Random Thoughts by Ktownbuddha

It has been a long time.  It has been almost 3 months since the last time I stepped foot in my own home.  I missed my friends, my cat, my bed, my couch, my shower you name it I missed it. Saturday was St. Patrick's Day and it was great to be able to spend time with friends old and new.  I managed to see a lot of people and we had a lot of fun.  I could have done without waking up Sunday morning, but that's the price you have to pay. This weekend a bunch of us are headed up to Big White for the weekend and I'm looking forward to relaxing in the hot tub and enjoying the company of some good friends. I know I've been bad at writing, but really you do get used to all the drama that is living and working out of country.  I will try and do better as I've heard from a lot of you that you want to know what's going on. Also I do need to add some pictures of the trip and I will see if I can get that done while I'm home.

Ok, let's all agree that I did a crappy job summarizing my vacation and let's move on. So I'm home in two weeks.  When say home, I mean Kelowna home.  My real home.  My own bed.  A cat whom I'm sure is going to kill me, and all of my friends.  So yes I'm excited.   I manage to get home in time for St. Patties Day and I'm sure that will be a gong show with the boys.  I have a chalet weekend planned for the following weekend which should be great.  I know I will have lots to do when I get home but I'm looking forward to it.  It's tax time so that will be priority #1 as I want my refund. So let this start another countdown.  

So I made it.  I survived the trip.  I had an internal goal thinking that we could drink 40 bottles of wine over the course of the trip.  We managed to drink 31, plus a ton of beer, and a bunch of pisco sours.  I also managed to catch a cold upon landing in Santiago, Chile but I didn't let that slow me down and all in all I'm proud of the 31 bottles that we drank.  I have pictures of 29/31 of the bottles that we drank (we drank two of them in somebodies house over lunch, and I thought it rude to take pictures at the dining table), and all of the caps or corks as the case might be.  I am notorious for not taking pictures.  I really tried this trip and I ended up taking roughly 300.  I will post a few, but really I'm not a fan of taking pictures. So favorite part of the trip?  When in Mendoza we did a day tour into the Andes that was amazing.  It was a long day but we got to see the tallest mountain in the southern hemisphere as well as climbed this little dirt track up to

Leaving on a jet plane, but I know when I will be back again.  I'm excited.  I'm giddy with excitement actually.  This trip has been in the works for almost a year.  It was booked back in September and I've been counting down since then.   As I write this I have less than 2 hours of work left.  I will race back to the Villa Coral, have a quick lunch, shower, grab some beer and get in the van.  If everything goes as planned 10 hours later I will be in Canada.   So it is unlikely that I will be posting while I'm away.  I will attempt to catch up when I get back. Bring on South America!!!

This story starts out with a little bit of background information.  We enter visa as temporary residents who have a work permit.  Due to this we require permission from the government in order to leave the country as well as to return.  We receive this document usually a few weeks after we arrive on site and we guard it like gold.  Without it, we can't get out.  Nobody really cares about the getting back in, but we all worry about the getting out.   Currently there are several Canadians who work for other companies who don't have exit permits.  So they are stuck here. Every year these work permits expire and we need to get a new one.  During this renewal period we don't have a work permit or an exit visa.  So basically we are stuck.  This has never been an issue for me at all.  However on of my fellow expat's work permit expired on Sunday.  As he didn't have the new one he isn't allowed on site.  They were hoping that he would have it today and life would go

I had this post composed in my head yesterday afternoon.  I had the best of intentions to put my thoughts on the screen last night.  The thing is a half bottle of wine got in my way.  Since we didn't have our normal wine Wednesday dinner I was feeling deprived of the drink and I made up for it last night.  Nothing over the top, just a few glasses before dinner, then a few beers after dinner and a few cuba libres to cap it off. So I will now try and do my best to re-create what I'm sure was going to be a genius post. As I've mentioned previously there is a very real possibility that we will be losing our LPG that we use to cook with.  Well I found out that there are a few single burner hot plates in town for about $40 each.  Yes that is expensive, but we do have to cook.  So I talked to my my boss and he gave me the ok to go and purchase one for everybody who cooks.  I made a list and off I went. This is where the fun begins.  First we get to the store and have to wait

Alright, well  if you have already read the thread from this morning then I bet you are chomping at the bit to know what happened. I have to admit the whole waiting thing caught me off guard.  I wasn't prepared for it.  I didn't know what to think.  I took the stance of "well I will wait and see what it is, before I give it much thought."  This proved to be easier said than done. What if somebody was dead, sick or on their death bed?  Would I go back?  I'm not so sure.  I really didn't know what I'd do, and figured I'd just play it by ear. So seeing as how we are 3 hours ahead it made for a slow morning.  Finally my roommate woke up and read me the message.  This is what it said: Dear Louis, I hope you are happy and healthy.  We really miss having you in our life.  Otherwise we are happy and healthy.  Our hearts and arms are always open to you.  Love Mom There were also two Canada savings bonds in there that matured in Nov. 1/07.  I think I

