Greetings again to anyone who's still bored enough to keep reading! For the last 9 weeks, I've been trapped down in the land of cattle, oil, and most of all, Sooners. My journey down to the merry land of Cherokee Nation and Oral Roberts University took me through one canceled flight, one delayed flight, and one missed day of class, but eventually I started doing the operations school for my job down here just outside of Tulsa, Oklahoma. It's a 9-week course in which we had tests every week, whether they be written exams, computerized tests, evaluations in the simulators or actual time on our equipment, which involves pumping and running our coiled tubing. Every week brought new challenges, but I've learned a ton and I've found that I'm actually pretty good at this job. I'd never really felt like a 'real' engineer until I saw that I could beat out the other students, many of whom had stronger engineering backgrounds than I. The goal of the school was to prepare us to run our own jobs back when we get out to location. I hate to say it, but I'm definitely glad I was in Saudi Arabia for my 'pre-school.' It's waaaay more evident that I was better prepared than most of the other students. I got to see some massive jobs using bigger tools and deeper wells than anybody else I had worked with. Plus, it was cool to share some of my Saudi experiences with everybody, since few people had any real knowledge of the Middle East.
Speaking of students, I'm continually reminded how international SLB really is. Literally every single day I learn something new about another culture or another country or another language, and that's really a unique aspect of the career I've chosen. My classmates are from the Netherlands, Brazil, Indonesia, India, Norway, Canada, Angola and of course, the United States. My instructors are from Italy, Colombia, the Netherlands and Indonesia. It's easily my favorite part about my company and hopefully I can see some of these kids down the road, maybe even take a vacation or two together. We spent a minimum of 9 hours every single day together for these 9 weeks and an unhealthy amount of time on the weekends as well. We were able to escape to Norman, OK during OU's graduation weekend, although the trip allowed me to visit one of my buddies from previous internships. Also, this past weekend we road-tripped down to Dallas, where we spent far too much money at the bars, but also got to take a free tour of Cowboy Stadium and go to Six Flags Over Texas in Arlington. The whole trip was a blast, and one of the guys I went with even told me that the roller coasters were the funnest things he's ever done that didn't involve drinking. It's probably the last truly fun thing we'll all be able to do together before we leave to go off on our own vacations and then back to location.
I'm also looking forward to my own little vacation. After Oklahoma, I get to head up north for a Magoo family reunion, which is much needed. It'll be the first time I've seen a lot of my fam since I left for Saudi. But afterwards I'm going on what promises to be a once-in-a-lifetime trip.
Back in January, a friend of mine had casually thrown out the idea of going to Africa to climb Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. At the time, it seemed a little far-fetched, but the more we discussed it and the more I realized how much I wanted to do something awesome during my time off, the more we both decided to make it happen. I'm now happy to report that I'm hopping on a flight to Kenya a mere 4 days after I'm done down here in Oklahoma. We'll be going on a safari in Kenya, then hop on a bus to cross into Tanzania and spend a few days on the ancient island of Zanzibar, and then hop on another bus to go to Moshi, which rests below the highest peak in Africa; Mount Kilimanjaro. I did extensive research into the climb itself, discussed it with some family and friends who had attempted the climb before, started training my body (which was badly needed), and now am slowly gathering the supplies I'll need to bring over there. The climb itself is not an overly technical mountain climb, it's more of a glorified hike. But don't let that be misleading. It's also a hike that takes you through 5 different climactic zones and multiple days of covering at least 1 vertical kilometer. Hundreds of people never make it to the top every year because their bodies don't acclimate to the altitude (summit is 19,341 feet above sea level). We are taking the Umbwe Route, which promises to be the most difficult of the routes, but also the most unique (glacier crossings and a night where we sleep in a crater!) I'm extremely pumped for the climb, since my hiking and mountaineering experience is limited and I'm curious to see what I can put myself through to achieve pretty special moments. The trip will also take me to my 6th continent, which will only leave Antarctica 'unconquered,' although I plan on getting there within the next 18 months. Either way, Africa is shaping up to be quite an epic journey, so I'll make sure I post pics!
