Никогда Не бросьте!

....easily translated as:
Никогда Не бросьте!

July 31, 2005

The plant started out running fine today. I asked if we could start pouring early today (8am), but Tony wanted to wait until after the break at 9:30am.
Needless to say, we were late for dinner again tonight, but made it down the hill by 7:45pm.

A lot of little glitches all day and the crew started to get frustrated and discouraged. As the day continued (along with the rain) they basically gave up. For those of you who know me, I don’t see that as an option and I finally blew up. Poor Luda – she was forced to translate my tirade!

Tomorrow is another day and only 2 more working days for me at Kupol. My room is looking like a Chinese laundry. I’m thankful for the private room this time.

Pray for the weather to clear so I can get out this week. Flights and hotel are confirmed, but the helicopter doesn’t have the latest equipment, so we need a clear day for them to get into Kupol and out of here!

The Big Pour

July 29, 2005

Yesterday, we had an 80 cubic meter pour. Spent almost 10 hours shoveling, breaking up and stirring the cement powder to help push it through the hoppers during the pour. Because the cement has been sitting up here for months, it froze, it thawed, water got into the bags and it is no longer that fine powder. It’s chunks. And it’s nasty.

Of course, this is where Murphy’s Law comes into play once again at the end of the already long day – while they’re trucking the last load to the site, we’re spending our time doing the final cleaning at the batch plant. You know – getting all that partially hardened concrete out of the bins and hoppers and shutting it down for the night. During the last pour, one of the forms broke, spilling the cement all over the place. That had to be cleaned up and the form re-stabilized. You guessed it, we had to start up the batch plant again, make more concrete, send it off with the truck once more and start cleaning everything again.

They had to send someone down the hill to the dining tent to ask them to keep it open for the 15 people still up on the hill. They close at 8pm and we finally got down there at 8:30pm.

I’m unbelievably tired and after shoveling and poking the cement all day, I feel like I’ve been hit by a cement truck. Maybe I was – I’m so tired I don’t remember.

July 30, 2005

I got sicker today – rain and wet – everyone in the tent is sick. Got that irritating cough that lasts about a month - no cough drops, no hard candy, and I'm almost out of gum. I can’t wait to get home.

Just learned tonight that the big pour for tomorrow is located 1 foot off and needs to be relocated before we pour the concrete. My words: "Sorry, can’t stay any longer". The weather forecast for Pevek, which is 200 miles north, says rain for Thursday – the day of my flight out. Not good, considering it's the helicopter from here to Kemperveeum, and on to Anadyr.

Site Pictures

Here is John in the "cage", John working on getting the next pour ready, Luda feeding our squirrel in the lunchroom and Tony and Veronica.

If Time Magazine calls regarding that photojournalist job, let them know I'll call them back....

Tae

Today we had fog...

Fog at the tank farm.



Morning Fog
Getting ready for the concrete pour tomorrow. (in the fog)

Finally, the fog lifts.

Same thing - different day

July 27, 2005

Honey, none of the reasons you listed would keep me away. (except that drooling on my pillow thing…)

I emailed your mom and dad and told Cliff that the reason I didn’t put little numbers on the ports and plugs on my computer was because they are COLOR CODED, dear!!! Also asked your dad to save room for me for the Packer Games, because I WILL be home by then.

POURED 45 METERS OF CONCRETE UNEVENTFULLY (I hate that when I hit the caps lock key.) Drove the Zoom Boom most of the day today - kept me out of trouble with Randy and Tony.

Roy is back from his "two weeks out". He was stranded for a week in Magadan and not too happy about that.

Our squirrels are now more than just pets. They joined us for lunch today. They got in the break room and wouldn’t leave. I was pushing them with my foot and at one point he/she sat on my foot. So we gave up and left them inside. Boy, are they fat, and the foxes should really appreciate our kindness this winter.

Tomorrow John wants me to take pictures of his work and what he’s doing here so he can email them to his family. I think I’ll reclassify myself as a photo journalist.

