The transformation is complete

I bought a new new down coat. It's nice and warm. Also I'm in Tyumen at training.

Light pillars

To begin with, this is me in the cab of a big Russian truck which is the largest vehicle I've ever been driven in.But I digress.

Back in the States, Halloween is approaching, so maybe that's what I was thinking about when I thought I saw searchlights above Noyabrsk. Unfortunately, I didn't get a good pic. But I saw them the next night when I went on a job. Turns out they weren't searchlights trying to attract people to corn mazes or haunted houses. They were much more interesting.

I tried to take a picture while we were driving using some of my manual camera settings:

But then we stopped and I got a few cool shots:

I know these photos oversaturate light source but they show the effect of light pillars quite well. It was a cold night with a very fine snow in the air. The pillars come from the light reflected off the snow crystals.

The light sources are gas flares, which are flames coming from smokestacks near the wellsite and fueled by natural gas that comes as an oil well byproduct and deemed too expensive to try to refine. Russia has promised to stop the practice at some point, but it still continues.

But they do make it look like the aliens have landed somewhere in the steppes of Siberia.


But still no Northern Lights, which is the best thing I am hoping to see this winter.

Finally, here is a dimly light picture from the well site. I thought it looked cool.

Alive and kicking

To follow up, I'm not dead and my liver seems to be functioning as per usual, according to my personal expert medical opinion. Also I'm taking some bitter pink pills called Mezim Forte before every meal and the seem to help with something. So I'm going to count myself healed. Thanks to all those that showed or felt concern.

A note about the food as perhaps it is the reason my insides were trying to escape

I eat mostly at a canteen where the food comes in options. It's nutritious and mostly palatable even if a bit repetitive.

I can have salad: shredded carrots with spices, shredded cabbage with a light vinaigrette, or julienne beets just plain, and the meat containing, mayonnaise-laden, eggy, pea thing. I avoid the last one and eat the previous three on rotation.

For soup, there is no option. It's the soup du jour which is always very brothy and is usually a Russian schi which generally contains broth and a few potatoes, some cabbage, carrots and onion but it rotates between just plain schi and borscht (add beets), and sometimes it's more broth with rice, broth with potatoes, broth with noodles (pictured), and occasionally broth with sausage.

Then we have the unsalted and unflavored starches: pearl barley, rice, noodles, and buckwheat. Once in a while they have mashed potatoes. Most of these benefit from some flavoring using mild Russian mustard (with horseradish), ketchups of all varieties (I have never seen so much diversity in ketchup in my life--it's all sweet and sometimes spicy), or a bit of sour cream. And salt and pepper.

For meat there is generally roasted chicken or pork or fish, or cutlets made from ground beef, pork or fish. Sometimes there is a stew-like dish with cubed meat and sauce. Like in the States, I rarely eat the meat, but when I do it's always beef.

For drinks I have the choice of kefir (which is I think essentially buttermilk), compote (which is sugared water boiled with either cherry juice or dried fruits, soft drinks and just water. I like compote a lot. But I always have to dilute it with as much water. Kefir is good, but it coats your insides. Also they have the regular hot drinks of coffee and tea. Because I don't drink either but do like warm drinks I have taken to making a drink with a slice of lemon and a spoonful of jam. I call it 'hot jam water'. It's surprisingly good.

One flavor sums up the experience of Russian food: dill. Just like Americans tend to flavor most things with salt and pepper, the Russians prefer salt and dill weed. Don't get me wrong, I love dill. I just didn't realize how many dishes it could be incorporated in and how much it makes everything taste similar.

Anyway, now you are all familiar with my Russian eating habits.

p.s. The pear I save for later, and the desserts are pretty much universal.

Before the snow falls

It's expected to snow this weekend and I wanted to give you a glimpse of what the Autmn looks like in Noyabrsk:


Most Russian cities consist mainly of large aparment buldings:


A few have color:


And here in Noyabrsk many have some decoration on the ends without windows (where the stairwells are). This one is celebrating 6o years of victory since the end of WWII:


This one is wishing peace to the earth:


Stray dogs are everywhere (even in the supermarket):


These are some views from the lakeside hotel:


I have never before seen a teepee in Russia (let alone two):


The trees lining the streets have changed color:


The main religions here are Russian Orthodox Christianity:


And Islam:


I went to prayer services in both of these houses of worship before I began working. It was nice to be with other people of strong beliefs. I like how they both approach God. The Russian Orthodox meeting has beautiful music and rich tradition, making the hour and a half of standing worth it. The Muslims have a beatifully active prayer meeting five times a day. They Imam at this mosque is looking for me to come back. I think I will soon.

