2010 NY's Resolution: blog more...

Happy New Years, Feliz Ano Novo, Prospero Ano, Chag Sameach!!! So I know it's about 2 months late, but better late than never!

So... since my last blog I:
(List is not limited to)

1. Proved to myself what I can accomplish
2. Discovered that I don't like working for other people
3. Fell in love with a country

What am I doing now?

1. Helping a dream materialize into a shared consensus reality. --> ETD sometime in 2010...
2. Provide design and implementing it for a churrascaria on the Congo River (from the kitchen to the VIP room to the bar at the dance floor) --> ETD: Mayish '10

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3. Provide design and implementation of a hotel kitchen (design by the same guy that designs for Hilton and Sheraton hotels) --> ETD: Mayish '10

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4. Creating an online reservation / booking system for hotels and general guide to Luanda and Soyo, Angola (restaurants, bars, hotels, rental cars, tourism, etc.)
5. Building a WISP (wireless internet service provider) in Soyo, Angola. Basically within the year I'll have MANY people logging on to the internet through a pay per use website (think as the ones in airports and hotels) --> ETD: Aprilish '10

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6. Helping a local multi-100s-millionaire start setting up chain/franchise retail stores (McDonald's, department stores, Apple)

I know it's a lot, but that's what I'm here for, to rock this place!!

Updates to come when available...

Until next time cheerio maties!!

The Mission: My Sundays as a Volunteering Volunteer

I never thought and am pretty sure I swore to myself that I'd never work 6 or universe forbid 7 days a week, but that's the situation that I'm finding myself in... for the better.

Update on work to come later. Just know it's going well for now and I've become a master multi-tasking accomplisher with assistants!

So to preface me the volunteering volunteer on Sundays (as opposed to a Georgia state court labled volunteer)  my Saturdays nights alternate between the bi-monthly poker tournament that the client hosts (Chevron) and Raito karaoke hour(s). It's nice to escape and relax in a chill environment and grills' with brats never hurt any situation. Afterwards I go to 'lime' (Trini's word for chill) with the Trinis (from Trinidad), which involves an island style drinking rate and karaoke.  I never thought I'd be one for karaoke, but after a few sips of Ballintine's it feels good to sing your heart out in drunken sailors in a bar fashion. If there's no poker I'm in for the early karoake show. Normally we'll shut down the show around 2-3am.

I then stumble my way back to my room and crash for a bit until about 9am after drinking about 2-3 liters of water and a vitamin of course. 

9:30 the bus leaves. There's a 20-30 minute drive through the main town, onto the main road and to the Mpinda area. The scenery is pretty tropical/jungle feel with the beginnings of a better future for the locals. They spend a lot of their time building their own houses. Some of them being fortunate enough to upgrade from sticks or mud to cement.

Once we turn down the road that leads to The Mission, as Bechtel calls it, we head 2km into the jungle down a row of gigantic mango trees on either side of the road towering overhead. We pass a church on the right that's has so many worshippers that there's literally hundreds of people sitting outside in the hot Africa noonday sun just to be a part of that experience. The church is the oldest church in all of west Africa, since it was established in 1491 when traders were looking for a route from Congo to England, which they thought the Congo River would provide. It's kind of funny to imagine how things get started. Imagine you were the explorer who stopped and said, "Eh, this look like a nice patch of trees to chop down and throw up a church in. Don't you think, Roger?" 

According to local tradition the Congo River is where your soul goes to rest until the final days, where out of your soul will rise up a washed clean pure white and you will be taken up to your spirit ancestors' resting place. So here come along these white people, out of the river. The locals thought they were gods. So they were taken to the king leader and told him to repent and be baptized for his wicked ways. Of course whatever a god tells you to do you do it. The king leader gets baptized and the rest of the people in his kingdom follow suit. Thus began Christianity in this country over 500 years ago. There was a priest, as part of this church's history it is claimed, that he baptized over 300,000 people in the Congo River in his lifetime.

A little further ahead we come out of the mango tree tunnel and approach the girls' orphanage. We are greated by the little girls, the nuns and the security guard holding a knockoff AK-47. Since the women here just make babies they do not have the opportunity to become monetarily successful and give back to their home for so many years as the boys from the boys orphanage do. It's been over 60 years since this place has had the civilized touch of a hammer or screwdriver. That's where we come in. There's normally anywhere from 20-40 people that go on any given Sunday. We're pretty much putting cosmetic bandaids on the place for now until we get a budget approved to do reconstructive surgery, but that all depends on business and governemental politics. We have donated bunkbeds from this millinium as well as fixed their pump and plumbing, which has been down for over 2 decades. 

Even though I don't subscribe to Christianity I did get blessed by a 115 year old nun that is 'living' there. Worse off without it, aren't I? 115 officially and that's just when she got a birth certificate. She was supposed to have already been multiple years old at that time. Just to put that into perspective, all those mango trees in the 2km drive to get to the orphanage she planted in 1939! She was in her mid 40's then! Already a grown women!! Mind bogglingly old. I think after 60-70 you might as well be 100 or 115. You know? How do you imagine the difference between being in a 60 year old body, mind, life style and one almost twice as old?!? Is it the same degeneration from 30 to 60 states of life?

