Soooo, as predicted, my Blog met its early demise less than 2 months
after its humble beginnings and the development of an even humbler following. If
there are any among you who still felt like checking the blog every now and
then, anxiously hoping to see another entry from me, have no fear!!! I will now
attempt to rejuvenate it, because it is supposed to be about my life
adventures, and I am definitely about to embark upon a new adventure—the Far
East. (I initially typed “Easy” instead of East. Wouldn’t it be cool to have a
New Orleans-like place in Asia that is nicknamed the Far Easy? That’s probably
a title Bangkok could very well represent. But, since I won’t be going to Bangkok
and now desperately want to refer to some place as the Far Easy, then perhaps
that is what I shall dub Macau.)
I realize that I picked an inconvenient time to bring back this blog.
My Facebook newsfeed is over-run now with links to summer travel blogs from
friends of mine, which might make my sudden revival seem cliché. When I first
started writing back in October, not many other people (read that as friends
who are still students) had a blog going, and I could count on all the friends
who needed an excuse for procrastination from work to follow my blog. But
during the summer, Oh Dear Readers, I expect you to be going outside and
playing Frisbee, riding your bike, rafting, camping, climbing, and doing many
other things besides reading your long lost compatriot’s blog. Thus, I will
write this as if only 5 people will ever read it. That means proofreading will
be nill, swearing and other simple language may happen often, and I may not
maintain my PG rating of the past. I guess that last part really depends on
what neighborhoods of Tokyo I end up frequenting. We’ll just have to wait and
see.
I guess I should briefly summarize my life since I last wrote you (I
was working on two separate posts for mid-December which I have since lost
track of and then, well, 7 months went by…): I had just finished my Base
Training in Vankor Field and went for 4 weeks to my “Pre-school” on a rig. As I
was the lowly third-hand MWD engineer on the job, I didn’t really do all that
much, besides help out with physical labor stuff, because I was always eager
for some sort of exercise. I continued all my training lessons and tests
online, and I tried to study Russian daily. There was also a pull-up bar in the
working unit (trailer) that became my second home. By the end of that shift I
could do 26 pull-ups. That is still my record at this point. I end up having too
much time off in which I don’t work out and then spend the next shift working
my way back up to where I was before.
Night became longer and the sun officially set for 20 days straight. I
experienced Christmas by singing Christmas songs to myself while I walked
outside in the frigid nights. The Russians celebrate western Christmas-y
traditions during New Year’s (New Year’s trees, New Year’s presents, New Year’s
(Santa) hats, etc.) and I luckily left the rig and returned to Krasnoyarsk in
time for the New Year holiday. Here, I became more acquainted with the
Krasnoyarsk night-life and, of course, the women. I also had the chance to know
my Krasnoyarsk colleagues a lot better. We had a New Year’s party at work and I
drank Champagne at the office, which I wouldn’t consider a very common occurrence
in the US. I also learned that cake in this country is superior to cake in
America. That’s about the only positive culinary distinction I have found for
Russia.
After a nice two week break in the city, I went back to the rig for
another 4 weeks of pre-school, in preparation for my actual ENG1 school in Tyumen
that started on February 13th. This was characterized by much of the
same experience as the first, except I was given more responsibilities by my
mentoring engineer, Mudi, and I mistakenly felt like a Trainee Badass entering
my school in February.
I started out ENG1 strong, but I would suffer from constant sleep
deprivation, due to my incessant need to participate in everything I can. In
addition to throwing-back to college days and pulling all-nighters to prepare
for Rig Practice runs, I also tried to work out hard every day and party hard
in the city when we had free time. By the end of the 9 weeks of school, I was
quite burnt out, but I left having learned a lot, had a lot of wonderful social
experiences (things that will NOT be detailed on the internet), met a bunch of new people from both in and outside of my company,
and developed lasting lifelong friendships, in the most corny, summer-camp way
possible. Of course at the end we all promised to meet up in vacations in
different places in the future. And of course, who knows how our vacations will
match up, not to mention I am developing my own loner travel agenda that I am more apt to
try to force other people to conform to. For now, I will travel alone. It is
logistically so much easier, and you know, I like to be in control of situations
(like father, like son, hmmm…).
After school, I had 4 weeks off for my first real vacation of my
career. It was almost too relaxing, except for the fact that I spent a bunch of
time in airports and at multiple times had to wake up at ungodly early
hours. I went to (in the following
order) Ann Arbor, Wilmington (Ohio), San Francisco, Boston, Boise, and then Ann
Arbor again, before returning to Tyumen for some social fun and then back to
real work at Krasnoyarsk. The trip was marred by a double dose of pink eye and
strep in Boise, and I missed out on some time in the mountains and seeing some
more friends from home. I haven’t even gotten a chance to see the Avengers
movie yet!!
