Unfinished pages | beyond the mirror

It was middle of the night when I heard “Code Bravo, Code Bravo, Code Bravo! Deck 9, forward”  🔥🔥🔥🔥… First thing on my sleepy mind was “idiots can you please keep it quiet”, 😴🛌 then the message hit me and jumped from the bed trying to remember should I do anything or if there is any specific call for action. A few minutes later we had another announcement to disregard the message. My heart was pounding and could not go back to sleep. It was just a smoke on the bridge :D ahaha well now I need a smoke… 🚬 It is difficult sometimes being around people 24/7. But the good thing is to have friends to laugh about it. As the Trainer on the ship, frequently we are getting feedback without asking for it. So, you fascinatingly build up filters to absorb only the necessary. Except professional life, we also live a private life. Every so often we have a challenge to stay professional onboard.  Life onboard includes friends, love, happiness, desires, money, sex, career, and gossips....

The first month is mostly traumatizing a bit for everyone. Beside a huge load of new information, which you need to know and somehow learn, you also must fight fatigue which is not made easy by the way how the ship moves, which can give you anything from headaches to need to throw up and lack of energy. Or turning green 🤢😊 As I was first placed in a guest cabin on deck 12 , without a window, I was just feeling strong waves throwing the ship around even more intensely. For 2 weeks I was learning to trust my phone and alarm to distinguish day and night. As my office was the same as cabin just on deck 1 , I did not have a window there neither. Life without sunlight, so much for the tan . 😊 :D After 2 weeks they switched my cabin for crew cabin with porthole. At least now I can look under water :D :D I was hoping to see Nemo any second. Sea was very rough, and I discovered that I sleep better with curtains on.  🐟👀😁😁🐟 Guest cabin, deck 12 Office, deck 1 New cabin, deck 4 As I a...

Official language on the ship is English, but the crew, in reality uses its own version talking to each other. 😊 it is a mixture of broken English, ship slang, expressions from other different countries and body language. It is also a tool to let some steam off . It will take you a couple of contracts to catch the meaning of most of it. We had around 70 nationalities, 80% of crew h ave broken English, but all of them understand each other really well. Just before the continuation of trainings, I stopped in crew mess for a quick bite and coffee. There I saw the G eneral M anager. His appearance and demeanour was like Pablo Escobar (only bold and no moustache, short, with big belly and very strange smell), he approached me and saw my name tag which contains name and country where I am from, Serbia and said “ you must be sexy and aggressive” … I really did want to answer him aggressively ( maybe he had a point 😊 ) but before I had a chance, he said “look at this Babalues, I will ...

Your first day of training starts at 7 am sharp . You hardly had any sleep, even though you are dead tired from the trip and finding your way around in the totally new environment. You barely had any food or coffee, and you are running to find the Training Room. The first training is Safety , which is basically the first time you start learning how to be a Seaman . It is a sort of military style lecture and communication.   But you feel like you are back in high school. Suddenly, at this age and with this experience you start from beginning and you have exams… again you do not know the subjects. Of course, there is always a few people in the room with maritime school and you would love to have them as a mates. 👀😂 Eyes and ears wide open as I listen to the Safety Officer explaining to us how to shoot a rocket in case we end up in rubber dinghy in the middle of the fucking ocean. My honest thought is that I need a bible more in that situation . Also pondering if we all have ...

The bus drops you off along with 50 other lost souls at dawn. The sun is still sleeping 😊🌞⛅and you are full of adrenaline , but you are keeping it cool , like it’s your usual routine . I don’t know why we are constantly lying to ourselves and others 😊 First glimpse of the ship … what you see is power ! You can feel it, you can even touch it and you can’t explain the feeling! You are simply proud because you succeed this far and are in awe with a steel GIANT in front of you. You feel like an ant next to it. We have just entered through the crew gangway (for you terrestrials :D, it’s a staircase that leads up to the ship) . It’s a different gangway then the one guests (for you terrestrials :D it’s a passengers) are using. It feels like you entered behind the stage of the theater. It’s barebone steel and some carpet occasionally. You are entering and you feel a different climate just like entering a huge cave.  You hear a constant buzzing noise and feel the smell of the ship. I...

Some moments are nice, some are nicer, some are even worth writing about.  - Charles Bukowski Let me take you through the journey of the ship life, this whole blog, and the book which is maybe coming, is straight forward story about the ship life. I will reveal you the characters within the crew, events, strata of people, everyday life and illuminate a some of the personal and social disorders there. Please keep in mind that there is a possibility that you will recognize many in your own environment or the rime of it. 👌👊 Ship environment is sort of compressed, and the pace there is quite different, much faster, and unique. So, I would say that ship environment is a human laboratory of sorts, you can see its effects on personalities, characters, ganders, races, nationalities, behavior, and disorders expressed. Also, you can see the C H A N G E 👀🙊💣 which usually what we are trying to avoid. But in this environment the change is the only thing to keep you alive. 😊 The crew is ...