The story begun on Friday...
All last week there was an unusual excitement at the Office before the arriving of András our new colleague. I guess in Budapest as well...
Almost all the day we were planning with Zoltán how to welcome the new-comer. A really shameful paperboard was made by us with his name on it. We were training all the day to have all conversation in English and not to say a single sentence in Hungarian so that on the way form the airport we could speak fluent English. We may do it so good that it was too much fun to him.
András' apartment is also cca 4-5 km from the Office but the opposite way. It is not 10 minutes without car... on the other hand it's nice fully equipped suterain under an elegant house.
We had fixed a little trip in town at yesterday morning. I succeeded to oversleep nicely. I just brought my clothes to wash them. On the way back I did the shopping for the whole week, so at the end I was an hour late when I arrived to him. Being a rainy day it wasn't problem. I had purchased the travel tickets in advance. Now I really enjoy trying to speak Norwegian even if as little as a couple of sentences. And it's working! Somehow this little guiding gave me so much self confidence...
We popped up to the take away for a kebab, put my car nearby my apartment and took a bus. Well we had a quite reduced trip since we had an invitation to Zoltán's family for a visit. That was very good! We become friends with the little girls very soon. There is a four and a two years old girl. They are so proportionate! We fixed at once that I'll be the babysitter during the movie on text Saturday to let the parents go out to the cinema as a couple.
I took a tram backwards cause we were drinking, of course. I just accompanied András till the bus stop at Storo then, around 10:30 PM I walked home.
This morning I woke up at some 10. I just had got out some meat from the fridge to let it defrost when Ivar called me and asked if I could go to help him and did some overtime. Of course I could. Meat can wait... I got the place by my car. I nearly found the place at once... Finally it took a nice 6 hours! Hardly had I arrived home and got myself together I had to leave, however I was late. Now the church was really full!
And finally the ice have broken! I met with Hungarian girls in church. I was close to them during the service and I heard that they aren't native English, but they had rather special Hungarian accent. When they came out from the church I came up to them and we started a very good chat. András were also at the service that made me very happy. He participated the service at the end of his trip, and he wasn't late. So by the time he came I had been chatting with the two girls. He joined us. The girls are students and won the opportunity to learn in abroad by Erasmus. They have been here for six week and will stay till the end of November. I let them known that I was in the cinema and watched a Hungarian film, and there will be another film next Saturday. I also told them that there going to be a Hungarian service on next Sunday. They was happy and surprised. I liked that I could give them my own business-card. I have been attending services for 7 weeks and I have prayed for friends at church ever since! András has very good affect on events. Life have started since he came!
This evening a bit more fun that I have learn form Zoltán about a couple from Erdély, who will come to Oslo for 2-3 days and they are looking for place to stay for that time. They are writing a book about the Hungarians who live in Diasporas all over the world. He asked me if I could help them because the have send their letter to "hunnor" list a week ago. So I wrote them and they answered in 25 minutes that I was the first one who offered them some help so far. I don't know jet how to fit to my little apartment two more people but good people can share even a little place as well!
Sunday, September 30, 2007
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Strømmen
I am writing this post only in order to reassure my geodeta friends and acquaintances about that's not better elsewhere.
Well, today I could do a nice overtime again. Now it was because of the reconstruction of the train station mentioned in the title. At our company everybody call the construction leader there Cowboy. Now I could have experienced personally that this name fits to him. The method is quite usual at home as well; when he see that the surveyors are packing together and are about to leave after finishing the job he gave by 7 pm he just call us back and make us to set out some heights for him. In addition he also could have measure those heights if he would.
Today I saw the road runner program during usage. By this program you can set out points wherever you want in any kind of line, curve, arc and complex line in 3D. By using a loaded DTM wherever I move the reflector the planned height at that point appears immediately so I can set out the height wherever the costumer wants to have it.
For we work with Leica TCRP 1203 robotic theodolites which follow the reflector (if it can see it, but a construction is not really the place where isn't anything on the direction) and I can control the instrument from the distance by the controller fixed on the pole and at the same time I can see how far I am from the point I want to set out. The free station is ready in a moment thank reflectors fixed upon buildings nearby...
Than, why the hell took setting out 40-50 points 8 hours for two people? Well, on one hand because we had to control dates from the paper plan since DTM is not valid everywhere, on the other hand because of the marking. The one and a half meter long wooden stick doesn't go down in rolled down gravelled surface. There wasn't shorter one, we have run of all the half meter long sticks recently however there was a full pallet. Have somebody to cut iron is heresy here. I had to seeking some waist irons. There is not simple to drive into earth 1,5m long 16mm diameters concrete-ocel neither, though as one machine controller guy demonstrated with a 5 kg hammer: "It's possible! So I have learned something today again... on the hard way of my engineer career.
