
In some cases it almost seems insurmountable. Even though Rotary is
supposed to be fun, and it is; bridge building behavior is very serious
or important business. Rotary is one of the organizations that exports
hope to the world. It is the work of Rotary that will someday make a
bridge where it seems none exists. As the organization who had a major
part in starting the United Nations and the organization who has almost
eradicated Polio, digs wells, helps Literacy, addresses Poverty issues,
etc. maybe someday there will be Peace on this Earth.
After such a serious topic it seems difficult to even talk about less
important issues like; today was the first day that we walked to the
forecastle (the bow). On a ship like this where things could happen
and nobody would know about it, there are rules to try and prevent problems.
To walk to the forecastle, you must first let the bridge know that you
are going there and then when you return you must call and let them
know that you are back from the bow. The ship is so long that the bow
is almost 1/4 miles from the bridge.
With all of the containers stacked up high, the person on watch on
the bridge can not even see the bow. In fact the person on the bridge
can not see directly in front of the ship. He sees about 800 feet ahead
of the ship; that is the closest he can see. If a person falls overboard
it would take 1.6 miles to stop from the moment the bridge finds out
that the event has happened. One of the things that one must take seriously
when at sea is to have a tremendous amount of respect for what can happen
and to avoid being careless.
The bow is a wonderfully quiet place to be. The third officer who
took us there was telling us how in the work area inside the forecastle
there are some lounge chairs which we can use if it gets warm enough.
If you look over the edge of the tip of the bow you can see the bulbous
front of the ship which is just under the surface of the water. It is
quite an amazing sight to see how it cuts through the water and what
a great development that was in ship building design over the non bulbous
front. Cindy asked why there weren¹t any fish around and the third
officer said that his wife has a picture of porpoises playing around
the bulbous bow. Later we found out from the Chief Officer that we are
too far north due to the coolness of the water for porpoises and flying
fish.
The Pacific Ocean is beautifully calm and it is almost like being on
a lake. Cindy and I thanked the Captain and the chief Officer for the
weather and they both said that they were doing their best to please
the passengers; and they are doing marvelously.
The captain is very informative and helpful and at dinner on the 12th
he responded to an earlier question about the history of the company
by giving us a detailed booklet, written in German, and a video that
we can watch in the room.
There is always something good to eat but Cindy and I both hit a wall
at lunch when they had pigs knuckles with sauerkraut. I decided that
sauerkraut, rice and cold cuts sounded good and Cindy went for sliced
tomatoes, 1 slice of cold cut, and an orange. German food is very good
but I am not sure about our cholesterol and I have to report that they
have one of the most forgiving scales in the gym that I have ever seen.
At dinner tonight we had "rollmops" (herring wrapped around
a pickle), they were very good but Cindy was afraid that her fish allergies
might be a problem so she ate around them.
On a ship one of the most important factors is the relationships and
the teamwork. It is fun to observe that the Captain, the Chief Officer,
and the Chief Engineer have respect for each other and have a great
relationship. They have obviously seen the value of building bridges.
After dinner Cindy and I decided to play Ping Pong in the gym and we
went for best 2 out of 3. In the interest of building bridges I won¹t
tell you who won. This may become a daily tournament with the Ping Pong
World Series at our District Conference in May of 2005. We¹ll see
what Gary Citti has in store for us.
Traveling this way is very Rotarian. Paul Harris started Rotary because
he was trying to replicate the feelings of being in a small town. Traveling
on a freighter is like being in a small town as opposed to the big city
of a cruise ship. This mode of travel is definitely not for everyone
but it has its advantages.
Yesterday the captain informed us that their agents in Tokyo wondered
if we needed any assistance once we arrived in Tokyo like needing a
room, etc. We told him that we were going to get ourselves to the Bullet
Train and go to Osaka to the Rotary International Convention, so we
were fine but thank them please.
When we arrived at breakfast there was a Telex that had been addressed
to the Captain from the agent of the shipping line in Tokyo telling
him that they were going to take us to a bank to get money exchanged
and then they would take us to the nearest high speed express station
so that we could catch the bullet train to Osaka. They told the Captain
that there is a train every 20 minutes and no booking is required.
Those of you who are flying in to Japan, how many of your pilots are
worrying about your arrangements after you leave the airplane?
Saying goodbye from 200 miles to the East of the Unimak Pass in the
Aleutian Islands on the Great Circle route to Tokyo, Japan. Until we
see you on the web site tomorrow.
Ron and Cindy
