Co-Ed

Unlike my previous job where I had the privilledge of having my own toilet in my own room, all the privacy to run around naked in the toilet have been ripped off for this one. Because the only available toilets and bathrooms on this rig are the ones allocated on each floor and they are all CO-EDS. Which means I’m sharing it with the guys on board. Or vice versa.

 

This is the toilet on my floor. Which is also located right in front of my room.

To enter the toilet, we need to use the 1st door. And from there, to go into the shower rooms, we’ll have to use the second door. The yellow colour at each shower rooms entrance is a curtain. Yes people, curtains. Not doors with locks, but curtains. You imagine la time you tengah mandi and suddenly got people play peek-a-boo with you how? You’ll be caught terang-terang telanjang bulat dengan sabun still kat badan baru tau.

 

*imagine*

 

So how I mandi?

I had to choose the time when nobody’s in the shower rooms, especially during meals because everyone will be busy eating at the galley, and LOCK door no. 2. Luckily it can be locked. Everyday I had to mandi cepat-cepat dalam ketakutan. I always imagine if suddenly ada orang pun nak mandi at that time and when they found out that the door is locked they might try to barge the door open. And what if the lock gave up and suddenly the door opens……………………

 

Ohh, the scare!

 

And then 2 days ago, I woke up late, at 630am. And I had to attend the daily morning meeting which starts at 7am everyday. 30 minutes to mandi and siap-siap. Mana cukup! Belum lagi nak tunggu shower room tu kosong, nak cari shower room kat floor lain yang kosong, nak buka baju dalam tandas, nak menyabun, mengshampoo, berus gigi, cuci muka, cuci segala-galanya, pakai baju balik dalam tandas. It takes time ok! Bukan mudah menjadi perempuan I tell you. Bukan mudah menjadi perempuan kerja dalam field lelaki ni I tell you.

 

But never mind all that, Pattirmina kuat, I can do it!

You know what I did?

1. I went to the shower room, check if there’s anyone in the shower room. ADA.
2. Then I went out pergi medic room, because there’s a toilet in the medic room that I can use. And the medic mmg dah offer hari tu. BUT it’s locked. The medic went down for breakfast la I think.
3. Went back to the shower room and still ada orang. But everyone tengah mandi belakang curtains in each shower room tu.
4. And that’s when I saw one empty room.
5. I MAIN BELASAH JUST GO INSIDE AND MANDI.
6. Whilst I was taking my bath, I can hear the other guys yang turut mandi in the other shower rooms ber-dehem, buang kahak lah, buang hingus la. Sungguh garau the sounds ok.
7. And then I also had the urge to ber-dehem, buang kahak and buang hingus. And that’s when all the berlakon skills I learnt in school dramas came in handy. I ALSO BER-DEHEM, BUANG KAHAK AND BUANG HINGUS DENGAN BUNYI YANG SUNGGUH GARAU.
8. So garau until no one realize that actually ada seorang perempuan mandi kat situ.
9. After I’m done, I changed into my clothes and ssshhhiiaaaahhhh (bunyi curtain diselak), then I went out of the shower room.

Lucky me (again), semua orang pun masih mandi di belakang curtains. Fffiiuuuhhhh~ No one saw me going in and out. HOHOHO *victory laugh*

 

I managed to mandi and went to the morning meeting on time. Then when I told my roomate about it, she said, “Laaaa, tak payah la mandi sebelum meeting tu. Cuci muka and berus gigi je. Habis meeting baru mandi, sebab masa tu tak ramai orang.”

 

And she’s right. No one uses the shower room after the morning meeting.

Gara-Gara Internet

The day I arrived the rig for my second job, the first thing that I heard from the personels on board is “Arrrgggghhh, sucks giler ok takde internet nih. Macam mana nak anta report ke darat? Wuwuwu~”

Ok, they didn’t exactly go wuwuwu~ la. It’s just how I’d say it if it was me. Hehehe.

Anyways, they have not been able to access the internet since Friday because of some certain technical difficulties. The thing is that, life on the rig would be crazy boring when internet is taken away from us. Apart from eat work eat sleep, what else can we do to entertain ourselves?

Yeah, there are pool tables and a gym on the rig but, still. INTERNET WOULD BE SO MUCH BETTER. Because with it, we can connect to the people we love on shore.

The technichians came on board yesterday to fix it. I can see that the guys were very anxious to have the internet fixed. I joined them in the anxiety too. Everyone can’t wait to get their hands on MSN Messenger, Skype, YM, Facebook, Emails and etc.