Hope the modem got fixed so you can read these before I jet home.
Love,
Tae

Questions for Nanook

Dear Nanook,

Okay...so I was just thinking ....of all the reasons that you might really be staying for another week:

1. I haven’t figured out how to hook up your computer again yet
2. I forgot to water the houseplants and they’re dead
3. Basement walls are not texture sprayed yet
4. Lawn is brown
5. Fear of the town of Merton about the driveway approach
6. Our precious cat no longer knows who you are
7. I have no job and can't support you
8. It's too hot and humid here
9. Your cough will irritate me
10. "24" isn't on on Mondays anymore and you’re still looking for Jack Bauer
11. The kids forgot where we live
12. YOU forgot where we live
13. Purvis left for a week
14. Grass grew an inch in the last month and you'll have to mow the lawn
15. You want the Blog to continue
16. I drooled on your pillow
17. Your fax machine isn't fixed yet
18. The deck has no plants and flowers on it
19. The bathroom isn't repainted yet
...and the top 20th reason you don't want to come home...there's gargantuan weeds in the back yard and you know I won’t be pulling them.

Well, am I right? I'm really disappointed that you won't be home Thursday, but as my mom always says....I'll live. In fact, I don't know that your coming home is such a great idea...I'm used to being by myself now. Maybe you'll just be in my way. (ha ha) Getting ready to sell the place, in fact. With the remodeling, I figure we'll get a good price and I can get a really nice trailer somewhere in Arkansas.

7 more days to get the weeds pulled...

...

...everyone who's confirmed on their flight home this week, please stand up....Oh..wait...not so fast, Nanook...

July 25, 2005

Word of the day Razwodnoid = Adjustable
Now I can ask for the adjustable wrench (razwodnoid kluch)

It was a great day with a poor ending. Sunny, 70 degrees and no work to do. Actually it was a long day. Since I had nothing to do, I wandered all over the place, pestered Randy in the truck garage until he wanted me to get greasy. Walked out into the field until Tony, John and Joe wanted me to help them. "Sorry I only do batch plant work" was my standard reply.

At 1:00 Irena (office secretary) asked if I wanted my flight out on Thursday confirmed and I told her yes. At 3:00 I spoke to her and she said I was booked on the 28th flight and at 5:00 Kirin, the project manager, stopped at the Batch plant container and told me my sentence was extended 7 days. His exact words (In your best Irish accent) "You’re stay’n another week - I don’t want this plant left to a bunch of Russian rookies" …Beth I think now is a good time to tell you not to pick me up at the airport Thursday night.

I think that covers it for today…I Love You Beth…Smooch, smooch.

Tomorrow we start pouring the New Berlin Wall (and not in Milwaukee)....building the "new" Berlin Wall with re-bar reinforcements.

Ernie with his "pig" mask.

Out of meds and still sick...

Nanook - Please post this in all appropriate areas, ok?

July 24, 2005

Woke up with a bit of a fever again today. Everyone in camp is sick and I think the person who swilled out of my water bottle is probably just as miserable as I am. As Beth says, Jesus punishes. But what is he punishing ME for? I’ve been good.

As I mentioned, I am now out of my NyQuil, Tums, throat lozenges, have taken my 10 days of antibiotics (thanks to my doc for sending a dose up here with me, just in case), and have 1 DayQuil capsule left.

I tried sending smoke signals to the nearest Walgreens, but the wind is blowing in the wrong direction and I can’t seem to make the connection. I’m saving my last DayQuil for my flight home, so that I’m clear headed when I reach border patrol again. Looking forward to my final encounter with the woman with the gold teeth and telling them once again that neither of my brothers were ever in Russia, nor have they committed any crimes here.

Most of the new vocabulary that I teach them is spoken in English, as they have very few Russian words that describe items. When they’re talking in Russian and I hear an English word, I look at them as if I understand and they try to include me in the conversation. At that point, I just nod, then say "nyet, camera" and they laugh. Everyone here remembers that story. (See Archives, June 11 and 12th if you don't remember the "Almost International Incident")

Today was Ice Cream Day. It was good! Sorry no pictures or letters today, as I just want to hit the sack.

Thanks for the pictures of your dad’s birthday. I look forward to seeing you in person in that little green skirt.

Love,

Tae

Is that really my Nanook?

(you can click on the pics to enlarge them)

July 23

10 hours to rebuild the cement blower. My cold seems to rear it's ugly head on and off. One day I'm feeling okay and the next day I'm down for the count. But instead of taking a day off or a nap, as Beth suggests, I feel better working through it - it keeps my mind off of the misery.

