Ok! I am finally writing. Everytime I start writing I get distracted or I fall asleep. This is due to (a) the amount of stuff I have to get done/prepare to do and (b) trying to get over some severe jet lag. However, I am sleeping all the way through the night and I can handle all the random things that I have to do, so life is pretty good.
My plane flights back were a little hectic due to baggage issues, and a little crazy until I hit the longest flight which was from Singapore to Houston with an hour layover in Moscow (to refuel and such). I've never had a 22 hour flight before, but I've gotta say that beside the butt-numbing-ness of it, the flight was actually pretty peaceful. I got a little bit of sleep, and had a seat between the other person that was sitting near me, so I counted myself as pretty lucky. And I was so excited to cross into the United States again! I didn't even mind waiting in the Houston airport in the security lines. They actually went quite fast. I didn't remember how fast American airport lines tend to move. However my opinion may have been affected by my happiness.
I have very much enjoyed being back in the US thus far. I love being able to watch tv, go running in my gym at my apartment complex, and have so many choices when I go to the store! My favorite purchase so far has definitely been Honey Bunches of Oats! I could just eat that and be completely happy with my life, however, I know variety is probably needed, so I try to branch out. I also had my first legitimate barbeque in quite a long time, as of...yesterday! It was absolutely delicious and I am glad I live in such a bbq-y place.
The people here are just like I remember them. Friendly, and full of nicknames. Gotta say, my favorite nickname thus far is "Boo", affectionately labeled by the main receptionist in my building.
I can't wait to come back up and say hi to all of you! I really do miss you guys and knowing you are so close is so exciting!! Hopefully it will be soon, but if not, just remember that I am thinking of you :)
I hope you are having a wonderful day!
Love,
Becca
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Thursday, April 21, 2011
My last post from Asia (at least for the forseeable future)
I am currently sitting at a panini shop in the Singapore airport and this is a wonderful thing for a couple of reasons.
1) I am not in a moving vehicle of some kind
2) I am not expected anywhere for at least an hour and a half
3) I just had a panini and it was delicious.
4) It came with Snapple. Also delicious.
5) I have free internet, I am warm, and though I have a massive tired-headache I know I will be able to sleep once I get on my flight.
Sorry about the silence on my end, again. This week has been massively stressful and very busy. I had an inventory to help with at work, a couple projects to finish, packing to deal with, figuring out how to get my stuff to America in a way that Schlumberger would reimburse me for, and saying goodbye to all my friends in the base. Normally, there are no engineers there so this wouldn't be a problem, however 6 or 7 just happen to be there this week, so there were a lot more goodbyes. My maid cried when I gave her a hug goodbye. I am not sure if it was because she was sad I was leaving, or relieved I wouldn't be baking anymore in the kitchen. Either way, I am glad that she felt something towards me. She introduced me to her husband who was there to pick her up, and told me "Happy Marriage" because Adam (who she met over skype once) is "very very handsome."
I will miss several friends I have made at work, and several more that I never actually got to say goodbye to. Cathy and Zhuzhu have worked with/around me for the past 8 months and both are were on rigs when I left. They are good friends. Even when we are all yelling at each other because we are trying to explain technical concepts to each other through massive language barriers and we are frustrated. They are good peoples though. I hope the diversity of the people in the Louisiana base is similar to the diversity here.
I am finally excited to be coming home!!!! At first it felt kind of surreal and I didn't believe it would actually happen. Then after it started become a reality, I was going 100 miles a minute and was too tired to be super excited. Now it is full force (through my on-going exhaustion, of course)! I cannot believe that I am only a plane flight away from being in the United States and bbq! And all of you, of course :)
If nothing else I will be excited to be in the same time zone as most of you, so I can call you and you can call me! Hehe. Even as I am speaking, Helen and I are playing facebook tag, because she keeps typing something and leaving the room, and then I respond and then get off of facebook....
I have American money again. It was so much fun to see the old grouchy looking presidents on the backs of our boring green bills. They are quite pretty, actually. I want to spend it on something!!!!
OH! And here are my flights :
LBU to KUL - Apr 21 - MH2609 (1720 to 1940).............2 hours and 20 minutes long
KUL to SIN - Apr 21 - MI 0339 (2145 to 2240)..............55 minutes long
SIN to DME (Mother RUSSIA!!) - Apr 22 - SQ 0062 ( 0230 to 0910)........10 hours and 40 minutes long
DM to IAH - Apr 22 - SQ 0062 (1040 to 1420)..........12 hours and 25 minutes long
IAH to LFT - Apr 22 - CO 2902 (1740 to 1832)...........52 minutes long
Total time flying : 27 hours and 12 minutes
Total time traveling : aprox 38 hours.
Am I ready to be done with it? Oh yes :) Wish me luck! Hopefully I will be finishing a blanket I am crocheting, getting some sleep, and watching some inflight movies I haven't seen yet. I promise I will stay safe, hydrated, and relatively sane. If I lose a bag though...hehe. No, going crazy. I'll just consider it Malaysia's kiss goodbye. At least Malaysia didn't give me the dengue or some strain of hepatitis!
There have been some not so positive parts of my moving process, but I may tell though stories later. Right now I just wanted to let you know where I was and what is up (sidenote: I will be up soon!) :)
One more positive thing : I have been with Adam for a year as of today, exactly!! It has been one of the most incredible, fun, exciting (and sometimes painful) years of my life and I am so thankful for it. I remember in the beginning I told him (and everyone else) emphatically that I was breaking up with him at the end of the summer, and that was that. I am not sure I will ever be able to say how happy I am that he got me to change my mind. I could go on and gush for awhile about his wonderfulness, but, instead if you want to you know you can call me on my new phone number (when I get it) and ask me!
I hope you are all having a good almost-Easter and I cannot wait to hopefully see you all at some point in the near-ish future.
Love you all.
