Crisis Averted

The last two days I have been stressing over my passport situation. My plane leave tomorrow and if I do not have my passport with the visa that I used to come into Angola, then I am not allowed to leave!! It all started the day that I got here when my boss sent my 10 year passport up to immigration in Soyo, Angola (it had to be flown up there) for extension. I heard from everyone that this process takes 4 days, so I was not worried. On Tuesday of the following week, I submitted my 2 year (second limited passport) passport to immigration in Luanda, Angola for my 1 year work permit. Since this process could take months, we wanted to get it started ASAP. I told the girl that handles my companies visa's many times that the two year passport did not have the entry stamp into Angola, but she assured me repeatedly that there wouldn't be a problem. I was supposed to fly out that Friday so I was asking about where my 10 year passport was... After searching for 2 hours, we found out that it is still in immigration and no one knows when it will be released or if it will be released in time for me to make my flight. Long story short, yesterday afternoon my passport/visa was released from immigration and today someone is flying with it back to Luanda. I will feel soo much better when I get home tonight and have my passport.

The last two days we took really sketchy routes home from the office. We got to see the way the majority of Angola lives in all of its glory. Vast fields of "slums" were sticks hold up tin roofs. Children playing with tires. Women waiting with garbage cans waiting for water. Trash fires everywhere. It was a reality check. I managed to snap off a few pictures shown below. I couldn't get better ones because if the locals see your camera, phone, etc than they will break your window and rob you at gunpoint. This actually happened to my boss while he was working on the computer driving to work.

The tin roofs on the other side of the wall, didn't get a chance to take a picture while we were inside

The "slums"

Another Picture

 

Nice houses

Dump and wasteland, Slums in background

More crazy drivers!

Work has been incredibly boring with nothing to do. My friend Matt advised me on some things I could be doing, but since much of our equipment is not here, and there is no other engineer to ask questions it is difficult to even self motivate yourself to find things to do. My boss has been gone for the last week in Dubai visiting his family and arrives back in Luanda today. I hope to see him and speak to him one last time about my fate and where I could expect to end up. I desperately hope that he says that I will have to move another location and Norway would be awesome!!! Time will tell. Until then, I guess I will have to lug back all the supplies that I brought with me intending for this to be my new home.

One of my friends Tim is currently in South Africa at the Angolan consulate waiting for his work visa. Then in about a week he should arrive in Angola. Bummer that its just in time to miss each other. Tim (and not my alter ego) is in a different situation than me because Chevron did accept his resume, and he is going to work on their rigs. The camp at Chevron is huge and has about 6-10 four person crews rotating through. So its nice because you can rely commuting engineers to show you the ropes, not to mention the comradery. In Luanda I am the only commuting engineer...

Fun Fact: In my boredom I figured out that, while in Angola, I am 10,030 nautical miles away from home and the furthest any two people could be apart is 12,000 miles. So I am almost "around the world" from home. =(

I'm starting to psych myself up about going to the airport tomorrow. The law states that you are not allowed to leave the country with Kwanza's - their local currency. From what I have heard, you get shaken down for money and kwanza's several times. before getting on the plane. People will come up to you and ask, "Do you have Kwanza's?" If you say yes, they confiscate it. If you say no, the say "Dollars?" They make you empty your pockets and if you have dollars and they want them, you have to give it to them or they hold you until you miss your flight... Its a lose lose. I have a plan to store my money in my backpack in the middle of a bunch of documents and pray they dont get picked up on the X-ray machine. (I heard a while back you can see dollar bills on x-ray machines)

Im almost done with my last day of work and I guess that I should start saying goodbye to everyone that I met here. I hope to see you all soon!

Deciding on skills

The last day has been uplifting. Two new ex-pats came in and they are fun and charismatic. One is a big white guy from Duncan, the other is a women from Duncan. The women is about moms age, and has two grandchildren around 3 years old. She has a mom mentality and a positive personality. The guy is witty and interesting. Both of them have worked for us for more than 20 years. The women 31 years!!!!!! Holy crap!!!! Anyway, they are staying at my staff house and I'm hearing more and more that my staff house is the best one in the bunch. To make things better, I just got a new room that is much bigger. It has a desk, a full blown cupboard, and a couch. Pictures below:

I went to a new office today - there are two. One that is very close to the Port de Luanda. Another that is in the middle of town. This building is where all the HR, BD (sales), Finance, and Management work. The whole  day as I worked, I felt like someone was looking over my shoulder watching if I was actually being productive. I hate being around the bosses while I'm working. Fortunately, my boss is in Dubai visiting his family working from our office there. I met the person who is trying to get me my 1-year work visa. We got all my paperwork in order and submitted my secondary short-term passport. Come to find out from everyone else, since my passport doesn't have a entry stamp they might have a problem with processing the visa. I informed her of this, and she said it would be OK. So if I am waiting at home for a long time, its not my fault.

