Guess what?! Guess what?!! I got an email today telling me that my visa should be done next week. This means I get to leave July 23rd :) Adventures! Foreign food! A big kid paycheck!!!
Slightly excited here. Will post when I find out it is done and approved.
Becca
Friday, July 2, 2010
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Changes!
So, that whole visa business? Yes, not done yet :) My start date has officially been moved again to the 23rd of July. The reasoning behind this is that Abu Dhabi has only one orientation a month. The one for June I was originally planning on starts on the 20th, as this one is out of the question at this point, we are pushing back to the next which starts July 25th.
I am actually quite not-upset about this for two(ish) reasons. The first is that I really just wanted to know when I was leaving. I like dates and definitions. The second is that I have not gotten to celebrate July 4th for two years as I have been oil-rigging it up, and I am pretty darn sure Malaysians don't think the 4th is special at all. Third (told you it was an "ish" situation!) I still have so many things and people I want to see! There are now incredibly more hanging out opportunities with family, boyfriend, and friends! Finally, if I start the 25th, I get to be in Abu Dhabi with my friend Karen!!!!!! We were originally suppose to work in Australia together before she got moved to Qatar and I was moved to Malaysia.
A good change? Yes. I think so. :)
Becca
I am actually quite not-upset about this for two(ish) reasons. The first is that I really just wanted to know when I was leaving. I like dates and definitions. The second is that I have not gotten to celebrate July 4th for two years as I have been oil-rigging it up, and I am pretty darn sure Malaysians don't think the 4th is special at all. Third (told you it was an "ish" situation!) I still have so many things and people I want to see! There are now incredibly more hanging out opportunities with family, boyfriend, and friends! Finally, if I start the 25th, I get to be in Abu Dhabi with my friend Karen!!!!!! We were originally suppose to work in Australia together before she got moved to Qatar and I was moved to Malaysia.
A good change? Yes. I think so. :)
Becca
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Waiting waiting waiting
I have never been a patient person. I prefer to run instead of walk, multi-task instead of sit still while watching movies, and I refuse to do things like fish, golf, or wait quietly while people debate spinelessly over what movie they want to watch or where they want to eat dinner.
However, now, I get to wait on information and it is absolutely killing me. I am suppose to leave for my job on June 18, however, a small boulder known fondly as "that stupid visa process" has rolled down the mountain and has come to rest in front of my car. They may or may not be able to get it done before I start but I have no clue because apparently no one is communicating with anyone else. Or at least they may be, but I am left out of the loop. However, I should know something substantial (hopefully!) by Friday afternoon. All I have to do is wait approximately 24 hours...and it may not seem like a long time to those who are older and wiser, but allow me to have my frustration and impatience for a day! I have already waited a week longer for information than I probably should have had to.
I want to go!!!!! With every fiber of my being I want to get started learning and working and being productive. I want interesting customs, a crazy exchange rate, and I'll even take some bacterial diarrhea if I absolutely have to. Anything other than limbo. And, maybe, some nice person with a truck will come and roll my boulder to the side of the road so I can move forward...or maybe it will sit there until the elements break it down into little pebbles. I will cross my fingers for the former.
Waiting (rather impatiently),
myself.
However, now, I get to wait on information and it is absolutely killing me. I am suppose to leave for my job on June 18, however, a small boulder known fondly as "that stupid visa process" has rolled down the mountain and has come to rest in front of my car. They may or may not be able to get it done before I start but I have no clue because apparently no one is communicating with anyone else. Or at least they may be, but I am left out of the loop. However, I should know something substantial (hopefully!) by Friday afternoon. All I have to do is wait approximately 24 hours...and it may not seem like a long time to those who are older and wiser, but allow me to have my frustration and impatience for a day! I have already waited a week longer for information than I probably should have had to.
I want to go!!!!! With every fiber of my being I want to get started learning and working and being productive. I want interesting customs, a crazy exchange rate, and I'll even take some bacterial diarrhea if I absolutely have to. Anything other than limbo. And, maybe, some nice person with a truck will come and roll my boulder to the side of the road so I can move forward...or maybe it will sit there until the elements break it down into little pebbles. I will cross my fingers for the former.
Waiting (rather impatiently),
myself.
Monday, May 17, 2010
One Month
It is finished! I am an engineer! It has definitely been a great last couple of weeks. I have done some of my favorite KSU things (hiked the Konza, hung out with old friends, stayed out crazy late doing ridiculous things). But I have also participated in my first rave/dance party in Hale Library and then Bosco Plaza with my excellent roommates and one awesome guy. My only college bucket list regret is that I never made it to the top of Shellenberger Hall (it is supposed to be pretty sweet).