Becca
1) I am not in a moving vehicle of some kind
2) I am not expected anywhere for at least an hour and a half
3) I just had a panini and it was delicious.
4) It came with Snapple. Also delicious.
5) I have free internet, I am warm, and though I have a massive tired-headache I know I will be able to sleep once I get on my flight.
Sorry about the silence on my end, again. This week has been massively stressful and very busy. I had an inventory to help with at work, a couple projects to finish, packing to deal with, figuring out how to get my stuff to America in a way that Schlumberger would reimburse me for, and saying goodbye to all my friends in the base. Normally, there are no engineers there so this wouldn't be a problem, however 6 or 7 just happen to be there this week, so there were a lot more goodbyes. My maid cried when I gave her a hug goodbye. I am not sure if it was because she was sad I was leaving, or relieved I wouldn't be baking anymore in the kitchen. Either way, I am glad that she felt something towards me. She introduced me to her husband who was there to pick her up, and told me "Happy Marriage" because Adam (who she met over skype once) is "very very handsome."
I will miss several friends I have made at work, and several more that I never actually got to say goodbye to. Cathy and Zhuzhu have worked with/around me for the past 8 months and both are were on rigs when I left. They are good friends. Even when we are all yelling at each other because we are trying to explain technical concepts to each other through massive language barriers and we are frustrated. They are good peoples though. I hope the diversity of the people in the Louisiana base is similar to the diversity here.
I am finally excited to be coming home!!!! At first it felt kind of surreal and I didn't believe it would actually happen. Then after it started become a reality, I was going 100 miles a minute and was too tired to be super excited. Now it is full force (through my on-going exhaustion, of course)! I cannot believe that I am only a plane flight away from being in the United States and bbq! And all of you, of course :)
If nothing else I will be excited to be in the same time zone as most of you, so I can call you and you can call me! Hehe. Even as I am speaking, Helen and I are playing facebook tag, because she keeps typing something and leaving the room, and then I respond and then get off of facebook....
I have American money again. It was so much fun to see the old grouchy looking presidents on the backs of our boring green bills. They are quite pretty, actually. I want to spend it on something!!!!
OH! And here are my flights :
LBU to KUL - Apr 21 - MH2609 (1720 to 1940).............2 hours and 20 minutes long
KUL to SIN - Apr 21 - MI 0339 (2145 to 2240)..............55 minutes long
SIN to DME (Mother RUSSIA!!) - Apr 22 - SQ 0062 ( 0230 to 0910)........10 hours and 40 minutes long
DM to IAH - Apr 22 - SQ 0062 (1040 to 1420)..........12 hours and 25 minutes long
IAH to LFT - Apr 22 - CO 2902 (1740 to 1832)...........52 minutes long
Total time flying : 27 hours and 12 minutes
Total time traveling : aprox 38 hours.
Am I ready to be done with it? Oh yes :) Wish me luck! Hopefully I will be finishing a blanket I am crocheting, getting some sleep, and watching some inflight movies I haven't seen yet. I promise I will stay safe, hydrated, and relatively sane. If I lose a bag though...hehe. No, going crazy. I'll just consider it Malaysia's kiss goodbye. At least Malaysia didn't give me the dengue or some strain of hepatitis!
There have been some not so positive parts of my moving process, but I may tell though stories later. Right now I just wanted to let you know where I was and what is up (sidenote: I will be up soon!) :)
One more positive thing : I have been with Adam for a year as of today, exactly!! It has been one of the most incredible, fun, exciting (and sometimes painful) years of my life and I am so thankful for it. I remember in the beginning I told him (and everyone else) emphatically that I was breaking up with him at the end of the summer, and that was that. I am not sure I will ever be able to say how happy I am that he got me to change my mind. I could go on and gush for awhile about his wonderfulness, but, instead if you want to you know you can call me on my new phone number (when I get it) and ask me!
I hope you are all having a good almost-Easter and I cannot wait to hopefully see you all at some point in the near-ish future.
Love you all.
Becca
Monday, April 11, 2011
A Myriad of Things
Ok, time to blog again! It is harder for me to find time because I am not sure what you will actually be interested in reading about my life when I am actually on an oil rig. To be honest, it is interesting and I am learning an incredible amount, but at the same time every day is relatively repetitive. I wake up at 10:30 pm, eat breakfast and watch tv for an hour. Then I wander over to my office on the rig, which is called the MWD Unit. Once there I set up my computer and find out what happened in the 12 hours since I was last there. From there on, my night is an open book. I may go to the rig floor, geoservices unit, or work on something in my own office. I do have several reports that need to be sent every morning so that always keeps me busy for a little while. And when I run out of productive things to do I start learning again. There are an endless (it seems) number of things to learn on an oil rig. Whether it’s about well control, rig systems, safety procedures, my job, other 3rd parties and the important things they contribute; the list could go on for awhile. Then of course, when the anomalies or interesting (as in things go wrong) things happen, it is hard to describe them because they are kind of technical and their explanation could take awhile.
However, with that said, this particular well is interesting because we are experiencing difficulties with it and the length of time it’s going to be until the well has finished has just been increased by at least one week. However, even though we won’t be drilling during that time, I will still be on the rig. It’s almost like a free one week vacation on a rig. To be honest, I could think of better places to vacation, but it will be ok. The food is good, and I still have a gym and cable, so I think I will not go crazy.
Fun fact about when I am on rigs: when I’m out here it feels like I am not in the business of oil, but rather the business of collecting bruises. I work around mostly metal and there are always corners to walk around or a low lying beam to dodge or something heavy to move around. Due to this I have been adding small bruises to my body every day. I’m not particularly upset about it, but I do think it is funny. If I was in the US and around Adam, people would think he was abusive. And I may bump into things normally, but the more tired I am, the more I bump into things or forget where all the edges of my equipment are.
