A Day Trip in Inner Mongolia

It's been awhile.  I hope you've been well.  I've spent the better part of March at home, therefore I spend as much time with the ones that I love as possible.  I'll have another post to talk about a short trip to hell that I endured in the middle of March.  I am now writing to you from the city of Qingdao, China.  I've spent the past week working on the power plant in Rizhao, China upgrading the system.  Nothing really exciting has happened so far this trip.  I've managed to put a nice dent in the 600 page novel that I am reading.  Kind of relaxing, but I still am suffering the sleepness nights when I miss my wife the most.  One would think that after nearly two years of this job I'd be used to the routine, but alas no.  Airports and general navigation to each destination is easier and the airline perks are nice... but still.

So, Inner Mongolia.  At the end of Feb. this year I was sent to Mongolia for a potential installation site.  Cool a new country to visit/explore.  Turns out that the town I was sent to, Hohhot, is in a province of China called Inner Mongolia.  True to the Mongolian nomenclature, the town of Hohhot was founded Genghis Khan's grandson (18th generation, nonetheless).  Here is the statue of the dude:

He's the one not playing pocket pool

His throne has a dais made of human skulls, royal Indian elephants, and lots of horses.  Not too sure if this was a statue or a tomb.  It is sacred to the locals at any rate.  The statue was the only structure in this gigantic square. 

This square is adjacent to a large and old Bhuddist Temple.  Follow me inside, if you will:

Major Bhuddist Symbol (Harmony):  Bird on a rabbit, on a monkey, on an elephant.

Entrance to the West Gate, Protected by god of winds

Bhuddist god of Winds.  I wonder if we are related???

Pagoda

Please keep in mind:  all ornate art work and architecture was hand crafted about 400 years ago. 

A typical, awe-inspiring ceiling of the many rooms of the temple

Can you spot the first white elephant gift?  Good luck!!!

The outside walls were ornate as well.  Swastikas are supposed to be for good luck.  Still are in Asia.

Remember Eddie Murphy in "The Golden Child,"?  I do.  I did.

One of the many statues of a goddess.  Offerings on table in front.

A bit of history of the place

This was cool:  an original tablet brought over from Tibet to Mongolia well over 500 years ago.

Outside the main temple.  No pix inside, but WOW!!!

Gary Wang, our sales contact and guide, and I spent the entire day at this temple and at the one across the street.  I was amazed by the beauty of both of the places, and kinda made the trip worth while.  Sounds like Zolo will be doing an install there later this year.  I'll try to get more pictures.  The unfortunate thing about this region is that there not much for sightseeing, aside from these temples.  I guess they are similar, so I'd hate to go to one and have a "ho-hum," experience.  Until next time.

Thank you for reading and viewing,

Kevin

The Other Pole

So what could be more opposite than Texas?  France would be a good guess, but I'll have to settle for China.  My original belief was that China was an über-repressive country, in which the people wore bland/dark clothes and were reserved in their manners; one's passport would have to be shown at every corner by leering cops/soldiers; and maybe the populace would sing some song to the late Chairman Mao at 6:15 PM every day.  Turns out phallic jokes are world-wide.  Who knew that these jokes would be funny from Indiana, Pennsylvania, to Niederaußem, Germany, and now to Hohhot, Inner Mongolia???  Great way to break the ice, especially when one's contact does not know a word in English.

I've spent my third trip to Rizhao, China earlier this week and now am writing to you about two hours west of Hohhot, China.  Not sure what the name of the town is, but surprisingly is looks the same as Rizhao, Qingdao, Tiajin, Beijing, and Hohhot:  crowded, dirty in most locations, and lots of construction.  It seems like the entire country is undergoing a face-lift of sorts.  Makes sense, as they're the #2 economy in the world and seems to be holding the US and soon to be the EU by the financial short-hairs.  The propaganda, er the informational, video (shown with the music of "Amazing Grace," no less!!) on the bus from Rizhao to Qingdao kept on showing a rising sun as it was explaining the booming growth of Rizhao.  To me that means that the information, er tourism, ministry believes and is getting others to believe that the changes to Rizhao are just the beginning.  The confidence of the people I interact with lets credence to this.  Speaking of which, the people I've been around have a profound interest in American politics (one would be alarmed at the similarities between US and Chinese politics) and religion.  Strange, one is taught that both were verboten here, as well in the workplace.  But not so much.  They find my views to be "interesting," (I'll leave it at that).  BTW:  Don't be surprised if there is news of activity between China and the Philippines sometime this year.  It'll be the new Premier flexing his muscles.  Oh, and we won't be able to call the political system "Communist," anymore in the near future.  Something like "People's Socialist State," or some BS like that. 

