We are meeting the New Year in Planga, Lithuania. It is a nice seaside resort. Ruta met up with some of her friends and we are all staying in the same guesthouse. The party for tonight is being arranged right now. Sofia is out for a walk building a snow-person (we do not have a carrot).
To all, we send out best wishes for the new year.
Singapore night view
Slowly adjusting to a new country, new people. It has been about 20 days since we have arrived and the change was pretty easy on us. Singapore is not a bad place. Everyone speaks English and is polite. The country is safe and clean. This is exactly what every single expat will tell you. And the way they say it is the same among all of them. They say in unison “I love Singapore…” then they look down or look away and then repeat the bullshit about English and how clean it is. This politeness is so annoying. Why can’t anyone say that they hate it and they are counting down the days of their assignment?
The only reason I am not counting days is that I do not know how long I have to stay here. Ruta is busy taking care of Sofia and at the same time publishing her research and doing translations. Sofia is just busy. My new job is technically an office job with one small exception. My new job title is Manufacturing Engineer - Foundry. This will be addressed in next posts.
We have a long weekend coming up so there will be new posts. This blog has been neglected for too long.
We have made a move to Singapore. Flew here from US on Friday and started out accustomization period. Our temporary home is in a full service apartment very close to Orchard St. – the shopping center of Singapore.
Usually at this point I would form an opinion of a new city but for Singapore I will reserve my judgment and get better acquainted with the environs. Monday is my first day at work and to get there I am taking a taxi. The trip will take me across most of the island, from the shopping and business center to the industrial outskirts. After the first couple of days it is going to be subway commuting for me all the way.
Ruta and Sofia will have a lot more to say about the move to Asia.
Today is my 52nd day in Moomba. I arrived here in the end of May and have been stuck here since. Things have slowed down a bit over the past two weeks so I have been doing some data entry and taking care of the base and workshop.
Task of the day today is to start moving everything from our stores to another room so we can do some redecorating and interior design and then move everything back. Oh things we do in idle times….
Yesterdays post came true. I was literally taken of the airplane with about ten minutes left before the departure. My boss said that he forgot to notify me earlier that I need to stay in the field for 10 more days. What a shitty habit to wait until the last minute to deliver bad news. Why cant managers be upfront with people? Ruta and Sofia are spending last two days in Perth with friends, having a farewell party and shopping for presents.
Today I hope to be on a plane from Moomba to Adelaide and then on to Perth. There is no certainty of leaving Moomba until one is back home. Then, you can be sure that there will not be a last minute call or notice that your flights have been changed for you and another week in the field is ahead. As they say I will believe it when I see it.
Ruta is leaving me on the 27th. She is not really leaving me :-) she is leaving Australia We have a complicated schedule of flights ahead of us. The plan is to meet in Florida and complete a round the world trip between us. She will be flying west over Eurasia and Atlantic and I will fly over Australia, Pacific and North America.
My Australian visa is being extended so I can return to work after a visit to US. Ruta will spend some time in US and then fly home to resume work and become a guru in alternative medicine.
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This Monstriukas was looking at me from the outside ;-)
Yesterday there was a sand storm and today the weather is beautiful. 30C and no humidity feels like 23C. Today tickets to New Zealand were purchased. We are leaving on the 18th for two weeks. Again it looks like we will go with minimal preparation but that is becoming our style. Orientiruemsia na meste.
Time to reflect on our short trip from Sydney to Melbourne. Tickets were purchased one day before departure. Packing was hasty but being experienced vagabonds we omitted nothing of importance. We decided to camp as much as possible along the way and with this directive a tent was purchased.
At noon on Monday we were in Sydney. A word of warning, spending more then a day in Sydney is waste of time. Get your picture taken in front of the Opera and the Harbor Bridge and get out. In the morning we got out on the road and in our compact rental we did not look back. In front lay 1200km of driving through picturesque costal national parks, beach camping, and wineries. Ruta was the navigator and took us to the coolest parks and campsites. Sofia requested that we stop at every playground that she saw along the way and if that was not to her liking reparations were to be paid in ice cream. Daily ritual was supplemented by stops to swim in the Tasman Sea and the Pacific.
It was a week prior to Australia Day (day Oz was claimed for Britain) and campsites were full of vacationing families but we always managed to find a spot for our tent. Ruta found some really remote campsites on the beaches where we could dine sitting on the dunes and sleep on soft sand.
