I have decided to make an entry once again into the siberian chronicles, or whatever you guys back home like to term these letters i am sending back. I'll tell you a little bit more about Egypt before i continue on to how I spent New Years Eve in Siberia. I was one month i Egypt last time I wrote and heading toward the worst part of school. I thankfully got through all of that with little to no problems. I had good training and think I am pretty well prepared to get the job done back in russia. The last "job", as it is called, consisted of me working outside for about 16 hours getting all the dirty work done and then spending an additional 9 hours finalizing the paperwork to give to the client. I do all this, only 5 days before I leave egypt for good and it turns out I wasn't even graded, a lot of hard work and stress for nothing if you ask me. Regardless, I passed with permission to go back to Russia (I still can't beieve I asked to go to Russia, though it is quite an experience), and I also got to see the busy streets of Cairo. One weekend I was able to visit the legendary pyramids in Cairo with a few friends. I know this probably isnt what you want to hear, but a documentary on the Discovery Channel is probably more enlightening and pleasurable. However, you wouldn't get the same feel for the general atmosphere of the place. Walking through the tombs of forgotten engineers and architects, riding a camel between pyramids over 4000 years old, oh.. and lets not forget actually going into one of the pyramids. I had the chance to get into the "basement" of the newest pyramid, one built for the pharoah, Luxor. I dont think that the ancient egyptians were the same size as myself, I had a little difficulty getting inside and going down all the steps. Once down there, you are hit with a sudden wave of extreme humidity and the smell of mildew. The heat is most likely from the amount of people down there, also probably to the inability for any fresh air to circulate. Cairo has become a major tourist point primarily due to these pyramids and the ancient Egyptian culture, so you can understand how many tourists there were in Cairo. One of the major changes, and sort of disappointing when you see it, is the presence of Cairo city right at the foot of the pyramids. I mean literally, at the footsteps of the sphinx Everywhere you go, there are people attempting to pedal your money, trying to cheat you out of a pound or two (thats the currency in egypt, the egyptian pound). The people mean well, it has just become their job over the years to take advantage of the tourism in the city and to profit from it. Unlike many people have asked me, I didnt recieve any harsh treatment or undue criticism for my being a US national. There was one instance in which i was told that I would be unable to purchase an item if i were american, but fortunatly i was English that day. This is primarily a result of the entire Iraq incidents, but I wouldnt really count out that there would not be people in a major city in the US that would harbor similar feelings toward arabians. If there is one thing I have learned over here, it is that ignorance comes in all shapes, sizes, and cultures. I arrived in the states not long after i finished training at the center near Alexandria, Egypt (where i had been training) I'm glad I got to see most of you, if only for a little. 2 weeks isnt much time if you wanna catch up on 6 months of experiences, but its better than getting stuck for 8 additional weeks in siberia without seeing any of you. I am sending this email from Siberia, last time i wrote from here it didnt seem much like the siberia many people were expecting and so shocked to hear about (you know, the cold dark dreary place where parents send their misbehaved offspring?). Well, its now that time. For the last week while at my moms, I spent a significant amount of money (mostly thanks to those of you who sent gift cards) at a little store I discovered before my trip to Europe called REI. The selection isnt like that of a department store, i mean you cant purchase a chainsaw on the bottom floor and then go to the second for bed linens, but for the type of conditions im going into, it provides almost everything i could need. So after freaking out a little with the realization that I was going to spend the rest of my winter in Siberia, I thought it would be beneficial to get a coat that would hold up against the elements. All I owned prior to the purchase was a fleece which i figured would do about as much good by itself in the cold as a brown paper bag. After this, it was about time to rush packing my things and get onto the plane. I had a 14 hour flight with 2 connections, 1 in cincinatti and another in JFK. Arriving in Moscow at 11 the following day allowed me to meet up with one of my friends in the area, and spend a good portion of the day walking around Moscow and seeing it for the second time. Last time a went through, I was able to walk around most of central Moscow and see the tourist sites, st. basils, the kremlin, the red square. This time, since I had a muscovite with me, we went on a different route, and I got to see the shopping areas locations were people my age hang out. If there is one complaint about Moscow, it would be that it is a very expensive city, a meal at a fast food place costs about 15 dollars, (though that is with the purchase of two beers). The only thing that I have found in Moscow that is relatively cheap is entrance to public exhibits, like museums