They were like “Cepatlah. Cepatlah. Cepatlah. Dah tak sabar lagi ni.”

As soon as the internet were fixed (finally), everyone went quite and seated nicely with their eyes focused on the laptop screen. It was a funny sight I tell you.

Just look at the amount of the laptop on the table. This is nothing compare to the amount we had when the internet connection had just been resumed. Some even sat on the floor just to go online.

More updates soon.

Destination 2010

JUN 2010!

I’ll be looking forward to meet you.

Current mode: Blissful.

Mowgoby

Mooowwwggghhhooooobbbyyyyyyyy ~!!!

On another note, every Wednesday is Pizza Day here and I hade 3 slices of pizza for lunch today. Ouh, I can see some flabs coming out of my jeans now.

Lady on Board. Aye Aye Captain~!

West Alliance was a great rig to work on! And I enjoyed my 2 weeks stay there, so much that I would love to go again (if the boss permits). Someone told me that this rig is too good for my first job. Well, you know what, I’ll just consider that as my luck ok.

 

It was my first time going offshore. Days before I depart via chopper to the rig, I was filled with mixed emotions. Excited, nervous, anxious and worried that I won’t be able to cope with life offshore. And I just can’t imagine how I am going to go through my days being the ONLY girl on board, working with a bunch of guys in a guy’s field.

 

I.just.can’t.imagine.how.it.would.be.

 

 But alas, it all went well. It was a great experience learning about life offshore and meeting new people from all over the world. For those whose just as blur as me before I set foot on the rig, here’s how life looks like over there.

 

This is the view of the rig floor from the service companies’ office.

 

Meet Phil, the OIM. Because they seldom have ladies on board, the moment he saw me, he went “Oh hello darling! We’re really thrilled to have you on board. Welcome to West Alliance. And come here you pretty lady, I’d like to have a picture with you and have it posted on our blog.”

And yes, he did posted it up on WSA’s blog. Do check it out.

 

Say hello to Andy people.

 He’s the first crew I met once reaching the rig. Well since he’s the Safety Officer there, the moment we landed, he’s responsible to brief us on things that we need to be aware of while on board. Especially since it was my first time.

 

He didn’t expect me to be a Malaysian. “Owh, but you don’t speak like Malaysian. There’s a certain accent there when you speak.”  Hahaha. What accent? Yang ada accent Kayan la.

 

Meet my colleagues. My sifu. My mentor. The people I work together with; Lee and Uncle John.

 

And my so-called-brother Tham Tham. Who polluted my mind with a bunchful amount of so many dirty jokes together with Uncle John. -_-”

 

Now let’s move on to see what happens on the rig, and how people get things done on the rig floor.

This is the rig floor.

 

It’s where our equipments are run and drilled into the well. Look at how messy and dirty it is. Mesti geleng palak my mom tengok anak perempuan sulung dia ni kerja macam ni kan? But thank God, both my parents are being so supportive towards my job. I love you Mommy Daddy!

 

This is how the tubings are being made up to each other, using a torque machine. That’s the roughnecks and the KST crews working together to torque up the tubings.

 

This is the v-door. It is where the equipments are laid down before being picked up by the elevator. Each equipments and tubings have to be checked prior pick up. Perempuan ngegeh dalam gambar itu sedang meng-label sequence tubings yang akan di-pick up.

 

Uncle John again. Thanks for the guidance. You are memang the best lah~!

 

Tea time. We need occassional break once in a while.

 

 Oh and guess what.

This is the only toilet available on the rig floor. And it’s meant for GENTS.

 

 How am I going to pee in that thing?! I can’t pee while I’m standing. Ugghh, a duvet was never designed for girls.

 Either I tahan the urge to pee until I’m off my shift..

 

Or I go all the way down the platform stairs and cross the bridge to the tender..

 

Into the quaters..

 

To my room…

 

Just to pee in the comfort of my own toilet.

And I do that not just once ok. I had to excuse myself for at least 5 times just to pee. Imagine how sore my legs were having to climb the stairs of the platform, which was not low mind you. The moment I reached the rig floor again, I’d be panthing like orang yang kena asthma. Pheww~

Torturing.

 

The food? Was MARVELOUS. You can eat all you want. As much as you want. As many times as you want. Which caused my weight to increase ONE KG when I measured my weight on the 3rd day.

Die.

 

The crews? They were nice and very helpful. I enjoy talking to everyone there. May it be the people working at the galley, the room boys, the roustabouts, the drillers..ALL of them were very nice to me.

 

All in all, it was a hell of a great experience. And of course, the $$$ at the end of the day was great too.