So Desu Neh…
To a certain extent I think I’m lucky to have taken up Japanese 5 months ago. Although I’m still far from fluent, I imagine it would be much more difficult to communicate with the locals here, who speak little English (and a lot of Japanese, despite knowing that you can’t understand much of what they’re telling you anyway).
Yes la I censored my bookmark-cum-namecard!
As much as I love to furnish my blog with (nice) photos, at the rate I’m going, I don’t think I can. Even if you give me til the end of the trip, I wonder how much of nice photos I’ll be able to take. That’s the difference between going on a working trip, and going for holiday. I guess it’s true that sometimes you may take time off to go somewhere (ie. meet friends who’re studying/working here), but that’s only if you’ve been working here long enough and could adjust your schedule and go for a break. I’m here on a very tight schedule with little time of my own, if any at all.
I flew alone. The flight took about 8 hours, including a silly one-hour transit in Kota Kinabalu. Thank goodness I brought along a book. I think I’m gonna make this a habit - a good one too - bring along a book everytime I travel. My sifu arrived at the airport shortly after I emerged from the exits. He recommended that I bought a prepaid card for travel convenience. We then proceeded to the trains and headed back to our apartment - a journey that took us around about 2 hours, including train-switching and all that. Not a nice thing to do when you have a luggage with you.
I boarded the tanker for the first time ever, and it felt almost like a dream. To see the ship docked right before my eyes was breathtaking. To be in it was a different thing altogether. We were given a small office-room at the workers’ site office, where engineers - very multi-national, at that - would work/rest when they’re not working on the tanker. I spent most of my day on the tanker yesterday. It was like going to work in a new office on my first day. I am probably the youngest engineer to be working on board this ship. Everyone looked to be at least 28.
The weather is lovely. It’s never too hot, neither too cold. Cooling, sometimes a little misty even, but very relaxing. It feels like Genting during colder days. Everything was strange to me. I felt a sense of accomplishment when I could utter a complete Japanese line and someone actually understood me. However, I’ve always dreaded their response - it’s either a word of acknowledgment, a greeting, or a question… whatever it is, it’s usually spoken so fast that I can barely understand. Then again, given my half-past-six vocab, I think I won’t understand even if they speak slower.
Another difference about being here on a working trip is that you get to blend in with the locals, sans the frills. In this part of Japan, you can’t expect to be treated like tourists. We’re in an industrial town, pretty far from the city center. In most of the places I visited before, I always wanted to go to places where the locals went, eat what they ate. Here in Japan, I’m getting every bit of that. And the best part is that the locals can’t tell if I’m Japanese, until I tell them I can’t understand much of the language because I’m a foreigner.
We’re setting sail soon, and there will - obviously - be limited internet access. I think we will not drift too far off shore, but I’m sure I won’t have much time for anything besides emails, if I get to go online, that is. We’ll be on board for only 2 weeks, after which we’ll disembark once the ship’s anchored. Having been working on board for two days now, I really don’t think I will like staying in there for an extended period of time. It will be interesting, but I’d prefer to spend the night on shore. Anyways, I gotta go pack my bags now. Have a good week ahead!
04 May 2008 narrowband 13 comments
