Working hard

Work has been non stop with the drill pipe inspections since I've gotten back.  12-13 hour days back to back (no weekend in sight at the moment). I would be hating it a bit but at the moment I've been getting a lot of one on one time to do the drill pipe inspections myself as the other guy with me, Sadik, has been busy getting called out to do a few other things.. I can't wait till I get to do some MPI stuff too, but yeah the drill pipe inspections are going well and I'm enjoying it.. I have been forced to kinda cut corners which I'm not happy with but I can't do too much about it. I have noticed the corner cutting has dwindled somewhat though as I think they're kinda sketchy on what they can try get away with around me without me getting annoyed or whatever I dunno.. Relations with the boss etc still isn't very productive.  I just don't get along with him really, he's too much of a cowboy and we have none of the same interests, so going out can be kinda awkward at times.. Anyways, I would stay and type but I'm so beat, I crashed wicked early last night and I would like to try and do the same tonight.. so I'm outtie.

oh and a big congratulations to Carolyn for finishing her final day of "proper" college life.  I'm really proud of her it's so great.  :)

Doubts

Lazy weekend, I got to finally relax a little.. I went to dinner on Sat night but didn't go out afterward as it's still a little dangerous at the moment.. There's been some bad things happening and don't wanna risk anything.. It's been good just chilling out though, gearing up for a big week in Douala doing some drill pipe inspections at a gas drilling site, so gonna be busy busy busy..

I've been having doubts about my future here, I'm unsure the direction the company is taking.. Hasn't been fun to come back to all of the politics that have taken place while I was away.. I have to wait and see I suppose, might get better - I did just get back..

Oh, and I got bored on Saturday and shaved my head with a razor.

Goodbye UK

Sorry for the lack of updates I've been wicked lazy during my down time in the UK.. not much happened though, did the course, had some brutal exams (two full 8 hour days of them) and my head was very dizzy by the end of it all, but my results were good and i was happy with them considering i had to cram 6-8 weeks of work into 2 weeks all my results varied from 85 to 95% so I can't complain..

During my down time I've just been finding increasingly better places to eat and enjoying all the steaks and everything but I feel bad not taking advantage of all the veggies and salads I could be having also, I do a little, but not much.. I've done some shopping also and gotten a few things I needed which was good.. Seen a movie haha, sounds trivial but it was really good as there's no cinemas in Cameroon. None, in the entire country that's right.

Today I was running around doing some final things as I fly back tomorrow, I'm ready to go back, it's been really lonely here and hasn't been the most enjoyable time.. When I go back I might be going to Nigeria to get some other training, then I think I'll be going to Texas in the USA for an extended unit of training that they couldn't give me here in the UK, so I'm looking forward to that if it happens.  It will be a good opportunity for me to shop for the drill pipe inspection equipment we need also..

Anyways that's about it for a real quick lowdown, I'll update again once I'm back in Limbe..

Quiet day

So today was pretty quiet, the rig manager wanted us to do up some reports so instead of inspecting pipes we worked on the reports, it's good though as it's been a very tiring 2 weeks.. On the 18th of march I will be going onshore to do my first bit of diving technician training, I'm excited about it. I am hoping they will pull me off the rig on the 16th so I can rest up first, plus I would like to spend my birthday on shore and at the "las vegas" bar haha.. Not much else going on, best thing about the rig now is one of the guys has a portable harddrive full of the latest movies which I'ma leech off him. Anyways I better get back to doing some work I'll update again later, found the usb for the actual camera so hopefully I can get some nice snaps this week..
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A little background

I hope this works, updating the blog from my phone.. Guess I should start with some details, I'm ryan walker, soon to be 25 years old and I've just began working in West Africa in Cameroon.  I am living in the small coastal town of limbe and life is good.  My first week in Africa is a blur I was so enthralled with everything, the culture, landscape, everything.. Plus I was only here for a day before I started work.  What exactly am I doing? At the moment I am a workshop supervisor.  The workshop is fairly new and so I'm overseeing it's renovations and organising stock control etc etc.. Luckily since I arrived it's been a little quiet and I've been able to adjust to the ridiculously hot weather and all that stuff.  But as of last week I shipped offshore for my first job on the oil rigs (see previous post), I've always wanted to do this kind of work so it's exciting for me, but it's really tough work and long days, weekends don't exist on the oil rigs either, my current mission is to just supervise and work hard alongside the team, plus learn as much as possible that I can from the mpi/ndt inspectors (magnetic particle/non-destructive inspectors) who are performing the drill pipe inspections.  I need to learn all I can so when I go to the UK for training I will have an advantage, 'cos work pulled some strings and I'll be trying to cram 3 months of courses into 2/3 weeks (!!!) So far I am really enjoying the responsibilities of my work and being able to prove to myself I can plan ahead and get the job done without hassles, but alas there has already been arguments etc but for the most part it's cool.  You're bound to get on someones nerves when living in these prison-type confined places.  I'll be out here another 3 weeks I think, I'll be more than ready to come home then.
Coming back to my life on shore though, Limbe is a beautiful place to live.  Currently I'm staying with my dad at his place (see first post), but I'm in the process of having my own apartment renovated.  It is overlooking the ocean and is right next door to a nice bar, perfect.  The food here is all very nice and fresh, though a lot of western food or brand items etc are exceptionally hard to find.  I eat healthily enough though, not sure how I will go living by myself but haha. Driving here is insanity, there are no rules on the road and it can be scary sometimes, I've already seen numerous accidents, some fatal. I have been to the Wildlife Centre, a sanctuary for gorillas and monkeys etc it was really cool (see pic).  The beach is lovely here and has black sand because of all the volcanic soil.  Limbe is at the base of Mt. Cameroon which is a huge mountain that Carolyn and I will climb sometime, around the time we climb it, don't be surprised if this blog stops as I'll probably die (see pic).. Another thing about living here is that I'm just barely tolerated by the military and police, I have to have copies of my passport etc at all times because corruption is everywhere here.  A healthy bribe scored me a 2 year residency card though so that's good.  When I get free time I don't do much because I'm so tired usually, so I just sleep.  Not much else I can think of at the moment, there's tonnes of normal life stuff I could go on about but I can't really think of it just now, I'm over the initial wow-factor and settled into a routine now, so I'll leave the first impression blog for when Carolyn comes to stay here, overall though I love this place and the way it works (well most of it, I'll talk about that later) but yeah that's me so far..

Wildlife Centre with baby gorilla

 

Faint outline of Mt. Cameroon from the rig

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