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Well, I’m leaving.
Good-bye.
Adiós.
Adieu.
وداعا.
再見.
Paalam.
Lebewohl.
अलविदा.
Arrivederci.
さようなら.
작별 인사.
خداحافظی.
Adeus.
Kwaheri.
الوداع.
Lời tạm biệt.
I honestly don’t know how to feel. The end of this coop term is truly bittersweet. I know that I’ve continuously complained about Calgary and how bizarre the city so obviously I will not be missing this place.
But it’s the people that I’ve met that I will miss.
I think that’s like every experience; it’s not about where you are but who you’re with. And I guess the best thing about taking a coop position in Calgary has been meeting all the interesting, crazy characters!
I’m going to miss the other coop students that I’ve worked with. It’s always awesome to be able to meet other people your age who you automatically connect with. There have been some really fun adventures and hysterical conversations. I’ll always remember attempting to teach Caroline how to punch and Grady, one of the whitest kids I know, throwing up gang symbols. And our weird conversations about the operators. Those were always really fun! I’m going to miss calling Alex a cutie every time I see him and visiting Kate and Whitney’s office to take a peak at the super gorgeous guy who’s in the office right next to them.
I’m going to miss all the operators I worked with up in the field (Yes, even Luciow! Everyone needs someone they love to hate on!). I’ll miss driving around the middle of nowhere looking for animals with Gary and going out to drink and check out the local strippers with Dan. I’ll miss Neven’s passionate stories about nothing and Dustin constantly making fun of me in his awesome Canadian accent (I’ve honestly never heard it before I met him!). I’ll miss Graham surprising me with his rap music repertoire and his love for gems. I’ll miss Ken’s blunt attitude and chain smoking, in contrast to Adrian’s laissez-faire attitude and constant tobacco chewing. I’ll miss Curtis’s hat that he always wears (does he even have hair?), Luciow’s glasses that he keeps losing and Len’s mustache that makes hims look like a Mexican! I’ll miss Parker’s annoying gum chewing and luscious blond hair that I should have braided when I had the chance.
I’ll especially miss all the creepy guys at the camp who hit on me and who I systematically rejected by ignoring them. I’ll miss logging the plant, pulling pigs, taking numbers at well pads, trying to turn valves with my weak, little arms and pushing buttons on all types of machines (I love pushing buttons, by the way! They’re awesome!!).
There are definitely some aspects of the past four months that I will miss. And as it all comes to a painful end, I don’t regret taking the chance to go out west.
So goodbye Calgary! It’s been an unforgettable experience. Maybe, one day, I’ll be back.
So all Waterloo coop students on a work term are starting to wrap up their workterms and any students who are living away from home are faced with an important question: What do we do with all the food in the fridge??
Now this is a really important question! You definitely don’t want to waste a whole bunch of food that you paid for with your hard-earned money but there might just be too much food to eat in your last couple days on coop.
So what do you do??
Throw a dinner party!!
On my last night in Calgary, I went over to Kate and Whitney’s place for a dinner party to help them get rid of all their food. My only contribution were two oranges as I made sure I would run out of food by the time I had to leave.
We made a stir fry noodle dish, potato wedges, greens and some Japanese egg thing. And by “we”, I mean Kate and Whitney! I had the equally important role of DJ, which I took very seriously. I also threw a little bit of dancing in to help keep the cooks entertained. Poor Damon was not trusted with any cooking activities and was demoted to dishwasher (although he eventually got replaced, poor kid!).
It was a fun night and it made me realize how much I’m going to miss hanging out with these guys.
So on my last Friday night in Cow Town, I went out with a couple of coop students that I met up in the field. Alex is from Waterloo, Grady’s from U of C and Caroline is from U of A and I’d become friends with them while we were up in the field.
We went out because Alex, Grady and I were all leaving Caroline and our company behind in Calgary and moving on to bigger and (hopefully!) better things. And, as I was set to leave on the following Monday, it was the last opportunity for all of us to hang out before we part ways.
So we went out after work. We made a pit stop at Flames Central, a sports bar dedicated to Calgary Flames fans, which was quite empty since the Flames had failed to make the playoffs. A number of other coop students at our company were meeting up there for a Friday night drink and we thought we would make an appearance before doing our own thing.
Grady, being a Calgarian, took us to this place called the Palomino where everything on the menu is meat-heavy! The boys ordered a pulled pork sandwich with bacon wrapped corn and garlic fries while Caroline had the pulled pork sandwich with Jack Daniel’s apples and garlic fries. Me, being a semi-vegetarian, had a very difficult time deciding what to order (but to be honest, this happens at every restaurant!) so I got a chicken salad wrap with Jack Daniel’s apples and boring fries (and by boring fries, I mean normal fries). We split a pitcher of Grasshopper, which is a local beer (and it’s actually quite yummy!) and dug into our meals.
