The first half of February 2005 - Week one of class, then a birthday soiree with the ladies
Headed out of Muscat with Ali, bound for Paris; at least we thought we were... As usual our flight was due to leave Muscat at ridiculous o'clock at night. When we finally arrived at our boarding gate lounge we were told that our flight was delayed an hour: need I say that we were travelling with Gulf Air - the bus with wings. The problem was that we had a 45 minute stop over in Bahrain before our direct flight to Paris, which we'd miss of course if the flight was an hour late. After a phone call or three, it turned out that this wasn't going to be a problem, because the flight out of Bahrain was also running late (yes, it was Gulf Air too).
So Ali and I sat around looking important for another hour before going back to the gate lounge. This time we were told that the delay had been extended by an additional 3 hours, and our flight to Paris evaporated into thin dusty desert air. The lady at the service desk assured us that that wouldn't be a big problem, as they could get us to Paris on a different flight in the next day or so...
Now my trusty Arab travelling companion Ali was at the ready to sort this debacle out, but there was no need for his help; my mum had taught me well... Within an hour Ali and I were on a flight to Dubai, then another to London, followed by a final flight to Paris. We had hand written boarding passes, and no tickets for the flights on which we sat... Day or so my arse!
On the Monday we started our course at the European Learning Centre (ELC) in Melun, about 80km south east of Paris. We ended up doing two separate courses: a one week general course followed by an 8 week technical course. Here are some exciting class room pics.
Here's Samy (that's not his name on the coveralls) in front of the well testing area.
There was an operational oil rig at the training centre. Here's Samy then Sacha on the rig.
At the end of the first week we had a class photo. Here're all the guys.
The second course had some of the same people in it, plus one extra. These were Reda from Algeria (working in Algeria), Sacha from Trinidad (working in Trinidad), Stefano from Italy (working all over Europe and Africa), my trusty partner in crime Ali from the United Arab Emirates (working with me in Oman), Elnur from Azerbaijan (working in Ecuador), me - Katie from Australia (working in Oman), and Guilherme from Brazil (working in Kazakhstan - he's not in the picture above because he didn't do the first week's course).
The first week finished with ease and the weekend arrived! Being a very lucky girl, I had my sensational cousin Ange living nearby in Paris. After living with the camels eating little else but curry for the last hundred years, I was salivating at the thought of eating Paris. Luckily Ange and I are both insatiable gourmets, so we were off to the market!
The market had an indoor section and an outdoor section - similar in setup to the Victoria Market in Melbourne. The indoor section had all the cheese shops, butchers, fish mongers, a couple of organic fruit/veg stalls, an African lady selling very tasty things, a dried goods shop (dried mushrooms and fruits of many descriptions, legumes, nuts, teas, etc...), cured meat shops, sausage shops, fresh made pasta shop, ...., the list goes on........ Luckily Ange spoke enough French to organise a taste of just about everything. It was a gastronomic orgasm, and the pair of us partook with gusto!
Here's me just inside the entrance to the indoor section. I'm infront of the dried goods shop, which also sells about a dozen different fresh tepanades and some fiery harissa.
I took this picture for Bradley and Tracy - they're garden variety carnivores. The butcher I'm standing in front of has a whole suckling pig roasting on a spit in the oven beside me. Bradley and Tracy would have braved high seas and paddled to France in a canoe if they'd smelled that rotisserie roasted suckling pig!
After waddling out of the indoor part of the market we queued up for some of the best organic bread in the world before making our way through the outdoor fresh fruit and vegie stalls. Needless to say I bought enough to feed half of France for a month.
After the market we hauled our load back to Ange's house where Bec was awaiting her birthday treats! Bec is a close friend of Ange's who was on holidays here in Paris for a week. Bec works at a legal firm in Melbourne which has been overrun by a hoard of Callanans and their cronies.
Being a ladies' event, we started the festivities on Ange's bed with a selection of French cheeses, breads, tapenades and music. It was the finest of three girl parties until Sabrina (the woman Ange lives with) arrived bearing a bottle of French champagne. How opulent - a four girl French champagne birthday party on Ange's bed in Paris! Here are the four princesses - from left to right there's Sabrina, Bec, me and Ange.
Out came the crystal champagne flutes (clearly visible in the picture below), and we charged our glasses and our strawberries to a hearty call of, "up yours!" - Ange's favorite toast for all occasions. Bec soon discovered that Ange, Sabrina and I had left no stone unturned in the afternoon celebrations. To her surprise we had a specially designed French style lady's birthday cake at the ready.
Bec was so impressed; she called for another round of that bubbly stuff...
