Sabtu 11 Juli 2009
Still on board the Atlantic Star. Woke up around 7am, talked to the company man, and he told me that he would try to put me in tomorrow’s flight. Today’s flight (which is actually yesterday’s flight that has been rescheduled) was already full, and actually depending on the course of weather during the day, no one’s quite sure if this flight was going to fly anyway.
I went down to the gym, walked for a while in the treadmill, tried to check my email, read a bit, and since I didnt have enough sleep the night before, I continued sleeping for 2 hours in the morning.
After lunch, I continued reading my books in the TV room. Had some conversation with some guys that were there. Most of them are interested with my profile… From which country I’m from, How long have I been here, Do I like it here, Don’t I miss my family, When was the last time I saw them… Is Indonesia a beautiful country, What language do you speak there, Is Indonesian similar to Mandarin/Japanese…
What I like about Brazilians is most of them are not shy/quiet/cold and they talk to me. So it is easier for me to make friends, considering I am not a very talkative person myself.
At night, I read again, this time in the dining room. Some people approached me and talked to me… asking me questions… (maybe out of curiosity too) You know, I really appreciate that… made me feel less alone.
Nothing much to say… just read read and read. Until I got tired and fell asleep.
P.S. The Sums of our days is quite an interesting book… Funny, touchy, tragic, wise… It’s actually about Isabel’s real life stories. She made me want to write more on my journal. Some day maybe, when my memory got weaker, I would have my journal to remind me of the amazing days.
Minggu 12 Juli 2009
The rig is moving even more. I almost fell in the shower just now.
Looked through the window and it seems that the weather’s still bad, most probably there won’t be any flight for today either. My mood sinks. :( It’s becoming really boring here.
I’ve found a new way to spend the day, that is going to gym to run. Went there since Friday, and found it as an excellent way to let go of the guilty feeling I am having for eating so much and exercising so less on the rig. And now my legs and back are aching… How ironic, on the rig I run more distance than when I am on land. :p
Senin 13 Juli 2009
Finally!! The sky was clear and the sun was shining!!
I left with the chopper at 10.30 am. Arrived at the airport in Itanhaem around 12.00 pm. The flight took longer, cause we stopped at another rig on our way back to land. I tried to measure the distances between rigs and land by measuring the time needed to fly between them, but I lost count and fell asleep.
In Itanhaem, I was supposed to take a taxi and go to Sao Paulo. However, there’s an old guy from the rig (he works in another service company), who’s going to Sao Paulo too, so I thought it would be better to share the taxi, as it means less money spent (even though it’s reimbursable), safer as I wont be travelling alone, and less pollution too (the effect of reading Technology Futures published by Shell hehehe). He ordered a taxi by phone, and a taxi came and picked us up. This caused confusion, as some taxi drivers from the same taxi company are already there waiting in queue for passengers. As the result, we were told to pull over and to move to another taxi after 10 minutes driving away from the airport. I was pissed off and thought that this was really impolite, but then I realized that to the taxi drivers, taking people to Sao Paulo is like the big catch of the day (200-300 reais per trip), I mean, it matters. Sometimes I wonder, if this had happened in my country, probably it would have caused a fight between taxi driver. Geezzz…
I was confused when the old guy gave me the receipt for the taxi. The trip costs 190 reais. We shared the taxi, it actually didn't really matter who paid, cause our companies will pay the expenses for transportation. To be polite, we shared the cost, and so I gave him 100, the amount that he requested. But my receipt has 190 written on it, and I dont know how much is written in his. How come? I looked at the old guy with confusion, and he just said: “everything is correct, right?” and he walked away.
Oh great, that’s dirty.
I took the plane Sao Paulo-Rio and arrived in Rio around 6 pm. By 6.30 I was already at the hotel. I feel so glad that finally my two feet are back standing on solid ground, so I decided to take a walk. I stayed for a week on this hotel before, in September last year, when I was waiting for some news about my visa to go to Argentina. How time flies, and how so many things had happened after that time. I walked around the neighborhood. It’s in the city centre, and it was crowded with people commuting from work.
My comments on Rio’s city centre: unfriendly, dirty, crowded, and really shows the difference between the rich and the poor.
When it’s getting late, I saw homeless people started to arrange paper box on the sidewalk, preparing their beds for the night. There were many, many many homeless people, and that surprised me. They seemed to sleep in groups, and each group may consist of 10-15 people. How sad.
Selasa 14 Juli 2009
Took the van at 6am back to Macae. Turned out that the adventure was not over yet. About an hour away from Macae, the police stopped the van, wanted to check on the documents. They found that one document was missing, so they must confiscate the van until the problem is solved. So, the van and everybody in it were escorted to the police station in Cabo Frio (about 1-1.5 hrs from Macae). We waited there until another van came and picked us up and brought us to Macae. So, we stayed in the police station for about 2 hours (all of us-12 passengers, 2 of them are big bosses :D).
I finally arrived in Macae base at 13.30, hungry and tired. The trip has extended from the normal 3.5 hours to 7.5 hours!!
I am really really looking forward to the weekend. To rest, to sleep, and to get myself back into the civilized world :p
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