Without further to-do, I will present the rest of this post in picture format.  Tomorrow I will be a tourist in the fab. town of Hohhot.  I was hoping for Beijing, but this'll have to do...

Denver from 10,000 Feet

Wheird building @ LAX, smaller than I anticipated

Old Chinese building

YO!! TAXI!!!

Yup, you can watch the shower from the room

Hover Dump, enough said

 Holy crapola, 3 bottles of 90 proof soju, a case of beer and bad kareoke (thank goodness for U2 and The Eagles.....

How to gain access to Communist power plant

Control room of communist power plant

And yes, it tastes like Coke in China too,

 

And as a added surprise:  what happened outside my window tonight,

Thank you for reading,

Kev

Polar Opposites

Getting into the rental car in Austin, I plug in my GPS.  The unit powers up and the lady's voice is heard saying: "Awww, shit!!  We're in Texas.  For those of you that have not had the opportunity, nay pleasure of driving in a Texas city, please allow me to elaborate.  The highways have few on/off ramps in the common sense that there is an overpass and ramps to get on and off the highway.  They have frontage roads with one-way traffic that runs parallel to the highway lanes, and very short on/off lanes between the two.  For instance, if you're hungry for Burger King (not sure why, but jonses happen) and you spot on coming up on the frontage road, normally you'd take the next off-ramp and head down the frontage road to BK.  Not so in TX.  You'd have to get off the highway on one of the short, aforementioned lane, travel a distance to a turn-around point, double back on other frontage road, to another turn-around point that is beyond your destination and then get back to original frontage road to get to BK.  Now I'm sure that my kind readers in TX are laughing at me, that's okay.  It takes some getting used to the system down there.  When traveling through the meat of a downtown area (Austin, San Antonio, etc.) there is a huge network of bridges (Texans love their bridges), overpasses, and lanes for the sake of having additional lanes.  So, that leads me back to my original point of the pissed off-fa-fa GPS lady.  With all of these parallel lanes/frontage roads, etc. it is very easy to take a wrong turn and the GPS will not know until you've traveled a distance, sometimes a couple of miles, before she realizes that you've goofed.

 

Short on-ramp to I-410 S.A.

You'd better get up on it when you're getting onto a highway, and likewise stomp on the brakes whilst getting off.  And to make matters worse, the plant I was supposed to go to has a new address (well, new to the site where I get my plant address info).  The listed plant address is the back, employee entrance.  I sure got some weird looks when I pulled into there (after many turns in TX gun country) last July.  The following picture is from the GPS after gaining access to the site through the new entrance off of US 181:

Lovely

The trip was not too bad on site.  It was really physically demanding.  4 port rodders (slag clearing thingys) were stuck inside the boilers.  The rodder pulling tool was broken, so I had to muscle them out.  I was quite sore.  One there, boiler #1 decided to leak water/steam from some of it's tubes and the plant dudes had to shut it down.  While shut down, plants like to de-slag their boilers.  Usually plants use a large shot gun inside the boiler to remove the slag.  These guys use dynamite.  I managed to capture a shot video of the action.  It was quite loud, as they were blasting close to my level, luckily I was over on boiler #2:

 I'm gonna have to cut this post short, as I need to check out of my room in Rizhao, China.  I'll post the second part of this blog in a day or two.

Thank you for reading!

