Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Picante de Lengua
Yeah that's right, for lunch i ate a scrumptious tongue. Still difficult to get over putting a dead animals tongue in my mouth, but once i do...mmm...mmm.mmmmm. Taste...hmmmm, that word seems so different now.
So it's day two. not much sleep last night as my dreams were competing with the bottle rockets and firecrackers for fiesta de san juan. no idea the reason, but it was on, even though they try to prohibit the fireworks due to the cloud of smog that hung around all day today.
The factory however sits on a hill overlooking the smog so it was clear breathing for us. a great day to watch the workers...oh wait they're all drunk and skipping work for the morning. no problem. we consumed our morning with calculations. major hurdles overcome especially clarification of gas consumption...oh you mean the factory only consumes about 45,000 cubic meters of gas per month not 1,800,000 ? Great. it was nice to be given a few duties from durk in the mathematics department and get some good technical explanations from him...next step was to butcher them with my spanish.
spent much of the afternoon watching the workers straggle in and going over details of production and charging the furnace. how to gather out of the furnace in order not to trap bubbles. why it is bad to put 200 kilos of cold glass into the furnace in one go.
anyway, most importantly i had my first opportunity to gather out of the furnace today. it felt great. gonna see if i can take advantage of an open bench here and there over the next few days.
oh yeah, for the nerds here's a bit of info to get you started:
http://www.valkema.com/
and
ME
So it's day two. not much sleep last night as my dreams were competing with the bottle rockets and firecrackers for fiesta de san juan. no idea the reason, but it was on, even though they try to prohibit the fireworks due to the cloud of smog that hung around all day today.
The factory however sits on a hill overlooking the smog so it was clear breathing for us. a great day to watch the workers...oh wait they're all drunk and skipping work for the morning. no problem. we consumed our morning with calculations. major hurdles overcome especially clarification of gas consumption...oh you mean the factory only consumes about 45,000 cubic meters of gas per month not 1,800,000 ? Great. it was nice to be given a few duties from durk in the mathematics department and get some good technical explanations from him...next step was to butcher them with my spanish.
spent much of the afternoon watching the workers straggle in and going over details of production and charging the furnace. how to gather out of the furnace in order not to trap bubbles. why it is bad to put 200 kilos of cold glass into the furnace in one go.
anyway, most importantly i had my first opportunity to gather out of the furnace today. it felt great. gonna see if i can take advantage of an open bench here and there over the next few days.
oh yeah, for the nerds here's a bit of info to get you started:
http://www.valkema.com/
and
ME
Monday, June 23, 2008
Day one...I think
So i got on the plane yesterday in Boston. Fell asleep before we took off. We lurched forward and I opened my eyes to see the runway speeding by some unfamiliar buildings. Absolutely no idea where I was. None. It took a few minutes. What a strange feeling. Seems to be happening alot lately.
anyway, somewhere around 17 hours later i landed in Cochabamba Bolivia. Foggy headed from altitude and too many airline breakfasts checked into my hotel and dozed for about an hour before heading to Fabrica Crisil.
Yeah, so i'm here in Cochabamba for five days to act as translator for my friend durk from amsterdam. we are here to design a new furnace for a small production facility on the request of their partner Fairtrade. this is a dutch company that has become involved in promoting fairtrade and improving production facilities in latin america. lots more to that but i stop there.
for now i'll say that i'm a lucky lucky person. i'm in bolivia. in the most comfortable region...it's winter and i'm in shorts and a sweatshirt. i'm helping a dear friend inspect and develop a small glass facility. it's amazing. the people who own and run it seem to be saints. the workers function like a well greased machine, especially after lunch. however it could be a factor of the animal fat that they keep on the marvers so that they can roll the glass in place.
insert amazing pictures and videos here...sadly i left my cord at home so i'll offer some visual evidence of said wonders later.
anyway. my brain hurts from translating though i'm unexpectedly surprised at my spanish capabilities. and i'm tired so i fall face down on my bed and feel the middle of my back relax and sink down into nothing...jump up to finish this my first blog and then...
anyway, somewhere around 17 hours later i landed in Cochabamba Bolivia. Foggy headed from altitude and too many airline breakfasts checked into my hotel and dozed for about an hour before heading to Fabrica Crisil.
Yeah, so i'm here in Cochabamba for five days to act as translator for my friend durk from amsterdam. we are here to design a new furnace for a small production facility on the request of their partner Fairtrade. this is a dutch company that has become involved in promoting fairtrade and improving production facilities in latin america. lots more to that but i stop there.
for now i'll say that i'm a lucky lucky person. i'm in bolivia. in the most comfortable region...it's winter and i'm in shorts and a sweatshirt. i'm helping a dear friend inspect and develop a small glass facility. it's amazing. the people who own and run it seem to be saints. the workers function like a well greased machine, especially after lunch. however it could be a factor of the animal fat that they keep on the marvers so that they can roll the glass in place.
insert amazing pictures and videos here...sadly i left my cord at home so i'll offer some visual evidence of said wonders later.
anyway. my brain hurts from translating though i'm unexpectedly surprised at my spanish capabilities. and i'm tired so i fall face down on my bed and feel the middle of my back relax and sink down into nothing...jump up to finish this my first blog and then...
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