I cant remember if I already talked about how ridiculous the visa system is, but in summary. The ministry of petroleum has to extend and offer to each person (4-6 weeks) then you have to personally submit your passport to immigration for the 1-year work visa which can take anywhere from 1 month to 5 months!!!!! I met someone today, who has a second passport, but his has taken 14 months. The poor people from Trinidad, or Asia-Pacific aren't able to get second passports, so they are stuck here for the whole time!!!! Fortunately  they get equal time off. Whats better? During the 5 months, my company can request me to do training. But the majority of people just sit at home, collecting paychecks while they wait for the visa!!!!

Ive decided that I am going to make the best of my extra time in Angola. Even though I'm bored to tears now, I am going to schedule out my time and pick a skill to study every night like I am in school or college. I have narrowed it down to a few, but I would love you recommendations! I made a cool Google form that allows you to submit your answers for me to view. I think that it is anonymous. Anyway, Id love it if you would take the time and let me know what you think. PS - I found this link that has some cool stuff in it, but mostly just basic stuff. http://www.marcandangel.com/2008/06/02/50-things-everyone-should-know-how-to-do/

One thing to keep in mind is that I run every morning for 30 minutes. By physical fitness I mean an additional hour.

In a National Geographic Magazine

I have almost been here a week and Im still figuring out if Angola is right for me. I feel like I am living in a National Geographic magazine. Many of the scenes and activities is as you would imagine. Dirt floor homes (not mine), police/military with young kids carrying AK-47s, and really bad roads. At the office the days are LONG since there is not much to do, but you still must work for 12 hours a day since the bus only comes at 6am and 6pm. My fate here depends on a contract that we are bidding, and if we win I get to stay in Luanda. If we lose I get to leave - so I am sad to say, Im rooting against my company. =) Everyone that I have talked to says that Luanda, Angola is the worst place that they have worked and if I am able, to get out. They say it partly because it takes so long to get anything done and that the government is very corrupt. It actually is in the top 10 most corrupt governments in the world!!!! Combine that with Luanda being the most expensive city in the world, this place is losing its appeal fast. 

The other expats are nice here, not very social, but still polite and laid back. We have three staff houses in Luanda and it seems that my staff house has the most all business people and there is not much comradery  here. People congregate for dinner, but after your done spooning down your food, everyone goes back to their rooms and either goes to bed or continues to work. All the locals I have met are very very nice and respectful. The language barrier here is substantial, but I carry around a portuguese to english dictionary to help me. One thing that bugs me about most all of the expats here is the way they talk and think about the local workers. Our drivers especially are talked down to often for many things they cannot avoid, like traffic, the route (when the other route is probably just as bad), even for the bumps in the road.

As I mentioned before, there are three staff houses here. One deep in the city (the one I am at), one that is on an Island (connected by roads) called Ilha, and the last about 200 yards from the base where we work. All of the staff houses have their advantages. The one that I am seems to have more "big-wigs" above my pay-grade. The one that is close to the shop would make it possible to walk to/from work without having to wait on the bus and they seem to have more comradery there. The staff house at Ilha have amazing rooms with the beach a few steps away, but at night (Thursday - Sunday) there is loud music coming from the nightclubs across the street. I have heard the music is so loud that it is hard to sleep in the rooms at night. The beach wouldnt really matter either unless I played hooky on the weekends or something.

The local employees dont work the weekends here because they are trying to cut costs. So there is never any operators or engineers in my PSL to help do anything on Saturday or Sunday. Since the only thing I would be able to do is work on my computer, I will probably just work from home on these two days.

It is not as hot as I have heard here. Coming from Bakersfield and it being "winter" where the temperature stoops to 60-65 degrees helps. The mosquitoes are not as bad as people say either. Most rooms have AC units and since mosquitoes hate cold, they typically stay out.

I met a nice guy two days ago who shares my anger at how uninformed expats are when they get here. No one tells you any tricks of the trade or even when meals and buses run! He sent me a trick to get on Skype and told me many secrets he has found the hard way. Hes here for another several months (rotationally) then he is going to be a live-in position. He is the head of the finance department here in Luanda, so I feel like hes a good guy to know.