So is it bad things happen in three's or strange things???  In this case I have three strange occurrences in past several days.  I apologize in advance as this post won't have my normal writing flare. #1  Azuly Just when we think that we can go out and have a normal evening strange things happen.  They have renovated this old bar and we had started to go.  It was quite, it was clean, and there are no hookers.  So last night we went out, had some beers and then got in the truck to leave.  We were going to do a quick lap around town and see what was happening.  We pulled through the intersection and a cop on a motorbike pulled us over. First off we rarely interact with the police.  Normally when they see that we don't speak Spanish, and they get our vehicle papers they are happy.  Not this guy.  He was yelling and screaming at us.  Of the three of us that were out, I was the one that knew the most Spanish.  So he thought we were pretending to not know Spanish but honest

As per usual this has been an interesting week, and it's not even over yet.  It is official that one of the expats will not be returning after his next rotation. Him and his wife both work here on a 4/4 rotation.  His position has been in jeopardy for several years and it finally has come to an end.  Apparently he was informed this week and they are set to come in this weekend.  We knew it was coming just didn't know when.  We are more concerned with what will happen with his wife.  She has always said that if he isn't here, she wouldn't come back either.  I guess we will find out over the next couple of weeks.  It would be a real loss to see them go. On a positive note there will be a flat screen tv up for grabs.  Here's hoping I get it!!!

One of the Cuban's who I work with and who is a friend, recently returned from a business trip to Edmonton.  He works as a translator and is involved in a large project so he was asked to go along with a senior engineer.  It was the first time the translator had ever left the island. Before he left he was nervous about what to expect, and how it would all work out.  He sent me an email while he was out and he was having a great time.  He returned this past weekend and is now a bit despondent.  Things are changing here.  Where as once our company was treated differently than other entities in Cuba there has been an increased emphasis on reducing the differences.  This means that benefits that our staff previously had are being eliminated. It's hard trying to talk somebody off the edge when you know part of what they say is true.  However what they see and imagine living in Canada to be like, likely isn't what they will experience.  They will be isolated from their fri

So back in November one of the guys who works a 4/4 schedule switched to 6/2.  They weren't able to find somebody to work his cross shift and they'd only let him sign a 6/2 so he did the math on the pay increase and signed on. Anytime you spoke with this guy about chica's it was always the same line.  Why would he want meatloaf when he has sirloin at home.  Ok this makes sense.  He loves his wife and family and doesn't want to jeopardize that. I understand and applaud him for this decision. Well flash forward to this weekend and things have apparently changed.  He now has a chica and is doing his best to keep it hidden.  Problem is this is a small town full of gossip.  Nobody, including the expats have anything better to do than to gossip about what's going on.  He has already made a few slip-ups already. How does this impact me?  Well a bunch of us were supposed to go to the beach yesterday.  So we were chit chatting in the morning about the logistics and it

Last year I went to Las Vegas 3 times within 6 months.  While this may seem excessive to some, it was for different reasons each time.  The first was to escape Christmas, the 2nd was after a work trip to Los Angeles, and the last was for some good old fashioned debauchery. At the restaurant we eat at in our complex they always play dance music.  Quite often it is music that I associate with being in Las Vegas.  Hearing this music makes me want to plan a trip.  As much as I may enjoy Las Vegas and well really any kind of trip, it's all about who you go with.  Everybody either needs to be on the same page or be indifferent to what is going on and willing to do their own thing. Anyhow why am I spewing about this now?  Well I heard the songs at lunch today, and I went looking for deals around the time that may work out for me.  I found some decent deals and there are direct flights from Kelowna.  Now I just need to convince one of my best buddies that we need to go and rip it up

I knew when I took this job that I was going to miss out on things.  Naively I thought that I could plan around it and make things work.  Unfortunately life doesn't work that way.  Things come up and you'd like to be there for it. There are two cases of this.  My one friend who is going through cancer treatment.  Sad but I'd like to be there for it.  On a positive note, another one of my friends just passed her citizenship test that she has been waiting to take for over a year.  First try.  I've heard some of the questions and I swear I'd fail.  Anyhow she passed and the ceremony is next week.  I'd love to be there to celebrate with her. The things we do for work.

To the best of my recollection here is what has transpired over the past year: 3 more robberies, including one safe that was stolen and one room broken into while the guy was sleeping in bed One of the guys had a baby daughter with his Cuban girlfriend 200-300 people have been put in jail from the city I work in due to various allegations about the performance of his/her job My Cuban boss was terminated for something that happened in her previously employment and had nothing to do with anything she could control Expat got sent home for being caught with his chica in his room, 2 weeks prior to him going home for cancer treatment One of my best friends is also being treated for cancer back home.  Very hard to be away from all that. Traveled a lot.  I racked up just over 100,000 flight miles this year.  Not points, actual mile flown. Hit Vegas 2 more times, Hawaii, and the Bahamas. Planned and booked trip to Chile and Argentina for February.  It's going to be a slobber knoc

Looking at my last post it has now been over a year since my last confession.  Please forgive me.  There are several reasons why I stopped posting. Different people have come and gone from my life over the year, and sometimes certain information shouldn't be distributed equally.  That probably formed my first reason to stop posting.  Those of you who have been reading since the beginning will have noticed how certain posts are no longer visible.  That would be why.  Let's be honest the blog started out one way, and as I took on this assignment in Cuba things went another.  Not sure how I will resolve this but I do have a few ideas. Secondly time and more specifically lack there of.  I got busier with work and getting through various work assignments, and when that was all done I no longer felt like writing about all that went on.  If it's in the past I'd rather leave it there. Lastly, it's strange what you become accustomed to.  What once shocked me is now par