Back to Work

I haven't posted any updates in a while because I managed to get time off to go back east to spend a little time in Saratoga and also to go to Cape Cod. I found out for sure I could go home less than a week before I ended up leaving and was a little worried I'd have trouble finding cheap airfare but I did manage to get a cheap roundtrip ticket (that made stops in Las Vegas and Chicago, making it a long day). It was really nice to be home, It would have been nice to have a had an extra week but really I'm pretty lucky it worked out at all. I had forgotten how hot and humid it gets in NY, probably because when I left last February it was like -10.
Cape Cod was a lot of fun, we spent a lot of time at the beach and fishing each night. We caught a couple of stripers, and my brother managed to catch a 36" conger eel and a 19" fluke while we were trying to catch some small scup for bait. After the beach we'd drink mojitos and play croquet. It was really nice to see my family and some of my friends again.
I came back to California a few days ago and started working right away. The first 2 days were all mixed up as to what hours I was working, I worked some daytime hours and some night hours but now I'm on the night shift for the next couple of weeks it looks like. I don't mind because there's not much to do during the day up here anyway. I'm finally getting paid my full wage rather than the training wage, so I'm finally making some decent money! The jobs we are working on right now are even more boring than what I did up in Canada. They aren't really drilling here, they're working on existing wells and all we do is monitor the hydrogen sulfide levels (which can get pretty high and lethal here) and add chemicals to the well when they do get high to clean it up. We test once a day and check the pumps and chemical levels once an hour and that's about it. I'm noticing that each job site has it's positives and negatives, the site I was on earlier this week we didn't have internet on site like we did in Canada, but I had cell phone reception. The new site I'm on now in the Geysers doesn't really seem to have any positives.
I've been talking with some friends and I think I'm going to be moving to Tahoe in California sometime this fall. It will be nice to be around people I know and having housemates makes everything cheaper. Portland is a nice city but I'm not there often enough or for enough time to really settle in. Honestly, right now I have no idea when I may be back in Portland. I may get a week off in August while they move a rig in the Geysers, but who knows.
I'm also giving some serious thought to teaching English in Taiwan. I know a girl that works at an English school there that can get me a job. I think it would be a pretty amazing experience living in such a different culture. I don't think I would go do that until sometime next spring though, I'd like to try to get a full year out of this job and save up some money and then go teach. And I'd probably only teach for a few months.
For now, I'm just glad to be making money again.