Well, today I could do a nice overtime again. Now it was because of the reconstruction of the train station mentioned in the title. At our company everybody call the construction leader there Cowboy. Now I could have experienced personally that this name fits to him. The method is quite usual at home as well; when he see that the surveyors are packing together and are about to leave after finishing the job he gave by 7 pm he just call us back and make us to set out some heights for him. In addition he also could have measure those heights if he would.
Today I saw the road runner program during usage. By this program you can set out points wherever you want in any kind of line, curve, arc and complex line in 3D. By using a loaded DTM wherever I move the reflector the planned height at that point appears immediately so I can set out the height wherever the costumer wants to have it.
For we work with Leica TCRP 1203 robotic theodolites which follow the reflector (if it can see it, but a construction is not really the place where isn't anything on the direction) and I can control the instrument from the distance by the controller fixed on the pole and at the same time I can see how far I am from the point I want to set out. The free station is ready in a moment thank reflectors fixed upon buildings nearby...
Than, why the hell took setting out 40-50 points 8 hours for two people? Well, on one hand because we had to control dates from the paper plan since DTM is not valid everywhere, on the other hand because of the marking. The one and a half meter long wooden stick doesn't go down in rolled down gravelled surface. There wasn't shorter one, we have run of all the half meter long sticks recently however there was a full pallet. Have somebody to cut iron is heresy here. I had to seeking some waist irons. There is not simple to drive into earth 1,5m long 16mm diameters concrete-ocel neither, though as one machine controller guy demonstrated with a 5 kg hammer: "It's possible! So I have learned something today again... on the hard way of my engineer career.
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Finally I've succeeded in it!
I begin to think that this country is maybe damned for nothing will work at once here. Neither in work nor otherwise.
I've been waiting for the key for my mailbox for 3 weeks for instance. Zoltán could tell more stories about the inconsistent bureaucrats at the police, where foreigners have to apply for work permission. Today the the instrument by which he was working happened to loose the data he recorded so far. The complete file vanished, so he had to start again from the beginning, however he had nearly finished it.
Yesterday we were in trouble like on Friday. Although we could do the job I have prepared the dates, but it would be better to see the side on the weekend. Because after around an hour searching we figured out that the whole area had changed so much that only one fix point remained of the many I collected. So we couldn't do anything else but use GPS. But it was only after lunch. I had on my mind the setting out job that left from Friday. The guy had called me also and enquired about when we go there. Hardly had we go out after lunch it begun to rain. I wouldn't be problem at all, but since I had to go into a meter tall weed my legs got wet immediately from feet til thighs. :) Well done. We finished by 5 pm.
Meanwhile Zoltán was tinkering with the preparation query and transformation for the LIDL steak out job. If it would be so easy... At the end I got the idea that it was meaningless to transform all the detail points always. Much more simple to transform just the 3-4 fix points into the those system therefore there is no need to transform later at all. So we did. When we arrived to the site at around 6 pm free station won't work since we mistyped a coordinate. At the end by 8 pm we finished. I was happy despite my smacky wet shoes because of the overtime and because I thought that only the levelling left.
This morning Stian assistant colleague of mine was out with somebody else. I thought we would do the levelling in the afternoon and could finish in time. Than the guy from LIDL called me for the job we did yesterday was wrong, because the plan had changed and so we had to do it again. We didn't know about this changing. He sent the drawing at 11 am. I was a bit grumbling to go back there third time again but I calmed down soon since it wasn't our fault.
And since that time finally everything succeeded without trouble. The querying, transferring into instrument, and on the site the free station as well. Nothing was on the way we could set out everything from only one station. So I can't find words! The only little problem was that we brought a stativ which wasn't good enough for levelling therefore we had to go back to the Office and change it. We had to have a competition with the time; we had to close the lap before sunset and darkness. And we won, by 10 minutes! "Yess! Motivasjon!"-as we heard it in Bergen on the company meeting two week ago. I have already sent the results to the costumer at the evening as my boss told me.
I've been waiting for the key for my mailbox for 3 weeks for instance. Zoltán could tell more stories about the inconsistent bureaucrats at the police, where foreigners have to apply for work permission. Today the the instrument by which he was working happened to loose the data he recorded so far. The complete file vanished, so he had to start again from the beginning, however he had nearly finished it.
Yesterday we were in trouble like on Friday. Although we could do the job I have prepared the dates, but it would be better to see the side on the weekend. Because after around an hour searching we figured out that the whole area had changed so much that only one fix point remained of the many I collected. So we couldn't do anything else but use GPS. But it was only after lunch. I had on my mind the setting out job that left from Friday. The guy had called me also and enquired about when we go there. Hardly had we go out after lunch it begun to rain. I wouldn't be problem at all, but since I had to go into a meter tall weed my legs got wet immediately from feet til thighs. :) Well done. We finished by 5 pm.
