Rants and raves

Today was alright, we finally finished inspecting all the subs (pipe thingys) and moved onto the big drill pipes.  The only bad part is that I dropped a drill pipe on my fingers and split one open and it's really hard to type now.. looks pretty nasty though which is kinda cool I suppose.. Another rig pulled up along side ours today, maybe 500 meters away, was cool to watch it getting towed by this little tugboat (apparently they get towed around the world like that, this one came from Mexico to Cameroon in 6 weeks).  Once it found its position, it hefted its big legs and propped itself out of the water, it was impressive to watch.. today I had one of those moments where I was just thinking wow, I'm only 25 and I've done so much already and now I'm out in West Africa working on oil rigs and training for a job of a lifetime.  By the end of 2010 I will be a top level certified non-destructive testing technician specialising in UV light, magnetic particle testing, x-ray radiographic testing and a fully certified top level commercial diving technician.  Never in a million years would I have thought this is where I'd be at this point in my life.  A month ago I was mixing concrete to make garden edges haha.. Anyways not much else, my first batch of training is in the UK in April and I am hoping to visit America for a week after I complete it but I'm unsure as of yet if I will be able to.

I wanna touch on a few things I dislike about Africa, first thing (which has been the most difficult for me to get used to) is the open, forward manner in which they approach all subjects.  If someone has a problem or is happy or whatever they voice it incredibly honestly and openly, and I'm all for this in most cases but it's difficult when it comes to women.  Already I've had a couple marriage proposals, numerous girls wanting to date or just sleep with me, and they straight out ask you saying like "I want to be your girlfriend" or something like that.  It's mostly because I'm white; white people in Africa generally have more money thus the women love them and it can get really, really intimidating.  I can't go to a nightclub without them trying to chat me up or asking for some of my whiskey etc, which is why I'll never go alone haha..  The clubs are so awesome though, mostly people don't even drink they just love to dance and party, worst part is no one even contemplates clubbing until 1 am which is horrible as I like to be in bed by then.  You go into clubs though and they have the bar area to sit etc, dance floor, but then they also have these booths, which is just comfy chair/sofas where a group can sit, but there's also a table there and you can buy a whole bottle of whiskey or whatever and you get free mixers and ice etc brought over to you whenever you run out it's great and makes for a good time at the club.. the clubs look crazy run down outside but you go inside and they're really upscale it's cool. 

Another thing about Cameroon too is that its main languages are English and French.  It's difficult sometimes because they implement both languages into speech so a little English here and a little French there, and throw in a little pidgin African to top it off sometimes also.. Limbe is good 'cos it's almost all English, but you go to Douala (the closest big city) and it's French only.   I'm still learning French but it's pretty hard.  I would really like to master it though as it's a dream of mine to be multilingual. Anyways not much else, looking at least another 3 weeks on board this oil rig, maybe I will shift over to the other one that pulled up today though who knows.. sucks I'm a be having my birthday on board this place though oh wells, that's about all for me today I gotta go to sleep...