Puedo hablar espanol?!

So after my much needed break at home, I went back to the normal daily grind. I have been in the office most of the time because there are a lot of specialty jobs going on that the more experienced engineers have to go to meaning I was needed in the office! I have been in charge of 3 units which has kept me busy but not overwhelmed for once. One day I was thinking why are things going better/easier than before and I finally realized why . . . maybe my spanish is getting better!!

It is hard to believe that I have been here in Carmen for a little over 6 months already! It just feels like yesterday that I first arrived here in Mexico let alone Carmen. My spanish has come such a looooong way since the first month in Gdl. I still remember struggling in my intensive spanish course and just shaking my head when someone talked to me! I still do that some because there are still people I have a reaaallly hard time understanding and unfortunately one of those people is my boss . . . oh well! But it is nice that I finally can converse for the most part with everyone, and I am not as afraid to talk on the phone and radio, though this still something I dislike to do in spanish or in english!

Besides feeling better about my spanish, I just have been working, doing my big project for school and watching movies with my friends! Sounds pretty normal right?! Also I had dinner with Estef's and Karina's mom/parents when they came into town! Below is a picture of our dinner date and one with me and the roommates. A couple times during that dinner I said I wished my parents could have been there too :(

Also during this last month I was "guardia" for the first time, which means going into work at 6:00 am and leaving at 9:30 pm. It is really tiring because you pretty much wake up, go to work, get home from work, eat a little something, go to bed, and then do the whole process over again. The one good thing about guardia is that you have lunch from 1 to 5 everyday, however, when you do not have a car it is not as simple as it could be!! It is just one more thing pushing me to just go ahead and get something!! After my week of being guardia, John went offshore and let me use his big beautiful black truck for a couple of days! It was sooooo nice leaving the base and home when I wanted and not have to wait for a taxis!! But of course that just added to my hunger for a car when I had to return it back to him just a couple days later!! Also I realized that I did not want a big car b/c 1. it is hard to park in Mexico, 2. eats gas, and 3. just to nice for where I am!! Hopefully, one of my next posts will be about my new car!!

NC and Jake!

I am now a very proud new aunt . . . I think he is the cutest baby ever, smartest baby ever, etc. Whenever I see new pictures of him I just want to squeeze him and kiss him and he makes me smile soooo much!! Well, I finally got to actually do that when I went home for a week and a half! It was a MUCH needed break. I smashed a lot of things into a few days but it was still great to be home!

I first went to HP to see Mom and Dad, sleep in my own bed, see some friends and do some little errands. It was sooo nice because I had not been home since November . . . I did not realize how much I was home sick until I got there. It was nice just being in my comfort zone for a little bit! And of course I had to get some good southern food while I was home . . . nothing better than a bacon, egg, and cheese biscuit with a Cheerwine!!

During this time at home, I also went to Charlotte for the day to play in the Camp Lurecrest golf fundraiser with my dad and my golf buddies from church, Don and Bob! We did alright as a team (3rd place) but I was really rusty since I had not played in 5 months! The best part was that I got to see Poppy and a lot of friends from camp that I had not seen in a really long time.

Also while at home, I went to the dentist for the first time in a year and a half, and I sure did pay for it!! Everyone was telling me I have such beautiful teeth and keep them really clean, but I still had 5 cavities . . . yes thats right 5!! I have always had soft teeth but living in a place where there is no fluoride in the water I guess makes it worse. So I had to go back to get those fix which I will talk about a little later.

After the dentist I got to hang out with 3 of the most amazing girls I know! I fixed the pizza dough and then went over to Liz's house to have a little girls night with Carolyn, Dana, and Liz. The night would have been perfect if only Schrum (or I should say Cronin) who had left for CO the week before had been there, but it was still very fun. It is so nice to know that you have such great friends that you can go long periods of time without seeing each other or even talking with and everything is normal and fun when we do finally get together. I had not seen Liz in over 2 years because she lives and works as a teacher in Thailand . . . we seemed to always miss each other when we were home.

After a little time in HP, the family went to Wilmington for Easter! It was such a beautiful weekend and nice to be around family. I played golf one day with my Dad and uncle and probably played better than I ever had . . . it is sooo much fun when it justs clicks! The best thing about those couple of days was going to church with my whole family. It has been such a long time since I have been in that type of environment! My soul definitely appreciated that!

