I forgot to add this picture a while ago. It's from when I was doing offshore survival / helicopter escape training down in New Orleans. here I am in my helicopter!

This is the view from the walk that I went on the first day I arrived in Norway.

The left photo is of me driving the workboat. The right photo is of me working the arms of the boat (via the remote on my hands) in order to pick up the cables from the water. (don't forget you can click on the picture to make it bigger if you want)

One of the boats we were working on. We were working in beautiful fjords around Kristansund.

Norway

Here is an entry from my journal from my first day in Norway:

Yes it is Valentine’s Day. And here I am in Norway. Norway is meeting and exceeding my expectations so far. After all the hype I was worried that it would be dreary, not cute, no mountains. BUT. There are mountains, there is snow, it is beautiful out, the sea is right there. Buildings are cute. It’s a mix of all my passions and ideals. I love boats. There is water. I have seen more than 3 or 4 beautiful wooden boats in the harbor. I love mountains. There are mountains and rocks everywhere. The rocks and hills define the town and looking into the not so far distance I felt like I was in Anchorage looking at the Chugach Mountains at one point. Small compact town. In terms of city planning I have always said that I would rather live in a small house or apartment in town and near work rather than live in a larger house more in the countryside. The benefits of not driving to work far outweigh for me the benefits of driving. Here though, the houses are small and close – as they should be! Also while the town is cute, its not overly cute to the point where it is a tourist town that only has cafés and boutiques. Instead it is a real town. There are normal stores lining the streets. There is industry – ships are tied up right in town – large tankers and fishing vessels.

Today after I got to town and dropped my stuff at the hotel, I went for a walk. First point of note is that there are many people walking around town. (I also later saw that gas I about $7 a gallon, helping to explain this, although I think it goes much deeper into their culture. It hovers around freezing and people sit outside at street side cafes with blankets over them). This walking though, is in strong contrast to Vietnam where people could not understand why I would walk anywhere – I mean why not just take a motor bike? I walked for about 10 minutes and ended up on a trail through pine trees. Along the trail I passed a reservoir where kids were skating. The trail wound around and I soon stood atop a bluff looking out on the ocean, and off to the mountains. Snow covered mountains to be exact. I LOVED IT. Then I found my way back down and around to the rocky beach and I just watched the sun play off the mountains, the houses, and the bridge in the distance. Just as I had hoped.

Also of note. For some reason I have always wanted to actually see my own bags loaded onto the airplane. I know that at least once (and perhaps a few times), I have watched the people loading intently for perhaps 10 minutes, in hopes of seeing my own bag. Yesterday in New York City, I just happened to look out the window and there was my blue backpack, oh then followed by my black duffel.

Everyone keeps asking about my room on board. Here are 2 pictures. I shared with a polish girl, Anna, but we were on different shifts, so we were never in the room at the same time. if you look closely you can see Puff on my bed (my stuffed animal)

Muddy Creek Falls up at Deep Creek Lake - this was the snow and winter I was dreaming about on the boat and finally got. It was my first snow since May 2005.

The beach where we were in India

End of School - End of Shift

The last few days I felt like I was back in an elementary school classroom days before school lets out – desks have to be cleaned, blackboards washed, personal belongings taken home. On board Emerald the days before crew change– we cleaned the floors, finished up odd jobs, cleaned the tools, the bird shack, and created a detailed description of all the specifications for the job contract that the client kept changing. The 9-year-old child's pent up anticipation of summer holiday also struck the crew. Knowing that in a few days they would be on land, have beers in their hands and soon be on airplanes to see their families, brought smiles across their faces. The last few shifts seemed to take forever – we still were not shooting. Over the course of the week we would proceed south until the noise on the hydrophones was too much and then turn around north again. Only once did this work for us and we managed to shoot one line. Every other attempt was aborted.

Crew change lasted 2 days – because the helicopter flights were long enough that the pilots would run out of flight hours in one day. Suited up with my ear phones and life jacket, I boarded the first chopper out to Trivandrum - a town at the very tip of India (take a look on the map). For me, it was like taking a flight to another time zone. My midnight to noon working hours had to readjust to the rhythms of a normal human day (only to readjust 5 days later when flying to the States).

By 1 pm the second day, the off signers were onshore and the on signers were off shore. I and 4 other crew members headed 20 km down the coast to a beach where we hung out for a few days. I was amazed at how tired my body actually was after working 12 hours days 7 days a week for 5 weeks straight – that’s 84 hour weeks – or 2 plus work weeks in one.

Now I’m back in the states for a bit – until feb 13th when I leave for 2 months in Norway. I'll be in Norway for more training so that I actually know how to look for oil, as opposed to some great pretending.