spiders and cheerios

Monday morning I woke up a little late after snoozing the alarm a couple of times, got up and walked across the room to turn on the light and cruuuuuuuuuuunch I stepped on a spider. After doing a one legged jump/screaming jig I realized that I hadn’t stepped hard enough to kill the sucker, so I still had to chase it down with a shoe. This was the first time I thought to myself, “ok, that’s enough I’m ready to go home.” I’m proud to say that I lasted 17 days without thinking that thought.

Most of my BBQ buddies have gone home over this past week, so I’m back to the mess hall menu. You know it’s bad when you get excited about boiled eggs for dinner. We also got Honey Nut Cheerios for breakfast this week, and I about lost it. I’ve had at least one bowl every morning. I saw one of my old Bakersfield co-workers, and we talked about our mutual excitement for a good 5 minutes. I don’t even know what I’m going to do when I get back home and have endless food options at my fingertips…

On Wednesday night my small team of 4 hosted a softball game in camp, which means we paid for the food. There is always a much larger turn out to anything if food is provided! I grew up playing softball and watching baseball so I'm very familiar with the rules of the game, and I've always been surrounded by folks who are equally knowledgeable (if not more) with the game. This was definitely not the case on Wednesday. We had several Angolans, South Africans, and Europeans who has never watched, much less played a game of baseball in their lives. After a instructing everyone on how to put on a glove we spent some time on catching and throwing, and just assumed that we were good to go - false. Batting was an adventure, but most of the people were able to at least make contact in the first 5-10 pitches. The problem was that we failed as teachers to let them know that once the ball was hit, you run to first base. We quickly realized that we left out the step that you have to drop the bat, not carry it to the base with you. This went on and on...run from first to second base, second to third, third to home, explaining what getting "out" meant, etc - and then there was fielding. By that time I was just giggling non-stop along with most of the other expats who were familiar with the game. Everyone had a really great time and were good sports throughout the game - I think we may even play again this Wednesday!

Tomas, David, Dialla, and I

I’m definitely on the downhill slope trying to wrap up as much as I can in the next week and a half so I don’t leave a giant mess for my back-to-back. Surprisingly, the days are still flying by which is muito bom (very good). I haven't been able to start my Portuguese classes, so I've been trying to learn little phrases here and there but I'm a long way from being able to have a conversation...one day!

24 days down, 11 to go! xoxo

Making friends with my officemates, Mona and her baby girl Winnie.

Malongo Beach with Cabinda city off in the background

half way point

Half way done…with my first hitch that is :) This past week has been the first week that I really feel like I know my way around/who to talk to/what to do/etc. There is still SO much to learn, but I think I’m finally moving in the right direction.

I don’t have too many new pictures to share this week because I failed miserably at my goal to go out last Sunday and explore the camp. Instead of enjoy the day like I had planned, I slept the day away – which was pretty amazing. The hardest part about being here is never getting to sleep in past 5AM (at the latest). As most of you know, one of my favorite things is laying in bed doing nothing soooo these past two Sundays have been super lazy days catching up on sleep. I did try to get some pictures of all of the bats around camp sleeping in the trees during the day. It’s kind of hard to tell but the brown clumps that kind of look like coconuts in the trees are actually bats all hanging sleeping in bunches…

Close up of sleeping bats...

I would like to introduce Tripod. This is one special little girl that I have come to know through my adopted Malongo family. I’ve met a great group of folks that get together most nights at one particular BBQ spot for dinner, drinks, and ridiculous story telling about the good ol days. Anyways, a few hitches ago this little kitty was left under one of their storage containers and as you can see she has a broken/deformed front leg. Most everyone has the same feeling about the feral cats around here (they are gross), but Tripod found a soft spot in the hearts of these guys and they started feeding her leftovers. She gets around just fine and can hold her ground against all the other animals in the area, but more importantly I just think she’s really stinkin cute. She’s actually pretty quick, so here is the best picture I have gotten so far. Note: you KNOW there’s not much going on when I write an entire novel about a cat…

Precious little Tripod

Something special happened back state-side this week! A few months back Chad was telling me about his maternal grandfather who served in World War II which got me talking about Papa’s trip to Washington DC on the DFW Honor Flight last year. There are several cities that have been able to put together Honor Flights funded by donations to send WWII vets to DC to see their memorial. Bakersfield has a large community of veterans, so Chad and I decided to make a donation to sponsor a round trip on the Honor Flight to one of the local veterans. Saturday morning in Bakersfield, Chad was able to meet Captain Robert Herrick who at 92 years old will be making the trip to DC next week! Captain Herrick is a WWII and Korean War veteran and we just feel so blessed to be able to be a part this once in a lifetime trip!

My sweet boy and Captian Herrick

Proud Granddaughter :)

For those of you that have been trying to comment on the blog, I'm sorry it hasn't been working. There is some kind of glitch that I am trying to work out with Google. Hopefully I can get it solved in the next few days.

17 days down, 18 to go…xoxo

life in the jungle

I have officially survived my first full week in the Malongo. When I joined the team back in June some Malongo-veteran’s tried to explain that working here is like the Matrix, there is no real sense of time and then all of the sudden it’s over. Naturally, I looked at them like they were lunatics I mean 28 days is a LONG time, but I am beginning to understand what they mean. Since we work 7 days a week it’s pretty easy to lose track of the days and then all of a sudden a week is gone. I’m probably jinxing myself by putting it in writing, but hopefully these next 4 weeks keep flying by.