The pups wanted to go with us!!

After Easter I headed back home to go back to the dentist. My plan was to go straight to Raleigh to see Jake after Wilmington but things change!! Because I came back home I got to have lunch with Grandma which I was sooooo thankful for. She is such a beautiful person inside and out. She is so encouraging and recently has been telling Becca and I a lot of interesting family stories. So maybe God gave me those cavities so that I would come back home to see her!! Anyways after seeing grandma I went to the dentist and told them to fill all my cavities at the same time since I did not have much time and really wanted to get to know Jake . . . the reason for the trip back home!! They said I was going to be a little numb but that was an understatement!! I could not feel my mouth or tongue . . . nothing. Of course they like to ask you questions afterwards too which I could not answer because my mouth did not work! Right after the dentist I left for Raleigh numb mouth and all. I had to call Mom who was already in Raleigh which in the end made me cry from laughing so hard because I could not talk and they were making fun of me . . . thankfully after the hour ride to Dan and Lizzie's house my mouth de-numbed!

The last couple days of the trip I hung out with Lizzie and Jake!! Dan had a buisness trip so it worked out that I could help out as much as I could even though it was not much. I love him so much already and he is not even my child!! I am sooo excited for Dan and Lizzie and can't wait to see him again in November which I know he is going to be sooo much different/big than these pictures below!

Sorry for such a long post, but I realized I have not written in such a long time . . . sorry about that!!

While Waiting for the Little Man to Arrive

When I went offshore I was first in a semi-submersible platform called IOLAIR. I had a room and bathroom to myself which was nice because one of the client bedrooms was free. Most of the time I was there in IOLAIR I was working or dealing with the client and logistics so the time went really fast and where I stayed did not matter to much. Because the clients liked me, however, I was able to check my email everyday, and everyday I was hoping for news of Jake but there was nothing.

After finishing the perferating job at that one well, we moved all our equipment to another semi-submersible platform called Brittannia. This platform is huge . . . around 700 people can live here at a time (normally other semis can only hold 300 people). This platform was really nice because it has women quarters that usually only have two beds. When I went to my assigned room there was already another women staying there but she was not in the room at the time I placed my bags and stuff in there to then go to eat. I got back from eating and she was really shocked when I walked in. I thought it was because of my height which was probably part of it. She was packing all here stuff and then told me that she was moving into another room. The reason was because she thought I was a guy. All she saw was my boots and coveralls (which are both really big especially considering the size of the women here in Mexico) and assumed that they were from a man!! She went to the supervisor of the platform and got him to move her to another women's room!! It made me laugh!!

While in Britannia, I spent a lot of time in the office of the client because we were waiting on a program/job to do. Well, I ended up talking a lot with all the clients and again for some reason they seemed to like me even though my spanish was not good sometimes!! They ended up inviting me to eat with them which was at a different time than everyone else on the platform and in a different room with different food. I ended up eating with the captain of the ship, doctor, etc. . . all the important people! The clients wanted me to stay there for a couple of weeks to perform more jobs. However within 2 days of being there I was being transferred to another platform to perform another operation with another crew. Again I checked my email everyday waiting for some good news but again nothing!

I was moved to the next well to possible do another memory logging and perferation job. The other platform needed me quick so I got to ride in a helicopter again. This time it was in a bigger helicopter and I had to ride to a lot of different platforms picking up and dropping off people. I literally was in a taxis that was in the shape of a helicopter! This time the platform was a small fixed platform. I lived with 3 other guys that were not part of my crew because the room at its own bathroom. This kind of platform just has a shared bathroom for all the crew and just a few rooms have there own bathroom. The client ended up not needing a memory log so I did not have to do another job with the special tool, however we did do a job pumping nitrogen in the formation. That job ended up taking 24 hours (installing and performing the job). Because of that I was not able to call home any . . . plus I was not as close to the clients at that job so I was not able to check my email regularly. I decided to call home the morning after the job and just asked jokingly has Jake come yet. I was expecting no but to my surprise he had!! He had been born the morning before while was pumping nitrogen in the well! I was soooooo excited and at the same time sad because I was not there with the rest of the family, and I was a day behind all the news! Thankfully, I ended going back to land that day so I was able to see pictures of the Little Man!!