We had such a great time. I think we mostly talked about the funny things that happened while we were up in the field, hanging out with the operators. I laughed so hard just remembering all the crazy stuff that happened and how much fun we had up there! I’m honestly going to miss the field.
We eventually finished our food and our beer so we ordered another pitcher of beer, this time some Steamwhistle. This time we had a more serious, dare I say intimate (!!), conversation that is commonly fueled by alcohol. We talked about politics, relationships and a number of other touchy topics!
That place got kind of boring so we decided to check out some other pubs. We walked all the way to 17th Ave which is apparently the entertainment area of Calgary but the whole place was packed with too many hipsters and club goers. We left that place to go to the Rhino, which I had been to before.
We got there and the patio was open so we settled there since it was such a gorgeous night. Grady and Caroline bought some beers and Alex and I bought some coffee with Baileys as we both needed a pick-me-up. As the night wore on, it got a bit cooler and we moved indoors since they closed the patio. Then, they needed to clear the dancefloor so we had to move again.
By the time we finally found a place to sit, we needed some fresh drinks so Caroline and I went to the bar. When we get to the bar, the guy beside me starts checking both Caroline and I out. We both came straight from work so we weren’t dressed in anything provocative like some of the other girls at the pub. He starts chatting me up since Caroline was giving him a grossed out look as he was clearly too old to be bar hopping and trolling for girls.
But being the friendly person that I am, I humor the guy as I’m waiting for the bartender to get us our drinks. He offers to buy me and Caroline some shooters but I can get my own drinks so I decline. Also, he was way too old and way too sleazy for me to want to encourage him.
Eventually, Caroline and I got our drinks and rejoined the guys at our table. We then continued our riveting conversation and also did a little bit of people watching. Let’s just say watching drunk chicks, old dudes, hipster wannabes and barely legal girls interact in a pub is highly entertaining!!
The place got kind of boring after a while so we decided to take off. As we were leaving the place, we met up with Grady’s girl who is super cute (way to go Grady!!)! We decided to check out some other pubs but by then, there were disgustingly long line ups to get into these pubs so we called it a night.
It was bittersweet; the last time we would all be together. The only one who would be staying behind in Calgary was Caroline and we may never see each other again. I’m glad we got a chance to hang out, reminisce and make some new memories. I’ll always remember that night and the great fun we had in the field.
To good friends, good times and great memories!
A couple of Fridays ago, the awesome Hadi and his lovely roommates threw a party at their place. Now whenever there’s a house party, there’s always the question of what to bring. We could bring beer, tequila, vodka, rum or something else equally boring.
Or we could bring jello shots!! Yay!!
So the gorgeous Kate and I decided to take the adventurous route and create jello shots. Of course, being the good girls that we are, we had no idea how to make jello shots so after doing a bit of research, we were ready to get shopping.
Our first stop was the liquor store. Again, being the good girls that we are, we walked into the store not completely sure what to get. We knew we weren’t gonna make too many jello shots so we didn’t want to get a huge bottle. But we didn’t even know what to get!
We literally walked the entire store trying to choose something. Do we get vodka, rum, white wine, or some other liquor? We eventually bought vodka coolers based on the fact that we’d probably only need one bottle and that we could just drink the rest of them at the party.
So we went to the dollar store, picked up some shot glasses and went to the grocery store to get some jello. There was a huge selection of jello flavours and we didn’t really know how to decide. Eventually, I settled on having the lime flavour but Kate wanted the lemon flavour! We did rock-paper-scissors to decide and since I won, we got the lime flavour.
Then the gorgeous Kate thought of something brilliant. We had bought vodka coolers with 5% alcohol so if we were gonna make jello with them, we should probably not include any water. I think at that point I fully realized that no one was going to get drunk off of these jello shots!
So we went back to the liquor store to return the vodka coolers. The cashier looked at us like we were lost puppies who knew nothing about alcohol (which is true since, remember, we’re good girls!). We told him that we wanted to get drunk, picked up some nice white rum and headed back to her place to get cooking!
So Kate really got into the jello making while I was just there to make sure she didn’t skimp on the rum! It was pretty fun to be making food with someone. I miss cooking with my roomies back in Waterloo but Kate is just as awesome. Before we knew it, the jello was poured into the shot glasses and ready to be put in the freezer.
