Building Bridges

I was reminded the other day that I haven’t posted anything about my work here in Apia. There are some people that think I have been unemployed over here enjoying a tropical holiday while Angela is slaving away at USP!

I have actually been working most of the time we have been here. I had sent my CV to some of the civil engineering consultants before we departed for Samoa, and one of them (Kramer Group) contacted me about a week before we flew out. One of their engineers had just left and they needed someone to fill that gap on a bridge project that they were working on. So, once we got to Apia I went to see them to find out more. I ended up agreeing to work for them on a part-time casual basis (20 hours/week) for the duration of the bridge project, which is due for completion in September 2009. The project involves the replacement of 2 road bridges in Apia and the upgrading of approach roads and intersections.

So, I didn’t get the 2 months of lying on the beach that was recommended to me by Stu and Stu from GHD in Palmerston North. It did however take about a month to get my work visa sorted out, during which time I didn’t work. That was good for us as it allowed me to do a lot of the running around while we were settling in here. I also wasn’t allowed to start work on the bridge project until I become a member of the Institute of Professional Engineers, Samoa (IPES). The team at Kramer managed to get all the paper work sorted out, so now I have a 3 year work permit and have my IPES CPEng membership. I am now officially a Kramer employee, you can see me on their website.

Initially I was supposed to help coordinate some of the activities during the design period and then look after the construction supervision phase. Before anyone panics – I was not going to be involved in any of the structural design of the bridges, so they should be safe to drive over!! We figured that 20 hours/week should cover my role. Once I got started the role grew and has been mainly 35 -40 hours a week. During the design phase I was required to do various things that I hadn’t done before, but no one else was able to tackle them, so I had a go. This included Road Safety Audits, Economic Analyses, Land Acquisition and Resettlement Plans, Project Risk Analyses, Environmental Assessment Reports. I even had to design, then participate in, some traffic counts. The roading engineers back at GHD would probably be shocked that I was doing these things that I am not qualified or experienced in, but I enjoyed it. Fortunately most of the Transit New Zealand / LTSA manuals are available online and I was able to download these to help point me in the right direction.

There have been a few other challenges during the design phase – our bridge designer was based in Brisbane and our road designer was in the Papua New Guinea, so coordinating all the information was difficult. We also struggled to get any of the information that you might need when designing a bridge, e.g. we need some geotechnical investigations done, but I found that there is only one geotechnical engineer in Samoa, and he passed away about the time our project started. His business is still operating, but without him there the services that they can provide are very limited.

Working here has good so far, a bit more relaxed than home. I don’t wear a shirt and tie to work, and I turn up in shorts and jandals most days. There have been a few times when I have been to site and felt that jandals might not be appropriate, so I put my boat shoes on instead - no over zealous OSH inspectors here!

Anyway, we have now delivered all the bridge designs and associated documentation so things for me have quietened down a bit. We aim to start construction towards the end of the rainy season, late March or April 2009.

In the meantime I am doing some work for Kramer’s Solomon Islands office and have helped out with stormwater designs for some other projects that Kramer are doing in Apia. I have also been approached by another local consultant to help out with s project to develop water supplies to some of the villages. That is due to start soon and I am supposed to provide technical assistance 2 days per week over the next few months. There is plenty of other work out there, so I don’t think I will be sitting around at the beach as much as I would like too.

1st Week at Work at USP, Alafua

My first week at work has been good. The first day was a bit surreal. It has taken a few days to adjust to the warmth and start to feel familiar with the place. I am slowly learning the processes and rules for the USP Library and getting my head around what past librarians have done and where things are. All in all the library, staff and students are just the same as in New Zealand! Lecturing staff ask for the same resources and students use the internet for chat and email rather than study! I am feeling a lot happier now I have cleaned my desk (yes I know what you are thinking!!!!) and set up my computer the way I like it. IT support was excellent. They had me signed up with a log in, internet connection and email address on my first day and gave me access to files created by previous librarians which are proving extremely useful. I have also read through the folder of information for ‘The New Librarian’ so are getting up to speed with what’s going on. I have discovered a whole lot of CD-Roms covering some very useful agricultural information (Agriculture is the main focus for USP Alafua) that have never been set up and made available to staff and students. It also appears that our connection to the online databases is sketchy so this is giving me 2 things to get my teeth into already! I have Admin access to the library system, Athena, and the server so am able to do the backups and that is making me feel a bit happier and at home! Acquisitions also seem to be something I am meant to look after so I need to get my head around ordering, receiving and invoicing all through a manual system where no one seems to know how much of the budget has been spent! Of course I am looking to digitise this as much as possible so I know where things are at. One thing that struck me in my first day at work was that the clocks were all different! It was impossible to know what the real time was between the clocks on the wall and each of the computers which were all different to the time on my mobile phone. I had to rectify this quick smart as I don’t work in ‘Samoan Time’! Opening hours for the library also seem to be ascertained the ‘Samoan way’ i.e. whatever fits goes! We have therefore had to try and come up with something standard so that we know where we are at and another job for my list is to ensure the library brochure and various places on the web site all have the same opening hours (need I say they are different at the moment!) On my first day I was also unable to get any lunch. I went to the cafeteria to discover that sandwiches are frowned upon and that instant noodles and soup were all that were available on the menu. Since then I have been taking my lunch with me. So I sit and eat my palagi sandwiches and an apple while my Samoan colleagues tuck into fried chicken and chips from the local village!

On day 2 of work I was feeling much more comfortable. One problem though is that I’m too short to see the counter from my desk therefore I can’t see when students need serving! This is quite disconcerting considering I’m used to leaping up the moment a student even passes by the desk. We are going to have to move some cabinets around so that I can see through!! Saying that though the students seem very used to standing at the counter and waiting for someone to notice they are there. I’m sure we can do better than this though! On day 2 we watched one of the IT guys, whose name is Wiki, outside up a ladder on a power pole. Seems it’s the ‘Samoan Way’ to have a jandalled IT consultant fiddle with the wiring for the phones and internet connections. While he was up the pole he was constantly ringing the library to ensure he hadn’t cut us off!! I was also astounded to see the person holding the ladder had bare feet and a box with a hole cut in it on his head. One assumes this was to keep the sun off his neck! I also met a Fijian lecturer who lived in Palmerston North and knew where our house was (it’s a small world).

Next week Monday and Tuesday are public holidays for Samoan Independence Day. As we are leading up to study and exam weeks for the students the library will be open limited hours. I am working Tuesday afternoon. Monday morning we have to be up and downtown by 7.00am to take part in the Independence Day parade and help to represent USP. We are meant to wear a white shirt and blue or black lavalava/skirt. This is going to be tricky so we will see how a bit of shopping goes over the weekend!


Well this is us signing off for now. Have a seki a (awesome) day and we’ll post here again soon.