Kev

Wrapping Up This German Trip

I've been back in the States for just under a week, and finally have the gumption to write the last post for the most recent trip to Germany.  I must say that coming home to see family once again was met with great anticipation, two sleepless nights, and a wonderful smooch from my wife at the airport.  I sure do appreciate the fact that she came to DIA in order to meet me after a long trip and a late flight (we didn't land until midnight).  Seeing her and the kids is my secular Christmas.  The last time I came home at the end of November 2011, I was greeted with the following:  Alan Jackson singing "Remember When," (one of my favorite songs about the future (hopefully)) and this ~

It sure made the pain of being away intensify and quickly melt away.  Sure made things seem to be more worth it.  I guess that is what made leaving for Germany at the start of January so tough.  That and the fact that I was going to be returning to Germany in short order after getting back.  Supposed to be going back to Niederaußem this Saturday, BUT it turns out that I've been redirected to Texas next week.  Then I am off to Rizhao, China and Yeoungheung-do, South Korea.  For those of you jonesing for posts from the "other side of the sandbox," your wish is my command.  Thank you to Will Kent for showing me how to get around the Chinese censors.

So, visits to Niederaußem and Neurath generating stations finished up the last trip.  Four boilers in three days.  Noooo problem, right?  Riiight?!?  Shit no.  At least the drive into these places was nice, Neurath is to the right and Niederaußem is to the left:

Neurath turned out to be a fairy easy visit.  Had to field-repair the temperature controller in the MDC, align some sensor heads, and diagnose a failed sensor head.  Please check out the posts on Keystone, if you haven't the foggiest notion what I am talking about and your interest is piqued.  Moderate troubleshooting at Niederaußem Unit G and a rather easy walkabout around Niederaußem K were the "highlights," of our visit to Niederaußem.  However, Unit D was a whole new beast.  My hard hat is off to the install team.  Not sure how they did it, but they did.  Amazing work by Scott and Glen.  Allow me to elaborate...

There are these thingies at German power plants called overfired air ducts.  True, these things are at American plants, but they are different in Germany.  Think of this system as the EGR system on a car:  Exhaust gas is redirected into the combustion zone for better combustion and improved emissions out the exhaust (allegedly).  Here is a picture of what is inside of these pipes:

The protective glass is broken, so you can see the 2000+ F "air," glowing orange-hot inside this pipe.  The pipe has a wall thickness of maybe a foot, so it is radiating much heat.  In order to get to three of our pitch sensors, one has to climb up, over, around, and through scaffolding, pieces of scaffolding, these hot pipes, a buckstay (I-Beam), and wooden planks.  Not much fun to say the least.  I thought I had slayed the fear of confined spaces.  Turns out not so much.  I actually had to ask Glen to move out of my way in order to get myself under control.  Nearly freaked out.  Here is where I was standing when I did:

I'm standing at sensor 3, and had to move between the boiler wall (left), overfired air (right), and an I-Beam to get to sensor 4.  The width was about half my body's width, and I would have had to Army crawl under that I-Beam to get to #4 (which you can kinda see in the background).  Needless to say, the walls closed in quickly, with the accompanying tightness in the chest, racing heartbeats, and major pucker factor happening you know where.  Glen was kind enough to move when I said that I needed to get out.  After spending a few minutes outside to get myself under control again, I made a second attempt at getting to #4.  This time I looked for a way to get there from the other side, by #6.  This is where the over, under, and around trek takes place.  I counted 8 sequences of going up and down in order to reach #4 and #5 sensors.  Twasn't much fun, even after the 8th trip.  Here is a picture of Glen working on sensor #4:

The round pipe to the left is the overfired air duct.  Being away from family is very difficult, and working in these conditions amplifies it even more.  Let's see, we work in other tight places:  There's the "Tunnel of Love," at Ottumwa, "Frying Pan," at Amos, "Hell," at Cane Run, and "The Pits," at Clay Boswell.  I'll try to get pictures of these places the next time I'm there.  I guess we can call the front wall of Niederaußem Unit D "WTF???"   As in what were they thinking???  I guess we'll go anywhere to get our job done, all in the name of customer satisfaction.

Talk to you later from Texas.

Thank you for reading,

Kevin

Amsterdam

Thank you to everyone that provided feedback from my last post. It was difficult to write, as it is trying times. Trying not just for me, but for my family as well. I'll be home soon and I cannot wait!! One thing that I discovered in writing the last post may be embodied in a picture that I've shared in Facebook. It is as true now as it was back then: No matter how dirty (filthy, hot, cold, rotten, &c) life gets to be, the most important things in life always shine through.

