Back across the pond...

Happy New Year!!

2006...whoa! I hope that all of you have had a wonderful holiday season and that 2005 was a great year for you. I’ve been sitting here thinking about 2005 and have realized that it was a HUGE year for me. There are actually a lot of things that happened:

The year started off as a trip to Cancun which was an adventure in itself and was the perfect way to start off ’05. Three of my classmates and I were down there for a week over New Years, chillin’ on the beach and testing out some pina coladas…one last hurrah before graduation. Which means: I had my LAST semester of University, where I kicked butt on my 4th year project, managed to convocate with honours and if simply convocating wasn’t enough I also met Danny that night. (awwwwww... :) ). I bought a house in Regina and took a month off to get settled before starting work with Mera in Regina. With Mera I have been working a bit in the office and spent 3 weeks in Northern Alberta. I got home in time to carve my first pumpkin (by myself – which was AWESOME!! I’ll post the picture!) and wash my clothes before going to Aberdeen...where you all joined me by reading this blog.

2005 was also busy in part due to my friends. Some got engaged (4), others married (9). Some are pregnant(4) and some have had precious little ones (2). All of whom I am extremely proud of and couldn’t be happier for! (But no wonder I’m so broke all the time...hahaha) It's crazy how things change...BUT what's even crazier is that exactly 5 years ago tomorrow I flew to China to live there...FIVE years...yowzas!

Christmas at my house was great. Mom, Dad and Grandma Shaddock came up on the 22nd. They were there for 5 days and it flew by! I, of course, was a wreck on Christmas Eve (as I always am) in anticipation for Christmas. I think I was awake at 2-3, 4, 5:30 – 6, then finally got out of bed at 7:00...where I saw mom who was going through the same sleep pattern. Poor dad was out numbered this year, so we got to open presents earlier than usual. Horrraaayyyy!

The time off at home was wonderful, but obviously it went by MUCH too fast as I am now back in Aberdeen. I flew in last night, but not after enduring the longest flying day I’ve been in to date. We left Regina at 9:00 (was at the airport just before 8:00am) flew the 2 hours to Vancouver – had a 9 hour layover – flew the 9.5 hours to London – had about a 3-4 hour layover – then finally took the 1.25 hour flight to Aberdeen. Yowzas. That is a LONG time in airports and on planes! Actually the 9 hours in Vancouver wasn’t as excruciating as I thought it would be. We ended up figuring our some of the city busses and took them down to the Science center where we checked out some cool exhibits and then went to an Omnimax film. Very cool! And my ride to London wasn’t that bad (much much better neighbour then the last one I had) except there was one donkey that was playing techno music so loud that I could hear it from 5 rows away, whom also had a screaming turrets episode in his sleep. He was yelling at the top of his lungs for a good minute...which is actually a long time while you are sleeping and people already want to hurt you badly. Speaking of hurting someone on a plane badly here is the Coles notes’ version of the neighbour I had flying from London to Calgary last time:

I boarded the plane after running like a mad woman through Heathrow airport to make my connection. The plane I was on had 2 seats – an aisle – 4 seats – an aisle – and 2 more seats. I was sitting on the edge of the 4 seats. I saw these two people walking up the aisle and I was thinking “please don’t sit next to me”...which, of course, they did. So I thought...“give these two a break they are probably very very nice – who cares that they smell bad and I need to sit next to them for 9.5 hours”. Well during my 1.5 hour wait on the tarmac prior to taking off, (now becoming an 11 hour plane ride) I soon realized that the boyfriend (sitting next to me) was extremely rude to his girlfriend and liked to sleep wherever he pleased. I would wake up from naps sometimes with him sleeping on my shoulder or with his knees over my lap...SUPER!! It really wasn’t the end of the world so I dealt with it. Then while I’m eating the first meal, he wakes up and needs to go to the washroom, so I do the food shuffle and get out of my seat and let him out and back in after. The next meal that came out he again woke up, ordered a couple beer and then decided he needed to go to the washroom again. As I’m in the process of doing the food shuffle AGAIN, he tells me not to worry about it…and puts his hand on the seats and jumps over me...his smelly socks (which he has been wearing into the bathroom) are within inches of my food. Before I can react, he again jumps over me to get back in. Grrr-oosssssss. Oh but how I wish that was all. The crowning moment for me was when there were about 4 hours left in the flight. (You’ll have to picture this with me to get the full effect) I can hear someone blowing their nose so I happen to look over and he is blowing his nose in his hand. I think “ah. He’s doing a farmers blow. No problem I’ve seen that before”...then I realize “Wait a second. I’m not in a deserted field. You don’t do that on a plane”. As I am glancing over again he is pulling his hand away from his face to get a good look at the loot he has just discovered. It was gooey-green-substantial-full on-lots of snot stringing from his nose to his hand. His girlfriend hands him a Kleenex (which I think he needed 45 seconds ago) and he wipes off his hand...THEN...

HE LICKS HIS HAND!!!!!! Yes LICKS it!!!!! Uggggggggggggggggggggghhhhhhh

This is when I realized that if I hurt him really bad they would not let me off the plane in Canada. So all I could do was laugh! I can handle nose-pickers, but I’ve realized that ‘snotty hand-finger lickers’ is where I draw the line. I should have got his address so that we could be pen-pals but I forgot. Shoot.


Tomorrow night there is a group supper planned. About 5-6 people have left the project and new people have joined, so they want to have a get together. However, this is one that I am sure to behave at! Really! I have training early the next morning that I have to be alert for! You see some of the work that I am over here for includes going to an off-shore platform and training their operators. Before I am allowed to fly out there, I need to take a Helicopter Survival Course. It is 3 days long and will involve (hopefully only once) an live simulation of us in a ‘helicopter’, buckled in, then dropped into a pool where the ‘copter will flip upside down. It will be my job to safely escape the helicopter. Sounds like fun! (Yes I’m being sarcastic). I’ll be sure to let you all know how it was!

Take care of yourselves and don’t be afraid to drop me a line sometime!!! I’d love to hear from you! My email address is:

shay_{my last name}@hotmail.com

Cheers,
Shay-Anne


This site won't uplaod pictures right now...so I promise to try again tomorrow and show you some!!! LATER!