Just my luck to get a duty day on the day we pull in. When you are in four section duty, it's bound to happen. That's a 25% chance of getting it the first day. Oh well, it wasn't that bad. I had the first Shore Patrol watch. We mustered at the Quarterdeck at 9:00 and waited. Then we waited some more. And then, when we least expected it, more waiting. We weren't even moored to the pier until an hour and a half after we mustered. Most of us were just sitting around talking, and some of us were sitting in the Hum-Vee's taking a nap. We didn't get off of the boat until around noon, and even then, didn't get the briefing for another half an hour. At about 1:30, I was on my way out in town to stand my shore patrol watch.
A marine and I were dropped off at one of the big Malls. This was quite interesting, considering a good part of the ship's crew just stayed on base because of high taxi costs, and the ones who did leave still didn't get off the boat until about 2:30, so for me, it was more of a shopping trip. I looked around and felt just like I was in an American mall, except for the people. It was almost like Bahrain in that respect. Women dressed in black, and men in their white throw overs, many speaking a language I of course couldn't understand. And I had a communication problem with a good portion of the shop vendors as well. I think the whole time I was at this mall, I saw about 6 people from the boat. Not that they were really aiming for us being a security patrol, because two people monitoring an entire two story mall is just unfeasible. We ate an early dinner at one of the food outlets there, just a simple slice of pizza which made me very sick. For a little while, I didn't think I was going to make it back to the boat without getting ill, but I made it just fine. There was really no excitement while on shore patrol We were there until about 5:30, but after the first couple of hours, I was more than ready to leave.
When we got back, I didn't do much aside from check in, ask someone to buy something that I forgot to look for, play around on the computer a little and then hit the rack. Altogether, it was a pretty eventless day.
Sadly, we learned that this port was going to be cut short, and this was actually our last day there. Considering it's going to be over a month before our next port, I found this to be really messed up. But, I don't really have a choice other than to live with it. This being another working port, I had to work the first part of the day, but they let me off early, somewhere between 10:30 and 11:00. I took the opportunity to go use the base facilities to do laundry, especially once I found out that the shops hadn't even opened up yet.
I finished laundry at about 1:00, and then went to another facility to take advantage of using a computer and doing a couple of things on it that I can't do on the ships computer systems. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to do everything I wanted. I wanted to use an online service that let's me make phone calls, but one of the security features they had on wouldn't allow it.
After that, I went on and did my shopping at the shops that they had on base. They had a decent variety, but again, there wasn't much there that you can't get back in the states, and not all of it was exactly cheaper. I did get the things that I really wanted to, such as the shot glass I'm getting at every port, a couple of gifts, and I even broke down and bought a blanket at this one.
The day was coming to a close, so people from my shop that weren't on duty or going out on the town decided to take this last opportunity to go out and do some drinking, which I joined them in. I had plenty of tickets to buy alcohol (they had it set up so one ticket was one beer) because I expected to be here for another couple of days. Now here I am with all of these tickets and there was no way I was going to drink all of that in one night.
We did some drinking, and some talking, and then I did a little more roaming around, and ended up buying some doughnuts, considering it's going to be quite some time before I get a chance to have a real doughnut again.
After I was done with all of that, I went back toward the tables, and that's when a big surprise hit me. About three tables down, the big dogs were sitting doing there drinking. By big dogs, I am meaning the divisional officer, the warrant officer under him, and the Master Chief that is in charge of us. They saw myself and Walter and called us over to join them. Well, there's no one else with us, so we might as well, but why would the big dogs want me joining them. I sat down with them and then they start praising me for work I was doing. This is definitely something that makes me feel good. They were telling me how great it was to have someone in the division that was willing to learn new things. They were using the DVD player that I repaired a few days earlier as a prime example. They were giving me some of their beer and everything. This was way beyond anything I thought would happen to me that night. Not a week beforehand, you would have mentioned my name, and they would have said, "Who?" But now, they know my name, and they even say hi to me when I walk buy them. One of them even asked me why I didn't stop by his office and say hi more often. That's something I'm going to have to do. What a great feeling.
The night was growing late, and being a working port, and this being our last night there, we obviously had a curfew. I stayed with them as long as they were staying, because they aren't going to get in trouble for coming in late, so why not? About fifteen minutes before we had to get back, we came back to the boat. Altogether, not a bad night... but still messed up that we have to leave and be out for so long before we hit our next port. Unless of course they surprise us.
Unlike in Bahrain, I did get to talk to a local here while I was doing laundry. He was actually the guy running the place at the time. I asked him about the "Ninja women" as I call them. He explained that I was right for the most part, until I got down to the women that didn't have their face showing. That was actually an option given to the husband. If he wanted her to cover her face, she did. If he didn't mind either way, she probably didn't. The difference here was, some women didn't even have their eyes showing. They were a walking black figure, and that was it. He said the reason for this was because the women were considered secondary people here. But one thing I did find about here that I didn't know was that they practiced polygamy. It wasn't unusual for a man to have four wives. Natives to this area were paid very well, and they could support this.
The pay being so well actually starts at childhood. When the children reach a certain age, they are offered to go into some program, where they attend some sort of seminar, and then are given the equivalent of what $25,000 in America would be to go out and start a business or whatever they want to do with it. What a great way to start your own life.... $25,000 you don't have to worry about paying back. Of course, if you leave this country, you are not really allowed back in. And it's very bad to be fired from a job here, because every knows that you have been. But, as this man was explaining it to me, he liked their laws very much, and in his opinion, they had a very good king.
A lot of good and some bad about living here. Another place that I think America should look at to possibly think about making some changes.
This was another location that was a little uncomfortable being out in public in. Being only two days of liberty, I obviously didn't get much of a chance to do anything, especially see a lot of the sites. We drove by one on my way to shore patrol, but I didn't even know what it was until I saw it on a postcard. But basically, I would come back here, but it wouldn't be first choice, and it wouldn't really matter to me either way. I do regret that I didn't get a chance to see or learn about this place. But, you go where the Navy sends you, for as long as they send you, and live with it.
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