My Apartment

I know when I left the US I didn't have very many definitive answers about where I was going to live. By now I've figured it out. (Don't worry, I've actually been living here since the beginning of October). Anyway, this is my apartment. I share it with one other girl, although there's an empty room so I think another girl is going to move in when she gets back from the job she's on.

It's a three bedroom, two bath apartment. I have to pay for toilet paper, lightbulbs, and food. I can have someone come install the lightbulbs, but I have to buy them. There's also a maid that comes 3 times a week. She does my laundry as long as I buy laundry soap. It's a pretty sweet deal. 

My bedroom. Pretty basic. I haven't gotten around to buying very much, although new sheets and comforter are high on the list.

5 Reasons to Head Back to Base

I realized recently that I haven’t written very much about Villahermosa. Part of that is because I like being on the rig so much more than being at my Company's Base here in Villahermosa. However there are some perks of being in civilization. Here are my top 5 reasons to head back to base:

1. Hot water in a real shower –It’s not that I don’t have hot water on the rig. I just have to choose between washing my hair all the way clean or conditioning my hair. There’s just not enough hot water for both! Also, RV shower. Not exactly luxurious. And, I have to share with boys. Eww.
2. Food magically appears at your door – Some rigs I have to feed myself. Other rigs I get fed. Either way, there’s not a huge amount of choice involved. I eat what’s in front of me, plus whatever junk food I’ve smuggled with me. In town, everything is a phone call and 20 minutes of ‘Por favor, hables más despacio y le dices otro vez’ away from my doorstep.

Another Day in Mexico...

Today I realized I’ve been working for 5 weeks straight. Yes, you did read that right. 5 weeks. No weekends.  Now the fact that I only noticed it today should tell you something. It went by pretty fast. Some days I work a full 12 hour day. Some days I’m hanging out in the camper waiting around for stuff to happen. Some days I’m getting woken up at 6 am to rig down in the pouring rain (more on this later) for 16 hours. It’s really the variety that keeps me from noticing that I’m actually working.

As an example, I give you exhibit A:  Taken at around 8 am. The brown speckles are oil-based drilling mud spots.  That morning, I was woken up at 6 am and told it was time to break up the BHA.

Now, some boring definition. What I work with are MWD/LWD tools. Tools that send me messages in a secret language known only to engineers in the oil and gas field. The tools tell me all kinds of things.  If they’re too hot, if they’re getting jostled around too much, where they are and what direction they’re headed and most importantly what they see and think about their environment. These tools are in the BHA (bottom hole assembly) and are the first thing in the hole and the last thing out.  I need to be present for both situations.

Katie’s Quick Guide to Spanish

As you all (hopefully) know they speak Spanish here in Mexico, meaning that I must speak Spanish here in Mexico. I’d like to give everyone a taste of what I’m learning here and share some of the more interesting language miscommunications I’ve come across. In words of Brian Hogan[1]  ‘There’s really nothing like language learning to build humility into the Man of God.’ This is ridiculously true.

First, everything in Spanish is said exactly how it’s spelled. You just have to know what letters make what sound. There is no ‘Hooked on Phonics’ in Spanish. So your crash course into pronunciation:

There is no “H”. It exists, but you do not pronounce it. Seriously, I’m not sure why it exists.

However, “J” sounds like an ‘H’.  For the first two weeks I spelled ‘jefe’ (boss) as ‘hefe’ because that’s the way you say it, if you’re saying it in English.  In Spanish, ‘Hefe’ (pronounced ‘efe’) is the letter ‘F’.  Confused yet? It gets better.

“Ñ” which most people refer to as ‘That weird ‘n’ with the thingy on top’ is an ‘Enya’. It’s pronounced like you say the Irish singer Enya’s name.

Both “V”and “B” make the same sound (B, like baby). There is no way to tell which to use when spelling. Most people just guess if they don’t know. Like the sign in the cafeteria asking you to use ‘Antivacterial’ soap.

A “P” sounds a lot like a “B”. So let’s just take count, there are now 3 letters in Spanish that sound like a “B”.  In truth it’s a little different, but for my level it’s pretty much the same. ‘Papas’ (potatoes) sounds like ‘Babas’.