pursued by "The Heart of Darkness"

I've meaning to read it for years now. I've brought it to work with me many times..this time included. I even read all the critic parts in the edition I have, but I can't get to read it.
Now even Chinua Achebe mentions it in "No Longer at Ease".

I get it, I get it: I should read "The Heart of Darkness"...but not just yet.....

"No Longer at Ease" by Chinua Achebe

This is the second book by Chinua Achebe (Nigerian author) I've read in the last week. As it turns out this is the story of Obi Okonkwo the grand son of the main character in “Things Fall Apart” (I read “Things Fall Apart on December 30^th 2007 so I cannot include it in the Expanding Horizons challenge but my review of it is here).
Even though it was published only two years later this book is written in a totally different style. It actually reads like a western novel with a near linear story line and does not feel at all like a story from a verbal tradition.

The first thing we find out about Obi, in the first few pages, is that he is going to court for accepting bribes as senior government office worker in Lagos. Already we know how this is going to end. This is the end. The rest of the book takes us from the boy sent to England on a loan/scholarship from the people of his village to the young modern man who would never accept a bribe, and in fact very early on in his job refuses one and feels great about it, to a young man who takes financial as well as sexual bribes.

It is hard to really sympathize with Obi because it does seem like he easily feels sorry for himself and easily convinces himself that he has to maintain a certain status. But somehow the sequence of events make sense. They seem absolutely plausible. And when he accept the first bribes the reader cannot be surprised. By that point Obi is in so much financial troubles that it seems nearly like his only chance to make it.

Added later (January 4th): Driving to town today and thinking about it, it occurred to me that in a way the very pride which made Obi so firm in his belief against bribery, is the pride which made him believe that he had to maintain a certain standard of life as senior government officer, which in turn lead him into having to take bribes. Had he not been so strong and proud in his dislike of bribery he might have found himself able to resist it better.

I would recommend this book to anybody who has ever cursed bribery (so that includes me). This book shows how a very honorable person with no intentions of getting caught in that vicious circle can end up giving in. But overall this book does not compare to “Things Fall Apart”, if you are going to read ONE book from Chinua Achebe I would recommend “Things Fall Apart”.

electrical problems

We have electrical problems in our container...one old metal container (one of those that can go at the back of trucks or on trains) which has been transformed into living accommodation. Half of one of those is my office and room at the same time. We have electrical problems!
Two days ago we lost hot water, which you have to admit in this weather is not a huge deal, though well water can be cool, I tell you!
Today I woke up to no power. After my cold shower I went to investigate the power issue and I had to face the fact that it was my air conditioning unit. I normally have it set up at 27C (81F), but today this is not going to be the case. It just will not work.
Now this morning at 6:00am it is 23C (73F) so not too bad yet but we have an absolutely perfect blue sky and the sun on the metal container will drive the temperatures inside to something unbearable. I guess I can look forward to MANY COLD SHOWERS to keep me cool.
The harder part is going to keep the laptop working in the heat.

It is 6:00am and I am already grumpy! Right now I hate my job!

Either conversations from hell or a bad comedic play

Bits of conversations with one of the guy from the rig (my job):

Me: "I assumed you had released those guys."
Him: "I assumed you had. Why did you assume I had done it? You should never assume anything!"
---------
Him: "Yes, you should never call the IT department this is not your job. But I don't understand why you didn't call them this afternoon, you should have called them. Do I have to do everything myself? I thought I was surrounded by adults here"
-------------
After he orders a BBQ for the rig for New Years Eve but told the kitchen that we didn't need the actually barbecue, just the food, while in fact we have no barbecue... And after he left the rig and the rig move proceeded very smoothly without him, the only thing wrong was that we have no food because he tried to treat us to some BBQ and now he is embarrassed because he invited other people. "I have to do everything myself. If I don't do it everything goes to shits! Look at this I go for one day and nothing is right"
----------
Him: "As long as communication works for ME I am happy"
----------
Him: "You don't need to be shy around me. You can say what you want."
Me: "I'm not shy, I just don't like to get f***ed over twice in a row, that's not the same thing."
Him: "No need to talk to me that way"
-----------
Me: "I just received instructions about the mud composition. I was asked to check that you have the same?"
Him: "why?"
Me: "Well, we are on the same well, we should be doing the same thing."
Him: "who said the mud composition had to be this?"
Me: "Nobody, my boss asked me to check that you had the same instructions"
I check his program it says the same.
Me: "you have the same, good"
Him: "who wrote this program Does it come from geology?"
Me: "I don't know who writes it." (not true but...)
Him: "F**k, Why do they want this?"
Me (even though I know) : "I don't know"
Him: "Before I do something I like to know why"
Me: "Why are we setting casing at XXX metres?"
Him: "I don't know"
Me: "Are you going to do it not knowing why?"
Him: "Yes"
Me: "So what about the mud? Are you going to do it not knowing why?"
Him: "No, I need a f***ing letter"
Me: "Ok. I'll get somebody to write one for you"
Him: "No, I'll ask over the phone"
Me: "Ok, all I ask is: could you please let me know what the answer is? If the mud
composition is a problem we need to give town time to sort it out"
Him: "why do they want this?"
Me: "Thank you gentlemen" (there another guy sitting through all this, sitting quietly)
----------

This is it folks, this is my job!!!!!!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everybody.