So, that brings us to Sunday of last week. We had the day off and made the choice to drive to Amsterdam. The drive would have been more fun had it not been raining, but oh well. Being the history nerd that I am, I wanted to find one historic spot in town and make that the initial destination. The last time, in Brussels, we went to see some little boy-statue take a whiz. This time the destination was a bit more sobering: the house where Anne Frank and her family hid. Here is what the house looks like today:

Their hiding place is in the back. There is a museum right next door, but the line to get in was very long. Maybe the next time that I'm in town... Speaking of which, the parking there is quite an adventure as well. We happened to be in the middle of old downtown and parking sucked. We managed to find a spot a few blocks from the museum and the shops that we were hoping to visit. Parallel parking in Amsterdam can be hair-raising:

Nothing like parking a brand new Beammer inches, okay a foot, from a canal. After stopping by the museum, we headed to the heart of downtown. It reminded me of Belgium, what with the cobble stoned streets and a veritable melting pot of languages. Coffee shops, chocolateers, and souvenir shops were all over the place. Every store had someone who could speak English, so it was easy to get to the next location, well that and a hungry bum Glen bribed with a Bratwurst and 20 Euro. Looks like Gen had a great time:

A shot down one of the many canals in town:

Most of the buildings are over 300 years old in the downtown area. I'm sure that there are many more that are even older. Traveling to these different cities is one nice benefit to working in Europe. I'd sure like to take my wife there one of these days. First we'll go to Vegas!!! Amsterdam was a pretty cool town. Nothing like I've read or heard about. Just a busy, crowded town with European flair...

Dank U for reading. Two more days left!!!

Kevin

Melancholy and the Infinite Sadness

Pensive at times, and most often melancholy is the overwhelming feeling that I feel starting the second week of an install. Pensive: trying to ensure that I am doing the best that I can for my family, moreover that I am providing for a better future for Katie Jo and Kyle. Is the job enough sacrifice of the body and mind to ensure that they're future selves are going to be okay? Can we mentally survive the self-inflictive pain whilst apart? It is tough, waking in the middle of the night, after a bad dream, or wandering thought, to wake up and find only a cold side of the bed for "comfort." The thought that my better half is awake and busy at work provides some comfort, knowing that she is slogging through her day, providing relief and sometimes angst for the patients seen at her clinic. Some comfort, but I am not able to talk to her, let alone reach out to her. All I can do is answer nature's call and keep the goal in mind: Successful completion of my mission, on time, such that I am able to escape this segment of my life, for the time being. Nothing provides a better motivation than missing one's family. Knowing that I have a goal to getting back with the ones that I love, provides me with the strength to carry on. Be it through sickness, bloody hot conditions, or tedium in the repetitive days, insomuch as that the days of the week mean nothing. Each day that I wake up means the same, damn thing: quick breakfast of whatever, some caffeine plus the adrenaline-rush of the Autobahn, followed by a brutally hard day at the office:

Cold and dreary it is. Perfectly suited for my mood. The trip started difficult enough: a large lump in my throat, tears just behind the eyelids, as I bade farewell to my wife and kids. I am not sure why it was so tough this go-around, it just was. Even now I am torturing myself with music that affects my mood: "Pictures of You," by The Cure; and "Tangled Up in You," by Aaron Lewis. Reinforcement of the mood, and who knows what dreams may come.

Times like these are tough on me, and for my wife. We both understand our situation and do our best to put the best face on things. Truth is, that being away from her and the kids is probably the hardest thing I've had to deal with, and I do so often. Harder than saying, "Tootles," to my family and Uncle Larry at the airport when I left for boot camp; harder than saying goodbye to family after a visit to MN; and as hard, yet less acute, than saying farewell to a family member just before they pass on.

Infinite sadness, as such there is not much I can do to alleviate the pain. Talking with my wife every day is the de facto highlight of said day and the ever present drive to finish the tasks at hand, are all that I can do. But no matter what, the sadness remains in the background. In the background, that is until I lay down to rest for the evening. Luckily I am exhausted from a long day at work and usually have an adult beverage, or four, in my system to help with the transition from the waking bad dream to others after the world gets dark. Nights are the worst by far. Just imagine if you will: A bad dream occurs, in which there is much despair around you. You do not know why things are down, or what you can do about it. The feelings intensify to the point that you awake to a dark room, cold pillows next to you, when all you want is a familiar warm body next to you, to hug, to make the feeling dissipate. Then fucking reality sets in: you're all alone in a strange hotel room, thousands of miles and up to 14 time zones away from the one person that can alleviate the pain.