Fast forward to the next day and the jello shots looked so good and tasted awesome! For our first time making jello shots, Kate and I did an awesome sauce job!
Disclaimer: I’m not an alcoholic. Seriously.
It was my last day in the field. I was returning to Calgary the following day and had booked a hotel room in town where I could sleep in a comfortable bed after I enjoyed a nice glass of wine.
As I returned to the gas plant to pick up my PPE and say goodbye to everyone, I get a call from one of the operators. It turns out that every Easter weekend, the farmers do a cattle drive along Highway 29, the only highway that connects the field to Fort St John, the largest town in the area and the location I was to fly out of. And of course, it being Easter weekend, just as I was planning to leave the field, hundreds of hideous, curd-chewing bovine were blocking the road.
Perfect.
Now, I’m not the kind of person who stresses out easily. I tend to digest the situation, think of a number of alternatives and take one that makes the most sense. So, I thought about it.
Apparently this whole cattle-drive operation would take the whole day and probably end around 9pm. It was currently 10 minutes to 4pm and if I was going to have to leave the field at 9pm to get to my hotel room that was about 1.5hrs away, was there really any point to keeping the hotel room? I wouldn’t have time to enjoy a glass or two of wine before bed!! But if I was going to cancel my hotel room booking I had to do it before 4pm!
I could drive in the opposite direction and eventually get to Fort St John and the glass of wine that’s waiting for me but taking that route would get me into town at about the same time as if I had just waited until 9pm to leave the field. And I was exhausted from a hard days work! Did I really want to spend 4 or more hours driving around in the middle of nowhere? Nope!
I could just cancel the hotel room and stay another night in the camp but I’d already stayed in the camp for 3 weeks and the whole point of booking a hotel room was to finally be able to have a glass of wine since alcohol is strictly forbidden at the camp! So this was obviously not a viable option.
At this point, I was getting seriously frustrated with the stupid cows for blocking my only way out of the field and to a relaxing glass of wine. I’d been looking forward to this glass of wine for too long and no cows were going to get in the way of me finally getting my wine! I think I was starting to get a little hysterical at this point because I was actually considering just driving through the damn cows on the road. And I love animals!!
Well it turns out that the whole cattle drive was just another elaborate prank by the operators. By the time I figured this out, I had wasted precious time trying to figure out how to get around the cows instead of being on the road on the way to my hotel room, a relaxing shower and an even more relaxing glass of wine. And I was a bit hysterical.
So I left the plant with a “F**k you!”, hopped into my Jeep and drove to Fort St John above the speed limit while giving the evil eye to every cow I saw along the road. I hate those things.
So I returned to the field where all the action happens. But being up in the middle of nowhere with nothing much to do in terms of leisure means that I had definitely earned a couple of days away from the field. So I decided to get out of the bush and head into Fort St John, the largest town in the area.
But there wasn’t much happening in Fort St John. I mean I’m from Toronto so there’s really no comparison! I happened to take a couple of days off while a some of the operators from Fort St John were also on days off. We decided to hang out and, Fort St John being the amazing, cultural center that it is, we ended up going to the local strip club.
Apparently it’s the only thing worth doing in Fort St John. And as they say: When in Rome, do as the Romans. This wasn’t the first time I’ve been to the strip club in Fort St John. The last time I was up here, I was almost forced to tag along on a visit to see the local strippers but my curiosity won out and I actually enjoyed the experience. So it wasn’t a big deal for me to go to the strip club again and I really wanted a drink!
Well the guys decided it was time for me to step it up a notch and came up with the brilliant idea to purchase a lap dance for me. At this point in the night, I had two shots of tequila, a coffee with double Bailey’s and I was currently attempting to sip some cocktail the bartender mixed for me (I tend to throw my alcohol back. Apparently this is not a good thing. Who knew!!). While I was in my happy place, I wasn’t sure I was ready for this step. But the guys insisted on popping my lap dance virginity so I picked the hottest stripper there and followed her to the curtained area to receive my lap dance.
The thing about me is when I’m nervous, a number of things could happen: I could start sweating a lot, I could start laughing hysterically, I could begin talking a lot or some combination of the above. I must have drank a bit too much since I was definitely not sweating and I was really trying to not start laughing hysterically because people usually do that when they’re insane and I’m not insane (Also, I didn’t want to offend the stripper!). So I ended up talking… A lot!
So picture it: I’m sitting in this chair while the stripper is dancing really, really close to me (with her clothing on, thank God!) and I’m trying really hard not to laugh so I ask her what her story is. This kind of distracts her so I calm down a bit while she tells me that she’s from Vancouver and she used to work at a strip club there as a waitress and decided to try stripping.
