Friday, August 8, 2008

# 49- Pashinyan - The Other Side of the World

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49. իսկ օվկիանոսը խաղաղ է

Դա մի սպիտակաթույր նավ էր` նախատեսված 100-150 ուղեւորի համար: Տվյալ պահին այնտեղ, բացի անձնակազմից, կար շուրջ 100 զբոսաշրջիկ: Նրանց մի մասը այս շրջագայության իրավունքը շահել էր ինչ-որ ընկերությունների անցկացրած խաղարկությունների արդյունքում, իսկ մյուսները ուղղակի գնել էին այն: Նավը Բուենոս Այրեսից դուրս էր եկել մոտ երկու շաբաթ առաջ. այն արդեն հասցրել էր լինել Ռիո դե Ժանեյրոյում, Գրենադայում, Մարտինիկայում. հիմա ուղեւորվում էր Ճապոնիա` Տոկիո: Վերադարձին կանգառ էր լինելու նաեւ Հավայան կղզիներում:

The other side of the world - Nikol Pashinyan

49. And the Ocean is Peaceful.

It was a whitish ship designed for 100-150 passengers. At any given time there were about 100 tourists around, not counting the ship’s crew. Some of them had won the tour in a contest and the others had bought their tickets. The ship had left Buenos Aires two weeks ago and had already been at Rio de Janeiro, Grenada and Martinique, and now it was on its way to Tokyo, Japan. On its way back it would also stop at the Hawaiian Islands.

It was an ideal ship for this type of travel. It had two swimming pools, one in the front, the other by the prow of the ship, both of them with waterfalls. Accordingly, the water in these swimming pools was constantly changing and in fact people were swimming in the water where the ship was found at that point (the exception being the Panama Canal, where they didn’t bring in any water for the pools.) There were two restaurants which functioned as buffets: you ate as much as you wanted to and paid a fixed price for breakfast, lunch or dinner. You could also skip any one of them. There was a movie theater, American Billiards, electronic golf games on the screen, table tennis, casino, bar, café, indoor and outdoor stages where every evening live music would play, and an internet club. But the most important thing, in this case, was the sports bar with four large television screens. This was important for the simple reason that the next day the European Football Championship Games of 2008 games would begin, and would take place in Switzerland and Austria. It’s true that you could watch football on the television in your cabin, but watching football in an Argentinean environment in a sport-bar was a whole other level of pleasure.

According to the clock on our ship, the first game was to begin at 11 in the morning, and the second at 1:45 pm. In principle, this was a good time to watch football because we were free to watch anything at any time. But then a problem came up. We were constantly changing time-zones and so the times for the games were changing along with that, not in a way that was advantageous to us. When we reached Japan, the series was already in the quarter finals, with one game played per day and began at the time of the second game, and at 4:45 in the morning, Japan time.

It’s true that the clock on the ship wasn’t adjusted accurately, although it did from time to time. On the other hand, the sports bar would show the games not only on line, but also by pre-recordings. In practice, both games were shown all day long in the sports bar, especially the interesting moments of the game, the goals, until the next game had been played. For us it wasn’t so essential whether the game had taken place today or yesterday or tomorrow. The important thing was that we could see all the games, could see the goals and talk about it all. It’s just that you had to be careful not to talk about games with those people who hadn’t seen the game yet and didn’t know the results. There was an unwritten law on the ship: if you’re not 100 percent sure that the other guy had seen the game, then don’t talk about the game with him. This law was upheld as a sacred law, except, of course if someone wanted to know the outcome of the game without having watched it.

In retrospect, I can tell you that the championship turned out according to the wishes of my Argentinean friends. It’s true that they didn’t support any team as ardently as they did the Argentinean team but they liked the Italian and Spanish teams as well. The first, of course, disappointed them, but the second became the champion. For the Argentineans, however, it was much more important that the Portuguese team be defeated. The reason for this was that Portugal was associated with Argentina’s old football foe, Brazil, who spoke Portuguese. They call the Portuguese football theme the ‘Brazilians of Europe;’ the team trainer was a Brazilian who had turned the Portuguese team into the world champion. Because of these issues the Argentinean were really scared of the powerful game the Brazilian team could play. But I couldn’t celebrate Portugal’s defeat with them, because that team was left out of the quarter finals, by the time we had reached Japan, and I had left them.

Since the season was focused on football, the main theme I discussed with my friends on the ship was football, the Italian team’s disgraceful game, Roberto Donadoni’s clumsiness, the ridiculousness of Raymond Domenech. Oh, and the Argentineans also supported the Croatian team because it stopped the English team from participating in the finals. And I had had hopes that the Swedes would defeat the Russians, but that didn’t happen. The Russians really played well—surprisingly so.

The Argentineans admitted that European football was more interesting because the best football players of Latin America now played on the European teams.

In general, I didn’t have any differences of opinion with them. I’m an enthusiastic fan of Diego Maradona; he is the best among the football players I’ve seen. This was enough for the Argentinean to consider me one of their own. I’m not even counting Che, here, whom my companions on the ship also admired, proud of the fact that he was Argentinean by origin. Che Guevara’s prestige had recently gone up among the football players because Maradona had tattooed Che’s picture on his shoulder. Anyway, to cut it short, during the journey on the ship, football had pushed everything to a secondary level.

This part of my journey started in the Gulf of Mexico, continued through the Caribbean Sea and the Panama Canal. We then appeared on the Pacific Ocean where my tour ended. Of course, it was very interesting to pass through the Panama Canal, which lasted many long hours. It was interesting in the beginning, to see how the locks were opened and closed, raising it above sea level, and then allowing a few ships at a time. But then it became tiring because that damned canal is long. It really upset my Argentinean friends that in this Latin, Spanish speaking country, everywhere along the length of the canal you would sea American flags and soldiers. On that day, while watching football, they had all drunk a lot and a few young men considered it their duty to yell at the soldiers visible from the ship:

“Hey, Gringos, kiss my ass.”

Of course most of these shouts weren’t heard. And while in a couple of places it did, it was clear from the reaction of the American soldiers that they were used to it; they were indifferent to it all. Finally, toward evening we came out of Panama and into the Pacific Ocean. This event was celebrated on the ship by beautiful fireworks, enthusiastic music, dancing and drinking. The weather forecast was good; the ocean really promised to be peaceful.

(to be continued)

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