Halloween Quiz Time!

Time for some fun in Atyrau! Tonight it is Halloween Quiz at the pub! Kristin and I are the judges tonight, and yes we accept bribes! All the money goes to an orphanage here in town, so it is for the kids!!

Hoping for a a spooky and fun night!!

Fog, fog and thicker fog... New ticket home!

How wrong can you be...! I was all wrong about my comment that the helideck on Ersai 400 would be my ticket home... After 3 hours of waiting at the heliport check-in, they finally announced that my flight was cancelled. But good news, they had an extra crew boat!
So instead of a 20 min helicopter ride, we got a 3 hour Caspian cruise (in the now clear blue sky!) where 2 of the hours were a slow speed river sight seeing up the Ural river.
Nothing much to see but dry straw/rush, run down fishing boats, some run down huts/shacks, and the occasional camel, cow and goat. Nice crew boat though, plenty of space for the 15 of us! It got us home eventually! All comes together in the end! Just remember, never expect an uneventful day in KZ!

The Island in the Sun

The Island is showing itself from its good side today. I had an ok nights sleep, and have plenty of things to do before I get on a helicopter after lunch! This great vessel, the Ersai 400, is my ticket to get home. The helideck is on this vessel! The helicopter is already delayed 1 hour do to weather conditions... but they tell me I will make it home today! Lets hope so!!

The grand old Russian river cruiser Shkotov

Good news! I have a "dinner-date". The dreaded dinner at Caspian Princess is no longer a worry. I will be dining on board the grand old Russian river cruiser Shkotov. Life is great....!

My home for the night

After a bumpy helicopter ride I arrived on D Island, hungry (but just in time for lunch) and in a good mood. But when the girl told me which vessel I am assigned to my spirits dropped slightly. But I though, it is just for one night, how bad can it be?! I got the most dreaded vessel... the Caspian Princess! Trust me, it is not a princess! But it will have to do for one night! It is damp, rusty, and smells bad... I survived lunch with no major incidents. But seriously, hoping to be taken "out" for dinner tonight. Just have to make it through the night (have brought flip-flops for the shower, and have ear-plugs for the night, so hoping for the best...) and then make it trough breakfast tomorrow morning! Other than that, offshore has been good! Got my huge warm orange winter jacket now, to have over my coveralls, so I am ready for any weather! Felt like a child in kindergarten! Had a good walk-about with the Services Supervisor, so I have been climbing in modules and pipe-racks! Fun fun!

Shopping in Kazakhstan

Girls are girls! We always find ways to go shopping, even in KZ... Catrin, Kristin and I basically bought half the store... lots of x-mas gifts are now crossed off the list. So for obvious reasons, I can not post pictures of all my shopping! But I can show you some x-mas decorations I bought for myself. This little x-mas tree and two girls have bells inside and swing from side to side! Fun fun!

The boy and girl are traditional Kazakh, and the Matrioshka dolls (and x-mas tree) are Russian.

God morgen from KZ

The highlight of the morning is a great cup of coffee. After the 08:00 oatmeal porridge it is time for an excellent cup of Italian coffee. One good thing about working with Italians, is that they make sure there is proper coffee available. This fantastic Lavazza machine helps me through the long working day! Thank you my good coffeemachinefriend!!

(yes, that is my cup, and yes it is too big for espresso, but I do not fill it up and I can add a dash of milk in the coffee! It is such a great cup, love it! It is Design House Stockholm, makes me feel almost at home...)

My 2nd trip offshore!

My 2nd trip to the Island in the Sun was also before this blog. But just about! It was on the 23 of October!

This time I spend some days at the Ravel. A nice "new" German river cruiser, with small rooms, but great food! And the best dining hall on the Island!

Here you see my smiley face early in the morning! And LA's hiding face under the hood!!

My very first trip offshore!

My very first trip offshore was before I started this blog. But I think it still deserves a post! It was a big experience in my KZ-life!

It was the 11 of July I entered a real helicopter for the very first time in my life! (not just the testing one at the offshore survival course).

It was a hot summer day, and I was very exited and very nervous. I was dropped off at the Heliport all by my lonesome, and off I went. Just a two day trip, but still, a trip offshore! Great!

The flight went fine, it was actually fun. Take-off was super!! It was great to fly in over the offshore installation for the first time! Everyone keep saying it is huge. But you do not understand what that means until you see it. It is HUGE!! It is an island, but also a whole society! I was meet in the debriefing room by a very nice Aker guy, Agnar! He walked me to my boat, the Shkotov, an old Russian river cruiser. I got a nice double room, all for myself!

We spent most of the day fixing my PPE (personnel protective equipment) and looking around the Island. A great day! Thank you Agnar!

This is the view from my window. To the right I saw a big Module, M 12, the Living quarter. When the island is done, this is where the people operating the Island will live. To the left is the open sea, with the ice-breakers protecting the island from the thick drift-ice that moves quite a lot during the winter.

Two happy girls

Another nice picture from Torleif's party. One very happy girl with a glass of sparkling wine just arriving from D Island (offshore Caspian), and one happy but slightly tired girl that had rushed home from work, baked a cake, and hurried to the party!

If you take a good look you see the man of the hour in the background (wearing his new slippers...)

Kristin showing off Torleif's new KZ-slippers/shoes

Just had to share this great picture of Kristin! This picture is taken at Torleif's going-away party a few days ago (Torleif is leaving us for the Sakhalin I project... we do not like that...he will be missed!). Torleif got the camel hair slippers as a present, and Kristin is testing them out. Apparently very warm and nice! And great looking!

Another important thing to notice is Kristin's new tights! Newly purchased (over the counter) at the local shopping center, from a girl that did not speak a word English! But Kristin managed to get the right color and size! Impressive! The great pleasures of life in KZ!

Today's early morning view from the office

Today it is cold! The first cold day this season. Minus 5 and ice-wind from the north this morning when we left the warm apartment to go to work. Well, we did not walk to work, we took the Prado as usual... Yesterday's storm has left some snow/ice on the streets, but not too bad. Yet another beautiful and sunny day in Atyrau!

Early one morning in Atyrau!

Early one morning in Atyrau! Picture taken from our apartment on the 11th floor.

Well, today it did not look like this... It was pitch black, and a rain and hail storm was streaming around the corner of our building. It went from around 12 degrees and the usual beautiful sunshine yesterday, to minus 1 today.... and strong winds from the north and flooding of the streets... Brrrr...

Welcome!!

Welcome to my new blog! When being away on new adventures, I thought that a blog can be a good way to share life away from home. So when I went to Kz in late June 2009 I found that there was so much to tell and share. The thought was that this blog will be used for small updates on life in Farfarawayland (aka Kazakhstan), life in Oslo, and life in general. Hope you enjoy it! Kri