Over five days we made our way to Melbourne but before we got to the city a pleasant discovery waited for us. There are hundreds of wineries in South Australia and some of the more interesting ones laid in out way. We stayed away from the modern glass and steel wine factories and found some gems. One place was marked only on a local map and was described as a converted barn. Naturally we had to find it. What a surprise, the owner/winemaker was poring the wine, food was great and the outdoor tables were setup on the edge of the vineyard.
Melbourne has distinctly different and more pleasant feel then Sydney. Streets are filled with smiling people milling about. Shops and bars are wide open and the festive mood is palpable. If Sydney is New York then Melbourne is San Francisco.
We have had some lovely weather lately. Perth has a few days of 40+ and in Moomba today is 55C. The work is supposed to stop on the rigs at about 49C but bugger me if it does. They do not have a thermometer just so they do not know.
Couple of day ago there was a bunch of moths that just came out of nowhere. Flapping about at night they made getting in to workshop very unpleasant. Walking under the light sounded like the ground was covered by bubble wrap. In the morning all the moths were dead and the stench was vile. Parrots had a feast though and later they shat on everything. Apparently moths are hard to digest. Just a mess any way you look at it…
Honestly, there is not much to see in Australia. It is a country for the young and adventuresome. To really get satisfaction from visiting you need to go snorkeling in Great Barrier Reef, go crocodile hunting, rent a 4X4 and drive across the desert, may be learn how to surf. These are the only things worth visiting Australia for. Try to avoid: all urban areas, Uluru, Allice Springs, Coober Pedy, visiting aboriginals (bastards are always drunk), trying to find opal.
I have neglected to make any posts in the past four months. In my defense there have been numerous things going on often concurrently. Here is an abbreviated summary.
In October-November I attended a work related six week school in Abu Dhabi. The school was interesting but six weeks in Abu Dhabi is just too long. One day would be plenty in this shit hole. UAE is a nasty place devoid of any character. Twenty years ago there was nothing out there but some goat herding nomads. In the present nothing has changed. There is nothing to see, do, discover, learn, appreciate, love… The only redeeming feature is that it is worm there during winter. But there are many other places in the world without snow in January so go some place else.
For six weeks the only thought on my mind was that Ruta and Sofia were coming to Australia. Back in Perth Ruta met me at the door and it is difficult to describe the happiness after we have not seen each other in five months. Sofia has grown so much and started speaking some Lithuanian.
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My six week class in Abu Dhabi has been postponed to October 5. Several things came out of this. Instead of traveling to the Emirates I would have the fortune of spending a long weekend in Perth. On Friday the very ambitious plans were afoot. Should I rent a car for three days and then drive to some remote beach or national park and camp? Or should I take a ferry to Rottnest Island off the coast of Perth? Oh no, instead Saturday would be wasted aimlessly wandering around Central Business District of Perth. My ambitions as well were downgraded to finding a good bag that could withstand hardships of field travel.
Having wasted Saturday in consumer pursuits the need was felt to do something more fulfilling then shopping for a bag. So on Sunday I took a ferry from Perth to Fremantle. What a great experience!!! That was definitely the best $20 spent in Australia. The ferry moves at over 20knots along the Swan River to the point where it flows in to Indian ocean in the port of Fremantle. The trip takes about 40 minutes. The day was beautiful and the weather sublime. Cool wind on the water and warm sun on your face.
There are 13 sail clubs in Perth and it seemed that all their members were on the water. Ferry, being much faster then and of the sail boats was constantly dodging amateur sailors who probably took their boat for a shakedown for the first time this season. It seems that locals prefer to stay indoors if the outside temperature is less then 24 degrees. So now, when temperature hovers around 25 deg C, they say the spring is here. Can’t wait to see what the summer will be like.
Freemantle is a charming port city with some interesting history that I did not care to learn. Another great investment turned out to be $12 for a generous portion of fish and chips wrapped in an oily paper. Sprinkled with some salt and vinegar this goodness was consumed so quickly that I did not have time to take a picture of this mound of golden perfection. Now my quest could focus on finding some local beer to satiate thirst that developed deep inside, perhaps where soul is hiding.
At this point the path veered from the port and in to the city. What I can compare Freemantle is Key West. There is one main drag with all the souvenir and junk shops and all the tourists circulate along it. Although Key West is more decadent and fun (drunk) Fremantle as well has some nice places to relax. Perhaps the fact that Freemantle, or Freo, has more dignity then Key West is because Freo is a fairly busy port whereas K.W. is just a tourist destination.
