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OIL QUEST, WESTERN CANADA, JUNE 23rd, 2006 – DAY 436 |
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on the go again
After a break of a couple
of weeks in Quebec, we grab our backpacks once again. This time
however, we leave without our camping equipment. We carry
forward the holidays. Work is waiting for us. What? You didn’t
think we were millionaires, going around every continent without
working, did you?
Caroline, on the road to Alberta, 48 hours of car |
another reality catches up with us
Working, not that it’s
totally un-enjoyable, but let’s say that it’s essential and part
of our means for realizing our dream. Before leaving Quebec, we
get in contact with a canvassing oil company in Alberta. We
obtain a job without any official interview. |
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HEalth UPON ALL
To reach our financial goal, we need a well paid job. We also
have to live in conditions that allow us to save. Oil
exploration permitted us to do so. We say “permitted” because
after two weeks of work, we take a new departure. It’s not that
the work is unfeasible, in fact, it was less demanding then last
year’s tree planting. It was working 13 hours each day, 24 days
non-stop that made it difficult. We saw our colleagues
extenuated from working sometimes 60 days in a row. Sorry but
before money comes our health. So we decide to become rescuers.
Patrick under Alberta’s sun
The helicopter, a mean of transportation used on the job |
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Patrick being used as a
Guinea pig in the
first aid classes |
In British Columbia and in
Alberta, there’s a law demanding that each working team
doing a high risk job and who is located at more than 20
minutes of a hospital center must be assisted by a
rescuer. Therefore, oil, forest and mining companies
need this kind of staff. We find out that many jobs are
available and are well paid too: 175$ to 225$ a day.
Besides, our lodging and food are furnished. Above all,
it’s a job that really interests us. To obtain this
position, we need certifications. So we take a first aid
training class of two weeks, plus two classes related
to dangerous products. |
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With luck, we find out that the
first aid training is given in a little village called Golden,
near Banff. It’s in this little place of the country, surrounded
by eternal snow, that we find our childhood friend, Melanie. She
offers to share her apartment the time we get our training done.
Caroline and
Melanie, childhood friends |
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Once all the qualifying
examination achieved, we distribute around fifty résumés through
Alberta and British Columbia. We are now in the region of
Dawson’s Creek, on the 55th parallel, right on the beginning of
the highway going to Alaska. We are rescuers on oil drilling
sites.
A landscape of British
Columbia |
Because of our work, we live under different roofs and we don’t
share our daily life anymore. It will be this way for a 6 months
period. It gives us time to be with ourselves. To keep in touch,
we leave it in the hands of our century’s wonderful
technologies. Since more than a year we were together 24/7. Now,
we will have to relearn how to live the routine alone. It was
the price to pay for being rescuers. |
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To finish, we
wish you a good day and above all, don’t forget that you’re the
only responsible for pursuing your dreams.
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ADVERTISEMENTS |
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