My coworkers on this rig are super nice. My cell manager is very laid back and extremely knowledgeable. Every time I think I know something, he just shows me how much I really don’t know about how to work in the field. However, he is very nice and patient so as long as I soak it up and truly seem like I care, he doesn’t mind explaining processes and procedures. The night engineer I work with is also laid back. He and I joke around a bit more, but he is also very helpful. He allows me to do a lot of hands on stuff and rarely gets involved unless I have a question for him. Also, the management on the rig is quite patient with me as well. One of them gave me some books about the systems on oil rigs which has been incredibly helpful, and another gave me positive feedback for my participation in the safety program on the rig. OH!! And every week they give out an award for the best STOP card, best Obsvervation, best Intervention (all with regards to safety) for the week. I got the best Intervention this week!! And they announced it in the Sunday meeting (while I was sleeping :D ). I was very proud. I get a certificate, but I need to go pick it up from the safety officer’s office.
I don’t feel ready for work today as I had a really long shift last night and my head is pounding right now (yes, mom, I took Tylenol AND ibuprofen). It’s ok though, because it should be a slow night and I might get a chance to grab a nap somewhere in there. If not, I’ll just chug more drugs and make it through somehow.
As far as I know, I’m still on for coming back to the US around the 23rd of April. Probably tomorrow or Wednesday I’ll call my manager and ask her what day she wants me to fly off the rig. Then I’ll let you all know!
I almost forgot to tell you : I saw the moon tonight. It’s a bit funny because I when I glanced up, the song “Talking to the Moon” by Bruno Mars popped into my head. I was walking from the accommodation to my unit and usually the sky and water are pitch black (it is cloudy a lot here). However, tonight the clouds parted and there is a gorgeous crescent moon outside. Just the type of moon that you could sit on the edge of while you throw a fishing line off of, or maybe even curl up in for a quick nap. It was sitting in the sky right above another oil rig in the distance which looked really cool. The little lights on the rig twinkled, but the moons brightness totally blew them away. Below the moon there was a pathway of light on the water leading from the skyline directly to me. I couldn’t help but stop and watch it for a little bit. I feel so privileged that I get an opportunity to see beauty like that in such a unique location. It seems so soft and…friendly, almost, in comparison with my usual surroundings which are a bit stark and rigid.
Maybe I’ll talk to the moon a little bit tonight. If you guys get the chance to see her tomorrow in Kansas or wherever you are, stop and look at her, because I’m passing along a message through her: I love and miss you so much. I hope your nights are as nice and beautiful as mine has turned out to be.
Becca
However, with that said, this particular well is interesting because we are experiencing difficulties with it and the length of time it’s going to be until the well has finished has just been increased by at least one week. However, even though we won’t be drilling during that time, I will still be on the rig. It’s almost like a free one week vacation on a rig. To be honest, I could think of better places to vacation, but it will be ok. The food is good, and I still have a gym and cable, so I think I will not go crazy.
Fun fact about when I am on rigs: when I’m out here it feels like I am not in the business of oil, but rather the business of collecting bruises. I work around mostly metal and there are always corners to walk around or a low lying beam to dodge or something heavy to move around. Due to this I have been adding small bruises to my body every day. I’m not particularly upset about it, but I do think it is funny. If I was in the US and around Adam, people would think he was abusive. And I may bump into things normally, but the more tired I am, the more I bump into things or forget where all the edges of my equipment are.
My coworkers on this rig are super nice. My cell manager is very laid back and extremely knowledgeable. Every time I think I know something, he just shows me how much I really don’t know about how to work in the field. However, he is very nice and patient so as long as I soak it up and truly seem like I care, he doesn’t mind explaining processes and procedures. The night engineer I work with is also laid back. He and I joke around a bit more, but he is also very helpful. He allows me to do a lot of hands on stuff and rarely gets involved unless I have a question for him. Also, the management on the rig is quite patient with me as well. One of them gave me some books about the systems on oil rigs which has been incredibly helpful, and another gave me positive feedback for my participation in the safety program on the rig. OH!! And every week they give out an award for the best STOP card, best Obsvervation, best Intervention (all with regards to safety) for the week. I got the best Intervention this week!! And they announced it in the Sunday meeting (while I was sleeping :D ). I was very proud. I get a certificate, but I need to go pick it up from the safety officer’s office.
I don’t feel ready for work today as I had a really long shift last night and my head is pounding right now (yes, mom, I took Tylenol AND ibuprofen). It’s ok though, because it should be a slow night and I might get a chance to grab a nap somewhere in there. If not, I’ll just chug more drugs and make it through somehow.
As far as I know, I’m still on for coming back to the US around the 23rd of April. Probably tomorrow or Wednesday I’ll call my manager and ask her what day she wants me to fly off the rig. Then I’ll let you all know!
I almost forgot to tell you : I saw the moon tonight. It’s a bit funny because I when I glanced up, the song “Talking to the Moon” by Bruno Mars popped into my head. I was walking from the accommodation to my unit and usually the sky and water are pitch black (it is cloudy a lot here). However, tonight the clouds parted and there is a gorgeous crescent moon outside. Just the type of moon that you could sit on the edge of while you throw a fishing line off of, or maybe even curl up in for a quick nap. It was sitting in the sky right above another oil rig in the distance which looked really cool. The little lights on the rig twinkled, but the moons brightness totally blew them away. Below the moon there was a pathway of light on the water leading from the skyline directly to me. I couldn’t help but stop and watch it for a little bit. I feel so privileged that I get an opportunity to see beauty like that in such a unique location. It seems so soft and…friendly, almost, in comparison with my usual surroundings which are a bit stark and rigid.
Maybe I’ll talk to the moon a little bit tonight. If you guys get the chance to see her tomorrow in Kansas or wherever you are, stop and look at her, because I’m passing along a message through her: I love and miss you so much. I hope your nights are as nice and beautiful as mine has turned out to be.
