May 11, 2013 — Sisi Jacobs
May 11, 2013 — Sisi Jacobs
I’m currently marooned on this beautiful bit of land beside lake Volga [yeah, the name amuses me too] for the next few weeks as we attempt to reach a spot where some geologist in a plush office somewhere has determined there is oil to be plumbed from. At some point during my shift, I attempt to communicate with the driller in my limited Russian; he understands my request and does as asked, yaayy me.
And on that high, my night is going smoothly till I develop a case of the blues; I’m not sure what triggers it. So I turn to my usual fix; I sit down to write, I don’t always write about what’s going on in my head but it helps to let out some emotion, any emotion on that blank sheet. My eyes watch as my pen moves mindlessly filling the page with squiggles that I will look on tomorrow and shake my head at but it works, my mood turns lighter.
I brew a cup of tea and realise an hour later that it is still sitting pretty beside the kettle; decisions, decisions, I can either make a fresh cup, microwave it or drink it as is. Hey, who says tea can only be hot or cold so laziness wins and I sit to enjoy my warmish cuppa and write this. Working in a country where I don’t speak the language fluently with people whose English is as limited as my Russian is interesting to say the least, I keep saying I’ll work on learning to speak it better but it’s yet to happen, oh well, miracles do happen and hopefully, someday I’ll wake up with a smooth tongue.
There is something beautiful about working the night shift though, if I’m lucky I’m outside as the sun rises and the moon bids us adieu, I get to watch the sky shed its skin, displaying a beauty I never noticed in times past. I get to walk back to my cubicle as my shift ends with the beginning of a new day and feel a smile form on my face as I look at the unruffled waters and bask in nature’s glory.
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Sisi Jacobs (pseudonym) is a field engineer who dreams of spreading her wings with her words and photos. She spins her yarn over at Sisi Jacobs and mumbles on twitter @SisiJacobs