Going to bed I'm pooped.
Tae

Green is good, isn't it?

...and I thought these were going to be beautiful flowers!

Yesterday I sent Tae some pictures of the greenery, now that we've had a few downpours and T-storms. He didn't really care for this one. It's a picture of the work we started before he was called back.

We had hauled in topsoil and traffic bond, with the intent of getting our backyard in order after all the remodeling. We raked the topsoil, he built a small retaining wall, and we spread the traffic bond so we could start on the patio.

I noticed some little green things popping out of the topsoil about a week after he left. Oooh! Maybe it's grass! By week 3, it looked like someone snuck in here during the night and added Miracle Grow to them. I think it's pretty! It's the only part of our lawn that is NOT brown these days.

His response this morning was : "PULL THOSE WEEDS. Then get some grass seed and rake it in! That's so embarassing! I think I'll stay here with the rocks and big bugs for now."

I think he forgets that I don't do weeding. That's his job. But I realize that as a good wife, I've had to take up a lot of the slack here on his behalf. (like baking 2 desserts so far for summer parties - I don't bake, either). So it looks like I have my work cut out for me in the next few days, prior to his return. Geez, I miss him!

Beth
P.S. Sorry, Nanook, I haven't even had a chance to hook your computer back up and trouble-shoot your fax machine. Now, if you would have only color-coded or numbered all the wires and ports before you disconnected them, like Cliffy does, it would be done. I love you anyway.

Distractions and Hygiene

What does it really mean, when I say "continuous pour"?

(continuous, (adj.) constant, regular, ceaseless, repeated, consecutive, uninterrupted.)

July 22, 2005

Word of the day:
Pushalsta = Means please or thank you.

(Beth asks: what other words have exactly the opposite meaning in their language…? No wonder translators are needed!)

We poured 67 meters of concrete today and I am still having trouble teaching priorities to my crew. We were pouring another ring for the oil tank farm and it was supposed to be a continuous pour. Everything started out OK until the person driving the zoom boom (off road fork-lift, with an extension boom) was distracted by something he would rather be doing. Yes, we ran out of cement and the rest of the day we played catch up.

The morning break went OK and at lunch I assumed (yes, I know what assume means) that when I said a "quick" lunch that they wouldn’t take the full lunch hour. I had to find the interpreter and get her off lunch to round up my crew along with the Russian supervisor to get the truck drivers. By the time this was all done I should have let them have the lunch hour. Tomorrow is another day and hopefully they catch on before the big pour.

Ok time for Dave and Diane’s favorite discussion: Hygiene… Sam, don’t stop reading here because I can’t top your China trip. I lost it this morning when the guy next to me brushing his teeth laid his tooth brush on the sink where 20 people earlier blew their noses, spit, gargled and splashed all over. Then he picked it up rinsed it in the same hand he just blew his nose with and shoved it in his pocket. Half the camp is sick and we sit at dinner and watch them wipe the trays off with a dirty rag and put and put them back in the stack for the next person to use…gross.

To all you O.C.D.er’s out there, today I filled my water bottle with the water we are not to drink, and put it on top of a control panel, out of reach of everyone. A couple hours later, I refilled it, thinking I must have been really thirsty. You guessed it! I wasn’t the only one using it. I hope the boiling hot water that melted it was enough to sterilize it too. (please let me know, Sam) since it’s my last bottle. 5 MORE DAYS.

That’s it for tonight I’m looking for some mouthwash.
Terry

Happy Birthday, Cliff!

Happy Birthday, dad! 84 years young!!!

July 21, 2005

First and foremost, I want to wish my father-in-law, Cliff, a Happy Birthday! Once again, I’ll miss another family party this summer. It would have been nice to wish him a happy birthday in person. (Carol, I HOPE I’m home for YOUR birthday party in August!)

New people arrived today, so now I’m the seasoned veteran showing people what to do and where to go. The owner’s son came in today. "John". He’s the know-it-all that no one likes. Should be interesting, so stay tuned.

Hotter than blue blazes today and I dressed for freezing weather. Never sure what to wear…not a big selection to choose from, either.

