Tuesday, January 8, 2008
Class 2006 Our Story? (SHELLBACKS on deck) part 3
Days on board were not as easy as it seemed to be. Work and study come together in the process of learning. "Experience is the best teacher' as the old saying goes. On board, we learned many things, which cannot be erased for it was written by experience. Making our sea project taught us things that we were to study. We decoded the principle behind a merchant marine officer. Staying late after work to study and helping the "mates" with the paper works was a part of our shipboard training. Eagerness to learn and humility was also a good thing...
Earning for ourselves gave us a feeling of pride knowing that we could now enjoy simple pleasures of life as fruits of our labor. One of the favorite moments onboard was the end of the month... - the time to receive our hard-earned dollars. Our allotment which our family and loved ones received somehow pacified financial shortcomings.
The year we spent taught us the life of a seafarer and seafaring as a profession. It was a combination of lonely and colorful memories that we vividly recall even to this day.
The year we spent taught us the life of a seafarer and seafaring as a profession. It was a combination of lonely and colorful memories that we vividly recall even to this day.
We would surely miss the life onboard; but seeing our families, friends and love ones excite us the most. The time to disembark our first ships neared. We left the sea as apprentice cadets, and we shall returns with the STRIPES.
The time has come for us to go back to our lair, back in the arid plains of Zambales. This time, as Firstclassmen.
the end...