I hope you 2008 is the start of a long long series of very good years for all of you.

"Things Fall Apart" by Chinua Achebe

This book tells the story of Okonkwo, a man from the Umofia area of Nigeria. Thanks to his hard work and determination he is now a rich and well respected man with three wives even though he was born in a very poor family. His father, Unoka, was a lazy man who died in shame and with many unpaid debts. Okowkwo's greatest fear is of being, or seeming, weak and lazy like his father. Okonkwo is a strong man who leads his family with an iron fist. He refuses to show any feelings which do not demonstrate strength. He fights against what he reads as sign of laziness in Nwoye, his eldest son. Okonkwo cannot respect any weakness and cannot show any fairness to anybody with weaknesses. He has a very volatile temper and angers easily. His family fears him and knows that if he is angry he will find an excuse to vent his anger. In one particular instance he ends up beating his second wife accusing her of having killed a banana tree when in fact she has only cut a few leaves to wrap food.

With Okonkwo’s family leaves a young boy Ikemefuna who was born in another village but was given to Okonkwo’s village as part of a payment for a young woman who was murdered. Now Ikemefuna belongs to the village. Three years after his arrival in Okonkwo's home the oracle announces that Ikemefuna has to be killed. Okonkwo is told to make sure that he has not part in the killing since Ikemefuna is like a son to him and calls him “father”. But as things happen because of his fear of appearing weak Okonkwo ends up being the man killing Ikemefuna.

Because the book is written in a story telling style and because it seems to be more a gathering of different stories about or around Okonkwo than a linear accurate recounting of events sometimes it can be a little frustrating. I wish I knew more about the consequences of Ikemefuna’s death…. Or maybe there are no consequences worth mentioning.

The book is split into three parts, at the end of part I Okonkwo kills a young man of his clan in an accident and has to leave the clan for seven years.

The second, very short, part is a brief account of the seven years in exile but only really tells us about some major events in the areas, and really tells us nothing of what happens to Okonkwo. It tells us how in this second year of exile Obierika, his friend, comes to tells him the story of the first white man seen in the area and how this resulted in one of the nine villages of Umofia to be exterminated. Then two years later the missionaries come. Even Nwoye’s, Okonkwo’s eldest son, conversion to Christianity is not really explained.

The third part start once the seven years of exiles are over and tells the story of Okonkwo confrontation with the white man when he returns to his village after his exile.

The rhythm of the writing, the style of both the writing and the stories is very different from western novels. As much as it was frustrating sometimes, it was also very pleasant. I like to be told stories and this book told me a few stories, taught me a few things about Nigeria and I enjoyed it. I much preferred the first part to the other two and only the third part made the second part palatable to me. The ending was foretold as soon as a white man showed up and right there I nearly stopped reading. But in this unavoidable end Chinua Achebe adds something more than just the well known history of colonization. He adds something about humans, about how they cope, or do not cope, how they view themselves. It is for each reader to decide who actually “coped” because there is no way for anybody to be right in this story.

All together I would say that this is a good book well worth the read, especially since it is easy to find.

"The Bookseller of Kabul"

After having read the critics of the “heart of Darkness” I ended up not reading the actual story. It is not he first time I decide to read it but at the last minute decide not to.

Instead I read “The Bookseller of Kabul” by Asne Seierstad.

The Bookseller of Kabul” is written as a novel and not as a documentary even though the author, who is a woman, writes is the account of what she has either seen or recorded when the member of the family talked to her. The narrative style makes it an easy read which amazing considering the subject.

