Aaaaaaaahhh!!!!! H2S!

I just returned from my very first trip ever to Fort McMurray... the nicest city that is just too far away. Honestly, I was quite impressed with the city in general, they are doing an amazing job considering how quickly they are growing and how quickly it could become a shanty town (except for the cold winters of course). This is the modern day equivalent of the gold rush.

After 6 days of training in Calgary and another full day of training in Fort McMurray, we were finally allowed to start our jobs. Painting pipes. Wahoo! All that build up and tension for such a menial task, or so it seemed...

Day One on the job: the hydrogen sulphide gas alarm goes off on the site next to ours (quick info: H2S is extremely deadly even in low doses and sinks, going downwind) and you guessed it...we are downwind from that next site. So what do Cathy and I do? We look at each other blankly, both of us thinking "we should be running, but to where?" In order to get out of the site we were on, we would have to drive right past the building where the alarm is going off. Not only this, but we were alone and had no idea who to call to find out what to do, etc etc. So like idiots in a duck pond, we just stood there, holding our personal H2S monitors in front of us waiting for them to go off. They never did.

A couple of variations of the above scenario have happened again, but these involved fire alarms which we just ignored, figuring that we would see flames if they came to close. (H2S is invisible)

Such is the life of two expendible summer students in the Oil Sands.

Oil and Gas Rock!

I am currently down at SAIT in Calgary getting some training for my summer job. We are staying in residence, which is pretty sweet actually, we have our own bedrooms and I share a cable TV with two other girls. Our breakfast and supper each day are catered, with white tablecloths, heavy cutlery, and people who clean up after us, and for lunch we get a $12 voucher for the local food court.

On top of all of this, I am being paid to be here! This training, although a little boring and the fact that it doesn't end until Saturday at 5 (work starts Monday morning at 7am), is good for a few years, which will help with future jobs too!

So, really, I could complain about the time and how boring it is, but I won't. This is the best fringe benefit job I've ever had, I'm going to enjoy it while it lasts (meaning I'm going to keep buying extra gum and junk food to expend my $12 voucher and console myself)