Anyways, she also planted some avocado and lime trees. The avocados are the biggest ones I've ever seen! The size of fat full-sized shampoo bottles. The limes get to be the size of baseballs and when they're that big they taste like a hybrid of lime and orange, very sweet. When they're small they taste like limes. The locals want nothing to do with the fruits because they think it is a cause for malaria, so we are allowed to take what we want. Score!

Now if I could just find some gin and tonic...

Lunar New Year's '09

Imagine that! The Koreans like to drink.

We started off the evening with a spread of steaks, brats, ribs, chicken, lobster, veggies and of course kimchee!

We had a great setting that allowed each of us to be taken back into a reframe of civility and luxury.  Away from the brown smear that invades most of our perception. I also got introduced into Korean pop music which had some good beats.

When I was only halfway done with my meal I noticed Mr. Kim the admin manager lit up a ciggie. When I asked him if he was done with his meal what looked like half way through for him too, he replied, "The food is the appetizer to the drinks".  My kind of people.

I ate about 3 lobsters out of the hundred and, don't get me wrong I enoyed every exquisite bite, but I am still perplexed as to why it's the most expensive animal that I know of that you can eat

The night progressed into what they perceived as "drinking contests".  Departments were paired against eachother and cultures against eachother. I abstained however because I wanted them to have their little moments of victory.  If they only knew, hahaha.

It took about one and a half hours for the first guy to tap out.  I will give him this though.  He did win about 8 drinking contests of wine and whiskey.  We wrapped it up after about 3 hours and had to literally wheel a different Mr. Kim out and guess who the lucky winner was to carry him up to the 2nd floor and put him to bed?  This guy.  He was litterally snooring on my back the whole time... not a clue.

After I put all the Koreans to bed I went to hang out with some Bechtel crew and there were a few from TN, Ringgold, and N.O., which was nice.

After a few more drinks it was off to bed time b/c I had to wake up early, my 1st Sunday ever, before noon. 

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Week 2: Identifying the System

im surviving. im playing the game. im hanging out w/ bechtel (our
client) who are introducing me to chevron upper(bechtel's client, the
owners of the project) and im learning things. what im learning is
that its good that probably in Simon's best interest that he isn't on
this project anymore as project director. From what the bechtel guys
are telling me we are millimeters away from having our project pulled.
The NIEC guys focus on getting things done and getting them done
quickly, but what im finding out is that what is more important to
bechtel is safety. it's the perceived korean way. It's good to keep a schedule, but not at the cost
of a guy losing an arm or life. And right now our safety show, my job
responsibility, is a joke. One of Bechtel's main safety guys said ill
be his man for NIEC and he's going to show me the ropes. NIEC
is focusing on the wrong things. The ESH (environmental, safety, and
health) manager that we just brought on board is knowledgeable, but
he's philipino. And from the Koreans perspective they're the
equivalent of mexican workers at home. He may be the manager of safety and
he should have the authority to shut down operations for safety
reasons until his concern is resolved, but the Koreans are something
else.

I met the new project director yesterday and the ceo of the company.
I'm probably going to talk to Simon later this week to figure out what he has planned for me if anything (the guy who brought me here to work as his engineering assitant, but plans change, and he's no longer going to come to Soyo). I do want to learn
safety because i understand how important it is, but at the same time
i don't want this to be my only or final responsibility. Our scheduler for the
whole project is leaving, granted he's finished the schedule already
and now all he has to do is keep up with it daily. He is amazing. He
looks like he's in his 20's but he's 38. He was the 1st one in the
entire history of the Philippines to graduate from engineering in 4
years (5 years minimum before that). He had to get special permission to do
that and he finished college at 19. So he's been around the block,
working all over the world, and he says the reason he's leaving is
that he's never been treated as he has by the Koreans. He's never
taken a job being paid as little as he is and he's never dealt with
this kind of chaos with the company's (dis)organization.

I'm learning a lot in my position. I'm learning a lot about politics.
I'm learning a lot about cultures. I'm also learning that this may
end up not working out. Not because it's too difficult of a life to
live here. I've already adapted, but this company is a perceived
joke. I also learned that NIEC has only been around about 60
years. That in the last 8 years they have been bankrupted. They lost
a huge amount of their workforce and they are rebuilding. They are
being sued in different countries. And i don't know if this is true
or not, but Simon almost left the company too because he has issues
with the company. Take it for what it's worth, but i think it's a
sign of the image and quality of this company.

The scheduler says he wants me to fill in his spot. I told him where
I want to end up and he says get out of the work im doing now. I need
to enrich my roots before i start to grow branches. He says learn
what he does first, because its the heart of the whole operation.
Then work with the construction manager and learn everything i can
about work on the ground level. I think with those 3 things:
protection (being safety), planning, and execution I'll know what I
need/want to know to get me to where I want to take myself.