Not much new today - everything ran fine and I’m still on schedule to leave in 7 more days.

Enjoy your birthday party, Cliff!

Terry

All in a day's work.

July 20

Hi,

Lots of pictures of my typical day from start to finish.

Felt fine all day but at dinner everything started to close in. Everyone keeps looking at me with a sneer on their face about my throat clearing and cough. (Beth says: "I really miss him, but sure don't miss THAT obnoxious sound!" )

Sure wish I had my Luden's cough drops and so does everyone else in the tent. I'll do better tomorrow I promise.

Thanks for the pictures.Tae

End of the day view.

Miland demonstrating the art of drinking vodka.

Demitri and Lusha insulating our water line.

Water being delivered to our batch plant pond.

Our new lunch room up on the hill...

Veronica helping at the mill site.

The mill site. See all those concrete posts?

Clothes dryer. No quarters or rubles necessary.

Cement storage area and truck shop.

Waking up in camp - this is my morning view.

How my Russian friends really live

July 19, 2005

Words of the day:

Ya Tibua Lublu - I Love You – that’s for you dear.
Chu = little. They always say - chu chu

(Question from Beth: When they see a small train, do they say "chu chu train"?)

Weather Report: Rain, snow, freezing rain and fog today high 32" F.

We poured 14 cubic meters of concrete today which took all of an hour. Then we sat around and questioned each other about work, our homes and future. There view of working there was the same - everyone is there for the money.

Luda is working as a translator and is an English school teacher during the year. This is her summer vacation. Her husband, Alex, who is also a translator here, talked her into this. (He’ll pay for this for a long time). She is a little upset with him for bringing her here on her summer break. She said the money she earns will go for a new dress, shoes and a fur coat.

I asked her about school and how good the students are. She said that it was sad how everything works. School grades her each year on the number of students she passes. If she were to fail the number of students that deserve to be failed she would lose her job, because the review board would think she was a bad teacher. She says the students don’t care about school and all they want to do is get out.

Demitri (25 yrs old) and his wife also work here. Demitri is the person I’m training to run the plant. His wife works for Bema as a translator in the truck garage. They just got married and are trying to earn money for an apartment. Right now they live with his parents. When he’s not here he works construction in Magadan. An apartment is 400,000 rubles or roughly $14,000 US dollars. For this you get one bedroom, one living room and a bathroom which they tell me the toilet and sink are in the same room. (Very low grade) The kitchen is in one of the two rooms. Five years ago the same place went for 75,000 rubles but since mining in the area has increased, so has the value of everything.

Dema is 19 yrs old and is earning money for college. There are no government programs for schooling so you need straight A’s and money to get into college. He’s looking for either politics or geology. I told him to stick to geology - he would have more friends.

They don’t save money and they have to work until they die since there is no government program for retirement. Medically, they prefer not to get sick or use the hospital, as scheduling and conditions are not the best.
No mater what people say, the poorest of the poor still have it pretty good in the USA.
Reporting from Far East Russia, I’m Terry Fellabaum
Good night.

Note: Due to computer problems, I am currently unable to post any pic's to the blog right now. Will be working on that and hope to have a fix soon.
Beth

I may have a cold, but I can still take pictures!

Ernie....looking for a place to hide...

July 18th, 2005

Hi Bet,

Nice weather today so I thought I would take pictures of what’s happening around here. Some of the pictures are of the concrete forms they’re putting up for us to pour.

I've heard that they are planning an estimated continuous pour of up to 700 cubic meters of concrete. Our best day has been 70 cubic meters! They are trying to get a 3rd mixer truck on the road, so I got a picture of Randy installing a new clutch.

Then there is a picture of Peter’s "extended" lab. He is curing samples in the standing water at the batch plant.

I am now on the edge of a full-blown cold, so I’m being careful, but may even have to break out the Afrin tonight.

Lots of Love,Tae

(see the photos below)

Three holding tanks are now completed.

Peter's makeshift curing area. See the pieces of concrete in the standing water? Better be careful or the mosquitos that are breeding in that water might get upset for invading their space!

Building another form in which we pour the concrete.

Randy is installing a new clutch to ready this truck for use.

Building the forms for the concrete pours. Note all the completed concrete pours standing in the background.

