Shipboard living

Some days you're just plain tired. I was supposed to go out on a DENTCAP (Dental Civic Assistance Program)so I got up at 0400 after a rough night of bad sleep, but had to be in on a conference call at 0600 so I missed out on going out to the site today which was disappointing as it is headed by Capt. Craft from USPHS, working with the East Meets West Foundation. Incredibly nice person.
From reading the blog it all sounds so adventurous and exciting but the majority of the time is spent dealing with living on a ship. The constant noise from engines, exhaust, loudspeakers, and people is a chronic stress on your system, you sort of adapt, sort of. Just imagine cramming 1,000 people on an approximately 950ft converted oil tanker with patients, doctors,nurses, military, civilians, all having to eat, sleep and work in a shared space. In our berthing, as I mentioned, there are seven women, all with different schedules. For example, the other night someone went to bed at 9:00, someone came in at 02:00, then someone got up at 04:00 to work out. Not much in the way of sleep. Everyone tries to be respectful and quiet but that's extremely difficult with metal lockers and drawers. Sometimes the steam pipes clang all night from condensation. The first time it happened I got up to make sure all the lockers were secured and looked inside to make sure there wasn't any loose metal making that clanging sound, I just couldn't figure out where it came from. Then I went down to the bathroom to make sure the metal stall doors were secured open because when you are out to sea they can bang open and closed if they are secured. I didn't find out for a couple of days that is was the pipes. All that running around in the middle of the night ticked off for nothing.
Tonight the air conditioning gets cut down so they can clean the condensers, this makes it extremely hot in some parts of the ship. They try to keep the patient areas and berthing cool but in a country where the heat index hits 113 degrees outside it can get quite hot and stuffy in the ship. Then the smell of PineSol and stinky feet and other lovely odors are just the rule of the day. Not so exotic.
The folks in the engine rooms and the galley just drip sweat all day, they have really hard physical labor to perform, I don't know how they keep it up. They were camelbacks to drink water all day, but I know how it affects me just being in the heat!
Breakfast is usually from 04:30 to 06:45 then there's muster, then usually what dad used to call "field day" where everything is swept and mopped, cleaned etc. Patient areas are also done with the addition of all the complications of having patients and family members that don't speak English. Around 16:00 the same routine. In between lunch is served from 11:00 to 12:45, dinner from 16:30 to about 18:00. If you miss the meal, tough. It's very easy to get into stress eating.
You can only do laundry on certain days, and when you do you are lucky if you can get an empty washer or dryer. In all of this shipboard living you have to remember which stairwell leads to which area of the ship. It's easy to get turned around and end up opposite of where you want to go. Imagine carrying your laundry and soap, getting lost and it's hot and you are tired and maybe not in a good mood.
It's 65 steps from my berthing up to the mess decks where we eat or have the operations briefs every night. Lots and lots of going up and down stairs. The last time I was on this ship in 2006 my berthing was on the 5th deck below, I got really sick and literally had to crawl seven decks up to sick call.
The absence of privacy and all the above factors coupled with a lack of phones and a slow, limited internet service can lead to a lot of stress. Activities are planned such as kareoke night, movie night on the flight deck, or bingo, but sometimes you are just too tired or it's too hot or you just aren't in the mood. It seems like most people have a meltdown or get down at some point. The chaplains are kept very busy around here. The military are taught to not show emotion so when you mix civilians in the mission who are not trained to hide their emotion it can lead to some misunderstands and conflict. Then there's the generational difference, situations where an older experienced person has to answer to someone who is younger but of a higher rank.
Thank goodness most people look out for each other, but not always. I think everyone experiences a sense of isolation at some time and it's not fun, but where are you going to go on a ship. Some folks play guitar, I take my harmonica out on deck, one guy in the office has a ukele.
One of the cool things I've experienced here are the workouts (if I'd only go more!)such as the kickboxing, one led by this young female sailor who is soooo fit! The fun part is seeing this mix of people of all different ages,sizes and abilities, some who probably never work out much at home, working out together to the music in the patient receiving area or the hallway of the ship. Sometimes a game of ping pong is set up in the hallway or a spontaneous game of hallway soccer. Oh, by the way, India won the first International Australia/India Cricket match yesterday. I guess a bunch of Yanks formed a team and had a spontaneous game and did pretty well.
Well just thought I'd tell a little about shipboard living. There goes my workout, see what I sacrifice to keep you posted! It's dinner time and I gotta run. :)
Take care,