In my time here in Oklahoma, there's been some pretty exciting developments in the Magoo family, as well as back in Saudi Arabia. First off, my brother got engaged!!!!! My older brother and his girlfriend of more than 4 years will tie the knot in the summer of 2012! I'm extremely happy for the both of them and their journey forward in the next stage of their lives. That will give me 2 siblings that are married, and naturally the pressure then falls on myself and my younger brother, both of whom are definitively single.
Also, my parents have decided to enter a new journey in their lives too and move to California! The Magoo clan is taking their Midwestern charm out to the West Coast. It will most certainly be a new experience for my family and I'm very eager to see their new place! What that means for me is that I've had to try to decide what I'm keeping and what I'm throwing away, all from Oklahoma. It's probably better that way, since I won't actually have to face my GI Joe's and tell them that I'm throwing them away. That wouldn't end well for anybody.
Back in the Kingdom, there's been plenty of action as well. Saudi Arabia tried unsuccessfully to convince the other OPEC members to up their production, even in the face of rising oil costs. Therefore, Saudi decided to just raise production themselves, which means it's time for me to get my crap together in a hurry over there, because it's gonna be busy! Also, women started driving! Now don't get too excited. It only happened one day, and there wasn't some grand proclamation saying it would happen again, but a bunch of Saudi women in Riyadh and in Khobar decided to take their cars out on the streets a couple weeks ago and none of them were arrested. I was very proud of them and who knows, maybe that small act will turn into something bigger and will mean better days ahead for the women in Saudi Arabia.
In the Middle East in general, I'm going back at a time of plenty of ongoing unrest. Libya has attracted the forces of NATO and are engaged in essentially a civil war. Syria has continued to use brutal and deadly means of controlling their citizens. Yemen has injured their president in an attack, forcing him to seek treatment in Saudi Arabia. Bahrain has started to put doctors and nurses on trial, who were arrested while trying to care for people injured in the protests that engulfed the capital Manama for many months.
It should be interesting to return to the region. Hopefully I can gauge people's feelings for the current situation and see how they see things playing out. I certainly don't intend on making political statements, but I'm at the point with a lot of the Arabs I work with that we can talk about those kinds of things. I'm certainly looking forward to that, as well as seeing the crew again. There have been days where I'll randomly just start laughing to myself, and my classmates will ask me, 'whats so funny?' and my only response is 'just thinking about my crew.' I'm hoping I'll return and find a certain level of normalcy, but I'm trying to limit my expectations. I know that everyone's expectations of me will be much higher, considering my company paid a hefty sum to send me to the Operations School and they will expect results. But for now, I'll be able to get through this last week of class, see my fam, explore another continent, and head back to the sandbox for another long stint in the heat.
PS, my mentor back in Saudi was talking to me about 2 weeks ago, and said it was 57 degrees Celsius in the field (yup, thats 135 degrees Fahrenheit. I'm a dead man)
Speaking of students, I'm continually reminded how international SLB really is. Literally every single day I learn something new about another culture or another country or another language, and that's really a unique aspect of the career I've chosen. My classmates are from the Netherlands, Brazil, Indonesia, India, Norway, Canada, Angola and of course, the United States. My instructors are from Italy, Colombia, the Netherlands and Indonesia. It's easily my favorite part about my company and hopefully I can see some of these kids down the road, maybe even take a vacation or two together. We spent a minimum of 9 hours every single day together for these 9 weeks and an unhealthy amount of time on the weekends as well. We were able to escape to Norman, OK during OU's graduation weekend, although the trip allowed me to visit one of my buddies from previous internships. Also, this past weekend we road-tripped down to Dallas, where we spent far too much money at the bars, but also got to take a free tour of Cowboy Stadium and go to Six Flags Over Texas in Arlington. The whole trip was a blast, and one of the guys I went with even told me that the roller coasters were the funnest things he's ever done that didn't involve drinking. It's probably the last truly fun thing we'll all be able to do together before we leave to go off on our own vacations and then back to location.
I'm also looking forward to my own little vacation. After Oklahoma, I get to head up north for a Magoo family reunion, which is much needed. It'll be the first time I've seen a lot of my fam since I left for Saudi. But afterwards I'm going on what promises to be a once-in-a-lifetime trip.
