玲子的航海日記

Time seems to flow slowly in Maldives.On the first day I arrived Maldives,Captain Hiro told
me that there was a little engine problem on the boat. It was just a little piece of engine
part broken but since it was very close to the heart of engine,we had to repair it well.I think
the little part for the engine is just like the valve to a heart."Not a big deal! It will be repaired soon."Captain said.

We were waiting for the repairing work from Mr. Aomatsu,an engineer from
VOLVO company. There is only one VOLVO engine company in Maldives.From that day,Calling
Mr.Aomatsu became a routine job in the morning.He seldom answered the phone and always
made promises he wouldn`t keep.
Captain Hiro is a polite man.He tried every polite way to contact this VOLVO company.Ten days
past by,there was still no progress.The only excuse from this company was customs problem.
The engine part was stuck in the customs.They would get the part and came.They gave you the same promise everyday.
Day by day,they never came.Because of this ,our sailing scedule was delayed.In Taiwan and
Japan, people do not run business like this.They usually give you an exact date fora repairing
job.Captain said "this kind of job will only take 3 hours in Japan.But we are in Maldives,they
have much time .It`s crazily slow here."
After endlessly waiting and many foggy answers from Mr. Aomatsu and his boss,Mr.Rizard,we decided to use the aggressive way.Yesterday,we went to their shop in Male and finally they got
the engine part .Captain Hiro,Yuki and I were like three Buddhas sitting in the shop.Mr. Rizard
promised he would come to our boat next morning after he got the special tools from different
stores.
As usual,Captain will tell us the schedule of the day during the breakfast time.We waited for Mr.
Rizard `s phone call,he didn`t call.I said "let me call him."I called and called.He finally answered
the phone.I called him 100 times ,he and Aomatsu finally came to our boat this afternoon and
looked like they were trying to fix the engine problem.He told the Captain that he hated
cellphone.I guess my phone calls made him headache.Ha!He was the first man I tried to call
so many times in one day,He got luck!

After they left,Captain Hiro was very angry.I never saw him that angry."They are so foolish! They are just going to make the special tools.How foolish they are.The first day Mr. Aomatsu came on the boat ,he already knew we needed the special tools.He didn`t do anything for almost two weeks.Rinko chan,you should thank your parents for being well educated.We are stuck here! It`s like a jail."
I could understand why Captain was so angry.This little problem became a pain on the ass.I have to say that the value of time is so different between these Maldivan engineers and us.It is really a frustrating thing when people put us in an uncertain situation and things are not going as our wishes.But,Captain,we are in Maldives,the pearl on the Indian Ocean!No one will call it a jail.At least, it`s a beautiful one.Ahhhh.....time stops in Maldives!