Most every night there is some kind of get together at one of the make-shift patios around camp and it usually includes a cook who throws together a delicious meal in an effort to stay away from the mess hall menu of rice, mystery meat and bread. Let me tell you, there are some serious chef’s out here that know how to cook. I’m trying to figure out who they are so I can keep up a diet of steak and chicken rather than the alternative. Anyway, last Sunday I had the most amazing meal – drunken chicken, which is a staple out here for the professional barbequer’s. Daddy, take note…you need to try this out :)

I know last week’s blog has been keeping yall on pins and needles, but you can rest easy because I PASSED my Malongo driving test! I warned my instructor, and passengers, that I was going to be rusty on the manual transmission so they were fully prepared for a jolting ride. I impressed the guys by not stalling at all, however I did wake everyone up when I had to back into a parking spot and went a littttttttttttle heavy on the gas. But my sweet instructor pulled the parking brake on me before things got too out of hand, so it was fine ;)

I finally saw the sun on Monday and snapped a few pictures before it went and hid away. I may actually scare small children when I get back to the states with my extremely pale skin. Either that or all the tweens will be really into me because they think I’m one of the Cullen’s from Twilight…that’s still cool, right?

Sunshine on Malongo Beach

Hibiscus flowers are all over camp...prettypretty!

I’ve come to learn that most of the wildlife, minus the gross cats, stay hidden during lunch and after work because there are too many people up in their business. The trick to seeing the packs of monkeys is to take a drive mid-morning and you’ll catch them hanging out, sun bathing, picking bugs off each other’s backs – naturally, and just being really stinkin cute. I was out in the field on Thursday morning and I saw a momma monkey with her baby and it was the cutest thing I have ever seen. I was SO mad I didn’t have my camera because that little thing looked like a human baby, just slightly hairier. She was super protective and the baby was just clinging on to her neck. It’s like National Geographic out here…

Monkeys having their mid-morning snacks

I moved into my permanent room this week, and minus the sharing the bathroom thing it’s not so bad. It’s actually bigger than my temporary room, and I did a little re-arranging to make it really big. The only problem is that the phone and cable outlets are now covered by my bed, but I’ve made some friends in the IT department and they are going to fix that right up! I may have also roped a few people into scavenging up a mini-fridge and microwave for me too, so we will see if that happens – cliff hanger for the week :)

Time for me to leave this dungeon office and the beauty of the interwebs and go soak up some sun! 10 days down, 25 to go…xoxo

Sunday morning sunrise view from my office. God is Good!

made it!

Good news...My bag was only 7 pounds over the 70 pound weight limit! I was sure that I wouldn't be able to exceed my previous record of 63 pounds in one bag, but I proved myself wrong. I'm not sure if I should get an award for fitting the most amount of crap in a compact space, or if my traveling privileges should be revoked. Either way, I probably should have considered weighing my bag before I left the house, tricky...

My 14-hour flight was mostly uneventful, minus the bumps we hit right smack dab in the middle of the Atlantic. Those bad boys really put a damper in my planned 10-hour slumber. I'm extremely thankful to Nicole Wirzbach who opened my eyes to the joys (and sorrows) of the game Candy Crush. Rather than sleep, I worked my way up to level 35 of the seemingly never-ending game. I'm pretty sure that I'm going to want to get 3, preferably 4, in a row anytime I see a jar of mixed candies from here on out. I'm also 97% sure that I was the only woman on my flight, or at least my section, because everytime I went to the restroom the seat was up - men! I tried to play it cool and not take too make pictures on the journey in, but here are a few...

Flying into Luanda looked more like NYC than the African Jungle.

Now we're in Africa...snapshot of Cabinda during the bus ride from Cabinda Airport to Malongo Camp

My first few days here have felt a lot like summer camp. The schedule is very routine, there is even a 10:00 curfew which isn't exactly applicable to me because I am usually in bed by 8:30 every night. The cool season just ended and we are moving into the rainy/hot season, so the weather is mostly overcast, drizzly, and humid - my hair looks really good pretty much all the time. The temperature ranges from 60-80 and there is usually a breeze, so it's been a nice break from the Houston heat!

Most of the nationals here call me Miss Alli, which I love because it sounds like a princess! Everyone is SO helpful and very patient with my millions of questions and annoying habits - gasping everytime I see the ocean scattered with platforms, cooing at the monkeys, complaing about the feral cats - just to name a few. There are a few folks that I used to work with in Bakersfield here in camp. It's always nice to see a familiar face!

My back to back, Charlie, is going to be here with me for a few more days and then I am on my own. He has been a lot of help getting me situated as well as being my chauffeur. I have an assigned vehicle here, but there's one small catch - it's a stick shift. I haven't attempted to drive a manual since my sweet Dad was teaching me to drive 10 long years ago, but it's like riding a bike, right? I have my driving course tomorrow to get my Malongo driver's license so we'll see if I make it through...

I haven't had much time to take pictures throughout the camp, but I took a few while out doing a field walk. I'll have more next week :)
3 days down, 32 to go! xoxo

Malongo Beach

Santa Monica Pier....or the South Jetty

número onw

Hello my dear family and friends! I FINALLY received my work visa from Angola so I've got the go-ahead to start my rotational position in Cabinda, Angola.  I'm headed Eastbound today on a straight shot flight from Houston to the capitol city, Luanda.  I'll then take a flight from Luanda to Cabinda followed by a bus ride to camp - and I'm home!  I'll be checking in as often as I can, stay tuned...xoxo

Click HERE for more information on Chevron in Angola.