Of course leaving college is probably always bittersweet, but there were some rough moments for me. Knowing that most of these people I love I will be seeing for the last time if not forever, then at least for the next 5 years, is pretty difficult. Especially as I have never been very good at goodbyes. My goal is to say goodbye to all things in moderation, so when the time comes there will be less waterworks from me (at least in front of the parents!)...however, you are officially allowed to feel sorry for whatever poor person is forced to sit on the plane next to me for my first flight out.
For now, though, I am just unpacking and organizing all of my things; deciding which to keep, throw away, and what I need to make mom throw away for me because I am too attached to them. However, as I am still "listing" here goes the last month of my time in America:
4 days : tacos with my roommates (last time, so sad)
5 days : Graduation Party!!!
11 days: My best friend's wedding (definitely not like the movie!)
13 days: We leave for South Padre Island
26 days: Helen's baby shower
32 days: Abu Dhabi here I come!
I just realized how much cake is in my future due to all of these events! Hooray!
Back to packing,
Becca
Of course leaving college is probably always bittersweet, but there were some rough moments for me. Knowing that most of these people I love I will be seeing for the last time if not forever, then at least for the next 5 years, is pretty difficult. Especially as I have never been very good at goodbyes. My goal is to say goodbye to all things in moderation, so when the time comes there will be less waterworks from me (at least in front of the parents!)...however, you are officially allowed to feel sorry for whatever poor person is forced to sit on the plane next to me for my first flight out.
For now, though, I am just unpacking and organizing all of my things; deciding which to keep, throw away, and what I need to make mom throw away for me because I am too attached to them. However, as I am still "listing" here goes the last month of my time in America:
4 days : tacos with my roommates (last time, so sad)
5 days : Graduation Party!!!
11 days: My best friend's wedding (definitely not like the movie!)
13 days: We leave for South Padre Island
26 days: Helen's baby shower
32 days: Abu Dhabi here I come!
I just realized how much cake is in my future due to all of these events! Hooray!
Back to packing,
Becca
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Waiting
More Counting!
Of course, being an almost 100 percent engineer, I cannot help but count out my life in order to put everything in its proper place. So here are more numbers.
Until I leave :
- 27 week days
- 7 weekends
- 5 major projects
- 1 graduation
- 4 hours of cleaning my room (approximate time it will take me to move stuff out)
- 5 hours of list making (minimum...I do enjoy a good to-do list)
- too many people and places to say goodbye to
I am currently waiting to hear about my visa status and to-do list from Wilma, the lady that places all the IM employees. However if I have learned nothing else from this company as of yet, I have definitely learned how to be patient when waiting for information.
Also, crazy struggling with motivation to do things. I have senioritis so bad!!! I know I need to focus and just get through one day at a time, but I am already so focussed on where I am going, it is difficult to care about where I am at now.
Finally, I have polled all the students I know from the Middle East and Malaysia about how to keep cool in really hot weather. Their only answer : air conditioning and lots o showers! Great...
Of course, being an almost 100 percent engineer, I cannot help but count out my life in order to put everything in its proper place. So here are more numbers.
Until I leave :
- 27 week days
- 7 weekends
- 5 major projects
- 1 graduation
- 4 hours of cleaning my room (approximate time it will take me to move stuff out)
- 5 hours of list making (minimum...I do enjoy a good to-do list)
- too many people and places to say goodbye to
I am currently waiting to hear about my visa status and to-do list from Wilma, the lady that places all the IM employees. However if I have learned nothing else from this company as of yet, I have definitely learned how to be patient when waiting for information.
Also, crazy struggling with motivation to do things. I have senioritis so bad!!! I know I need to focus and just get through one day at a time, but I am already so focussed on where I am going, it is difficult to care about where I am at now.
Finally, I have polled all the students I know from the Middle East and Malaysia about how to keep cool in really hot weather. Their only answer : air conditioning and lots o showers! Great...
Monday, February 15, 2010
It was a blustery day...
When the debate rages in my mind about whether or not I will miss Kansas, or how I feel, in general, about leaving everything I've known for the forseeable future, I am always grateful for days like this.
Let me try to paint a picture for you : Kansas, February, skeletal trees and a 20 mph "blustery" wind. So windy that as the air blows furiously around buildings it "howls" and the flurries of snow are thrown violently through the air, not being allowed to land. It almost seems as if the frozen precipitation is playing "Don't Touch the Lava" (you know, that game where you try to get through the livingroom because the floor is made of hypothetical lava..I always lost at that one).The sky is gray and it feels as if it will never be blue again. It is so cold that no amount of layering can actually keep you warm; this weather seeps, trickles, and eventually rips through every layer until you are completely frozen, it destroys every happy thought you dredge up from the back of your mind in order to keep the misery of the cold at bay. In the end, all you can think about is getting back to your abode and curling up in a blanket until you forget what cold is.
