Bye bye Spain for this time!

The week in Spain came to an early end, two days too early. It is
apparently not possible to be two places at once! Strange! Someone
should look into fixing that! But even though I had to fly home too early, the result will hopefully lead to more Spain in the future! Time will tell!

But the small week was great! We had beach, beach club, great food,
wine and cava, and some more cava, and even a daytrip to Ronda. Great times, great memories with great people!

Tarifa and Puerto Banus

Tarifa! Great as always! We had super breakfast with a splendid view of Africa, went horseback riding, had a swim in the pool, and headed towards Puerto Banus and the Aker apartment to meet the two other girls.

Lunch in the sun, dinner on the balcony, trip down to the "strip" to do some people watching into the small hours, fun fun in PB! Today we have relaxed on the beach! Now enjoying an ultimate strawberry daiquiri! Life is sweet today as well!

Life smiles at us!

And we smile back! Kristin and I made it to Spain! Nice flight, our bags arrived,
got free rental car upgrade, cruised down the costa del sol, now
having a pit stop at the Flaherty's pub in Sotogrande, before we
continue on to Tarifa! A tinto de verano in the sun can never go wrong!

Back for a day!

Great to be back in Oslo, even though just for a day! K&K are going to
Spain for a week! Unpack and pack in a day, no problemo!

Sleepy at Schiphol

We made it back to the western world! Cold summer in the north! We have had a good summer rotation, but the lack of rest is imminent! Looking forward to sleeping without my alarm on! I was the lucky winner of a 3 seater on the Atyrau to Amsterdam flight, so I have been sleeping almost all the way! They even did not wake me up for landing, so I woke up when we landed with a big bang! Happy camper! Now C and I are lounging and surfing! Time for some champis and strawberries!

Two days to go!

Two days to go, and then 4 weeks off! I will enjoy every last minute of the KZ heat before I go home. Evenings with 25-30 degrees is great! Hear it is not really hot summer weather back home these days, 15 degrees and light rain....But that is ok, home is home! Always nice!
I will spend the last two days (well actually evening/nights) out in the evening sun, soaking up the heat! And then on Wednesday morning Catrin and I fly home together! Very nice! Catrin usually goes home a week before me, but this time the crazy girl is doing 5 weeks! But I am not complaining, I get her great company for a week longer than usual, and we even get to fly home together!

Summer-time up on the Renco roof!

These pictures are probably not for everyone to see, as some might think, what are they complaining about, when they can have it like this!! You do not need hardship pay when you can hang by the pool. Well, the reality is a little more sad than that. This is our haven of "normal life" and we cherish every moment, but almost like Cinderella, we have to leave by 22, as we have to get up early the next day. So we get 2-3 hours of joy, fun and great view, and then we are brought back to our tiring everyday life. And we are not even allowed to use the pool… it is just for the residents of that building. But just being up there on the roof, having a glass of cold white wine from the bar with crazy colleagues is great! It is the best way to recharge the batteries, and have some fun! It keeps us from going totally insane and tired!!
In the pictures you see Mike the planning manager, Catrin and Ian  the safety manager, (and Mike, me and Ian)!

Summer is here!

We can definitely say that summer is here! In the morning at 7 we now have over 26 degrees! And in the office-landscape where I sit we have a good 28 degrees! The evenings/nights are spent outside if we can, with a cold drink and some good friends! We are making the most of our 2-3 hours of free time!!

But with heat and summer comes water-shortage. So for three days now we have not had much water at all. Yesterday morning we did have some cold water, but it was brown and full of mud and air. But at least we could use the toilet. Last night we did not have any water, not even a drop of brow water! And to make it even better, this morning we did not have electricity. Great! There was a flooding in an apartment some floors above us to the side during the night, so water came running down, though the walls and right by our fuse box, so they shut off the electricity. But smart Catrin found a candle, so the bathroom was not pitch black, so we could still brush our teeth and wash our face (in bottle water)! I even tested the shower, the hot water was not brown, but the water pressure as almost non-existing, and the cold water was full of air, but at least I could wash my hair after 4 days! And with a good rinse of bottled water, I am now a blond again!!

BBQ in the back yard

Last night we had a nice bbq party in the new lounge furniture in our back yard! Jørn had fired up the bbq 2 hours before we arrived, so it was warm and ready by the time we arrived with the wine, beer and chips! A really nice way to end a long week at work!

From mud-town to sunny-town

During this last week we have had a couple of rainy days. Not really heavy rain, just normal rain. But even so, the streets have been flooded with brown water, and the rubberboots have been the only doable footwear. Well, that is just us expats! The locals look in horror at our lumpy boots, they are not elegant we know!

This is the mud washing station for boots/shoes. Every building has one or two of these by the entrace door. The bucket on the side is full of water, and you use the stick with a rag to wash off the mud on your shoes. The stick was not present at the time of this picture!!
But the last couple of days, the weather has turned nice again, and now we are having great summer weather. Sunshine from a clear blue sky, and around 30 degrees! Pretty nice!