Winter wonderland

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow! The view from my parents house out towards the Oslo Fjord on x-mas eve! And it has snowed ever since!!

After two days of eating and socializing with lots of family 24/7, it is now time to be lazy, drink coffee in our pyjamas, and just do nothing!!

Going home for Christmas

We are going home for Christmas!! But it was not without anticipation... bad weather in Norther Europe caused delays in the air traffic, and fog and snow in Atyrau made us a teeny bit nervous! With just one hour delay from Atyrau (due to delayed incoming flight, as it had been stuck in Amsterdam for 4 hours yesterday) off we went to Europe!
We had a 4 hours connection in Amsterdam, so no worries regarding the one hour delay. So after landing in Amsterdam we were pretty happy! Closing in on winter wonderland! Just a 1,5 hour flight to go!
3 extremely happy girls in Amsterdam, having champagne and strawberries with melted chocolate!

Merry x-mas, or was it Mreey x-mas...

The girls have (again) gone shopping!

Pretty fascinating in itself, as Atyrau is not a shopping mekka... This time we have been x-mas shopping!! I can not tell what we shopped. But I can tell you about the bags, the plastic bags to put all our shopping in! Nice colorful Santa Claus bags!

But when I took a closer look, I had to laugh! And after a bottle of wine, we laughed a lot!!

The winter has arrived

The Kazakh winter has arrived! Last week the cold weather came (around minus 12-15), with strong winds from the north east, and the Ural river froze over quickly. And yesterday we got the first snow. Well, I would not call it snow, it is more like fine white powder. Snowing and minus 15, strange combination, maybe that is why it was only powder?? Whatever it is, it brightens up our day!! That is the most important thing!
Here you see today's view from the office!

The saga comes to an end....

No more! We give up! Our mission to reach the desired island called D is called off for the year!!

Today the day started with high spirits! Good vision and almost stars! So with even higher spirits than yesterday, we go through the exact same drill as yesterday. We get in the car at 08:20, arrive at the heliport, do baggage check and safety video, and sit down in the "waiting lounge". At 9 the fun begins... We are told, as yesterday, delay until 11. Ok, this we can handle... The sun is up and this must be good... But there is apparently fog offshore, and snow... We get some coffee and tea, sit down and solve some project issues. Then at 11:09 we are told, delay until 13. Great! Now Kristin throws in the towel, she is going back to the office. But the other K does not give up yet. Then at 12 I get a call from Crew Change, do to cancellations I am not prioritized, if we at all will fly today, I will not be one of the few that is allowed out! Fair enough, I understand they need the workers out on the Island! So the saga comes to a sad end, no offshore for K & K this year. Now the backlog of people is so long, that we will not make it out this week at all. Well well, life goes on!

No trip to D Island.... the saga continues!

Yet another failed attempt on our mission to reach the desired island called D. Today the day started with very low clouds/fog... so we did have a bad suspicion that it would not work today either, but what are girls to do, we have to try!! So with high spirits we get in the car at 0820, arrive at the heliport, do baggage check and safety video, and sit down in the "waiting lounge". We are on the second flight out today, so this will be good we think!! Well.... first we are told, delay until 11. Ok, this we can handle... we get some coffee and tea, and are allowed to get a book and a magazine out of our bags (big smile, and pleeeeease... it worked), and then at 11 we are told, delay until 13. Great! Now K and K are hungry! So we get permission to leave for a short while, so we head for the airport next door. A "great" little cafe upstairs have some rolls with cheese and pancake with apples. We make the best out of it, and have a good outing to the airport! Back at the heliport we hang around some more... then at 13 we are told, all flight cancelled. Welcome back tomorrow!! So tomorrow we will try again...

Saturday at the market

In our lunch break today we went to the market!

It was pretty cold, but a fun experience! The outside market has hats and clothes, and inside you find fruits and animals/meat...
When you let 8 expats loose at a Kazakh market this is the result....

Knut is leaving us...

Last night Knut had invited to a great, but sad party; his going away party! Knut has been on the project for 2 years!! Quite an achievement Knut!

He had fixed lots of food and drinks! At one point I think we were 25 people in his apartment! And Ken brought his guitar, so it was quite a party! Live music in the kitchen is not an everyday event in KZ!!
Great party Knut! We are going to miss you!!

As you see, Knut got great going away presents! A traditional KZ robe and hat, and the thick wool slippers! They will keep you warm in Oslo Knut!!

No trip to D Island after all...

So sad... Kristin and I were going out for a couple of days to D Island. We made it all the way to the heliport, through security, safety briefing, and into our winter-liners (that go under the survival-suit). Then the guy came and told us "you are not going out, no beds". Bu hu... we even had to come out to the chopper (in our blue winter-liners) and pick up our bags! So close, but sooooo far away! It would have been Kristin's first time in a helicopter and offshore, so she was really disappointed. We will try again on Monday!!

Camel-milk-waffle-party

A great way to enjoy both the Kazakh and Norwegian culture is to mix something you know very well and love (waffles), with something new and exotic (camel milk)! A great combination! The waffles become really crunchy and tasty!

I tested it out at home during the summer when I brought home a bottle; a great hit in my parents garden. So we have now introduced it here, and tonight we have had another successful waffle-night in Kristin's apartment! Knut even brought some brown cheese to the waffle-party!! A sure winner!!