I'm also learning about extreme poverty. The locals don't even have
electricity every day. It's every other day that they have
electricity. And that's just the tip of the iceberg with more on that later

What's expected of me is not much. And I'm not challenged. But at
the same time I'm sacrificing some time now for the greater good. I
need to know what I'm learning now.

Don't be worried about me being happy. I'm content and doing what I
can. Learning what I can from people on and off the job. About work
and life. Many different work styles and life styles from around the
world. It's all about the experience at this point.

Week 1: 1st Impressions

so in one word it's gigantic (1.5 mi x 5 mi). dust/dirt is everywhere. it was a project in itself just to get this land ready to start building on. the congo river mouth + atlantic ocean is on the other side of the fence. im one of the lucky first few hundred out of 6.5Kish to arrive so all accommodations are temporary. it's pretty rough at first, but you get used to it. i live in a trailer with 24 rooms. it's bigger than GT dormrooms and has a bunkbed (luckily no roommate... yet) a
clothes cabinet, a desk, a chair, a minifridge, a sink w/ mirror and a shared bathroom with the room next to me which isn't occupied. food is like cafeteria food @ a school (but a school in Africa). they actually have nice cuts of meats, fresh veggies and all, but it's the way they cook it. If they just tweaked a couple of their methods it'd actually taste decent. i have probably lost about 5lbs already. i just eat enough to energize myself and stave off hunger. although sometimes they throw a good meal in there and there are croquettes (deep fried mashed potatoes). each meal has a 1 hr window starting at 5.30am. i wake up at 5.30, shower, eat breakfast, go to work. work 10 hrs and go home. i get a few hours of free time in the evening. im in an office a little bit bigger than the ne before but there are 3 people in here. out my office window there is a ship ard bringing in materials/equip.

i'm the 2nd youngest here. the younger guy, Derek, 22, is similar in personality to me, laidback, but responsible. he's korean, but has been traveling the world as a commercial diver since he was a teenager. peaks perfect english with a bit of an aussie accent and taught himself korean so e's the best translator here. there's 2 americans in my office so far. 1 i traveled ith to get here. he's 35 and did highway roads in kansas and is a 5th degree backbelt in taekwondo. he's agoofball though that doesn't know when to stop talking. the other guy Steve is from Cali, 26, big typical always smiling Am bs'er, but he's a good guy to know b/c everyone knows him and he's nice. He actually was bs'ing with another American guy earlier this morning and got us into the
weekly Bechtel bbq/poker game, so that's good. Mr. Ryu (my boss) is gone for the next 3 weeks and they weren't sure what Mr. Ryu had in mind for me.

so where do they put me?? in charge of safety! i'm the HSE coordinator (health/safety/environment), so i'm in charge of safety on the project, since they don't have a mgr over here yet. they find some, but they keep backing out. me the safety gestapo, ha! i also making sure the right people are taking the right
classes which are necessary to start activity in the oncoming stages and write all the safety reports. already there was a mishap by a korean supervisor who
was lifting a long, heavy, metal object not by the 'eyes' which were the designated place for picking the object up, but by the ladder that was welded onto it so the workers could climb up it for maintenance. the welding broke and the object fell, granted, only a few inches, but it was at the worst time possible.
bechtel's sr. safety advisor was right there when it happened and shut down PLNG operations until we did a root cause analysis between bechtel and
PLNG (a consortium of french, italian, and korean companies acting as one). i went to the meetings and we are not in the best light with right now. i was just told to observe and so i did.

so what is the project scope? simply put i'm here to make ur gas prices cheaper. we're building a LNG plant, storage, and port. when the oil companies extract oil from the ground the void created gets filled in with natural gas. right now the oil companies are just burning off the gas on the rigs to prevent explosion in the underwater chambers. there are 3 $500M ships being built in korea right now to
transport the natural gas to the LNG plant, to get things rolling. the pipeline is going to take a lot longer. the gas is then cleaned and cooled @ the plant to -160C. @ this T the volume of the gas is 1/600th the size. after that we ship it off to you guys.

i'm doing alright, but i'm still thinking to myself everyday 'what the hell am i doing here?', although less often. i'm going to stick it out at the very least for 1 or 2 rotations to see how i end up fitting in. i am expecting to be Mr.Ryu's (he's the project director) assistant, being into everything he's into, which is acceptable to me and i have no problem helping out until he gets here, but if they want me to be a Health, Saftey, and Environmental coordinator for the rest of the project, i don't know if that experience is worth more than the
3-6 months that'll pay off my debt and give me a cushion to find a job back at home, but we'll see how things progress in the oncoming weeks.

ive made a couple trips into the "city" to go to the black market to
buy some supplies. that was an experience. i went with steve and he's a BIG guy, probably 6'4" and 340lbs. the people were staring at me and him. as we passed a group of people we could here them from behind us "gozilla, gozilla!". ha ha.

there's more to say, but i'll save it for the next times.