As I have eluded I hope to get out of this assignment and the options look like Tanzania or Norway. I am hesitent because the grass is always greener, but I wonder if this time the statement doesnt hold up. If we win the contract I am left with only two bad options, I could suck it up and work in Luanda for ~a year, then prove my experience to the Chevron camp and work there with friends and make lots of money, or I could tell my boss our agreement was to work at Cabinda (the other camp) and that Luanda is not for me. Loosing the contract would save me this hard decision.

All I have is my iPhone for taking pictures and many of them are overexposed. The pictures are shown below and it is some highlights of my trip thus far. I also have to watch where and when I take pictures. I have heard that if you are stopped in traffic and someone spots your phone/camera/computer/bag or anything, they will break open the window and rob you at gunpoint. 

Driving and traffic is crazy!

The roads dont help with the traffic

The kids love to get their pictures taken

The women do not...

More crazy drivers

The line at Johannesburg is always REALLY long.

More driving 

One part of my small room

Normal bed

The carpark at my work

You have to go through security to get to work.

First Impressions - Luanda, Angola

I arrived in Luanda, the capital of Angola, at noon on Monday. The humidity in the air hits you hard when you step off the plane and its hot here - with the temperature ranging from 75 - 90 degrees with 80%-90% humidity. The first thing I noticed is it seems like you have to wait in long lines wherever you go, a line to get off the plan, a line at immigration, a line at baggage claim, a line at customs, etc. Even though we flew on a HUGE A380 (300 passenger) plane, there is no sky bridge in Luanda so we had to take buses from the plane stairs to the terminal which was only 300 feet away. I had the funniest immigration officer. She either couldn't speak a word of English  including hello, or just refused. I had to give her my passport and visa, get my picture taken with me facing the camera, have both thumb prints taken all with her only making gestures eluding to what I was supposed to do. It was like a fun, really serious, game of charades. I had trouble figuring out that she wanted me to use the other thumb on the scanner, no problem, she threw her hands in the air stating I'm an idiot and moved the scanner to the other side of the counter until I scanned my other thumb. The baggage claim was another entertaining area, they had all of the infrastructure a normal airport would have, but it didnt work so there were many angolan workers in a line doing what the conveyer slide could have done for them. I dont think they appreciated my 30kg (60lb) bags... Customs was easy, no one asked a question or cared what you were bringing in, and we were just shooed on. When I got to the muster area, I found my company representative (or so I thought) and he told me it would be "just a moment". An hour later, he told me to take a seat because I had to wait for my company transport to arrive, I guess he is just a middle man employed to "heard sheep" so that we are all easy to be picked up. An hour later we were picked up by the driver.

I found out at the airport that Portuguese (the native language) and Spanish are very close languages. Not many people here speak English and I wish that I had learned more Spanish while having all Mexican employees in Bakersfield.

Driving in Luanda is CRAZY, the craziest I have ever heard of. There are no rules to speak of. Our driver was all over the road, grass, crossing over side walks, going into oncoming traffic, etc. all just to save a few minutes. Once you hit traffic it only escalates the craziness. To make matters worse, the roads are TERRIBLE. There are big ditches, bumps, and hills you have to go over, and yesterday I saw a pot hole that was at least 3 feet deep, when I looked down I didn't think it would ever end... I don't know how to describe the commuting any better, I will have to post a video of one of our trips to show you. The good thing is that we have drivers.

Our staff house is nice, the floors are made of marble and its 7 stories tall with 5 big rooms on each floor. The first floor has a receptionist that only speaks Portuguese, the second floor has kitchen and dining hall, the third floor has a nice gym with free weights, treadmill, and bench press, then the fourth floor is my room. The only downside is that there is no elevator so I had to carry ~150 pounds of luggage up the stairs! There are tons of house staff and come to find out, rooms and laundry are cleaned daily. Nice!

Transportation to and from the staff house to the base leaves at 6am and returns at 6pm! I definitely didn't know or expect to be working 12 hour days every day. I guess its the price you pay as a commuter. Hopefully it will make the time go by faster here.

The food is pretty bad. I almost wish that they would just prepare ethnic food, because what ends up happening is using western ingredients prepared badly. I will add a picture of the foods soon. To top things off, Luanda is the MOST expensive city in the entire world - more expensive than Moscow, New York, and London. Part of it comes from the bad roads to the port, which is where our base is. The poor 3 mile road causes traffic jams of more than 2 hours which makes unloading the ships take longer than necessary, which costs them extra mooring time (rental space in the port) which increases the cost of the goods. This is why Luanda is the most expensive city in the world - Its government is greedy, stupid, and corrupt.