Becca
Thursday, April 7, 2011
My Internet Redefines the Concept of "Slow"... :)
Seriously. This page, just to load, took about 5 minutes, but I am grateful that I have internet to use occasionally. I just hope it doesn't take as long to upload!
I am sorry there has been a bit of a dry spell in my communications (skype, facebook, phone calls, blogging) with you all. My week has been hectic, random, and both incredibly long and short at the same time. This week has also been a week of many firsts!
Number 1: Helicopter ride
It was so cool! Just getting to the helicopter was neat. We (a barge engineer, roughneck, and I) were led by an airport worker into a glass-encased area where we quickly ran our bags through a machine, weighed our bags and ourselves (so they could make sure the helicopter could hold us all and they could distribute weight properly if they needed to), and then followed them up to a general waiting area. Then we went from that area with a couple more workers to another waiting area in a relatively empty hallway full of different gates. Finally went through another gate and some more security then we walked down to a van. The van took us through a windy road to another part of the airport where we sat in a room and were given earphones and a life vest then we had to watch a 15 minute video about helicopter safety and what to do if it crashed. There are a lot of steps. Then we finally got to go over to the helicopter. Of course at this point in time a rainstorm came through so we had to wait 15 minutes until it passed. While we were waiting a little tractor pulled us out on the tarmac, then they did some random checks and testing, Finally we were ready to go! Lifting of fin a helicopter is kinda weird, because it feels like the back half is going to come up, and then when the bottom half does lift up and we initially start moving up, the nose goes down. And also, at first when it gets turned on the whole helicopter pulsingly vibrates and so do the passengers which feels really weird until it starts rotating fast enough, and then it is ok.
Probably my favorite part of the ride was being so close to the ground. I loved getting to see how Brunei is laid out, and all the cool jungle, neighborhoods, and even the palace laying below. The water was pretty cool too, though slightly freaky because I kept on thinking about what crashing would be like.
The ride took about 20 minutes and then we arrived and landed on the helipad of the rig. Then workers from the rig then made a human path outside the helicopter for us to follow so we didn’t actually wander into the path of the blade’s radius.
All in all, a cool experience.
Number 2: Off-shore rig= So neat!! I am
I am on a jack-up rig, which is a rig that sits on stilts that connect to the ocean floor. This means that the rig doesn’t move up and down with the waves (thank goodness, because I get sea sick!). However, the cool thing about this rig is that most of the walkways are made of corrugated metal so wherever I am I can look down and see the ocean moving below me. Also, every single direction I look the ground is moving. I keep on looking for wildlife, but haven’t seen any fishes yet.
There are not a lot of places to go since it is a confined area, but I am not going stir-crazy yet. At the moment I am just trying to get used to my schedule, which was supposed to start as a midnight to noon, but for the first couple of days was definitely not that because my cell manager wanted me to make sure I would be conscious for action on the rig when it happened. However, I have finally started, and I am enjoying myself. Also, as far as working locations go, this is a really nice one. We have friendly coworkers, ok food, a gym (which I am often too tired to use), and tvs in our rooms.
Also, in other news….I have found out that I am being transferred back to America to work! The opportunity came up a week ago and I told my manager that I would be interested in the opportunity, and so now I am supposed to be in Lousiana around the 23rd of April! Am I excited?! Yes. I will definitely let you guys know more when I know more. Pretty much we will finish this section of the well and then I have to pack, and will be on my way back! Woot!!!!
With that, I feel like I should go because my shift is about to start. I love you and miss you all and I can’t wait to hopefully see you guys soon!!!
Have a wonderful, awesome, relaxing Thursday!
Becca
I am sorry there has been a bit of a dry spell in my communications (skype, facebook, phone calls, blogging) with you all. My week has been hectic, random, and both incredibly long and short at the same time. This week has also been a week of many firsts!
Number 1: Helicopter ride
It was so cool! Just getting to the helicopter was neat. We (a barge engineer, roughneck, and I) were led by an airport worker into a glass-encased area where we quickly ran our bags through a machine, weighed our bags and ourselves (so they could make sure the helicopter could hold us all and they could distribute weight properly if they needed to), and then followed them up to a general waiting area. Then we went from that area with a couple more workers to another waiting area in a relatively empty hallway full of different gates. Finally went through another gate and some more security then we walked down to a van. The van took us through a windy road to another part of the airport where we sat in a room and were given earphones and a life vest then we had to watch a 15 minute video about helicopter safety and what to do if it crashed. There are a lot of steps. Then we finally got to go over to the helicopter. Of course at this point in time a rainstorm came through so we had to wait 15 minutes until it passed. While we were waiting a little tractor pulled us out on the tarmac, then they did some random checks and testing, Finally we were ready to go! Lifting of fin a helicopter is kinda weird, because it feels like the back half is going to come up, and then when the bottom half does lift up and we initially start moving up, the nose goes down. And also, at first when it gets turned on the whole helicopter pulsingly vibrates and so do the passengers which feels really weird until it starts rotating fast enough, and then it is ok.
Probably my favorite part of the ride was being so close to the ground. I loved getting to see how Brunei is laid out, and all the cool jungle, neighborhoods, and even the palace laying below. The water was pretty cool too, though slightly freaky because I kept on thinking about what crashing would be like.
The ride took about 20 minutes and then we arrived and landed on the helipad of the rig. Then workers from the rig then made a human path outside the helicopter for us to follow so we didn’t actually wander into the path of the blade’s radius.
All in all, a cool experience.
Number 2: Off-shore rig= So neat!! I am
I am on a jack-up rig, which is a rig that sits on stilts that connect to the ocean floor. This means that the rig doesn’t move up and down with the waves (thank goodness, because I get sea sick!). However, the cool thing about this rig is that most of the walkways are made of corrugated metal so wherever I am I can look down and see the ocean moving below me. Also, every single direction I look the ground is moving. I keep on looking for wildlife, but haven’t seen any fishes yet.