The book tells the story of one particular family, the family of the bookseller and their life in Kabul the first spring after the Taliban withdrew. Because the author also recorded what the family members told her the book does not limit itself to this particular time period which makes it a lot more interesting. We are not thrown suddenly into a family we know nothing about. The book starts by telling the story of how the bookseller, who is now a grand father, met his wife and proposed. In fact it seems that a lot of the book is about marriage proposals. Mostly it is about the life of women and their interaction with the men in their life, from the patriarch to the suitors. The descriptions of the way women are treated is well done. This is not an account of the mistreatment of women in Afghanistan during the Taliban regime (I first wrote "women in Pakistan" as my mind is more on Ms Bhutto right now and how amazing and brave a woman she was). It is the story of a family and how the mother, the aunt, the daughter, women who feel real to us, live. It tells us how it feels to wear a burka without going into the psychoanalysis of it. I thought it was great to read about how tight it feels around the head and gives a headache, how heavy the material is so that one can smell one's own breath, how the grid effects the vision and makes choosing things like lace impossible, how women are then described as burka (as in a “a pregnant burka”) with shoes and hems. I enjoyed this book and I would recommend it to any woman at all curious to see how other women live.

Benazir Bhutto was killed yesterday

I just found out that Benazir Bhutto was killed yesterday.
Presumably it is all over the news all over the world so you all know about it. But with my limited contact to the outside world I am lagging behind here.

I guess there was really little hope of her making it alive to the elections.
What a terrible thing.
I am not sure why I am blogging about it. There is nothing I want to say in particular about it. I won't pretend that I had followed her life our even her last political campaign.

BBC world news has a lot of articles about her and the events. This is where I got the photo from.

I am dreaming of India

Not much work right now so I am planning a trip to India. The mud engineers here are from India and I am picking at their brains...always the best way to organize a trip.
I want to travel by train, and not the super fancy trains full of tourists drinking gin and tonic, and Darjeeling tea with lemon, but not the super crowded trains either, something in between. The Indian mud engineers are of course the perfect people to ask. They say that I should travel 2AC and try 3AC once Which is 2nd class with Air conditioning and 3rd class with air conditioning...second seating is the lowest possible class and they recommend against it for me). They know me now, they have a pretty good sense of what I want.
They tell me that for about $20 a night I should find a decent hotel, and $10 a day to eat should be fine as long as I eat like "normal" people..."normal" in our conversations means "locals who are not insanely rich but not poor".

I spent much time looking up train ticket and finally found how to book a ticket, and look up everything and anything that you could possibly want to know about rains in India.

I have an itinerary sorted out:

Delhi to Mumbai (Bombay)
Mumbai to Bangalore
Bangalore to Chennai (Madras)
Chennai to Madurai
Madurai to Kanyakumari (the very point of the cape)
Kanyakumari to Coimbatore
Coimbatore to Hyderabad
Hyderabad to Nagpur
Nagpur to Allahabad
Allahabad to Agra
Agra to Jaipur
Jaipur to Delhi
.......................I think this should be a nice trip..........
All together in 2AC class this will cost 11,138 Rupees, or C$280 (C$= Canadian dollars). And to do this comfortably without hurrying I need about 30 days

I should be able to get a plane ticket for about C$2,000. So the secret to lower the cost per day is to stay for a long long time...OR...take a round the world ticket stay one month in India and some time.... couple of weeks?.... in Vietnam visiting with Ben, Samantha and Connor.

Funny the plans are already starting to take shape even before I know when exactly this job is finished....Anyway so far it is just a dream....Sometimes a few years pass between the time I dream up something and the time I do it!

My Christmas day at work in Mozambique

As far as I can tell there isn't much celebration of Christmas in Mozambique. I asked the local workers and apparently it is a party a bit like a week-end party. I would bet that those who normally go to church must go to church on Christmas day, but obviously not at midnight mass since there is no electricity. I am very surprised at this lack of celebrations, but here you are!

Not truly to celebrate but mostly because I have the time I went for a long walk and found an old road. I was nice to walk away form the road we use but not in the actual bush.
I saw quite a few amaryllis. Considering where I saw them I would say that they like organic rich ground and they like the lot of water.
Here is one more amaryllis for you.

Goodbye!

Goodbye Esmeralda!


Goodbye Rose!
Esmeralda stayed true to herself and barely moved for a long time when I put her down...even though she was still healthy. She stayed inside her shell most of the time I had her.
Rose most of the time tried to get out of the box, apart at night when she slept. Neither one ate for the 28 or so hours I had them. I ducked Rose in water several times to keep her as happy as I could, but when I put her on the ground near a puddle (right by a proper real swamp) she right away went in the water and ducked her head under water...I think she drank a little too afterward, or at least she kept her head just above the water surface with maybe her mouth in the water. Then she quickly took off.
I really liked Rose. I was sorry to see them go, but the entire time I had them I mostly worried because they clearly were not going to get use to captivity but I was too busy at work (wireline logging for those who know) and I didn't have time to free them. I wanted to take them far from here and somewhere nice. I think I found a good spot for them. I didn't leave them close to each other since one was a turtle and one is a tortoise.