My boss seems like a really good guy! He is nice, open, understanding, and straightforward. Completely opposite of my boss in Bakersfield. He is from Columbia and has lived here for the last 3 years. I think Im going to enjoy working for him. IF I get to work for him.

I am currently in a bind as Chevron has rejected my resume to work on their offshore rigs due to my inexperience on offshore rigs. The bosses here are pleading my case, and hope that once I am here for a few months they will reconsider. In the mean time I am working on a project we are bidding on and should hear word of the winner  by the end of the month. If we do not get the work, and Chevron does not reverse their decision, I will be going to another camp - probably Tanzania or Norway. Right now, Im just taking it one day at a time and am comforted by the fact that my company doesnt fire or lay off commuting engineers.

Thanks for making it to the end of my longest post. Twelve hour work days are REALLY boring, but great for detailed blogs! =)

Getting to Angola

It seems to take a near-act of God to get into Angola! I had to get notarized police/medical clearances, an additional passport, tons of paperwork, then a Visa that expires if you do not enter Angola within 72 hours of its issue. Not to mention, coordinating a ~40 hour transit, accommodations, and with visa people is a huge pain in the butt!!! 

At the request of my boss I coordinated with the 3rd party visa services company to arrive in Houston on May1st (Sunday), then give them my passport Monday morning, have them issue the visa on Tuesday, then fly out on Tuesday night. However, their plan would be destroyed by an oversight on their behalf. 

I arrived in Houston on Sunday, and had booked my hotel last minute and got something close to downtown. I asked Chelsea to look into getting a rental car for me since downtown Houston is so far from the airport. Come to find out there is a big oil conference in Houston and EVERY single rental car is in use in the Houston area and the only thing available was an Escalade at $150/day, I think Id have a hard time explaining that one... The hotel was ok and I walked to get dinner. Before going to bed I sent the visa service company an email asking if everything was still ok and that I would arrive at 8am. Early the next morning I got an email back from them saying they would be ready. I had a frustrating experience waiting for a cab that never came at 7:45am, or 8am, or 8:15am then I decided to cut my losses and walk.

When I got to the visa place the owner came out and took care of me personally. I asked him if he needed anything else to issue the visa by Tuesday and he said, "Oh, the Angolan consulate is closed today and we cant issue the visa until Thursday." I completely lost it, somehow I started at a high-blood pressure quivering, normal-toned voice and ended up at a fast paced, screaming, snake-bitting tone - It was not my finest hour. After settling down (a little bit), I told him it was common knowledge online that May 1st is Angola's Labour day and that the plan HE advised were bad and would cost us money. In short, all my plans were out the window and I was in Houston with no rental car for another 4 days! Before I left his office many idea's were flying through my head - I could take advantage of this and go back to Bakersfield, visit friends in Ohio, or take a much needed trip to Indiana to visit friends and family. It was almost 11am though, so whatever I decided I would have to move fast. So I told the visa guy my company would be in touch with him and we would issue the visa on Friday then went back to my hotel. 

After talking with Chelsea and my parents in the cab on the way to the airport we decided Indiana would be the best choice. The last key, I needed permission from my boss to leave Houston in case he would want me to do something for them, so while talking to my boss in one hand and using the 3g on my iPad with the other I got my plane tickets 5 minutes before I checked in at the airport. Chelsea and I went to Indiana and had a great time with Mom and Dad, Chuck and Lisa, Travis and Margerate, and Nathan. I'll make another blog about that...

I flew back to Houston Friday with no problems, checked into my hotel in the IAH airport, picked up my passport/visa that was already waiting there, and went down to the pool. Thats how smoothly I wished the first trip was... The next day I got upgraded to first class from Houston to Atlanta, then was able to enter the sky club on my international ticket where they put me in great seats for my 15.5 hour (!!!!!!!!!!!!) flight to Johannesburg! The flight was great and the entertainment just kept coming. Delta recently upgraded their movie/tv systems so there are hundreds of things to watch. Flying into Johannesburg while it was still light was neat, it looked like a flat Santa Fe with stucco and mud brick houses. I got into my hotel Southern Sun popped a couple Tylenol PM, feasted on the biggest lamb shanks Ive ever had, and went to sleep at 8pm. Its not 5 in the morning and Ive been up for 3 hours!!! I have one last flight to Luanda, then hopefully I get picked up at the airport. As you can see, getting here has been crazy!