I worked another 6 weeks straight in Vankor, experiencing the
wonderment of being lead-hand on several jobs and sleeping in 4 hour blocs
twice a day. The sun also never set, which was a pleasant but sometimes
annoying circumstance. When the sun never goes down, even in the Arctic, it ends up getting really hot. We reached the high 80’s and maybe even into the 90’s at some points,
and of course they lack many cooling implements in that part of the world. I
did enjoy going outside for walks at 3 or 4 AM when it had managed to cool down
a bit. I was also lucky in that I only had to deal with a big bug problem in
the last week, because it had been extremely dry for most of my shift. But the
last week, it poured daily, and then the sun would come out long enough to tease
us and help vitalize the spawning mosquitoes in all the standing water, which
would then attack us. I am now much more talented at squashing those buzzing
bastards.
And after 5 nice days back in Krasnoyarsk, I am embarking on a quick
two-week jaunt through Tokyo, Taipei, Hong Kong / Macau, and Seoul. I have to be back in Vankor in two weeks, so
this is all I can do at this point. I just summarized way too much time in way
too small of a space, considering my past propensity to go into excruciating
(but hopefully comedic/ironic/slightly entertaining) detail. Mentally,
everyday, I still take note of silly observations that I wish I had written
down and added to the blog. There are so many… But, luckily, that means there
should still be plenty more opportunities for me to comment on what I see and experience.
It should be an especially fun time on this trip, because I will just be doing
a lot of “seeing.” Were I in Japan for a little longer, I would have added some
essential “doing,” like climbing Mt. Fuji and visiting the likes of Fuijkyu
Highlands, Nagashima Spaland, and Tokyo Disneyland (the first two are amusement
parks, yes). This shall be a quantity over quality trip. Except for what I plan
to do in Macau. You’ll see…
I write most of this post from the airport in Khabarovsk (Хабаровск), Russia (second largest
city in Russian far east after Vladivostok)—my 5 hour layover between
Krasnoyarsk and Tokyo. I got to spend a full Monday in the office, during which
I didn’t actually do any real work, too filled with excitement for the upcoming
11pm journey. My first Russian red-eye! Woohoo!! Although I thought I was
taking Aeroflot, I found that it was “Operated by” Vladivostok Air, which means
it actually was a Vladivostok Air plane and all that. It’s not like in the US
where you’d get a Delta or United with the small print saying operated by Mesa
or some other silly regional setup, while the plane is still actually a full
Delta or United plane with a Delta or United crew, etc. The exterior of this plane
was definitely less sleek and more awkward-looking than the nearby Aeroflot jet
on the tarmac, but hey, it marks what is already my fifth Russian airline in
less than a year (after Aeroflot, UTair, Katekavia, and S7) and now my 7th
Russian airport. And, to date, every domestic flight I’ve had in Russia has
served me at least one full meal. Eat your heart out, US budget airlines!! I also just read that Vladivostok code shares with Star Alliance, but if this flight had an Aeroflot flight number and ticket class, I should get Delta credit for it, right? Hmmm, we shall see.
In typical Siberian airport fashion, the “concourse” beyond security is
but a glorified waiting room (selling alcohol, at least), and we must take the
bus out to the plane. Also, still typically in Russian fashion, nobody has any
respect for lines, waiting, letting other people go in front of them, etc. I
think it’s especially funny in the case of getting off the bus and boarding the
plane. It’s as if people are hoping to get a good seat or something, and it’s
only after they get on the plane when they realize there is a specific place
for them. I also am now disappointed that this country doesn’t do any sort of
priority boarding system. I’m now Silver Elite and want that chance to board
early, damnit!! They do announce over the loud speakers when flights are ready for checking in and to let the elderly, handicapped, or people with small children to check in early, but they don't cut those people any slack for boarding. At least they gave me my window seat in the exit row. And for a brief
moment, I even thought I would get an empty seat next to me, which I had been
lucky to manage on my last few domestic flights. I almost wondered if my elite
status also set it up so that they would avoid putting someone next to me if
they could, but that was wishful thinking. I’m anxiously waiting for those chance upgrades to first/business class,
but I think that won’t come as easily until I snag the Gold status. That’s my
next goal. But it might take some end-of-the-year, world-circumnavigation
mileage runs to snatch up those last miles. I’m crossing my fingers for a productive
fall!
Fun observation of the day: Upon boarding the Vladivostok Air plane, I
was greeted by two bleach-blonde, hair-in-tight-buns, obvious-salon-tanned
flight attendants both named Svetlana. Vladivostok Air: furthering Russian
stereotypes since 1932!!
Other fun fact: I flew on an A320, which was equipped with retractable
overhead TV screens. During the nearly 4 hour flight, they didn’t play anything
except the pre-flight safety video. Fail.
Next stop: Tokyo!!!
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