There are not a lot of places to go since it is a confined area, but I am not going stir-crazy yet. At the moment I am just trying to get used to my schedule, which was supposed to start as a midnight to noon, but for the first couple of days was definitely not that because my cell manager wanted me to make sure I would be conscious for action on the rig when it happened. However, I have finally started, and I am enjoying myself. Also, as far as working locations go, this is a really nice one. We have friendly coworkers, ok food, a gym (which I am often too tired to use), and tvs in our rooms.
Also, in other news….I have found out that I am being transferred back to America to work! The opportunity came up a week ago and I told my manager that I would be interested in the opportunity, and so now I am supposed to be in Lousiana around the 23rd of April! Am I excited?! Yes. I will definitely let you guys know more when I know more. Pretty much we will finish this section of the well and then I have to pack, and will be on my way back! Woot!!!!
With that, I feel like I should go because my shift is about to start. I love you and miss you all and I can’t wait to hopefully see you guys soon!!!
Have a wonderful, awesome, relaxing Thursday!
Becca
Sunday, April 3, 2011
Brunei
If you ever go to an offshore rig, there is always some kind of intermediary point. This point may be a base, a helicopter pad, or, in my case, a town. This town for me is in Brunei, only a 50 minute ferry ride from Labuan.
What is the town's name, you ask? I don't know. I have been in so many towns and they all have weird names, so at this point I am forgetting them. Plus, I didn't really bother to learn this town's name as I thought I would only be here for 2 days. However, plans change.
Due to a previous job on the rig not being finish, the drilling has been pushed back to Tuesday, and my presence on the rig (because they have to be able to have space for the lone woman..woot!) has been pushed back to Monday, which is fast approaching! Tomorrow at 1 pm I will check in to the helicopter desk at the airport, and then leave an hour later with my offshore and book bags to go to the rig. An offshore bag is just a big duffel bag that is made out of water resistant material. Which, to be honest, I really appreciate because salt-water soaked clothing is uncomfortable.
My manager will be taking me to the rig, and I will be leaving this lovely hotel with its cable, internet, and gym that I've been lounging in for the past couple of days. I did a little bit of walking around, ate at some really good restaruants, watched my first movie in theaters in 4 months, and just had a relaxing good time.
Oh, for the record, Brunei is basically just like Malaysia. However, here you can see Probiscis Monkeys in the wild. I wanted to go on a tour to see them, but you had to have at least 2 people to take the river raft tour thing. Oh well! They weren't particularly cute anyway.
In the past couple days I've seen quite a few movies just because I could. I saw Sucker Punch in theaters and it was extremely depressing, though it had cool action scenes. I also watch Steven Seagal in "A Dangerous Man." I can't say I loved it, but I love how monotone and emotionless he is! I want to watch more of his movies, if only so I can laugh. There was also the new Star Trek movie (always good!), and then my favorite of the 4 days : Invictus. I am not really a huge fan of movies about politics or sports and this is rife with both. However, I think (and you can completely disagree with me) this movie is incredibly, moving, and so exciting!!!! Also the All Blacks (from NZ) doing the Haka at the beginning of the championship match...I'VE SEEN IT IN NEW ZEALAND!!!!! and it was totally cool to know what it was when I saw it in this movie.
Well, that is about it. I am here. I am heading to the rig tomorrow and (sorry) I will have limited internet and communication abilities. However, I will probably be heading off the rig around the 20th of the month, hopefully having learned many many things and having had a really positive experience.
Some things I hope : That Raegan says "Becca" soon. That it gets awesomely warm in Kansas soon and you can gad about in t-shirts and shorts. Also that to all the people I know who are approaching finals (Adam, Tracy, James, Tori, Ginger, Erik), that you rock'em out!
I love you all. I miss you all. And I hope you are having a wonderful week.
Becca
What is the town's name, you ask? I don't know. I have been in so many towns and they all have weird names, so at this point I am forgetting them. Plus, I didn't really bother to learn this town's name as I thought I would only be here for 2 days. However, plans change.
Due to a previous job on the rig not being finish, the drilling has been pushed back to Tuesday, and my presence on the rig (because they have to be able to have space for the lone woman..woot!) has been pushed back to Monday, which is fast approaching! Tomorrow at 1 pm I will check in to the helicopter desk at the airport, and then leave an hour later with my offshore and book bags to go to the rig. An offshore bag is just a big duffel bag that is made out of water resistant material. Which, to be honest, I really appreciate because salt-water soaked clothing is uncomfortable.
My manager will be taking me to the rig, and I will be leaving this lovely hotel with its cable, internet, and gym that I've been lounging in for the past couple of days. I did a little bit of walking around, ate at some really good restaruants, watched my first movie in theaters in 4 months, and just had a relaxing good time.
Oh, for the record, Brunei is basically just like Malaysia. However, here you can see Probiscis Monkeys in the wild. I wanted to go on a tour to see them, but you had to have at least 2 people to take the river raft tour thing. Oh well! They weren't particularly cute anyway.
In the past couple days I've seen quite a few movies just because I could. I saw Sucker Punch in theaters and it was extremely depressing, though it had cool action scenes. I also watch Steven Seagal in "A Dangerous Man." I can't say I loved it, but I love how monotone and emotionless he is! I want to watch more of his movies, if only so I can laugh. There was also the new Star Trek movie (always good!), and then my favorite of the 4 days : Invictus. I am not really a huge fan of movies about politics or sports and this is rife with both. However, I think (and you can completely disagree with me) this movie is incredibly, moving, and so exciting!!!! Also the All Blacks (from NZ) doing the Haka at the beginning of the championship match...I'VE SEEN IT IN NEW ZEALAND!!!!! and it was totally cool to know what it was when I saw it in this movie.
Well, that is about it. I am here. I am heading to the rig tomorrow and (sorry) I will have limited internet and communication abilities. However, I will probably be heading off the rig around the 20th of the month, hopefully having learned many many things and having had a really positive experience.