Since I have been back on land I have gotten to see Jake on skype which was sooooo much fun. I just sat there watching him. I still cannot believe he is here. One reason is because I missed a lot of the process and have not held him yet. Thankfully, I am going home tomorrow for 12 days so I can finally feel like an aunt!!

Since I can't take a camera onboard I am lacking in photos of my experiences so here are just a couple of what I see around the office (my desk, etc.)

Adventures of Running a New Tool

The last 2 weeks have been a whirlwind with all sorts of emotions. I got to go offshore which I was very thankful to be able to get out of the office some! The scary thing about this job was that I was going to be in charge of a memory logging tool by myself and I had never worked with it before . . . I ended up learning how to program it the night before I left! I had to go the next day since the other more experienced engineers with this tool could not go! That was pretty intimidating at first because one I was in charge of this operation/tool so it was up to me for this operation to go smoothly and two it was my first job ever for memory logging and perforating with guns!

When I got there I did a practice run of programming and testing that all the functions of the tool worked. Everything went smoothly. Then it was time to finally run the tool down the well. The most critical job was putting the battery into the tool so that the tool could actually record the data. You do not know until the tool is back up from the well that it recorded anything or not. Being a worrier those 4.5 hours of running the coiled tubing in and out of hole were very stressful!!

So I finally got the tool back up and had to dump all the data on the computer and interpret it which should be easy and was! I was able to get all the information but the problem was that I was not able to get that data off the computer or put any other file on because the computer could not read any USB. I had to combine to files to make a correlation so I had to be able to use a USB. Thankfully after 3 hours of troubleshooting I was finally able to get all the information of the computer and send it to the base (that was about 3 in the morning and I really wanted to just throw the computer like a frisbee into the ocean)! I could have been charged for this downtime but thankfully the client representatives liked me and just put "waiting for interpretation of data" in the report!!

Right after that we ran in hole again but this time with guns, and I had to make sure that we were in the right place in the well to fire the guns. If I did not fire the guns in the right place I could have been fired right there because that is a huge service quality rule . . . thankfully after being up 26 hours straight we had finished the job and everything went well and the client was pleased!!

Jake has arrived!!

I am an Aunt . . . I cannot believe it at all!! It is very surreal, and it will not become real until I finally get to hold the little man (one week and counting)!! Praise the Lord that both Lizzie and Jake are doing great and everything went well.

I was offshore when I found out the news. I had worked 24 hours straight on April 7th and after much needed sleep on the 8th I called home from the platform and asked if Jake had come yet . . . to my surprise and joy he had early in the morning on the 7th (Jacob Emerson - 8 lbs 6 oz)!! Below are some pictures of the cutie.

Thank-you family for posting all the pictures . . . it stinks that I was not there but the pictures help!! Love you and see you soon!

Work, Work, Work, Play

So I just realized that I have not posted in almost 2 months which is really bad but on the other hand the time sure has flown by! I have been working and been keeping VERY busy. Since coming to Carmen (Dec. 4) I have worked a total of 100 days and have only had 7 days off . . . yes only 7! And out of the last 75 days I have only had 3 days off! This just shows why I have been soooooo bad at updating this blog which I am sorry about. I want to blog but have not had time/energy to do it.

Since my last blog I have gone to 2 other platforms, one for 7 days and the other for 5 days. Each time it was different . . . the platforms themselves, the operation, the people, the food, etc. Each time I have slept in one of the Pemex supervisors room's so it has its own shower which is really nice. It is nice because these platforms happen to have only a common bathroom which would be a little ackward for me and the only thing I really worry about when going offshore. I do not mind bunking in the same room as guys but the bathroom thing is a no go . . . hopefully this trend of staying with the Super will keep going!!

Work is getting easier now since the language is getting easier plus I understand the ropes a lot more now. Everyday however I do learn something new! I am still a long ways off but I can communicate sooo much better, and I am not as afraid to talk on the phone and radio anymore.

Finally, I did get some much needed days off and it could not have come at a better time. It was a whopping 6 days which I was really excited about!! At first I was planning to go to Playa del Carmen for my days off but decided against it because I rather hang out with people than be by myself the whole time. It is cool though that I could just go there or Cancun whenever I want . . . it is just a bus ride away (well a 11 hour bus ride but still)!!

