Love me some Scotland...

Greetings from sunnythenrainythenstormythenwindy then sunny again Scotland. I've just wrapped up my HUET training (Helicopter Underwater Evacuation Training) on Saturday. It was the most fun I've had in a while. Still can't believe sometimes I am getting paid for this.

A year ago I never thought I'd be spending a few days strapped in a helicopter fuselage mounted on a rotating gimble, getting dunked into water tanks and spun around, over and over again. We did it fully kitted out in the cold water gear we'd be wearing on a flight over the North Sea. The suits have these cool breathing apparatuses called "re-breathers" that work as little mini oxygen providers--basically you rip open the front pouch on your jacket, bite onto the dive tube, take a huge breath and blow into it, inflating a small chamber. That one breath then actually provides you enough oxygen to breathe fairly normally for about 30 seconds---enough time to hopefully exit the helicopter that has so helpfully crash landed into frigid water where, in normal clothing, you'd get hypothermia in about 3 minutes. Naturally in all flights over water, we'll be in cold water wetsuits that could provide about 8 hours of protection

Also loads of training on deploying inflatable life rafts, rescue boats, etc... THOSE were cool. Absolutely nothing like you'd find in your average sporting goods store. really cool equipment.

We ran the tests with the breathers, without them, upside down, rightside up, breaking out windows, no windows, all variations of the same thing--hauling arse out of a downed chopper in the water.

Loads of fun--there was also the mandatory first aid training and training on another apparatus called the "SkyScape", basically a 50 meter long tube of kevlar netting that can be rapidly deployed from the rig floor to the ocean--essentially the last ditch escape mechanism from a damaged/burning rig 150 feet above the ocean. AWESOME. Capital A.

Basically I am now certified to work in the North Sea for the next four years. Booyah.

As luck would have it, my brother in law Balazs lives about 40 minutes SW of Aberdeen, in a little village called Ballater. Its very near the Bamoral Castle (Royal Family summer home) and is also where the Scottish Highland Games finish up ever four years. A cool little area. I'm staying with him, along with two of my traveling classmates, for a few days, so we can take in as much of Scotland as we can.

Scotland is green. I mean freakishly greeny green. Hurt-your-eyes-in-the-summer green. Haven't seen this much green since Oregon, and--as I am told--this doesn't even currently compare to how green it is during the summer months. I guess I'll have to come back sometime in the summer with Agi to experience that.

As it is, I've seen all sorts of weather in the lat week. Clear skies one day, total storms the next, followed by mild rain and wind, then clear skies again.

We spent last night here in Ballater at Balazs's pad, and had dinner at the restaurant where he works.


Awesome little homey Italian restaurant "La Mangiatoia". Great food.


This morning we woke up briht and early and took a stroll around the outskirts of town--thankfully had some sunshine, whereas yesterday was pretty stormy.


Walking along a river footpath that runs along the town.



Yours truly posed artfully along the same river, definitely sullying the view with the haggard, bleary-eyed face that screams out "yes-I-just-woke-up-and-haven't-showered-for-two-days"...




AHA! I knew it! even the uppity Scots have trailer parks! I jest--this is less "trailer park" than "guest-housing-for-persons-visiting-the world-famous-golf-course-nearby". Still, I was pretty surprised to come around a bend of the river and see some trailers...




Also on my walkabout I stumbled onto the rarest of finds--something tourists in Europe have to search hi and lo for--an old church. If there is one thing Europe just doesn't seem to have enough of, it would be old, beautiful temples that date from the middle ages. Who knew?




Most of all, I'm just happy to be able to hang out with Balazs again for a few days--haven't seen him since February, when he came out here to work. Cool guy! I know Agi misses him terribly, so I'd like to just take this moment to say....NEENER NEENER NEENER! I'm hanging out with your bro! In Scotland! Kidding aside, its been a great trip so far, and I am looking forward to jetting around the countryside on Monday checking out Loch Ness, the castle at Inverness, and seeing a beautiful countryside dotted with lots of sheep.

Later!