Random topics from a girl who should be sleeping

Hey Fine People,

 

I´m offshore again.  I have more responsibilities this time, and I´m enjoying it.  It´s been ridiculously hot the past couple days.  It´s actually the humidity that´s killing me.  I stepped outside this morning at 6am and I was instantly sweating the kind of sweat that doesn´t dry... ever.  Our operation started this morning, and I´m going to supervise the middle part.  That means that I´m supposed to be resting right now while the other guys are up there working.  The problem is that I´ve already slept all that I can sleep.  It´s rather sad- I know that I´ll have to be awake and alert for hours upon hours later (all night), but there are only so many hours you can sleep when you´re already well-rested.  It´s like I have a sleep cup that I can fill up, but then any extra just overflows and doesn´t get saved.  I wish I had a sleep bank, where I could just keep making deposits and watch the savings grow... with interest.  :) 

 

There are a couple American and Canadian guys that work here on the rig.  It´s pretty cool to speak some of my native tongue with other natives.  Oh, funny story: On this rig, we have little, cloth booties (in Portuguese they´re pantufas=slippers) that we put on over our dirty boots when we come into the living quarters of the rig from outside in the working area.  They help the inside stay nice and clean and hospitable.  You have to take them off and keep them in your pocket when you go back outside.  One of the guys that I´m offshore with, Edivaldo (ed-jee-VAL-do), forgot to take his booties off and walked all over the rig yesterday before someone told him about it.  Okay... maybe it´s more of a "you had to be there" kind of story, but now we´re calling him Ed "Pantufas" (EDGE-pan-TOO-fuss).  And I think it´s really funny (I´m laughing out loud to myself again, alone in the Technicians Office).  I´m glad my nickname isn´t Jessica "Slippers."

 

So I wanted to elaborate on the PS of my last email (for those of you who made it all the way to the bottom- like I made it to the bottom of The Peak).  I´m not sure if I have mentioned it before, but my Brazilian visa expires in December.  At that point, I won´t legally be able to work in Brazil anymore.  I have to leave the country for three months, and then I can apply for a new work visa.  The visa renewal process will take six to eight weeks after I apply for it.  I was waiting for a while to figure out where my bosses were going to send me for the four to five months that I can´t work in Brazil.  The final decision is Bogotá, Colombia.  I´ll probably be leaving for Colombia in mid-December.  If anyone wants to come down to South America for Christmas, I´d be happy to have guests!

 

At first I was pretty nervous about the decision.  All you ever hear in the US about Colombia is related to drug trafficking and kidnappings.  I´ve spoken with various friends who have been there, and they have decent things to say about it.  Apparently it´s become a lot better than it used to be in the 90´s.  Hopefully it will be as good as they say it is.  It will be a much cooler climate, because the city is in the mountains.  I´m sad to think about leaving all my friends here in Brazil.  I think I´ll be coming back for a couple months in Brazil, but to be honest, I´m not totally sure.  It will depend on how soon the guys want me back in Houston, TX. 

 

So, I´m going to go eat dinner now and then try to sleep again.  Maybe I´ll just lay in the dark with my eyes closed for hours.  Sounds like fun!!!  See you there!  Hahaha... anyway, I apologize for the rambling nature of this email. 

 

Love ya´ll,