A hidden business opportunity...?

July 17th

Today is Sunday, the day we have our weekly Safety Meeting. This week’s topic: Fire and Fire Prevention. They spoke about all these neat things like shovels, axes, fire blankets, sand and fire extinguishers. None of which we can find here, but it was a good talk. Actually, we do have fire extinguishers, but they are few and far between.

Remember this picture that I took of the spring flowers? Well, Randy’s wife turned his flower pictures into a card and is selling them. She sold over 50 so far! (Beth….does that give you any ideas…?)

They’re really playing games with us now; two nights in a row we had ice cream. Usually it’s only our Sunday night treat.

Not much else happening…We did try to plan a beach party for tonight but with out alcohol no one would come.

It's getting to be "Groundhog Day" again...

At the base of Kupol Rock. If it weren't for these guys (and Luda) our days would be pretty lackluster. A fun group!

Thrill of the first trip was great - now its ground hog day (like the movie) for 11 more days. The plant ran great today and the concrete is within specifications. The training is going well which make the days seem longer. Thank heavens for Ernie and Luda in the Container with me, otherwise the days would really be long.

Did I mention the day was boring, slow and just plain icky? It snowed in Bilibino today and was so cold here I had everything on except the parka. Tonight it warmed up and the wind stopped and all I have on is a sweat shirt. Man, the weather is strange here.

Did I mention only 11 more days...? I really miss you. I'm going to go "read". (Beth's code word for taking a nap!)

Tae

The inside of the concrete lab. They use the shipping containers as labs and offices. Talk about recycling!

The fuel tank and construction materials

Peter inside the concrete lab.

Keeping Fit

Could you get a little closer to the Kupol Rock, please?

July 15, 2005

Word of the day: Razvadnoi Kluch = Adjustable wrench

Besides having some very bad weather (35 degrees, high winds and rain - sometimes-hard rain, which is really ICE), the guys at the plant and Luda wanted to take some pictures of Kupol Rock with us in the background during lunch. At least that was my interpretation of the arm waving and pointing and the words "photograph - Kupol".

After eating half my lunch, which by the way, we now eat "up on the hill" at the job site, they grabbed me by the arm and said "go now".

I didn’t understand the hurry since we are only walking several hundred feet to the edge of the drop off for the photo. Wrong again, Terry. As they all stepped over the hill, Luda and I looked at each other and stepped off the edge, down about a 75- foot embankment to the level ground below.

I thought, well, the picture WILL look better from this vantage point. That was, until we realized they all kept walking. (I need to add that this was more of a sprint). Luda and I tried to keep up. I’m guessing she’s maybe 40 to 45 and I’m the old fart. About half way to Kupol rock they stop and take pictures. Yea, we can get this over and I can work on attempting to climb the embankment back to the job site.

But no - you guessed it - the pictures weren’t good enough. We needed to get closer; in fact we walked to the base of the rock…a mile down hill on our lunch hour of which only 15 minutes was spent eating.

We hurried up and took pictures and started sprinting back to work. I took a picture so you can get an idea of the distance. I arrived back in our shipping container 4 minutes before lunch was over. Luda and I looked at each other during gasps of air and muttered something like damn kids. I think it took us about half and hour to catch our breath.

The rest of the afternoon was spent telling jokes, talking about Harleys and looking like we were working. (Bill, one Russian in camp has a Russian Harley Cap, it’s from Moscow)

I should have brought some Geritol.

Signed,
Terry - down for the count tonight.

View of the job site from the Kupol Rock.

At the base of Kupol rock. Just a lunch hour jaunt to keep our hearts healthy.

When it "burps", everyone hears...

July 13
I had Ernie with me all day going over the plant. Things should be much better tomorrow when we pour again.

The biggest problem is that they have a preconceived notion that the plant sucks. It ran several days with no problems at all but when it burps everyone hears it.

There is a lot of troubleshooting to be done. I have my work cut out to change attitudes. I had success today when I proved to Ernie that electrically, it was in perfect shape. I’ll keep plugging along. From what they tell me, at least it’s running better now that I’m back.

I’m cold, tired and need sleep. Last night it rained all night and everything was flooded. It was so cold we all went and got extra clothes. The bankers are in today, so we are all on our best behavior.