Here is an unexpected turn of events. Chief MK who we have followed since December has decided to quit navigation.
As a result of the crisis in off shore work- Chief MK was on his return to Split offered first of all half his usual wages -to continue working for the company he worked for in China, and than less than that. He being one of the rare people actually employed in the off-shore sector at this trying moment, decided ( despite his wish to go give the owners a mouthful of rude replies)- to accept their offer.
The company kept delaying MK's departure. They would call MK and ask if he will be ready to fly the next day- than deffer the flight to the week after- and the next week as he was ready and packed to go- no one would step in touch, there would be no flight details in the mail- and so this postponing went on for two and half months..
In the meanwhile - whilst waiting for departure to work on his jack up rig in the Arabian waters, MK came into contact with a education centre for mariners in Split. He sent his CV- and a few ideas as to what is missing in terms of educational courses in this city for the position of a Chief. The owners of the centre where delighted with his ideas- and commissioned him to comply-write a course that would be useful for someone who is or wishes to become a chief aboard a ship.Once again the education centre was impressed with the ideas MK's produced and so offered him to become the professor of the very course that he was the author of.
The constant delays from the jack up rig company - prevented MK from being able to start teaching- as he was unable to provide dates that he is available and on shore. Rather fed up with the whole situation- chief MK finally quit the off shore company he has been working with, and has decided to become what he calls " A decent man - a person who lives and works on land".
MK's career aboard a ship- commenced at the young age of 18. He graduated the maritime college for the position of a navigator,and embarked his first ship the Green Point as a cadet. That was 10 years ago. Since than he has graduated a dozens of courses to advance trough the ranks on the ship and on to more complicate,dangerous and better paid work on specialised ships, as well as a navigational university, and thus has advanced his way up to a Chief.
If Chief MK was to spend a certain number of days in this year- working in his position of a Chief- he would be entitled to take the Captains exam- and advance to a Captain-the top off the hierarchy at the young age of 28. This was the original plan MK had for this year. He was ready to tolerate the mess of the off shore business- and the inconsistency of his company, but the last straw must have snapped...
Christmas's time this year- when I first met MK and started this project and correspondence just before he departed for China . I came to know that MK had not been home for Christmas for 10 years. He had not seen a Christmas or been around for the family reunions, or for friends or had seen the Christmas lights light up his town! Of course he sounded sad. My little treat for him was to keep the Christmas tree up in my living room-until he got back from China.. Which was at the end of January- and the needle shedding Christmas tree came to be dangerously close to being thrown out of 8th floor balcony by my husband..MK made it back at the very end of the trees life, ans spent and evening lighting sparklers and pretending Christmas at our home..
It has been a fantasy in his mind for ages- to take a year off from navigation- and just do all the things he has been dreaming about in that year.. Like tour Europe on his motor bike. Create an aquarium for his new apartment ( loves designing and making aquariums together with the fish and plant life).. To take up photography once again- (photography and all cameras where banned on his jack up rigs )..To turn his aparamtnet into a smart apartment where everything is controlled by the mobile phone. And to well, be present for all the things he had been missing out on, birthdays, summer, family, friends, relationships, a free run of emotions which away on ships are allway kept on cool.
How long will MK be able to continue living on dry land without being out in the ocean, is not predictable. Mariners accustomed to their way of life sometimes find it very hard to re -adjust to the normal life on land- and more so to the much small wages which are available on land. Will he wait until the off-shore crises is over- and the embargo recently lifted off Iran- results in a new boom in the offshore business- to try his luck and work his way up to being a Captain.. We don't know- but a capable and ambitious man -who has moved up the ranks in the navigational business fast, has he admitted to me sweetly one over coffee-how he has kept scribbled notes on paper- written in high school- on which he promises to him self that he will be Captain- wit the plan that he will one day read the same note as a Captain- I personally believe he will not give up until he is a Captain.. Even if he needs to rest and re charge for a while on land.
As for our project. I will keep you updated on MK's developments, even if less frequentley. Correspondence with someone back home-to a sailor at sea and away- is a life line- yet when they are on land- they actualy have a life- so all correspondence is impossible- they have no time for it- the are much in demand by friends- family-girls, happenings. And they have no need for it- it would be a nuisance- such an obligation when they have so much going on. I am keeping in touch with our sailors whilst on land- trough a series of sort encounters instead.
Now that MK is not to sail in the near future - I will delve more pedanticley into the huge amout of material and correspondence we had exchanged whilst he was in China, to produce more paintings, and better illustrate the life of a mariner whilst he is away.
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