** SIGH ** sorry for being such a Debbie Downer, but I just need an outlet for the way that I am feeling at the moment (shut up already, Robert Smith!!!). Just got word that I get to come back to Germany not long after getting back home from this current trip. Long enough to get back to Mountain Standard Time and long enough to enjoy being with the one, and ones, that I love.

Is it all worth it???

Time will tell. I pray often that the choices that I make pay off to the betterment of the kids and of the family. If that means that I suffer a heavy heart for a weeks at a time, then it will be well worth it.

Thanks for reading,

Kev

Marl-Oberhausen, Germany

It has been a busy week, what with the 12-hour days and a missing crate of mandatory material. Working in Germany, or any foreign country for that matter, is quite a bit different than working in the States. Our contacts have certain rules to abide by: They must take breaks at certain times (yes, union dudes in the States do, but they leave us behind) and we have to go with them, as we are escorted. Their smoking room is about a half a kilometer away and all of them smoke. I'm the smart one: I get my nic-fit relieved second-hand... Chemiepark, Marl(NW of 51°40′N 7°07′E)is a location of modern day history and our main contact is a fellow history nerd.

Allow me to digress: Walking back from the aforementioned smoke shack, Herr Meyer related a story about his niece. It goes something like this: She was playing on her bike near her home when she discovered a metal coke bottle. She being a fun-seeking 9 year old, she tied a string to the bottle and the other end to her bike, in order to drag the noise-maker behind her. After cruising for a spell down the street with the metal bottle behind her, she her a "POP!!!," from behind her. When she turned around, the coke bottle was gone, in it's place was a dust cloud. Turns out that the coke bottle was a German grenade from WW 2. And it also turns out that her story is fairly common around these parts. I guess the kids getting splinters at the park is not as big a deal as dragging a grenade behind the ole bike... I about pooped myself when he told me that story. Munitions turn up all of the time in Germany. You actually need a special permit in order to certify that your property is clear, or has been cleared, of munition before you can build on your property. Heck, Herr Meyer even related a story of how his neighbor had a 500 pound bomb encased in concrete, vice having it removed from his basement! Geez, what a conversation starter at a party: Didja ya know that you're standing above a 500-pound bomb? Care for more punch? Or moreover: Wussten Sie, das Sie uber ein 500 pfund Bombe steht? Pflege fur mehr Druck?

Every day, our main contact expects to see American bombers busting out of the clouds to drop their loads on the chemical park. I'm sure his parents were a part of that horror. SO here is the picture that I had alluded to in a prior Facebook post:

Herr Meyer told a story on how people would crowd into these bomb shelters and would be trapped inside by debris. If someone from the outside was assigned to that bunker and they survived the bombing, then that person would be responsible for clearing the rubble in order for the people to get out. They've monuments around this area for the 20+ people (whole families included) that died in the bunkers after a bombing raid. A little piece of history that has not been revealed, until now. True, the German people let a lunatic run and ruin their country, but there were plenty of dead people that were innocents. Stories such as this one are common throughout Germany, Poland, Belgium, The Netherlands, and France.

More pictures for you:

The different colored bricks show when the bomb damaged buildings were repaired. How many times they were repaired is unknown.

This building, and several like it, still shows the battle scars of either bomb blasts or from bullets.

An old warehouse that has not been used since the '40's. Right next to the warehouse is the concrete bomb shelter. The walls are at least 6 feet thick and are reinforced with rebar. The building has not been touched since WW 2, along with several others throughout Chemiepark, Marl. Ghost Adventures would have a good time in this location, eh?

The boiler itself is quite small, maybe 30 feet each side. Most of the ones we work at are 45 - 60 feet on each side. And, of course, it is an outdoor plant. A fun time to be sure, at a latitude the same as Alaska. The sun doesn't get very high in the sky during the day. I'd say about the same as the 8 - 9 o'clock sun in Colorado. The darn thing rises about 9 AM and sets by 4 PM. Strange. And to top it off, the MDC and Rack are located inside of the 700 foot smokestack.

Well, another day is about to show up in about 90 minutes. Can't wait, maybe I'll sleep through the transition... Hopefully our crate of missing things will show up tomorrow.

Thank you for reading,

Kevin