I'm back in the US now. I'll fill you in on my break in the next post. This one will be devoted to catching you all up on how I spent my time, while I was in Abu Dhabi.
My first week
of class was a struggle to get over my jet lag. My first few weeks of class were with people from all areas of WesternGeco's land division, both conventional and Q crews (like me). My classmates were from Libya, Algeria, Egypt, Pakistan, and the United States. Our instructors were British, Nigerian, and South African. Some of us went to the Mall of the Emirates in Dubai. We gawked at the glitterati and their cars and visited Ski Dubai, an indoor ski slope. This is a picture of me in front of an ice sculpture that they had there.The next weekend we went to Al Ain, for an air show. We rode the bus from Abu Dhabi to Al Ain and then took a taxi to the airport. The show was really great, especially the Saudi team. After the end of the show, we couldn't find a cab to get back to the bus station. We started to walk back to town and got stranded in the dark on a round about in heavy traffic. A car stopped for us, and we got in. It turns out that the person who stopped to help us was the captain of the Saudi jet team! Such a nice guy, he took us to the bus station!
During our second class, we added Russian to the list of nationalities represented. We took one of our weekends to go on "safari" up by the Omani boarder. We rode four-wheelers, took 4WD vehicles over the dunes ("dune bashing"), and attended a feast and belly dance in the evening. Another weekend we took a cruise on "the creek," a waterway in Dubai, and saw the city from a whole new angle. Also during this time we picked up bowling as a class habit. The Al Wada Mall was near our apartment building, and we Americans got the others hooked on the game. We also went to the beach in Abu Dhabi to swim in the Persian Gulf. It was beautiful.During the second class, my boyfriend and I broke up. All the way through my recruitment and orientation process with this job they kept telling me, "its not for everyone." That's true. But it is for me.
During the last week we spent time leaning about the computer systems inside the recorder. We added Moroccan and Iranian to the represented nationalities. Here is a picture of our class outside the recorder on the campus of the school in Abu Dhabi.
On the way home, had a 30 hour layover in London. I visited Hyde Park, the Natural History Museum, St Paul's Cathedral, Big Ben, and Piccadilly Circus. I flew from London to Newark, New Jersey. When we were taking off to fly from Newark to Raleigh, I saw the Statue of Liberty for the first time. Right now I'm on my way back to crew. I'll fill you in on my break in the next post.
