Disappointing news...

Hey folks,

Today is another Brazilian holiday. Honestly, I'm not sure which one it is. All I know is that instead of being in the workshop, I just got back from eating a leisurely, delicious picanha lunch with my friend and coworker, João, and I'm guiltlessly writing you all this email from the comfort of my beachfront apartment while the maids are cleaning the place. Not bad, huh? ....

Okay, I just looked it up on Wikipedia, and today is Brazilian Labor Day (Dia do Trabalho). Now we all know the reason for my leisure. :-)

The bad news I was referring to is that I'm currently not offshore. Apparently, our client, Petrobras, doesn't have space on their rigs at the moment for trainees. I found out at the last minute that I couldn't go, and I was really upset. I really wanted to go with the team that went, and I really want to go offshore before I go to school. There should be another job for me to try to go on before I got to France, but that means that I won't be able to come home to the US before I go. I was super, super bummed :-( I really wanted to come home before many people I care about move to other parts of the country. I was also going to road trip with my sister to VA Beach to visit LT (Leadership Training- a program through my church that I participated in multiple times in college). It would have been much more convenient to see everyone in one place. That being said, if you're planning on moving away, or already have, save some time and money to come visit me in Grand Rapids in early August :-) That would be super!! Thanks! I think the only way I could still make it happen, would be if this other job got delayed to the point where I wouldn't have enough time to go and get back and get to France on time. I would have to know about it enough in advance to buy a plane ticket and pack for 2 and half months. I'm not holding my breath for it to happen.. I've had enough disappointment already.

I don't know if mentioned before that Macaé Palace has no laundry machines on the premises. Schlumberger resolved the issue by hiring a laundry service. It's like a hotel. I put my clothes in a bag, fill out a form, and it gets picked up everyday and returned the next day. I used it for the first time this week. I got my laundry back yesterday. It was hilarious!!! Everything came wrapped in individual plastic bags. Even socks and underwear were in plastic. My workout t-shirts were folded perfectly around a piece of cardboard, like men's dress shirts when you buy them new. The environmentalist part of hates all the plastic wrap that probably wont get recycled, but it sure is funny to look at.

I currently have my apartment all to myself. Gabi left for Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, on Sunday for two months. She's in the department called RMC (Reservoir Monitoring and Control), and we don't have activity for her right now. She's going there to get experience so that she can lead jobs here in Brazil when she gets back. It's strange because when she gets back, I'll be in France. I won't see my partner in crime for 3 months. That is the nature of Schlumberger- people traveling all over the place all the time.

There are tons of stray dogs all over the city. They're really tame, and nothing to be scared of, but they eat garbage and sleep on the beach. Anyway.. on the way home from lunch today, one ran in front of a car and got run over. I saw it, heard it, saw the poor dog writhing in pain with blood coming out of it's nose and everything. It was really traumatizing. I'm sorry for disturbing you with the story, but it's part of my life.

Oh! I have internet in my apartment now! So I can use Skype to talk to people. That means you should all download it and add me (coach8885) and call me!

Love,