Friends?

I had tried so hard to be friends with the American and Canadian. I thought the whole issue with the Filipinos would bring us closer together.

The Canadian and I had worked the morning together and were both done for the rest of the day. I was done an hour earlier, so I asked her if she wanted to get lunch off the ship and she said yes, agreeing to call me after she finished work. I rushed to my room to change into my normal clothes, awaiting her call. Time ticked by and finally I heard her in the hallway talking to the art girls. They were talking about going onto another ship we were docked with and getting lunch there. I thought the Canadian would come get me, but I watched from my peephole as she, the American and the art girls left the ship.

Disappointed and a little heart broken that the people I thought were my friends went to lunch without me, knowing I was waiting for the Canadian. I got my bag together, grabbed my crew ID and headed out the door. As I locked my door, two other Filipino women I worked with came out of their room. Upon seeing me, they asked where I was headed. I shrugged and mentioned I was supposed to be going with the Canadian, but that I thought she had left without me. To my surprise, as my previous experience with Filipinos was not a good experience, the two women invited me to go with them to the ship docked next door. I smiled and said I would love to! For the next couple hours we took pictures, ate lunch and got some wifi. I even opened up a little bit about how hard I had been trying to be friends with my North American paisanos.

That night, though perturbed, I went to the CB with the American and Canadian. I wanted to go out, but I didn't really want to talk to them. We sat on open deck, beer in hand, under the stars. I sat in silence. The girls asked me what was wrong and I said I was just homesick, avoiding confessing to my hurt feelings after watching them leave without me earlier in the day.

About a week later, the two art girls signed off the ship to go home. The Canadian was quite sad but in need of some new friends. She cried as she said her goodbyes and I was surprised since they had only known each other a few months. I just happened to be the only other North American on board, and from then on she became one of my best friends. So did her American roommate. One drunk night, the American got a bit crazy and grabbed handfuls of condoms from the medical center (crew gets them for free!) and spread them in front of all the Filipinos doors, as I made a video. It was like our way to secretly get back at them for bringing our personal lives into work by telling our YD. I finally felt like I had some good friends.