Choosing a sailor's life (3)

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(China Daily) 08:56, September 09, 2013

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Guo said that although the women have been given separate food rations, they don't enjoy any other privileges. "They have been well trained and have to do everything required of a sailor on a voyage," she said.

In addition to three-hour shifts as a signal woman, Nurpaxa has to swab the top deck, which is about the half the size of a basketball court.

The sweat streamed down her suntanned face and dropped sizzling onto the deck, which was roasting from the heat of the tropical sun.

She is also responsible for raising and lowering the navy's flag at the stern every day the ship is in port. "I am very proud of my work," she said. "People passing by stand to attention and salute when I raise the flag. Sometimes seagulls circled me as I pulled on the halyard. It was as though they were keeping me company. I love the creatures out at sea, such as seagulls and dolphins."

Nurpaxa speaks Mandarin almost fluently, but sometimes she stops and struggles to remember a word. "People on the deck were shouting jingyu(whale) when they saw the enormous creatures surface, but I didn't even know what jingyumeant," she laughed.

She admitted that when she first joined the navy her language skills were stuck at the level of Ni chi le ma? a traditional Mandarin greeting meaning, "Have you eaten yet?"

The officers and Han crewmembers have been teaching her Mandarin. "We have been learning from each other. They teach me Mandarin and I teach them the Uygur language," she said.

Nurpaxa is learning English too and her favored destination is the United States. "I want to go to Disneyland," she said. "I joined the navy to travel the world."