Packing for Africa

Packing for any trip is hard but packing to move abroad into an unknown situation is even harder.  I have been in this position several times but never like this. Everything I need needs to fit into two pages that weight less that 50 pounds.  I decided that I would be taking one large duffle and my hard sided trunk. 

I had to shrink 22 years’ worth of stuff down to 100 pounds or less. It was amazing to see how much stuff I had acquired just over the 4.5 years of college.  I had to sort through it and decide if I was going to keep, trash or donate it.  I spent several days sorting that and condensing two rooms’ worth of stuff down to one room that is semi-organized. 

For those who know me, I mostly where T-shirts and never really thought about how many T-shirts I actually had.  I had stopped buying T-shirts at places but that did nothing to slow down my collection.  During the laundry short, I discovered that I had over 75 t-shirts.  I went though and if they were from high school they immediately went to the goodwill pile, from there the ratty shirts were made into rags.  That got right of about a third of them.

Back to packing, I was hired as an International Mobile Employee with an emphasis on the mobile part.  SLB works in over 90 counties and I could be sent to work in about 80 of them.  The ones I can’t are for the being female issues or the being a US citizen. Currently I am working 4 degrees above the equator but there is nothing stopping me from going on load to North Sea.  This makes packing hard because I had to decide what types of clothing and how much clothing of each type to bring. 

In the end, I decided that I would focus on the warm weather gear.  For the most part it was light weight clothing for work and my time off.  I threw in a jacket for air conditioned buildings but the rest of my beloved jacket collection stayed in my room in the United States.  I packed enough clothing for about a week and half between doing laundry as well as some clothing for hiking and going out.  I also threw in my sleeping bag, hiking boots, and trekking poles.  After that I was left with what other entertainment items did I want to bring.  I bought a kindle paperwhite so that had reading materials covered, other than that I brought my DVD collection, and my personal laptop.  

~And that has made all the difference.~

A Little Bit of This and A Little Bit of That

I got really behind in doing this blog.  Between my trip to Europe, packing for my move to Africa, and actually moving to Africa, this kind of fell to the way side.  I will starting going through some of the process later.

But I have officially moved to Africa kind of.  I am about five weeks into a two month visit to Africa.  As part of my job, I get to attend several training schools over my first three years.  My first training school that starts in about 3 weeks is in Abu Dhabi, UAE .  Before this I spent my first week of employment at a training course in Paris, France.  On June 15, I will have been working just over three months and have visited three countries on three different continents. 

“How are you enjoying Africa” is the most common question I am asked here.  I am still not sure but my usual response is “Its interesting.”  I have been told by many people that Malabo isn’t your typical African city, but then again this is the only place in Africa I have been too.  I am living out of the Hilton Hotel on the island since it was cheaper to have us stay there rather than get us a staff house.  So I have a maid who cleans my room, three meals a day plus my laundry done for me.  I am getting spoiled. 

Although I have been here over a month, I still haven’t been to a rig yet.  They were just about done drilling a well when I arrived and I need to get my Helicopter Underwater Escape Training (HUET) training done.  Once I got my HUET, drilling has stopped and the one rig that has started drilling again is at max persons on board.  Still on-shore for now but am hoping to get off-shore at the end of the month. Right now my days are just spend doing my computer training and in the stop learning from the techs.

I am going to end here for now but leave you with a sunset picture.

The view from the front door of the office.

~And that has made all the difference.~

Nine things I want to do in Africa

Everyone has a wish list of place and things they would like to do.  I have always had a couple places in Africa that I wanted to visit.  Parts of Africa have always been on my list of places to visit.  Now I am going to get the chance to do more than just take a two week vacation to Africa.  I am going to be a short flight from some of the most amazing places, animals, and locations.

1. Tour Egypt 

Source: Puzzle Puzzle

Egypt is perhaps the one place in the world I want to visit the most.  I have been fascinated by Egyptian history.  From the engineering marvels of the Great Pyramids to the fascinating treasures found in the Valley of the kings, all of parts of the Egyptian civilization are fascinating to me.   I want to ride a camel out to the pyramids, visit the Museum of Egyptian Antiquities, tour the Valley of the Kings, and go SCUBA diving in the Mediterranean and Red Sea.

2. Visit Mosi-oa-Tunya aka Victoria Falls

Source: Wikipedia

Victoria Falls is on the border of Zambia and Zimbabwe.  It is believed that the famed explorer Dr. David Livingston was the first European to view the falls.  The falls are said to be "the smoke that thunders" which is what Mosi-oa-Tunya means. Victoria Falls is the world largest water despite not being the tallest or widest, but it has the largest area of falling water.

3. Watch the Great Migration over the Serengeti 

Source: Wikipedia

Every year, a massive migration of over million zebra, wildebeest and other Serengeti species occurs in Kenya and Tanzania.  This is the largest animal migration in the world.  I want to see the wonder of this phenomenon and see this amazing site.

4. Gorilla Trekking 

Source: Sanctuary Retreats

The only way to see gorilla in there natural habitat is to take a trek though the Africa forest to find a family group.  I want to see both the Mountain and Lowland Gorillas.  There are several places where Mountain Gorrilas can be found Democratic Republic of Congo (currently in the middle of a civil war), Rwanda, Ugnada.  Lowland's can be found in Angola, Cameroon, Central Africa Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Nigeria, Republic of Congo. A trip to mainland EG is in my future.

5. Go White Water Rafting on the Zambezi River

Source: Outside

The Zambezi river is one of the best rivers in the world for whitewater rafting.  Its a 15 mile section of river below Victoria Falls with 23 rapids. It is know for the technically difficult rapids, big drops, and massive holes.

6. Watch the Sardine Run in Southern Africa

Source: Dive Photo Guide

Every year from May to July, million of sardines form shoals (that nasty little fish that comes in a can and you wonder who actually eats) that move north along the coast of South Africa.  The sardine run is so large that it can be seen on satellites.  This concentration of sardines attack large quantities of predators including sharks, dolphins, seals, and birds.

7. Climb Mt. Kilimanjaro 

Source: Wikipedia

Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania  is the tallest mountain in Africa and the tallest free-standing mountain in the world. Kilimanjaro is 19,341 feet tall and is part of the Seven Summits and Volcanic Seven Summit climbing challenges.

8. Cage Dive with a Great White Shark

Yes, I want to dive with the most feared predator of the sea, abet inside a cage.  I might be crazy but I have seen Jaws and Shark Week.  I can't wait to see this amazing creature.

9. Cross the Equator in a Ship

Source: Wikipedia

I am not exactly sure why I want to this, but I do know I want to.  Since air travel became common few people cross the equator via ship, so I think it would be fun to get to.