It is definitely a day of goodbyes as now we know that this is the end of this drilling campaign. Thursday I am taking the night company man (the only one who never let me down though the entire unpleasant series of events) to the airport and he is going home for good. This, then should be my last rotation here. I am surprised at how happy I am about that. I have only been here for a week today and it feels like I have been here for a very long time. I'm ready to go.

Merry Christmas

Ok, it's supposed to be Christmas here.

Merry Xmas....etc etc etc

I am supposed to go to some small Xmas celebration here at the rig. I would rather just dive in an icy river.... keeping in mind that I don't know how to dive and I don't like cold water!

Bark ...yes a all post about bark..tree bark of Mozambique

Close up of another baobab
I just liked the pattern.

Busy complicated tree with a great leaf.

Not very friendly but what great colours and great pattern.

more December vegetation in Mozambique

This is an actual wild Mozambican amaryllis.


And then I found this really weird "bean". It grows on a tree, it just so happens that this particular tree was dead and the branch with these "beans" was on the ground.Same thing with my hand for scale (I have BIG hands)

I haven't seen another tree with those.

Details of some Mozambican trees in December

A baobab tree trunkAnother one. They are very particular. They can be smooth as poplar tree trunks or show deep markings.



A tree....I don't know what kind....I just liked itJust at the end of the blooming season...You'll remember that last time I did not have my camera with me.

Rose and Esmeralda the photo stars

This is Rose, the turtle. She is very cute, fast and spunky.But she has a blinking problem...she blinks when you take her photo...(she doesn't really I am just joking. Honestly what are the odds that she would blink at that moment?!? I only saw it afterward when I downloaded the photos.)

Esmeralda is a tortoise and she slower, more passive and looks totally different. She .....the gender things is just entirely made up, I have no idea .....so I was saying...she looks totally different from Rose. I should say that I do not mean to suggest that tortoise are always slower than turtles. I have no way of knowing that.
I love Esmeralda's eyes.
And she already has had a rough life as the scar on her shell shows.

turtle or tortoise?

So here it is, the difference between TURTLE and TORTOISE:

Taken directly from http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-the-difference-between-a-turtle-and-a-tortoise.htm

"In a biological respect, a tortoise is a kind of a turtle, but not all turtles are tortoises. Tortoises occupy their own taxonomic family, called testudinidae. All types of land and aquatic turtles come in a wide range of sizes, colors, and shapes. Sometimes the name "terrapin" refers to those animals that fall somewhere between a turtle and tortoise, because they live in swampy areas or begin life underwater and eventually move to dry land.

Turtles may live in freshwater, the ocean, or brackish ponds and marshland. Their front feet might be fins or merely webbed toes with streamlined back feet to help them swim. Turtles have flatter backs than tortoises, and may spend all or part of their lives underwater. They mate and lay eggs underwater or on the shore. Some turtles sun themselves on logs, rocks, or sandy banks. During cold weather, they burrow in mud and go into torpor, a state similar to hibernation. Sea turtles migrate great distances. They are more often omnivorous, eating plants, insects, and fish.

Tortoises live entirely above water, only wading into streams to clean themselves or to drink. In fact, they could drown in deep or swift current. Their feet are hard, scaly, and nubby so it can crawl across sharp rocks and sand. Tortoises often have claws to dig burrows, which they occupy during hot, sunny weather or during sleep. Tortoises are mostly herbivorous, eating cactus, shrubs, and other plants that have a lot of moisture. They rarely migrate. Their shell forms a rounded dome, allowing the tortoise's limbs and head to withdraw for protection."

And that confirms my suspicions: I have one turtle and one tortoise!

more turtle stories

I just "bought" myself two turtles....actually probably one turtle and one tortoise..... I'm not sure.
Both are quite small, just babies really. I haven't decided on their names yet.
They cost me one shirt and one T-shirt. The kid decided what he wanted for them. He said he wanted clothes. He didn't say what or how many. He was a fairly small kid so it was a little tough but I picked my smallest shirt and my smallest T-shirt. I had no pants that would even remotely fit him. He seemed happy about it. I just hope I don't get a steady flow of turtles delivered to me from now on!
There is one dark one with a flat nose, and one brown and yellow one ... just like in the like pictures...same species as far as I can tell.

They are in a cardboard box on my desk with lots of grass and leaves so they can hide but the little dark one (the one I call a turtle) is restless... She wants out...She is going to have to wait a couple of days!!!

I will let them go pretty quickly. I am just curious and want to see them eat and sleep etc.

Photos to come soon!!!

turtles

The turtles are out

Turtles in Portuguese are called "Tartaruga".


This one wasn't as shy.

and it was FAST!! whose ever heard of fast turtles before?!?!?