What's New With Me

Already 16 days done this hitch. Its gone by fast, because we've been really busy in the QC office. This is because we are collecting data from an area that is covered in sand dunes. Usually all the geophones and vibration points are laid out in a nice grid, but when there are sand dunes, things get shifted all over the place. The QC office has to keep track of that.

I'm working with a QC I haven't worked with before. His name is Atila and he's from Ankara, the capital of Turkey. He's worked seismic for many years. He just came back to work after a 4 year retirement. It was a fun coincidence that I was coming from Turkey at the beginning of this hitch. We've chatted a bit about Turkish politics, food and nargila. I showed him some of my pictures.

Atila and Jamiil, another Turkish guy on the crew will sit outside at night and drink tea from water glasses and talk. Its a very Turkish thing to do. A few of these nights I and a few others have joined them. We sit at the edge of camp, looking out at miles and miles of nothingness, and our conversation jumps from Turkish to English to Arabic and back.

In other news, we have a camp move coming up. Again, we will be picking up all 20 some trailers and moving them to a location 15 kilometers west of here. As a result our camp will be closer to some sand dunes....hopefully with in running distance!

I've been running a fair amount. Yesterday I ran along an oil pipeline that passes by our camp. A few days ago I tried to run to some industrial construct I can see off in the distance from camp. I think it’s a petroleum storage tank or something like that. I didn't make it there yesterday, but I'll try again. Instead I changed my path to visit a rusty old barrel sitting alone in the middle of nowhere. It must have been sitting there for years, and it had served as a trashcan to an occasional passer-by. I was told later that these barrels sometimes mark absolute coordinate points for differential GPS calibration...or something like that. I've also been seeing some camel tracks while running, and some fresh looking camel droppings. I've yet to see an actual camel near camp this since we moved here 4 months ago, but this gives me hope.

Flipflops Confiscated

Browsing the front page of the newspaper this morning, I read that 600 pairs of Oman flip-flops were confiscated. They had the Sultanate of Oman's flag on them and it was insulting for people to be wearing this on their feet. Islam has a thing with feet.

An article from the Oman Tribune reads...

Insulting products confiscated
By Suleiman Ambusaidi

--Citizens praise Oman Tribune and Al Watan for exposing brazen disrespect to national identity

MUSCAT The expose published in Oman Tribune and Al Watan on Wednesday on products which carry images of the Sultanate’s name and flag insultingly evoked a unanimous reaction from citizens and officials. They consider it an irresponsible deed and a shameless violation of the sanctity of our national symbols.

In phone calls received by Oman Tribune and Al Watan, a number of citizens expressed their anger and wanted the authorities to move swiftly to cleanse the markets of these products and punish those who promote them....

A Link to the Article

Oman is a strange place.

Trip Pictures and Food

Back in Oman working. One of our main computers crashed twice today, completely out of the blue. Grrrr. So, thats all I want to say about that.

On a happier note:
My favorite 25 pictures from the trip
Georgia's blog entry devoted to what we ate

Greece, Germany and Turkey

I'm back on crew after a whirlwind of a vacation. I spent time in Salalah, Athens, Santorini, Munich, and Istanbul. I ate delicious food, saw ancient buildings, swam at beautiful beaches, got lost, participated in a Turkish political rally, went shopping, saw a volcano, and more. Between me and Georgia we have over 1000 pictures. I have to stop myself from trying to include everything in this blog because that would be way too much writing.

So instead I'll just give a few highlights:

At the red sand beach in Santorini, me and Georgia goading each other into swimming in our underwear despite the fact that that required stripping down in front of several hikers and tourists. I gave in after getting my jeans completely soaked because I had convinced myself I was "just going wading". The water was clear and beautiful, full of anemonies and fish with a backdrop of red cliffs. While swimming we found a naked man sunbathing in a hidden spot between some big rocks. He was older, a local of Santorini, and had a bushy beard. He offered us his extra towel and told us to watch out for sea urchins.



Wandering around in Munich by myself on an unusually cold day. As I wandered through Odeonsplatz in old town Munich, I found a small band playing an excellent rendition of Louie Armstrong's "Mack the Knife" right in front of the beautiful baroque-style Theatinerkirche. It was weird to hear this in the middle of Bavaria, and played by older German men. But it was good-wierd. Afterwards they continued to play more bluesy jazz, which I looove. I got a cappachino and stood there listening for quite a while. It started snowing.



Matt's first day in Istanbul. Going with Seray and her boyfriend, Erim, to a nargila bar (nargila = hookah = waterpipe). Afterwards we went ate mezes (like Spanish tapas) and sipped Raki, an anise flavored alcohol which is a Turkish specialty. Matt got Seray and Erim talking about Turkish current events. We discussed the Islamic influences of the current ruling party, troubles with Kurdish separatists and whether Turkey will invade northern Iraq.

Me and Georgia dragging Carolyn to the Cemberlitas Hamami, a traditional Turkish bath house, where you have to be... NAKED!! Once we got there we were all a little nerveous, walking around in towels, not sure exactly where to go. I'll never forget my first glimpse of the main bathing room. The door creaked open and I saw what looked like a pile of large naked butts and saggy breasts covered in sudds and surrounded by steam. Intimidating. Though, after the initial shock, it was a very nice experience. The bath house was a beautiful 400 year old building. After getting sweaty in the steam room I was washed by my personal attendant. Then I moved on to a full body massage and a clay facial mask.



Me and Matt on the last day. After admiring ancient graffiti in the 1500 year old Aya Sophia, we got a delicious plate of fried anchovies and some Turkish tea from a tiny cafe that was run out of a tent. We were on the banks of a harbor right off the Bosphorous Strait, next to a fish market. The sounds of people haggling for fish in Turkish really set the mood.

Arriving at 10pm in Muscat from Istanbul. Naturally, feeling sad that my vacation was over. I had to wake up at 6am for my next flight, but before going to the hotel, I had to stop by the office to pick up a few things. However, in the office, there just happened to be three of my four Sheesha buddies who I wrote of before. I had one last night of fun with them. We went an Omani coffee shop and smoked both apple and rose sheesha. We ate delicious filafel sandwiches and drank black tea with a sprig of fresh mint in it. Add a small spoon of sugar and that is the most delicious drink I've ever tasted. Three hours of sleep was more than enough.

To Carolyn, Georgia, Randi, Selin, Seray, and Fatt: I had a wonderful time with you! Thanks for coming...or thanks for being there. I miss you already!

And a shout out to Seray: Thank you so much for letting us stay at your apartment and for feeding us and taking time off and showing us around Istanbul. It was absolutely wonderful. I can't wait to come back!

Well that is enough writing for now! I intend to have pictures posted soon. In the meantime, you can see some of Georgia's pictures.