and art galleries. For about 2 dollars you can get into almost any museum in Moscow, even less if you have remembered to keep your student ID from college.. After moscow, i left for Noyabrsk at 2 in the morning with my large, overstuffed backpack primarily filled with warm clothing to help me survive the cold everyone had scared me of. Getting off the plane the following morning, I felt a bit of the cold.. Moscow was about -5 C when I was there, but Noyabrsk was -22 C when I got off. Im glad I had my down jacket, but at that moment i wished i had bought a pair of down trousers, down socks, and a down hat, because every part of my body not covered by my coat was freezing. needless to say, i got into a cab and went straight to the office, after a detour to one of the guy's hotel and also stopping at the cafeteria to get something to eat. I arrive at the office with a warm welcome from all the people, and learn that a job would begin tomorrow. (Now you have to remember at this point that I had been up for 2 days straight and had no idea what "today" was. So what do i do? what any engineer aspiring for a promotion would do, offer to join the crew and help out. It was only until 2 hours later i realized i had sacraficed my new years celebrations for my job... needless to say, i wasnt too thrilled with the idea, though i was looking forward to going out and seeing how much i had learned since the last time i was in russia. And thats that, I am at the location now, a wellsite about 200 miles north east of Noyabrsk freezing my butt of waiting for us to finish and go home. I have learned a lot and its great that I can actually talk to the engineers now about technical things, but this weather is unbelievable. Just last night it was -35. It really wasnt too bad if you stayed out for less than a minute, but anymore than that and it goes straight to the bone. The only thing that is keeping me warm out here are the winter coveralls I recieved on my return. I was given a pair of thick winter coveralls that would be too warm for any other location and also a parka thats about twice as heavy as the coat I bought at REI. Oh, and my boots are also rated for cold weather, it says on the tag they are rated for -100 C conditions (I personally hope i never get close to seeing that, but it is good to know that they would keep me warm on the face of the moon.) Until the next time I get a chance to write, I wish you all a happy (though belated) new years and a great year to come. Thank you for the emails and letters of interest, I will write again soon portraying my adventures in completing my training and becoming a full fledged engineer... (see if i didnt know any better, that would almost sound like it was exciting :) )
Bye Y'all
Thursday, January 1
I have decided to make an entry once again into the siberian chronicles, or whatever you guys back home like to term these letters i am sending back. I'll tell you a little bit more about Egypt before i continue on to how I spent New Years Eve in Siberia. I was one month i Egypt last time I wrote and heading toward the worst part of school. I thankfully got through all of that with little to no problems. I had good training and think I am pretty well prepared to get the job done back in russia. The last "job", as it is called, consisted of me working outside for about 16 hours getting all the dirty work done and then spending an additional 9 hours finalizing the paperwork to give to the client. I do all this, only 5 days before I leave egypt for good and it turns out I wasn't even graded, a lot of hard work and stress for nothing if you ask me. Regardless, I passed with permission to go back to Russia (I still can't beieve I asked to go to Russia, though it is quite an experience), and I also got to see the busy streets of Cairo. One weekend I was able to visit the legendary pyramids in Cairo with a few friends. I know this probably isnt what you want to hear, but a documentary on the Discovery Channel is probably more enlightening and pleasurable. However, you wouldn't get the same feel for the general atmosphere of the place. Walking through the tombs of forgotten engineers and architects, riding a camel between pyramids over 4000 years old, oh.. and lets not forget actually going into one of the pyramids. I had the chance to get into the "basement" of the newest pyramid, one built for the pharoah, Luxor. I dont think that the ancient egyptians were the same size as myself, I had a little difficulty getting inside and going down all the steps. Once down there, you are hit with a sudden wave of extreme humidity and the smell of mildew. The heat is most likely from the amount of people down there, also probably to the inability for any fresh air to circulate. Cairo has become a major tourist point primarily due to these pyramids and the ancient Egyptian culture, so you can understand how many tourists there were in Cairo. One of the major changes, and sort of disappointing when you see it, is the presence of Cairo city right at the foot of the pyramids. I mean literally, at the footsteps of the sphinx Everywhere you go, there are people attempting to pedal your money, trying to cheat you out of a pound or two (thats the currency in egypt, the egyptian pound). The people mean well, it has just become their job over the years to take advantage of the tourism in the city and to profit from it. Unlike many people have asked me, I didnt recieve any harsh treatment or undue criticism for my being a US national. There was one instance in which i was told that I would be unable to purchase an item if i were american, but fortunatly i was English that day. This is primarily a result of the entire Iraq incidents, but I wouldnt really count out that there would not be people in a major city in the US that would harbor similar feelings toward arabians. If there is one thing I have learned over here, it is that ignorance comes in all shapes, sizes, and cultures. I arrived in the states not long after i finished training at the center near Alexandria, Egypt (where i had been training) I'm glad I got to see most of you, if only for a little. 