Instead I ended up hanging out around Ciudad del Carmen and exploring the area around here. The first 2 days I did pretty much nothing because I was getting over a bad sinus infection. The last 4 days is when the true adventure began. For 2 days I went to a beach that is just 20 minutes from my house. I went with Carla, the girlfriend of John and Karen who I worked with in Poza Rica. It was so nice because I was with people and around the water. Below is a picture of the water/beach. It is just missing a hammock and it would be perfect!

And this is where I live . . . can you believe it!! I get to see this everday!

The second to last day Carla and I rented a car (the beautiful red one below) and went to Edzna and Campeche which is the capitol of the state of Campeche which is the state I live in now. Edzna is the location of some Mayan ruins (well I think it was Mayans). It was so nice out and nice to walk around and climb up the temples. Thankfully, there were a lot of clouds that day so it was not too hot . . . it however was still hot!

Next we headed to Campeche for a nice seafood lunch and then to walk around for a little bit. The first place after lunch we went to was one of the many forts surrounding the city. This fort was on top of a hill overlooking the water and city. The city was fortified to keep out the Spaniards which I think is pretty interesting. Below are just a couple pics of the view and fort. It was very simple but pretty in its own way too!

After walking around the fort/muesum we headed back down to the center of the city or the historical part that was once completed surrounded by walls and forts. The city is really unique because the architecture is a combination of European and Mexican. It was so fun with all the buildings and doors being very colorful! In the center there is the main cathedral and square that has a gazebo.

Hopefully, I will be able to go back there sometime and really walk around. Carla and I were both really tired from driving and the heat so we did not spend quite as much time there as we hoped . . . plus we were both burnt a little bit from the days before!

Semi 1

So now I can offically say that I have been offshore . . . it will be an experience that I will never forget!!

My first experience was on a semisubmersible platform which means it is a big boat/barge that can move from one fixed platform that has the wells to another (picture below). The semisubmersible I stayed on was called Semi 1. It orginially was a platform from the Netherlands but now is owned and operated by Mexico. To get to the platform you have to ride on a boat that stops at other platforms that are on the way . . . it pretty much is a glorified bus service for the water. Most everywhere else in the world you would ride in a helicopter but that is not the case in Mexico. Only the supervisors of Pemex get to ride in the helicopter on a regular basis. In all, getting to the platform means spending 2 hours waiting in a terminal (reminds me of an airport terminal), 6+ hours in a boat that is rocking this way and that acting like a taxis going from one platform to another, a ride holding onto this basket while a crane lifts you up 5 stories (pictured below), and of course being in the middle of no where in the Gulf of Mexico. All you can see on the horizon is other platforms and water!

I ended up doing 2 jobs in 2 different wells/platforms. There was one moment when I was 5 stories above the water on a platform, I just said wow. One of the other guys from CT asked me if I ever thought I would be out here and I said no. I still can not believe that I am doing this . . . it is crazy, I am crazy!! You look around and all you see are other platforms and water. Because of this I got to see some pretty sunsets, sunrises, and stars! Plus the crew I was with were awesome . . . they were really patient with me and helped/suffered through my spanish!! The supervisor was from Columbia and reminded me of the Columbian supervisor from Poza Rica . . . very nice and loves the Lord. He took me under his wing throughout the experience so it was nice not having to go through the boat and arrival process at the platform by myself!

Being offshore does not always mean working, when there is bad weather a lot of times you are not able to work so you are just waiting around . . . it can be pretty boring. To pass the time I studied some, watched movies on my computer, played ping pong (which I have not done in a really long time), talked with the crew of the Semi-1 (to practice my spanish), ate, and of course slept all while moving this way and that from the waves. There were around 5 other females on board out of the 150 people that were working on the platform! I lived with 2 other guys from another company and was fortunate that there was a bathroom for each room not a common bathroom for everyone which is the case for some platforms! Also the food on the platform was amazing . . . I ate better the time I was aboard then I have the whole time I have been in Mexico. So much fruit and meat and frozen yogurt!! And every Sunday they had a carne asada (cookout) outside near the helicopter pad.

In all I spent 12 days out there . . . I had to come back to earth because another engineer had to come to the job for a special tool that I am not qualified to run yet. It ended up being good timing because the night I left there were problems with our unit! I guess I was the good luck charm!!