Project trip...with photos

When engineers and architects want to build something, they generally want to look at where something will be built, and test the soils. This looking was the purpose of last week. I traveled with the interns and 2 permanent staff to north-western Costa Rica. We were joined by 10 other professionals from the US and Canada. My official role was assistant structural engineer, but I did alot of other things; like literally eat some dirt when conducting a soil analysis. Just so you know it was gritty and floury which suggested it was a silty clay. Not my favorite dish in the world! It was a somewhat relaxed week for me because I was waiting for the architects to make something pretty before I made sure it stood up. But I have a new found appreciation for those guys, they work really hard and they are pro drafters. The photo is of my fellow interns Sarah conducting "perc tests" to look at how the soil will respond to water.









Our site was about 5km from an active volcano, which provides 15% of Costa Rica’s power through the geothermal plant located close by. At first I thought it was just lots of cloud permanently surrounding the volcano, and only the volcano. A few days later dawned on me, this was probably steam/smoke. The scenery was stunning, the “Rio Blanco” (white river- due to the minerals) runs through the property.

Our last night was spent at the nearby Pacific coast. It was a beautiful setting and a good way to relax and spend time with our “collogues”. Plus it meant I went to The place was full of gringos. The term offically refers Americans, but generally includes any white people. The large number of gringos lulled many of our team into a flase sense of security, expecting everyone spoke English. This is where my less than perfect Spanish came into play. I got to translate!! It was great.

The case of a watch too small

This is a blog my Anafa Fok Chuk and John Oliver, my "medical advisors" in Australia who between the two of them amnaged to convince me that I would die of something horrible in Costa Rica. Well a few days ago I was required to test out local health care. Some insect bites had made it difficult to do up my watch. My boss Tom took my to the pharmacy where we got some cream and antihistamines. Consultation later with a nurse suggested that I would have struggled to get them in Australia without a prescription. Here a pharmacy normally can give injections and often have a doctor on staff.
After a morning asleep and locking my room mate out of our room due to th medication I ws able to put my watch back on. I was fairly impressed by the standard of care so to Anafa and John, hopefully you'll be proved wrong.

Weather extremes

It's times like these that I realise I really am on the other side of the world. After language school I headed to the Carribean with the other 3 interns; Sarah, Marcos and James. It was about 4 hours by bus so the chance to go was really to good to ignore. Unfortunately it had rained non-stop for the 5 days preceeding. Sarah and I stayed in a place that literally had a river in the front yard (picture me wading up to my knees). The weather cleared up a bit and we even got a bit of a walk on the 'playa negra' (literally 'black beach'). The beach however was covered with palm trees. we even saw some in the ocean 400m from the shore. So after a weekend spent getting to know each other rather than getting to look more like locals (i.e sun-baking) we headed off to the internet cafe, because it had been almost 48 hours without internet. It was then, via the Canadian news I learnt what was happening in Melbourne. Ten minutes later on the way to the bus stop the reality of 84 deaths and 700 houses set in. Fairly recent emails from my parents suggested they and the house were probably ok, but it was a difficult experience feeling so helpless when so many people who share my geographic surrounds were dead or homeless. So to all the Melbourians out there, please know that we are praying for you all.

oh to communicate

One week of language school has past. James, the enthusiastic Canadian, encouraged by Sarah, the possessor of excellent Spanish decided it would be an idea to speak only spanish here. Needless to say, we have not communicated much in the last week and the coversation has been puncuated by mad flicking through dictionaries or drawings. Saturday we spoke English and it was amazing to be able to communicate again! I spent the week thinking of things I would love to tell people but not having the ability.
On the upside I had some time to get to know some locals, during soccer and at church. I even braved public transport with them to go to the next town.
By sunday night, we all needed a night off absorbing Spanish and the USA superball (or is it superbowl? I do not really know!) provided an opportunity. So I spent the evening hanging out with a brunch of north americans learning about this sacred event. The thing went for about 6 hours! In between I fielded all their questions about Australia. Some of them, inspired by Crocodile Dundee have decided to call me Shelia, and they are all working on adopting my accent! I feel like a celebrity.