Some things I hope : That Raegan says "Becca" soon. That it gets awesomely warm in Kansas soon and you can gad about in t-shirts and shorts. Also that to all the people I know who are approaching finals (Adam, Tracy, James, Tori, Ginger, Erik), that you rock'em out!
I love you all. I miss you all. And I hope you are having a wonderful week.
Becca
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Trip Part Dos!
So, part two starts out, actually with a trip to a museum of some kind, but for some reason (plus, my pictures are in Labuan right now, but more about that later), but I do not remember a whole lot about it, however, it was probably a blast! However, after the museum we took a trip to the zoo!!
My friend Tracy, who previously lived in Europe, told me that it was a huge zoo and would be a good idea. As Adam and I both like zoos, we decided to check it out. It was incredible! The layout was fun and wander-y. The little food booth where we had lunch had menacing pigeons waiting eagerly for unwary visitors who left their trays for more than 12 seconds. The exhibits were attractive and it felt like if I was an animal I would actually enjoy living in one of them. Also, there was such a variety of animals!
Some of my favorites :
1) The vulture that does a creepy wing/dracula thing when it is intimidating others. Just the thought of the creepy hunch-walk just gave me the shivers.
2) A cheetah that was feverishly pacing the fence area where he could best attempt to stalk the numerous rambunctious 7 yr olds running rampant in the grass near his cage.
3) The exhibit-house for ton of different types of tiny monkeys. They were so adorable! Also, apparently I am not allowed to use flash in there...oops.
4) The hippos! There were two different exhibits for them and they were so close. And friendly. I want one!
5) The elephant, of course. My favorite animal ever. :)
It was such a good afternoon, but our feet were pretty sore, so we headed back to the hotel, relaxed for a bit, then headed to dinner. For dinner we walked for about 15 minutes looking for a cafe that looked just right, and happened upon a cozy one that had both spanish/english/catalan translations in menu. Woot! We lingered over some sangria, pizza, and lasagna, but eventually decided against a club and ended up going back to watch Big Bang Theory instead. There, after watching several hours of Big Bang Theory, as most of you already know, Adam surprised me by getting down on a knee and asking me to marry him!! It was a awesome moment, in the perfect place, and the ring fit perfectly even though I've never told him my finger size. :) It is crazy because I feel like the realization of this is still just hitting me. And though it may sound cheesy, I never expected to be this happy with someone, regardless of where he and I are located and I keep on waiting for this to be just a dream. However, life rocks because I know that it is not!
Ok. Done gushing. I know you don't actually read this blog for the gushing, so I really do try to keep it to a minimum :)
Anyway, the next day we got to do one of Adam's favorite things of the trip : Take a cable car up to Castle Montjuic! However, there was only one problem...when we got off the metro, there was no cable car tower in sight. I did see one about 3/4 of a mile away, so I dragged Adam toward it. It was not the right one. However, we did see some cool supposed-to-be-there graffiti on a wall along the way. We gamely turned around and walked back, changing our strategy slightly to involve asking for directions at a hotel. We found out that there was a metro car in the very metro station we came in, that would take us to the cable car station on the side of the mountain. It was my (and I believe his as well) first cable car ride! So fun!!!
The castle itself was gorgeous. There were gardens, a drawbridge, ramparts, cannons, a high walls, arches, and stairways. The view from the top of the castle was inspiring and beautiful, and we took way too many pictures of everything. I'm not sure it would it be the coziest place to live, but it would be pretty incredible. The people we saw all around were interesting as well. There was a soprano sax player who played a lovely rendition of Auld Lang Syne. There were also some men illegally selling scarves that the Catalan police had to chase down as they ran away with scarves trailing behind them. The joggers impressed me the most, as I am pretty sure they ran from the bottom of the trails up to the top of the mountain.
Next we went to the National Museum of Art, which not only was huge and had some incredible art, but also included A LOT of steps going to the top. There was a lot of art directly regarding saints, but this makes sense, considering the history in Spain and the time-periods that the art came from. I don't adore art museums, but this one was actually really nice. By the end we were both ready to give up on the feet business. So sore!!! After 2 or 3 days of constant walking everywhere, our out of shape feet needed a rest. This was highlighted even more the next day, when I some how got an incredibly painful ingrown toenail (another first!) and we spent that afternoon packing stuff up, downloading pictures, and getting ready to head off for our respective destinations.
So, an amazing week, in a great location, with a wonderful traveling companion, and now.....my fiance!!
And now, I am in Brunei waiting to head to my first rig! Things happen pretty fast in my life sometimes (after months of going slow), and I am enjoying the change of pace. We'll see how it goes :)
Love you guys,
Becca
My friend Tracy, who previously lived in Europe, told me that it was a huge zoo and would be a good idea. As Adam and I both like zoos, we decided to check it out. It was incredible! The layout was fun and wander-y. The little food booth where we had lunch had menacing pigeons waiting eagerly for unwary visitors who left their trays for more than 12 seconds. The exhibits were attractive and it felt like if I was an animal I would actually enjoy living in one of them. Also, there was such a variety of animals!
Some of my favorites :
1) The vulture that does a creepy wing/dracula thing when it is intimidating others. Just the thought of the creepy hunch-walk just gave me the shivers.
2) A cheetah that was feverishly pacing the fence area where he could best attempt to stalk the numerous rambunctious 7 yr olds running rampant in the grass near his cage.
3) The exhibit-house for ton of different types of tiny monkeys. They were so adorable! Also, apparently I am not allowed to use flash in there...oops.
4) The hippos! There were two different exhibits for them and they were so close. And friendly. I want one!
