I'm coming out so you better get this party started!

I'm in the train, on my way to London, where I'll meet Nila at 5:30pm, pack my shit in a locker and head straight to the pub to celebrate her birthday properly :) (woohoo for technology! I have internet access in the train!!!)

The week in Aberdeen has been good, I saw Carla and Paul. They have a flat on the corner of where my place was! (Paul was at The Center until 3 weeks ago, they are on some of my party pics). I was a bit busy with the offshore survival training but still managed to walk around the city to take pictures and get a feel of it... it's grey... they don't call it granite city for nothing.. grey grey grey.. very nice, beautiful buildings, clean... grey

It was a shock coming here from Fort William... I was between a lake and a mountain for 2 months, stumbling in a big city felt weird... What was even stranger was going in a pub and seeing no heads turn whatsoever! On the first night I wanted to get some food but didn't feel like being the center of attention. I finally muster up the courage to enter a pub.... and passed completely unnoticed :P
I then remembered that in the normal world people don't go nuts when a girl arrives. In Fort William I was just about the only one, so every time I went to the pub, I'd have 75 persons (guys) starring at me as I passed the door... and strangely enough I got use to it... now I feel weird that no one is looking at me (that'll burst your bubble missy! hehe)

The offshore training was ok and it was nice to see Tom and Slawec again. The best part was being stuck in the sinking helicopter. I was a bit wary about it cause holding my breath under water is just unnatural! We do the exercise 7 times, building it to more “difficult” task each time. So at first you sit down and strap, they dunk it slowly and, holding your breath, once your under water you count to 7, undo the buckle and go out the window. Then you do it with a rebreather (a lovely device attach to your life jacket that you inflate and then use to rebreath one breath over and over... gives you enough oxygen for about 1 minute). The last one is with the rebreather, they sink you, turn the helicopter upside down, you count to 7, push the window out and swim up... felt just like a very expensive ride at an amusement park :P

The rest of the training wasn't as fun and I do hope I never end up in a tempsc in my life! (totally enclosed motor propelled survival craft)... utterly uncomfortable and sea sickness guaranteed in about 5 seconds! I don't get sea sick but in this I'm pretty sure I would be and so would the 25 other guys cramped in it... urk...

I also did an helicopter lift, with harness and all... got lifted allaway to the side of the pool! wooooo! For the firefighting part I used different types of fire extinguishers and felt my way out of a room full of smoke wearing gas hood/mask.

The last exercise was trying the skyscape (google “skyscape chutes” to see it... scary shit!).. and of course I managed to pull my shoulder doing it :P The way it works is you slide down in a tube and control your speed with your folded arms.. or are supposed to anyway... When you go in, you sit on the platform, slide in the first module and stop yourself with your feet, to swing sideways and start sliding... when I did it I missed the bar so held back on the ropes with my hands, which twisted my shoulders backward resulting in pulled muscles :S ouch...

So now I'm fully certified and ready to work... I passed some cv along yesterday.. but in Aberdeen the general answer was that they have all the trainees they need and wont need anymore until September, when a new cycle of work starts... They do need supervisors, but I couldn't talk my way into getting the job :P (though I'm pretty sure I can kick any of their trainees' asses in about 5 sec :P). It's a bit frustrating to hear that some of these guys have been hired/trained since January (the last cycle of hiring) and still suck at it. I know I can do the job!!! anyway.... big world small planet, I don't care where I go as long as I can play with my robots :)

So that's it for now... my new coming home date is May 27th... in the meantime I'll be in London and Amsterdam, sending cv, hoping for a job and seeing my Utila friends again! :)