After she’s done telling me her story, she starts dancing really close to me again which begins to make me nervous. So I quickly think of another question and I ask her about her stripper name. Again, she gets distracted and we start having a really nice conversation about how strippers decide their stage names. Her stripper name is Nevaeh. It turns out that she just Googled a bunch of names and decided it’d be cool if her stripper name was “heaven” spelled backwards.
Now she starts taking her lap dance to the next level and she takes all her clothes off and continues to dance really, really close to me. I mean there were parts of her that were right in my face!! So again, I start to get nervous and try to think about something to distract her while she’s putting her naked body in my face (Eeeee!!! So awkward!). I quickly think of a really good question. I ask her if she ever feels pressured to change her body because of her profession.
This question is a distraction gold mine!! As a woman, I have a lot of perspective about other women and we love talking about our bodies; whether we hate them or love them. As soon as I ask this question, she immediately stops dancing and starts talking to me about how she had always promised herself that she would never change her body just because she was a stripper but how recently she’s been thinking about getting her boobs done.
Of course, as a fellow female, I instantly reassure her that her body is gorgeous and that she doesn’t need to alter it in any way. We continue talking about body issues and somehow start talking about how she’s always wanted to plant trees which is something I’ve been wanting to do for a while (weird, huh?).
Well, before I know it, the lap dance was over and I return to the table where the guys are waiting for me with huge grins on their faces. They wanted to know what happened behind the curtain. I didn’t want to admit that the stripper and I basically spent the time having girl talk and it wasn’t the raunchy event that they had hoped for. So I told them that it was a special experience and I didn’t want to taint it by telling them.
I guess they’ve figured me out really well during my time up in the field because they quickly realized that we just basically talked for most of the lap dance. I think they were disappointed that they basically paid for a therapy session but I enjoyed myself and I’ll always remember my first lap dance/girly conversation with a stripper!
I realize that I’ve been really quiet lately. There are definitely a number of things I really want to discuss via post so bear with me while I recall all the awesome adventures, unbelievable events and new bizarre thoughts.
I still think it’s weird that people actually read my blog posts.
I think it’s an interesting phenomenon how we can be speaking the same language but be using different words to mean the same thing. I’ve always heard people say that when they speak to Brits, they have no idea what they’re saying half the time and I’m sure the Brits are thinking the same thing. And I always find it interesting when I’m speaking to someone and realize that they are clearly American. American English is so slightly different than Canadian English that you’d have to listen carefully for the differences.
I’m currently in the field up in Northern BC and I’m starting to find out that the English I speak in Southern Ontario is really different than the English they speak up here!
For example, when I address someone casually, I’ll say “man” or “bro” (thanks to Hadi!) and I may even throw in the occasionally “dude”. But up here, it’s “buddy”! Everyday I hear someone say, “hey buddy” or “thanks buddy”. It sounds so… foreign!
I was up at the gas plant and a plant operator and I were turning a couple of valves and isolating a receiver so that we could open it up. He looks over to me and says, “Give it a good reef!”
I’m like “reef”? I quickly run through my mental dictionary on the word “reef” and I don’t know of any instance where “reef” is a verb! So I put on my confused face (which I seem to be wearing constantly up here) and I say, “Reef?” I think my confused face in conjunction with the fact that I had no idea what he meant by “reef” was too much for him as he fell into a mini laughing fit while informing me that I must live in a hole and that he simply wanted me to pull on a lever.
Here’s another one: The environment up in the field is very casual and we always joke around and get at each other. There’s this one operator that I always get at. I mean we’re almost always arguing and making fun of each other. Anyhoo, we were talking about the casual, fun working environment they have up in the field and he says to me, “Why do you always gross me out?”
I immediately think, “I’m grossing him out?? Umm, do I have B.O. or something and no one mentioned anything? This is embarrassing!” So I put on my lovely confused face again and I say, “I gross you out! What do you mean?” Then I think, I shower everyday, sometimes twice a day. There’s no way I have a B.O. issue!
So I ask, “How do you spell gross?” thinking there has to be another word that sounds the same but is spelled differently. I’m pretty sure he thought I was an idiot for asking him that question but one look at my confused face had him explaining to me that he meant to ask me why I’m always on his case. What a relief! I do not have a B.O. issue!! Yay!
This whole experience just goes to show how we can all be speaking the same language but our individual colloquialisms (Look out! Word of the day!) could easily result in misunderstanding, miscommunication and, at the very least, a funny story to share!
