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A nice day in town...
Oct. 8th, 2006 09:28 pmOnce around the perimeter of the area we are allowed to roam inside of is about 2 kilometers, which I reckoned on the basis of a 500-m long section marked off on the pavement of that perimeter that happens to run between the Fili and the полтинник ("poltinnik," a reference to a 50-kopeck coin, which is easier to say than "ninety-two-eigh-fifty," which is the numerical designation of the building in which the satellite and launch vehicle are processed, 92A-50).
The other day, I accompanied one of the DTSA guys in walking twice around the perimeter, at a pretty relaxed pace. This morning, I did the same two rounds, but faster (including a jog along the aforementioned 500-m section during my second go-around).
I almost missed the departure of the bus for town, thinking it was going at 1 pm, when actually, it was departing at 11 am. The ride was the usual long, boring trek, highlighted by the sight of a herd of camels off to the side of the road about a third of the way into town.
Once there, I bought some essentials (razor, soap, toothpaste) and a few extras (string cheese, marinated mushrooms, pistachios, dried apricots) as well as some pomegranites, which are in season right now. The one time I recall trying to eat a pomegranite, I recall there was quite an abundant supply of seeds in the fruit. However, the world seems to have gone crazy over pomegranites lately, as they are apparently high in antioxidants, so egged on by the claim that Kazakh pomegranites are particularly sweet, I decided to buy a few.
We got back in time for the planned barbeque (pictures later, maybe) where I noticed all the identifiable groups - Pinkertons, Astrium, interpreters, DTSA - kept pretty much to themselves (which was just fine by my boss on this campaign, Viktor K.). I noticed, too, that the alcohol at this shindig was pretty much limited to beer (on earlier campaigns, there were a few bottles of vodka scattered around during a similar event on the 4th of July), which didn't impair my "fun level," but still, was noticeable.
I'm on tap to join a couple of the Astrium guys tomorrow morning to go over to the other side of the cosmodrome and pick up some equipment from another group from Astrium working on another campaign. If everything goes well, it ought to be a yawn.
Cheers...
The other day, I accompanied one of the DTSA guys in walking twice around the perimeter, at a pretty relaxed pace. This morning, I did the same two rounds, but faster (including a jog along the aforementioned 500-m section during my second go-around).
I almost missed the departure of the bus for town, thinking it was going at 1 pm, when actually, it was departing at 11 am. The ride was the usual long, boring trek, highlighted by the sight of a herd of camels off to the side of the road about a third of the way into town.
Once there, I bought some essentials (razor, soap, toothpaste) and a few extras (string cheese, marinated mushrooms, pistachios, dried apricots) as well as some pomegranites, which are in season right now. The one time I recall trying to eat a pomegranite, I recall there was quite an abundant supply of seeds in the fruit. However, the world seems to have gone crazy over pomegranites lately, as they are apparently high in antioxidants, so egged on by the claim that Kazakh pomegranites are particularly sweet, I decided to buy a few.
We got back in time for the planned barbeque (pictures later, maybe) where I noticed all the identifiable groups - Pinkertons, Astrium, interpreters, DTSA - kept pretty much to themselves (which was just fine by my boss on this campaign, Viktor K.). I noticed, too, that the alcohol at this shindig was pretty much limited to beer (on earlier campaigns, there were a few bottles of vodka scattered around during a similar event on the 4th of July), which didn't impair my "fun level," but still, was noticeable.
I'm on tap to join a couple of the Astrium guys tomorrow morning to go over to the other side of the cosmodrome and pick up some equipment from another group from Astrium working on another campaign. If everything goes well, it ought to be a yawn.
Cheers...
