Ramblings Part 1 - Food

On the importance of food:
This may sound like a very guy thing to talk about, but I invite you think about the role of food and dining in you life. I believe that shared meals with co-workers, friends, and family is in some way fundamentally to proper societal and psychological well being.

Humans are social by nature, even the most introverted of us fall somewhere on a spectrum in the need for social interaction.  Putting aside the obvious fact, digesting of proteins, carbohydrates, vitamins, et al is essential to human life, meals become a key way of said interaction. I have noted that in my conversations with friends and family back in the states, one of the first questions asked is, "How is the food?" When talking with other expatriates, one of the initial conversation pieces are about good place to dine. In talking with the locals, they want to know what you think about their national food, and what you like from your home country. All this could be because people are just trying to be polite and make small talk, but I think there is more to it. I propose that food is more than just nourishment, but a societal ingredient for a better life. 

Note: When eating one is usually more relaxed and therefore perhaps more willing to converse about controversial issues without getting overly worked up.    

Over a meals the topics I have discussed or listened to in the last 2 months have been incredible. The three no-no topics of politics, religion, sex, as well as literature, art, music, food and drink, etc have been discussed. The meal is a place to kick back in relax. Here lunch break is 2 hours long and after a day at work, dinner can take that long as well. However conversation over the meal leads to informing and sharping you own thoughts and opinions. It challenges you to think critically about how you understand yourself and how you perceive the world around you. Stimulating dinner conversation also drives you to be a better informed person, and how to express yourself confidently and boldly. It takes intellectual/metal courage at times to talk about the sticky subjects. Doing this with a steak, a side of vegetables, and a glass of wine just seems to help the whole evening be enjoyable. Meals then are important, and to be taken seriously.

When you have dinner, have it with a friend and don't rush off for the next tv episode or football game. That is all for now.    

A Long time in Coming

Well, it has been a while. So much as happened since I last wrote a blog entry that I might end up writing up several different post and putting them up over the next couple of days. Slash that, I am going to write several in the next couple of days. I wrote this first one when I was offshore in West Africa. When working the night tour (pronounce like ‘tower’) you have time to write some things, especially when in normal operations and you can look up and keep track of signals while still typing.

Where to start….

France:

On Sunday the 8^th of July I landed in Paris and took a bus out to the hotel that Schlumberger had booked for those of us going through are initial introduction and training. That first day I meet many of my fellow new hires from around the world, well mainly Europe, Africa, and several of us Americans. The following morning we all boarded a bus and drove 45 minutes through the French country side south of Paris to the training school. Throughout the week, the 50 of us went to class, used the coffee machine a ton, and went to dinner back near the hotel in the evening. We were quickly recognized as the SLB group at a couple of restaurants, which where frequented because of the good food/ price ratio. 

Sunday the 15^th we were given the day off and my roommate (a fellow American) and I took the subway system into Paris to go exploring! For 15 euro we got a day pass to the subway, went to town. We first got off near Norte Dame, and walked along the river to the cathedral. Talk about busy, we decided that we were going to just take photos from the outside and not bother trying to get in. We then walked down into the Latin Quarter for me to exchange some of my US money into euro and find lunch. The Latin Quarter was super legit! Many of the streets were for walking only as they were so narrow. The shops were bustling, and seeing as it was lunch time, the air was filled with the aroma of fantastic food. After stopping in at a Starbucks for free WiFi for our phones, we continued on back to the Luve, which we did not go in, and walked around the glass pyramids, down the gardens, to the beginning of the Champs Elysees. From there, we zigzagged our way back and forth over the river on some very ornate bridges until we decided to continue up the Champs Elysees towards De Truimphe de Arce. After taking some more photos, we walked over towards the Eiffel Tower. The tower is a very easy way to reference were one is at on the city streets. We were doing all this walking with coming to the corner of the streets, locating the tower and deciding which way to turn. It was great. The Eiffel tower is truly a wonder of the world! Walking underneath it and around it makes one feel overwhelmed and in awe of the impressiveness of the architecture and human inspiration.  At this point in the afternoon, we decided that since we didn’t want to wait in the incredibly long lines at any of the attractions we had been to in the main tourist part of the city that we would go up to the highest point in the city. While this spot was visited by tourist, on this Sunday afternoon there were plenty of Parisians there as well. Sainte Scouer is a dome cathedral built on the high point in the city. In pre-Christian times, this was the sight of Druid worship. As the early Christian missionaries brought the faith to the franks, this in turn became the sight for one of the earliest churches in what would become Paris. You can even see some of the older church structures around the cathedral. This church is a literal example of the defeat of the “gates of Hades”, I love it. This Church was spectacular and the lines were practically non-existent! We walked up the hill from the tube-station and got to the church at the end of the late afternoon mass. As we walked in they were singing the closing hymns, and the bells were ringing. After walking around the interior and admiring the ornamentation and grandeur we paid the 5 euro and walked the several hundred steps up to the top of the domes. Wow. From the vantage point of the highest point in the city and the late afternoon sunlight you could see many of the sight and landmarks of Paris, including the La Defense building we had been to on Friday. By the time we finished spending time at the cathedral is was early evening and we decided to take the tube back out to the outskirts of the suburbs of the city to our hotel and call it a day. We got back about 10 pm in the evening (we made a pit stop and spent about an extra hour or more getting back. It was a fantastic day.

West Africa:

Disclaimer, due to the nature of where I work this shall be brief and delicate. I flew from France on the 17^th of July and landed in the city that I will be calling home for the next couple of years. It is the rainy season here in West Africa and as we flew through the clouds into the airport I took my first glimpse of the steaming jungle. After going through customs and retrieving my bags, a driver took me to the SLB base where I was introduce to the site. As I write and post this as of September 2^nd I have been both offshore and on land at the base. My time has been filled with training, shop time, online quizzes, and learning the basic of my job. I really do enjoy work and enjoy the people I have met so far. That is all for this one.

"The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page." ~ Saint Augustine