So yes, will I miss Kansas? To some degree, I always will. Nothing is ever exactly like the place you grew up in. Memories (or the fact that humans tend to forget the bad ones) really do make the heart grow fonder. HOWEVER, I will not miss the days like today! Bring on the warmth, sun, humidity, and monsoons! Bring on malaria, bacterial diarrhea, tigers, and sharks! Bring on the extraordinarily short men (sadly for me, I am not attracted to men of short stature), different customs, social taboos I haven't heard of, and long hours of work in disgusting conditions!!
I am ready to long for Kansas winters from thousands of miles away. :)
The Frozen One
Let me try to paint a picture for you : Kansas, February, skeletal trees and a 20 mph "blustery" wind. So windy that as the air blows furiously around buildings it "howls" and the flurries of snow are thrown violently through the air, not being allowed to land. It almost seems as if the frozen precipitation is playing "Don't Touch the Lava" (you know, that game where you try to get through the livingroom because the floor is made of hypothetical lava..I always lost at that one).The sky is gray and it feels as if it will never be blue again. It is so cold that no amount of layering can actually keep you warm; this weather seeps, trickles, and eventually rips through every layer until you are completely frozen, it destroys every happy thought you dredge up from the back of your mind in order to keep the misery of the cold at bay. In the end, all you can think about is getting back to your abode and curling up in a blanket until you forget what cold is.
So yes, will I miss Kansas? To some degree, I always will. Nothing is ever exactly like the place you grew up in. Memories (or the fact that humans tend to forget the bad ones) really do make the heart grow fonder. HOWEVER, I will not miss the days like today! Bring on the warmth, sun, humidity, and monsoons! Bring on malaria, bacterial diarrhea, tigers, and sharks! Bring on the extraordinarily short men (sadly for me, I am not attracted to men of short stature), different customs, social taboos I haven't heard of, and long hours of work in disgusting conditions!!
I am ready to long for Kansas winters from thousands of miles away. :)
The Frozen One
Friday, February 12, 2010
Malaysia, anyone?
I love how life is not constant!!
I just found out about a week ago that I am now going to be placed in Labuan, Malaysia instead of Perth, Australia. If you have no clue where it is, it's ok because I did not either. Here is the Google link to a map of the small island I will leave from on my way to offshore oil rigs.
http://maps.google.com/maps?ie=UTF-8&hl=en&tab=wl
My new start date has been moved from June 21st to May 23! This means that I now need to start thinking about packing and preparedness waaayyy earlier. If I start May 23rd then I will probably need to leave the United States on the 20th or 21st to get to Abu Dhabi on time. Abu Dhabi is where my OFS-1 (kind of like a company orientation class) is going to take place. It is approximately a 26 hour plane flight to get there. All this really means to me is that I need to stock up on my supply of ear plugs before I go. :) I have no idea how I survived 5 years of plane flights with my sanity before I discovered the marvelousness of earplugs and their effects at reducing baby-noises.
The only sad part to this story so far is that I now have to leave approximately 8 days before my best friend's wedding that I was originally suppose to be a brides maid in. These things happen, though, and I was prepared for the possibility when I agreed to go international/mobile.
Bring on the ADVENTURE!! Tigers and sharks and monkeys...WOOT!
I just found out about a week ago that I am now going to be placed in Labuan, Malaysia instead of Perth, Australia. If you have no clue where it is, it's ok because I did not either. Here is the Google link to a map of the small island I will leave from on my way to offshore oil rigs.
http://maps.google.com/maps?ie=UTF-8&hl=en&tab=wl
My new start date has been moved from June 21st to May 23! This means that I now need to start thinking about packing and preparedness waaayyy earlier. If I start May 23rd then I will probably need to leave the United States on the 20th or 21st to get to Abu Dhabi on time. Abu Dhabi is where my OFS-1 (kind of like a company orientation class) is going to take place. It is approximately a 26 hour plane flight to get there. All this really means to me is that I need to stock up on my supply of ear plugs before I go. :) I have no idea how I survived 5 years of plane flights with my sanity before I discovered the marvelousness of earplugs and their effects at reducing baby-noises.
The only sad part to this story so far is that I now have to leave approximately 8 days before my best friend's wedding that I was originally suppose to be a brides maid in. These things happen, though, and I was prepared for the possibility when I agreed to go international/mobile.
Bring on the ADVENTURE!! Tigers and sharks and monkeys...WOOT!
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