5) The elephant, of course. My favorite animal ever. :)
It was such a good afternoon, but our feet were pretty sore, so we headed back to the hotel, relaxed for a bit, then headed to dinner. For dinner we walked for about 15 minutes looking for a cafe that looked just right, and happened upon a cozy one that had both spanish/english/catalan translations in menu. Woot! We lingered over some sangria, pizza, and lasagna, but eventually decided against a club and ended up going back to watch Big Bang Theory instead. There, after watching several hours of Big Bang Theory, as most of you already know, Adam surprised me by getting down on a knee and asking me to marry him!! It was a awesome moment, in the perfect place, and the ring fit perfectly even though I've never told him my finger size. :) It is crazy because I feel like the realization of this is still just hitting me. And though it may sound cheesy, I never expected to be this happy with someone, regardless of where he and I are located and I keep on waiting for this to be just a dream. However, life rocks because I know that it is not!
Ok. Done gushing. I know you don't actually read this blog for the gushing, so I really do try to keep it to a minimum :)
Anyway, the next day we got to do one of Adam's favorite things of the trip : Take a cable car up to Castle Montjuic! However, there was only one problem...when we got off the metro, there was no cable car tower in sight. I did see one about 3/4 of a mile away, so I dragged Adam toward it. It was not the right one. However, we did see some cool supposed-to-be-there graffiti on a wall along the way. We gamely turned around and walked back, changing our strategy slightly to involve asking for directions at a hotel. We found out that there was a metro car in the very metro station we came in, that would take us to the cable car station on the side of the mountain. It was my (and I believe his as well) first cable car ride! So fun!!!
The castle itself was gorgeous. There were gardens, a drawbridge, ramparts, cannons, a high walls, arches, and stairways. The view from the top of the castle was inspiring and beautiful, and we took way too many pictures of everything. I'm not sure it would it be the coziest place to live, but it would be pretty incredible. The people we saw all around were interesting as well. There was a soprano sax player who played a lovely rendition of Auld Lang Syne. There were also some men illegally selling scarves that the Catalan police had to chase down as they ran away with scarves trailing behind them. The joggers impressed me the most, as I am pretty sure they ran from the bottom of the trails up to the top of the mountain.
Next we went to the National Museum of Art, which not only was huge and had some incredible art, but also included A LOT of steps going to the top. There was a lot of art directly regarding saints, but this makes sense, considering the history in Spain and the time-periods that the art came from. I don't adore art museums, but this one was actually really nice. By the end we were both ready to give up on the feet business. So sore!!! After 2 or 3 days of constant walking everywhere, our out of shape feet needed a rest. This was highlighted even more the next day, when I some how got an incredibly painful ingrown toenail (another first!) and we spent that afternoon packing stuff up, downloading pictures, and getting ready to head off for our respective destinations.
So, an amazing week, in a great location, with a wonderful traveling companion, and now.....my fiance!!
And now, I am in Brunei waiting to head to my first rig! Things happen pretty fast in my life sometimes (after months of going slow), and I am enjoying the change of pace. We'll see how it goes :)
Love you guys,
Becca
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Back from Vacation
It is difficult to find the right people to vacation with. Once I went to New York City on spring break with a friend from Massachusetts. Longest 3 days of my life. She complained about walking about, visiting museums and libraries, and had a creepy obsession with wanting to visit a museum dedicated to sex toys. I mean, NYC was a great place, I just went with the wrong person. Same with a mission trip I went on in Mexico over Christmas one year. My poor brother (only 15 or 16 at the time) got to be traumatized by people who basically yelled in tongues and would wake him up by praying over him with a Bible and flashlight in the middle of the night. We definitely drove straight home after they dropped us off in Oklahoma, turning down their offers of an extra place to stay (to be honest I was also afraid of spontaneous exorcisms occuring).
Sometimes we vacation with people who like outdoor activities and want to be constantly moving, other times we find friends who want to lay on the beach. I find my parents have one of the funniest/adorable vacationing relationships I've ever seen. When we went to Florida as a family, I distinctly remember that they would both get up early for a walk on the beach, then dad would do things like reconaissance on the bus routes in Florida, while mom would come back out to the beach after breakfast and soak up sun for most of the day. Also amusing : the fact that dad would get up so early and then take morning and afternoon naps. This might not be an accurate re-telling, but this is always how I will remember it in my mind. For the record, I absolutely loved that vacation. Getting to spend so much time with my family was absolutely wonderful!
However, this is not about NYC, Mexico, or Florida. This is about Barcelona. :)
Barcelona was my first trip to Europe that I actually remember. And though I would love to go back to Germany with my parents and do some remembering there, I've gotta say that Barcelona left an amazing first impression! To begin with, the city is so clean! There was a bit of trash here and there, and some graffiti in random places, but overall I was surprised at how tidy it was.
It was also fun to get lost in. My parents and Adam can both attest to how stressed out being lost causes me to be, but it wasn't so bad there. There was always a metro close by, and it was laid out in such a way that it was generally not bad to find your way to a known landmark if you are patient enough. Also, people were quite helpful whenever we broke down and asked them. Adam can also do N/S/E/W pretty well, so he was pretty good at keeping us on track. I know being bad at directions is an annoying stereotype to fit in, but in my defense, the gene for being good absolutely skipped me. What happened G'ma and Mom??
Also amazing...the food!! Even the "fast food" from a restaurant called Pan or Pans was pretty good. I love sandwiches and the bread at every place we stopped at was very good. I liked eating at completely random shops and cafes because undoubtedly no matter what you ate would be delicious (and sometimes a surprise as we couldn't decipher some of the Catalan/Spanish menus). Also, the sangria in Barcelona was amazing. Pretty much tasted like carbonated grape juice. Our favorite restaurant was run by a British guy and it was called "Ben." We happened upon it right before visiting the National Museum of Art (soooo much ART!!) and came back the next day because the food was incredible.
