Pushing Cars and The Field Engineer's Manicure

Friends, family, family friends, and friends that are basically family,

In case you didn't know, my family is going international. My brother, Dan, is in Hong Kong for two weeks on business, my dad had an interview this week in Dubai, and I'm working in Brazil. If my mom or one of my sisters had gone to Australia, we'd have all four corners of the globe covered. I just thought it was cool how we were all over the place at the same time.

Continuing on,

So the other night, I was getting a ride home from work with my friend, Bruno. We locked up our office, and walked out to his car, only to realize that the battery was dead. The headlights had been left on, and the car refused to start. It was rather late in the evening, and there were no other cars in the parking lot. Jumping a battery is usually no problem in the US. Almost everyone has jumper cables and people are willing to help. Not so much here. We couldn't find anyone we trusted with a car, much less a set of jumper cables. So... Bruno started trying to push the car while I steered us out of the parking space. We got about 6 feet before we gave up on that idea. We were calling everyone we knew, and of course nobody was picking up their phones. At that point, you always ask yourself, "What's the point of having a cell phone if you don't answer it!?" So, we were standing there, looking at each other, with the car halfway out of the parking space, wondering what the heck we were going to do. I just started laughing. He was like, "You think this is funny? You can walk home." He was joking with me, but seriously... in those types of situations, you have to laugh at the irony of it all. Plus, you can tell people about it later. :) After about 30 minutes, four of my newer friends from another segment came walking up to the base. They're trainees like me. Bruno, the older authoritative engineer, rounded them up and made them push the car so that he could get the engine to start. Yay!! Problem solved! He gave me a ride home, and it was an uneventful evening after that.

In the workshop, I've been assembling tools for the past couple days. Our tools are all long tubular contraptions. My first couple weeks in the workshop, they all looked like strange cylinders of various diameters and textures. I'm able to identify what different tools are nowadays... it's very exciting. The process of assembling tools involves lots of grease of various types, making up threads of various parts of the tool, and torquing the parts with 3-foot pipe wrenches that weigh as much as a five-year old child. I get to swing a leg over the wrench while it’s locked on the tool and jump up and land my leg on the wrench with all my weight to torque the threads. It's hard work sometimes, but it's fun too. I feel pretty hard core... like an apple. (That's a Jessica joke.. I couldn't resist.)

All this work with dirty tools and grease and stuff does some serious damage to my fingernails. I get black residue underneath my nails and it stains my cuticles. I end up with each of my fingernails completely outlined in black. It's really attractive.. NOT! I've been calling it my field engineer's manicure. We have this gritty soap that takes the grease off our hands, but I scrub and scrub, and can't seem to get my nails clean. Someday, I'll get a real manicure and pedicure and feel like a real girl again. Until then... I'm stuck with clearly outlined nails and the suggestion to the rest of the world that I don't believe in washing my hands.

Oh, traumatic experience that happened yesterday:
Yesterday afternoon while I was working in the workshop I felt something tickle my tickle my neck/collarbone. I figured it was a stray hair or something.. I went to brush it away and found a big, beefy spider!! I was like, "Oh my gosh!!!!!!!" I flung it away from me, but the first time, its web was still stuck to me, so I had to fling it again to get it all the way off. I stomped on it and let the adrenaline rush calm down while I inspected the carcass. It was a whitish color with brown spots. I had never seen a spider like that before. It gives me chills recounting the story to you right now. Ugh (shudder). It was seriously an inch in diameter, including the legs.. no joke. I have no idea how it got on me or how long it had been on my body. SICK! I was paranoid for the rest of the day. I freaked out when I thought I felt something again- it was a false alarm. Everyone I was working with was just laughing at me.. no compassion. :) Okay.. I laughed at myself for that one too.

Well.. that's all for this installment of the Brazil Digest...

Hope all is well in whatever country you're in!

Um abraço,