Goodbye Taouey

About a year ago my mom asked me what I wanted for my birthday. As per usual, when asked this question the long list of things that I wanted suddenly disappeared and my mind was left completely blank. So I told her I would think about it and let her know.

This sparked a discussion and between the two of us we decided that it shouldn’t be a material possession but rather something that I could do; a cooking class or a course or even a night at the theatre. We were soon sitting at the computer on Google trying to find various things that interested me.

There were lots of ideas and I couldn’t settle on any so eventually we decided to give it time and think it through.

I thought about it long and hard and eventually asked my mom if she would be willing to pay for the various courses required to join the yachting industry. She said yes, and I immediately thanked her, but if I had known then what I know now, I would have thanked her a million times more.

Getting into the yachting industry was hard work, and cost a lot of money, but I doubt that I have ever been happier, or in an environment which suited me more. And it was all thanks to a birthday present from my mom.

The courses involved quite a few sections and were completed over a two week period. I did everything from fighting a real fire in a burning house simulator at 300 degrees Celsius to leopard crawling through a tunnel filled with foam, and the worst part was sitting in a lecture hall for an entire day listening to a man tell me things I already knew whilst continuously misusing the word ‘though’. I redid my first aid for the 10^th time and had to go for a medical exam which involves standing naked in front of a crazy French lady whilst she inspects your body for varicose veins.

I did it all, and although some of it was hard work, I loved every second of it (okay, maybe not the crazy French lady part), and managed to make some friends along the way. By the time I had done all of this I was already grateful to my mom, but nothing could have prepared me for what lay ahead.

After spending more money for flights to Europe and three weeks of walking the docks in ever increasing despair, I finally landed a job on S/Y Taouey. This yacht is a 58 metre, private sailing yacht based in Monaco and is absolutely gorgeous when it is up and ready to go. However, at the time when I landed the job, it resembled a floating building site as opposed to luxury accommodation and although I was thrilled to finally have a job, I was concerned about what was to come.

S/Y Taouey

We had just less than two months to get the vessel ship shape and it looked to me as if there was a year’s work in front of us, and to make matters worse, I had no clue where to start. This was when I met Eva, my chief stew. She is a Romanian with Hungarian parents, who happens to speak English, French and a little Italian as well and after hearing her accent, I was delighted to realise that her English was actually very good.

Eva was also to be my hero, guide, teacher and friend whilst on board and I was very lucky to have her as my chief stew. She took me through everything slowly and patiently and often had to explain things to me more than once, but slowly I began to pick things up and after two weeks I was finally getting the hang of things. My ironing had gone from ‘horrific’ to ‘not bad’ and I now only needed one attempt to make a bed. And just as I was starting to get comfortable, Eva left on holiday for two weeks.

Suddenly I was the only stewardess on board and I was in charge of ensuring that nothing fell apart whilst Eva was away. She wrote me a “To Do” list, taught me how to pronounce the yacht’s name in case the phone rang and showed me how to clean the dishwasher and then off she went, back to Romania. I was terrified.

Two weeks later when Eva returned I think we were both a little shocked that I had managed to keep the boat together but there was no time to waste as the return of Eva also indicated the arrival of our other stewardess (but more on that later).

I look back now, after three months on board and I must say that although there were a lot of ups and downs, I thoroughly enjoyed working on this yacht. Yes, the people were nice, and the owner didn’t want to snort cocaine off my boobs, so I was lucky, but I actually enjoyed the work that I was doing. Not to mention the wonderful opportunities that it opened up for me.

But my time on Taouey has now come to an end and I certainly hope that my mom knows just how grateful I am to her for starting me off in the right direction so that I could follow my dreams and not only did she get me through my courses but for Christmas, I got a brand new camera to make sure that the memories I made were unforgettable.

For as long as I can remember she has told me to find something that I love and stick to it and there can surely be no greater birthday present than this. Which is why, when my mom asks me what I want for my birthday this year, I will once again be faced with a blank, empty brain and absolutely no clue as to what I want.