15-1-13

I guess I did not fully understand what STCW meant! Yesterday, Monday, we sat in a classroom and learned elementary first aid. It was all theory so an instructor sat up front and read through our booklet and showed us a few videos about hypothermia and stuff like that. Very important but VERY important! Any person working on a boat must know the basics in case something happens at sea. I did not know you could use the VHF to have a medic walk you through some things you may not know. Today we had an exam as soon as we got there which everyone passed. It was about 20 multiple choice and 4 long answers. After we passed we learned how to dress wounds and deal with broken bones n such. And then we PRACTICED IT ALL!  It was fun! Every person took turns being the victim and the instructor dressed us up with all sorts of different wounds. Tyrone came out with a severed arm, a cut on his leg and I think a protruding bone on the other leg. He was all jacked up. Nicole, JJ, Christo and myself had to go through the checklist as an EMT does when they ask you if you have any allergies, med history stuff like that and then we addressed all the wounds. It was so fun and really gross. JJ’s was the worst for me because it was the first one I saw and it looked kind of real. He had a rib bone poking out of his chest and when I asked what happened he said Tyrone pushed him down the stairs. LOL. After the fun and games we all went back inside and practiced CPR, AR and CAB. Nadia placed a dummy in the middle of the room and called us out one by one randomly to perform one of the 3. If you mess up just one small part she excuses you and calls the next person. So if you bend down to listen to the breathing instead of just glancing to watch the chest to see if its moving you failed your try…I was the first one to get it right and on the first try. Mine was CAB which mean compression, airway and breathing. So you look to see if the person is breathing, no breathing, check carotid pulse, no pulse so you immediately begin compressions on the chest then open airway and give 2 breaths. They are quite confusing between what you are supposed to do for CPR and CAB. Anyway we all passed and tomorrow we go back for the theory class of survival at sea I believe. Then we have to jump into a pool with a life jacket on and climb into a life raft. Sounds like fun but don’t want to wear a swim suit in front of a class of 18. The food they serve is really good for lunch though. Wow. I was impressed and Ty was also so that should tell you something.

Right about now we are sitting at Dockside with a beer since we have no homework and I am typing away while Tyrone wandered off to find some wifi somewhere. Lol these birds are going nuts here! Angry birds everywhere. I did see a cute baby kitten today. New little guy to the pack of cats that hang around here. He wont let me get close enough to pet him yet. He has not learned how good nails feel yet….we got a new boat mate. He is also from South Africa around Port Elizabeth. He is just here this week for STCW. Had some PB&J’s for dinner and it was Nicoles first  time to have one. She said they do something similar here but they put peanut butter and syrup. Their syrup is different of course. It is flavored and nothing like our maple syrup…mmmm…maple syrup….anyway weird right? Never had a PB&J! she liked it. I did tell her that we put our syrup on pancakes and French toast and bacon. She told me that pancakes are more like a desert here like a special treat after a meal. Old ladies make them and sell them in the markets.

It is rather hot today. It still is nowhere near Houston hot though. It is about 90* F but there is still a constant breeze and NO humidity! Lol its like Houston on a really nice day. You roll your windows down in your car kind of day. Today was just hot because we had to wear cover-alls for the STCW training.

Ty is learning about cricket which is similar to baseball and in a few weeks will be learning about rugby kind of like football but more hard core. Cricket is played for like 3 days or something crazy like that. They play all morning, take a lunch break and then come back and play some more. Its crazy! Rugby starts in a few weeks and that should be fun. They get really violent! No rules like our American football. Can’t believe we lost…boooo…that sucks but WATT said it “the best is yet to come” so we shall wait one more year.

Dockside is already like our little Cheers in Langebaan. We walk in and the bartender already has our beer out and ready. Can’t imagine why. It’s not like they see us every day…teehee.

So next week we will be in another theory class so another week with no sailing…grrr…so still no cooking on the boat. We do not have a fridge so we really cannot store anything like meat or milk or anything good like that. I think it may be cheaper to just eat here though when it comes to chicken and steak and burgers and all that. Prices are pretty good here. It’s a little less than $2 for a beer or a shot of Jager or whatever you want. We can get a pizza a big pizza for $4-$8 depending on what you get. I think the burger and chips (fries) are about $6. Not too bad.

Last night it got up over 40 knots of wind and it was friggin cold! We shut all the hatches and put the door back on so that the spray from the water would stop coming in and getting everything wet or damp. The boat was a rockin pretty hard but somehow I managed to fall asleep after a couple episodes of Breaking Bad. We started watching it and we are still in the first season. Pretty good so far. Definitely going to tighten some of the lines down before bed tonight.

Every day seems to keep getting better and better and I gotta say….it doesn’t suck…;P

OOH Tyrones food just got here!!! Gotta go!! haha