Meanwhile Zoltán was tinkering with the preparation query and transformation for the LIDL steak out job. If it would be so easy... At the end I got the idea that it was meaningless to transform all the detail points always. Much more simple to transform just the 3-4 fix points into the those system therefore there is no need to transform later at all. So we did. When we arrived to the site at around 6 pm free station won't work since we mistyped a coordinate. At the end by 8 pm we finished. I was happy despite my smacky wet shoes because of the overtime and because I thought that only the levelling left.
This morning Stian assistant colleague of mine was out with somebody else. I thought we would do the levelling in the afternoon and could finish in time. Than the guy from LIDL called me for the job we did yesterday was wrong, because the plan had changed and so we had to do it again. We didn't know about this changing. He sent the drawing at 11 am. I was a bit grumbling to go back there third time again but I calmed down soon since it wasn't our fault.
And since that time finally everything succeeded without trouble. The querying, transferring into instrument, and on the site the free station as well. Nothing was on the way we could set out everything from only one station. So I can't find words! The only little problem was that we brought a stativ which wasn't good enough for levelling therefore we had to go back to the Office and change it. We had to have a competition with the time; we had to close the lap before sunset and darkness. And we won, by 10 minutes! "Yess! Motivasjon!"-as we heard it in Bergen on the company meeting two week ago. I have already sent the results to the costumer at the evening as my boss told me.
Sunday, September 23, 2007
St. Olav
Today like every Sunday I went to the church I mentioned above to the 6 pm service. This is the only church in the whole town where there is a Catholic service in English. There are two Polish, a Croatian and a Spanish every week. A German and Tagalog every second week, sometimes even Vietnamese but there is only one English service on Sunday.
For that reason the church is always full at English service. It's difficult to find even a standing place especially when I am a bit late.
My first impression - which is exist so far - as if it would be a World Youth Day service. There is the whole population of the Earth condensed. The vast majority are mongoloid Asian, but there are Arabians, Indians, blacks, and there are whites as well some 10-15%. It is truth, it's not the first time I've heard service in English and I've participated in 3 WYD but still it's so good to see the people from every corner of the World joining together in the faith. I guess 60% of the worshippers are from the Flippies. The lector lady, the boy who leads the psalm singing and the donation collector uncles as well. It's a real recreation to hear the voice of the priest who is likely to be native English after hearing their English.
My only problem, if I may say it problem, that I feel so lonely. I know I shouldn't wait for somebody to come up to me, but somehow I feel so shy to start a chat and make friends. Especially because the whites are about to leave before the ending song of the mass, and the Filippinos are like a huge family: every one of them say hello to all others but I feel it's impossible to mix with them. Though it's truth I neither had acquaintances from church in England. Hungarian service is in two weeks from now. I can hardly wait for it!
For that reason the church is always full at English service. It's difficult to find even a standing place especially when I am a bit late.
My first impression - which is exist so far - as if it would be a World Youth Day service. There is the whole population of the Earth condensed. The vast majority are mongoloid Asian, but there are Arabians, Indians, blacks, and there are whites as well some 10-15%. It is truth, it's not the first time I've heard service in English and I've participated in 3 WYD but still it's so good to see the people from every corner of the World joining together in the faith. I guess 60% of the worshippers are from the Flippies. The lector lady, the boy who leads the psalm singing and the donation collector uncles as well. It's a real recreation to hear the voice of the priest who is likely to be native English after hearing their English.
My only problem, if I may say it problem, that I feel so lonely. I know I shouldn't wait for somebody to come up to me, but somehow I feel so shy to start a chat and make friends. Especially because the whites are about to leave before the ending song of the mass, and the Filippinos are like a huge family: every one of them say hello to all others but I feel it's impossible to mix with them. Though it's truth I neither had acquaintances from church in England. Hungarian service is in two weeks from now. I can hardly wait for it!
Saturday, September 15, 2007
Car mechanic
Yesterday I took my can for wheel alignment to the Arabian "tyre man" whom I visited on Friday. I brought it to him at 11 am and he phoned me at 2.30 pm that he had finished so I could go for it. We fixed the price 500 NOK. I paid it, he gave the key back and I asked him if he could change the oil as well. He took me aside and showed what kind of oils he had and how much were them together with the wage. I told him that I would like the oil to be changed nowadays. He show me out and told that I should give him a ring while he was rummaging in his pocket. I thought he was looking for his business-card but he surprised me with hundred NOK smiling from ear to ear. Villkomme! - he said - Ring opp! OK?
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