Back in January, a friend of mine had casually thrown out the idea of going to Africa to climb Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. At the time, it seemed a little far-fetched, but the more we discussed it and the more I realized how much I wanted to do something awesome during my time off, the more we both decided to make it happen. I'm now happy to report that I'm hopping on a flight to Kenya a mere 4 days after I'm done down here in Oklahoma. We'll be going on a safari in Kenya, then hop on a bus to cross into Tanzania and spend a few days on the ancient island of Zanzibar, and then hop on another bus to go to Moshi, which rests below the highest peak in Africa; Mount Kilimanjaro. I did extensive research into the climb itself, discussed it with some family and friends who had attempted the climb before, started training my body (which was badly needed), and now am slowly gathering the supplies I'll need to bring over there. The climb itself is not an overly technical mountain climb, it's more of a glorified hike. But don't let that be misleading. It's also a hike that takes you through 5 different climactic zones and multiple days of covering at least 1 vertical kilometer. Hundreds of people never make it to the top every year because their bodies don't acclimate to the altitude (summit is 19,341 feet above sea level). We are taking the Umbwe Route, which promises to be the most difficult of the routes, but also the most unique (glacier crossings and a night where we sleep in a crater!) I'm extremely pumped for the climb, since my hiking and mountaineering experience is limited and I'm curious to see what I can put myself through to achieve pretty special moments. The trip will also take me to my 6th continent, which will only leave Antarctica 'unconquered,' although I plan on getting there within the next 18 months. Either way, Africa is shaping up to be quite an epic journey, so I'll make sure I post pics!
In my time here in Oklahoma, there's been some pretty exciting developments in the Magoo family, as well as back in Saudi Arabia. First off, my brother got engaged!!!!! My older brother and his girlfriend of more than 4 years will tie the knot in the summer of 2012! I'm extremely happy for the both of them and their journey forward in the next stage of their lives. That will give me 2 siblings that are married, and naturally the pressure then falls on myself and my younger brother, both of whom are definitively single.
Also, my parents have decided to enter a new journey in their lives too and move to California! The Magoo clan is taking their Midwestern charm out to the West Coast. It will most certainly be a new experience for my family and I'm very eager to see their new place! What that means for me is that I've had to try to decide what I'm keeping and what I'm throwing away, all from Oklahoma. It's probably better that way, since I won't actually have to face my GI Joe's and tell them that I'm throwing them away. That wouldn't end well for anybody.
Back in the Kingdom, there's been plenty of action as well. Saudi Arabia tried unsuccessfully to convince the other OPEC members to up their production, even in the face of rising oil costs. Therefore, Saudi decided to just raise production themselves, which means it's time for me to get my crap together in a hurry over there, because it's gonna be busy! Also, women started driving! Now don't get too excited. It only happened one day, and there wasn't some grand proclamation saying it would happen again, but a bunch of Saudi women in Riyadh and in Khobar decided to take their cars out on the streets a couple weeks ago and none of them were arrested. I was very proud of them and who knows, maybe that small act will turn into something bigger and will mean better days ahead for the women in Saudi Arabia.
In the Middle East in general, I'm going back at a time of plenty of ongoing unrest. Libya has attracted the forces of NATO and are engaged in essentially a civil war. Syria has continued to use brutal and deadly means of controlling their citizens. Yemen has injured their president in an attack, forcing him to seek treatment in Saudi Arabia. Bahrain has started to put doctors and nurses on trial, who were arrested while trying to care for people injured in the protests that engulfed the capital Manama for many months.
It should be interesting to return to the region. Hopefully I can gauge people's feelings for the current situation and see how they see things playing out. I certainly don't intend on making political statements, but I'm at the point with a lot of the Arabs I work with that we can talk about those kinds of things. I'm certainly looking forward to that, as well as seeing the crew again. There have been days where I'll randomly just start laughing to myself, and my classmates will ask me, 'whats so funny?' and my only response is 'just thinking about my crew.' I'm hoping I'll return and find a certain level of normalcy, but I'm trying to limit my expectations. I know that everyone's expectations of me will be much higher, considering my company paid a hefty sum to send me to the Operations School and they will expect results. But for now, I'll be able to get through this last week of class, see my fam, explore another continent, and head back to the sandbox for another long stint in the heat.
PS, my mentor back in Saudi was talking to me about 2 weeks ago, and said it was 57 degrees Celsius in the field (yup, thats 135 degrees Fahrenheit. I'm a dead man)