2 weeks isnt much time if you wanna catch up on 6 months of experiences, but its better than getting stuck for 8 additional weeks in siberia without seeing any of you. I am sending this email from Siberia, last time i wrote from here it didnt seem much like the siberia many people were expecting and so shocked to hear about (you know, the cold dark dreary place where parents send their misbehaved offspring?). Well, its now that time. For the last week while at my moms, I spent a significant amount of money (mostly thanks to those of you who sent gift cards) at a little store I discovered before my trip to Europe called REI. The selection isnt like that of a department store, i mean you cant purchase a chainsaw on the bottom floor and then go to the second for bed linens, but for the type of conditions im going into, it provides almost everything i could need. So after freaking out a little with the realization that I was going to spend the rest of my winter in Siberia, I thought it would be beneficial to get a coat that would hold up against the elements. All I owned prior to the purchase was a fleece which i figured would do about as much good by itself in the cold as a brown paper bag. After this, it was about time to rush packing my things and get onto the plane. I had a 14 hour flight with 2 connections, 1 in cincinatti and another in JFK. Arriving in Moscow at 11 the following day allowed me to meet up with one of my friends in the area, and spend a good portion of the day walking around Moscow and seeing it for the second time. Last time a went through, I was able to walk around most of central Moscow and see the tourist sites, st. basils, the kremlin, the red square. This time, since I had a muscovite with me, we went on a different route, and I got to see the shopping areas locations were people my age hang out. If there is one complaint about Moscow, it would be that it is a very expensive city, a meal at a fast food place costs about 15 dollars, (though that is with the purchase of two beers). The only thing that I have found in Moscow that is relatively cheap is entrance to public exhibits, like museums and art galleries. For about 2 dollars you can get into almost any museum in Moscow, even less if you have remembered to keep your student ID from college.. After moscow, i left for Noyabrsk at 2 in the morning with my large, overstuffed backpack primarily filled with warm clothing to help me survive the cold everyone had scared me of. Getting off the plane the following morning, I felt a bit of the cold.. Moscow was about -5 C when I was there, but Noyabrsk was -22 C when I got off. Im glad I had my down jacket, but at that moment i wished i had bought a pair of down trousers, down socks, and a down hat, because every part of my body not covered by my coat was freezing. needless to say, i got into a cab and went straight to the office, after a detour to one of the guy's hotel and also stopping at the cafeteria to get something to eat. I arrive at the office with a warm welcome from all the people, and learn that a job would begin tomorrow. (Now you have to remember at this point that I had been up for 2 days straight and had no idea what "today" was. So what do i do? what any engineer aspiring for a promotion would do, offer to join the crew and help out. It was only until 2 hours later i realized i had sacraficed my new years celebrations for my job... needless to say, i wasnt too thrilled with the idea, though i was looking forward to going out and seeing how much i had learned since the last time i was in russia. And thats that, I am at the location now, a wellsite about 200 miles north east of Noyabrsk freezing my butt of waiting for us to finish and go home. I have learned a lot and its great that I can actually talk to the engineers now about technical things, but this weather is unbelievable. Just last night it was -35. It really wasnt too bad if you stayed out for less than a minute, but anymore than that and it goes straight to the bone. The only thing that is keeping me warm out here are the winter coveralls I recieved on my return. I was given a pair of thick winter coveralls that would be too warm for any other location and also a parka thats about twice as heavy as the coat I bought at REI. Oh, and my boots are also rated for cold weather, it says on the tag they are rated for -100 C conditions (I personally hope i never get close to seeing that, but it is good to know that they would keep me warm on the face of the moon.) Until the next time I get a chance to write, I wish you all a happy (though belated) new years and a great year to come. Thank you for the emails and letters of interest, I will write again soon portraying my adventures in completing my training and becoming a full fledged engineer... (see if i didnt know any better, that would almost sound like it was exciting :) )
Bye Y'all