I don't even know where to start on the site seeing. We saw the Aquarium which was fun, winding, and full of interesting fishes. There was even a huge shark tank (you can take a dunk for 400-ish Euros) and a sting ray tank that you can look down into and watch stingrays swimming a foot from your hand. We tried to go to an IMAX theater nearby, but it was closed, so we braved a Spanish shopping mall instead, which was pretty nice. We tried on fun (and crazy looking) clothes, Adam found a nice shirt and I found a cute pair of shoes to wear.
On Tuesday (I think) we went on a 4 hour tour of Barcelona starting at 11 am. We were supposed to meet the guides in a plaza in the city center, but as we had never been to that part of the city before (and a lot of places in Barcelona have plaza looking areas!) we got a little lost and had to ask directsion twice. However, we did eventually find our guides, got bikes (no helmets, though there is a city law about wearing them) and then we were off (but then, you knew that...). It was actually the first time I'd ridden a bike in about 5 years. Took a little getting used to. We then proceeded to bike everywhere! We looked at historical buildings such as the Sagrada Familia, Opera House, several war memorials, city walls (which are pretty cool if they are hundreds of years old), and some neat fountains and parks. Our tour guide was an Aussie who was fun and told stories in a interesting way. He had dreads and spent the entire tour, when not socializing or telling stories, hitting on a French girl who was also on the tour. It was awesome to watch! At the end of the tour we stopped at a bakery down by the beach and had lunch. The beach is SO windy!! There were a ton of people windsurfing and parasailing, but they were all in wetsuits because it was also extremely cold. Ok. Maybe only 40 F, but that is still cold! We had spinach lasagna, focaccia (sp?) bread, and a pitcher of sangria. All were delicious, and I am actually salivating remembering them now.
Anyway that is all for now. I will add pictures to the next blog post about the last half of our trip which includes : (a) a castle, (b) a proposal, (c) some fun museums! Oh,and a movie adventure.
Later.
Love you!
Becca
Sometimes we vacation with people who like outdoor activities and want to be constantly moving, other times we find friends who want to lay on the beach. I find my parents have one of the funniest/adorable vacationing relationships I've ever seen. When we went to Florida as a family, I distinctly remember that they would both get up early for a walk on the beach, then dad would do things like reconaissance on the bus routes in Florida, while mom would come back out to the beach after breakfast and soak up sun for most of the day. Also amusing : the fact that dad would get up so early and then take morning and afternoon naps. This might not be an accurate re-telling, but this is always how I will remember it in my mind. For the record, I absolutely loved that vacation. Getting to spend so much time with my family was absolutely wonderful!
However, this is not about NYC, Mexico, or Florida. This is about Barcelona. :)
Barcelona was my first trip to Europe that I actually remember. And though I would love to go back to Germany with my parents and do some remembering there, I've gotta say that Barcelona left an amazing first impression! To begin with, the city is so clean! There was a bit of trash here and there, and some graffiti in random places, but overall I was surprised at how tidy it was.
It was also fun to get lost in. My parents and Adam can both attest to how stressed out being lost causes me to be, but it wasn't so bad there. There was always a metro close by, and it was laid out in such a way that it was generally not bad to find your way to a known landmark if you are patient enough. Also, people were quite helpful whenever we broke down and asked them. Adam can also do N/S/E/W pretty well, so he was pretty good at keeping us on track. I know being bad at directions is an annoying stereotype to fit in, but in my defense, the gene for being good absolutely skipped me. What happened G'ma and Mom??
Also amazing...the food!! Even the "fast food" from a restaurant called Pan or Pans was pretty good. I love sandwiches and the bread at every place we stopped at was very good. I liked eating at completely random shops and cafes because undoubtedly no matter what you ate would be delicious (and sometimes a surprise as we couldn't decipher some of the Catalan/Spanish menus). Also, the sangria in Barcelona was amazing. Pretty much tasted like carbonated grape juice. Our favorite restaurant was run by a British guy and it was called "Ben." We happened upon it right before visiting the National Museum of Art (soooo much ART!!) and came back the next day because the food was incredible.
I don't even know where to start on the site seeing. We saw the Aquarium which was fun, winding, and full of interesting fishes. There was even a huge shark tank (you can take a dunk for 400-ish Euros) and a sting ray tank that you can look down into and watch stingrays swimming a foot from your hand. We tried to go to an IMAX theater nearby, but it was closed, so we braved a Spanish shopping mall instead, which was pretty nice. We tried on fun (and crazy looking) clothes, Adam found a nice shirt and I found a cute pair of shoes to wear.
On Tuesday (I think) we went on a 4 hour tour of Barcelona starting at 11 am. We were supposed to meet the guides in a plaza in the city center, but as we had never been to that part of the city before (and a lot of places in Barcelona have plaza looking areas!) we got a little lost and had to ask directsion twice. However, we did eventually find our guides, got bikes (no helmets, though there is a city law about wearing them) and then we were off (but then, you knew that...). It was actually the first time I'd ridden a bike in about 5 years. Took a little getting used to. We then proceeded to bike everywhere! We looked at historical buildings such as the Sagrada Familia, Opera House, several war memorials, city walls (which are pretty cool if they are hundreds of years old), and some neat fountains and parks. Our tour guide was an Aussie who was fun and told stories in a interesting way. He had dreads and spent the entire tour, when not socializing or telling stories, hitting on a French girl who was also on the tour. It was awesome to watch! At the end of the tour we stopped at a bakery down by the beach and had lunch. The beach is SO windy!! There were a ton of people windsurfing and parasailing, but they were all in wetsuits because it was also extremely cold. Ok. Maybe only 40 F, but that is still cold! We had spinach lasagna, focaccia (sp?) bread, and a pitcher of sangria. All were delicious, and I am actually salivating remembering them now.
Anyway that is all for now. I will add pictures to the next blog post about the last half of our trip which includes : (a) a castle, (b) a proposal, (c) some fun museums! Oh,and a movie adventure.
Later.
Love you!
Becca
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)