Hard Labor

The ocean is seen as something difficult. It provides you with food but you have to pay for it. You have to work hard in order to get something from it.

In Portugal, swimming was very much a class thing. People only knew how to swim if they went to swimming classes. Those kinds of people, that could afford swimming classes, see the ocean as a space for leisure. But for poor people like my family, the ocean was seen as labor + not necessarily as leisure. It still is the case with some people. There is another mode of relation towards it. For poor people, it’s not just about labor but about hard labor. For some it is as if they don’t have the right to pleasure. Pleasure is located in the family for them.

P.P. I agree that swimming is a class thing. For fisherfolk, the ocean is work, → you don’t necessarily enjoy going there. Whenever we were going to the seashore for leisure → we would do a picnic.

Everyone from France going to the West Indies was telling me that the sea is beautiful. But I was looking at the Atlantic + not at the Caribbean (where you can see your feet in the water) → The sea is different and it felt like we were not talking about same thing. Also, because people talking to me about their vacations in the Caribbean where actually there for leisure. While I was seeing people working from dawn to dusk. We not only didn’t look at the same sea but also not at the same lives.

As a fisherman, you’re not only responsible for the catch but you also have to repair the nets when they are damaged. It’s a lot of work to fix the nets but you are not paid for it. There are different kinds of nets – trawling nets are used on beam trawlers.

A beam trawler uses 3.000 liters of fuel in 24 hours. A skipper gets paid 10.000 euros/month. But you have to work a lot for that money. When you’re at sea you always work. Even if you don’t work, your muscles are working to keep you straight.

Just being on the ship is work. Humans are not made to live on the sea – we are made to live on the shore. We’re handicapped at sea.

Teaching is not less stressful than fishing. Because your mind is always working. Even when you leave the school, your mind is still working. You also have to deal with all kinds of difficult children that are stealing, or even violent, etc. You encounter different intelects and everyday is a challenge. They are often rebellious + aggressive children. But I was always “straight” + honest with them.