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Ladies in O & G

 
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Lady Luck



Joined: 07 Feb 2006
Posts: 8
Location: Planet Earth
PostPosted: Mon Oct 05, 2009 3:15 am    Post subject: Ladies in O & G Reply with quote
Hello:

I used to rotate into Chad and now want to get back into a rotational position. I have an MA in Second Language Education, a BEd TESL and 25 years of international experience much of it in the Muslim world, but . . . . I am a woman.

Are there any female English trainers at Sirte, or elsewhere in Libya?

I can't PM yet but feel free to PM me.

Lady Luck
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sharter



Joined: 25 Jun 2008
Posts: 878
Location: All over the place
PostPosted: Tue Oct 06, 2009 2:48 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Alas...no ladies at Sirte Oil, but the Marathon Oil gig in EQ takes them...try Wood Group North Sea or Fluor Industrial Services, Aberdeen.
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Lady Luck



Joined: 07 Feb 2006
Posts: 8
Location: Planet Earth
PostPosted: Tue Oct 06, 2009 3:20 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Thanks, sharter. I have contacted both - got an acknowledgment from Fluor but Wood Group is an odd one. They contacted me about two training positions which had nothing to do with teaching English but I had to e-mail them many times just to get a reply about ESL positions; I can't figure them out.

How about rotating out of Canada? Or do they prefer those based in Europe? Where do the EG personnel hub? (For Chad, it was Air France in Paris.)

Where are you? Feel free to PM me.

Lady Luck
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Pikgitina



Joined: 09 Jan 2006
Posts: 420
Location: KSA
PostPosted: Tue Oct 06, 2009 4:44 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Lady Luck wrote:
Where do the EG personnel hub? (For Chad, it was Air France in Paris.)


Iberia, Madrid?
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basiltherat



Joined: 04 Oct 2003
Posts: 952
PostPosted: Tue Oct 06, 2009 5:12 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Quote:
Lady Luck wrote:
Where do the EG personnel hub? (For Chad, it was Air France in Paris.)


Seriously, I was told that some use Houston; jetting you in and out on a direct and regularly-chartered flight.

best
basil
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Pikgitina



Joined: 09 Jan 2006
Posts: 420
Location: KSA
PostPosted: Tue Oct 06, 2009 6:06 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Now that is sweet! Cool
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Lady Luck



Joined: 07 Feb 2006
Posts: 8
Location: Planet Earth
PostPosted: Tue Oct 06, 2009 6:07 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Thanks, basiltherat. That would be quite easy. I was always surprised that ExxonMobil never did anything like that since it was a very long haul for the top brass from Texas.

How are you enjoying Libya? I guess there are quite a few upsides to being there: no malaria or other terrible diseases, no civil war . . .

Feel free to PM me if you like.

Lady Luck
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basiltherat



Joined: 04 Oct 2003
Posts: 952
PostPosted: Wed Oct 07, 2009 9:38 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Quote:
How are you enjoying Libya? I guess there are quite a few upsides to being there


Compared to EG, I guess those you mention are the upsides. However, being on a gas field aint much fun despite the relatively reasonable conditions provided where I am. The saving grace is a reasonable (not wonderful) rotation.

I don't really enjoy it here. I much prefer Damascus, Syria (where I was previously) and thankfully should be heading back there for another 2-year contract there pretty soon.

Libya - in my work here anyway - has been interesting but its not for the faint-hearted. Your employer is the key. You might like it if your employer can get his/her act together but unfortunately lying, cheating, laziness, disorganization and general incompetence is too prevalent for my liking.

As a boss of mine many years ago once said to a colleague of mine ... "If you don't like it, you should f*** off !"

Absolutely !

Best
Basil
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Lady Luck



Joined: 07 Feb 2006
Posts: 8
Location: Planet Earth
PostPosted: Wed Oct 07, 2009 4:31 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
I appreciate your honesty, basiltherat, and indeed your employer is the key. I remember my first day in Chad when the Country Manager at the time told me: "I don't know why you bl**dy English teachers are here anyway!" And I never did get one single pay cheque on time.

This is why I am here to find out who pays on time and takes care of their people. So far my impression of sub-contractors is that most of them are less than professional. I would be happy to share names via PM.

I have never heard of rotational positions in Syria or are you going back to being a full-time expat?

Lady Luck
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basiltherat



Joined: 04 Oct 2003
Posts: 952
PostPosted: Wed Oct 07, 2009 4:51 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Quote:
"I don't know why you bl**dy English teachers are here anyway!" And I never did get one single pay cheque on time.


At which time, it's time to think about moving on !


Quote:
I have never heard of rotational positions in Syria


I'm unsure at which point a 'rotation' is no longer a rotation but the deal is 12 weeks on and 4 weeks off. I guess it's a kind of 'rotation'.
The upside is that it's in Syria, mostly Damascus but the odd month in the field, ... not totally, then, in some some isolated gas/oil field in the middle of the sand/steppe all the time.

To be perfectly honest, Damascus is the kind of place where one could quite easily become a full-time expat and not feel the pressures that one feels in places like Libya, for example.

That's what I think, anyway.

Being in Damascus and the other towns/cities in the western region is not unlike, perhaps, being in somewhere like urban Turkey, although I haven't been there myself.

OK, there are the political issues but they rarely, if ever, tend to surface to the extent that it affects your daily life.

And the people, as I have said in earlier posts, are some of the kindest I've been around. There are obviously the few clowns but you get them everywhere.

You can have a pretty reasonable 'western' way of life if you so desired but there are obviously, like anywhere, some cultural norms to keep to. They are not overly demanding and ...... , well, wouldn't we expect the same if visitors came to our own countries ?

Yep, sure, we can PM each other ..... before the conversation gets too 'personal' between us for an open discussion forum .... don't get me wrong, tho. Wink


Best
Basil
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Lady Luck



Joined: 07 Feb 2006
Posts: 8
Location: Planet Earth
PostPosted: Wed Oct 07, 2009 9:28 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Quote:
At which time, it's time to think about moving on !


Indeed it is, for the faint-hearted, but people like that have no business in Africa. The appreciation and kindness of my keen students more than made up for his rudeness.

Syria sounds like an interesting place - lots of history and culture there. I lived in the Muslim world for years and found the social mores to be refreshingly civilized. Coming back to the West was a shock for me.

Please do feel free to PM me and I will be happy to be more specific.

Lady Luck