What's been happening

A few days ago (on Wednesday) I suddenly started hating Russia and everything here. I coincidentally lost my appetite. At the same time I felt an urgent need to eat, so I forced down some food--as much as I could. That night I had a stomach ache that was keeping me up but I finally fell asleep. Then Thursday I woke with the same stomach pain. I dealt with it in the morning but in the early afternoon I approached my manager and asked about medical issues--in case the stomach thing worsened. He suggested I talk to the company medic, which I did. The medic took my temperature and felt around my abdomen and said he thought it was nothing serious, but that I should take my temperature that night after dinner and give him a call just so we could make sure it wasn't appendicitis.

As it happened, the front desk didn't have the thermometer they were supposed to and I was feeling rotten when I called the doctor. So he came and examined me and told me we had to go to the hospital. There, another doctor (?) examined my belly once again and I was given a shot of something in the butt. They also took blood and ran a couple analyses. The first was a chemical assay that came out normal and the second was a biochemical assay which showed a couple of markers (my liver enzymes) with higher than expected levels. The doctor there said it may be nothing, but wants another test done to rule out hepatitis.

The hospital was niceish. Some repairs were underway so it felt a little in disrepair. But I didn't have to pay a cent and I get the feeling that I never will. It was also poorly lit and weirdly laid out and some older gentleman was holding a tube up his nose and coughing/vomiting up fluid in the hallway while he waited for the initial examination room to open up. I had brought my laptop along (but forgot my camera), so these photos taken from my webcam will just have to do.

On Friday I went back to the company medic and he contacted his superiors. And we decided to just wait the weekend while I took some meds (Omez and Mezim--both of which I know nothing about) and see how it turns out.

Today I slept til noon and haven't eaten anything. The pain has lessened, but is not gone. I'll let you know what happens. Hopfully it doesn't involve more Russian hospitals.

There and back again

I am back. Actually I got back yesterday afternoon, but haven't had time to use the internet freely. I packed well. In fact the only things I didn't use were the swimsuit (no time for the sauna or maybe it wasn't there at all--I'm not really sure) and the toothbrush/toothpaste (gross I know, but I had no clean water with which to brush).

Here's what I did while I was away:

First I found the guys and we drove to the wellsite, but not without some problems:

We got to the wellsite and changed into our Personal Protective Equipment (PPE):

Then we parked our truck:

in front of the rig (which was built in 1905 originally, but had moved form borehole to borehole):

We assembled long cylindrical tools and put them into the borehole using a crane. By we, I mean that the more experienced folk and the permanent wellsite workers did this: (from the interwebs)

While this was going on, I drank something that tasted just like liquified watermellon Jolly Ranchers:

The tools take a long while to get to the bottom of the hole and we had been up since 4:and 30 so we went to sleep at about 5 PM in the caravan next to the rig:

Around midnight we woke up and began using computers to record the data we were measuring with our tools which were dangling in the hole from a cable attached to our truck--we took measurements until about 3 that afternoon:

I went to the bathroom twice in the caravan and on my first try I managed to lose the watch I was carrying in my breast pocket down the inclined chute that carried the waste away:

I took a picture of the pretty clouds:

And a picture of the bore hole:

After we took the measurements we had to get the instruments out of the hole. The operators of the rig took their sweet time and we didn't get the tools out until about 1 AM the next morning. During this waiting time I watched 1 full length movie which I had seen before (though not in Russian) and two Russian miniseries (one about the late 90s and Russian soldiers and the other about a group of fugitives) of which I understood some but not all.

We slept another night at the caravan and went home the next day. I had eaten a total of 4 meals in those 72 hours so when we got back I had a big lunch. Then we went back to work at the base.

All in all, it wasn't a horrible experience and it was cool to get to know my coworkers and get a glimps of the kind of work I will be doing for the next while.

Away we go!

This morning at 4:30 I woke up after only two, maybe three restless hours of sleep becasue I was told we were going to go to my first job in the early morning (which is all I knew). I thought that meant a day job, as that is the usual order if things in the buisness) so all I had with me was my computer which I was going to leave at the office when Alex, my mentor, came to pick me up at 5. I hopped in the car and asked if I needed anything else and he said, "I think we will stay two days. Maybe you want toothpaste? And maybe some things for sauna?" "Do I need sleeping things?" "I do not know. Maybe." "My computer?" "It depends on if things go right. If so then not needed." Okaaaay.

So he drove me back to my room and I packed a few things. What do I take to a job about which I know nothing? Answer: random junk--toothbrush, toothpaste, long johns, pajama pants, Chacos, Speedo (becasue when in Rome), travel towel, first aid kit (mostly allergy meds), long sleeved shirt, one novel (Main Street) and one Gideon's Bible. I put my things in a bag and we drove to the office. I gathered my safety gear and locked up my computer and we're about to leave.

Then everyone left the office and left me alone. Did they forget me?

So there you have it. I am off on my first job. Hopefully. I'm going to hunt them down now.

Wish me luck