Earlier, I already wrote about my experience in South America, but behind the scenes there are many funny and not very stories related to development, helicopters, drug mafia, and purely everyday things that you encounter every day. Colleagues love to listen to these stories and put the most interesting ones here.
I'll start over. So, I was invited to work in Colombia, but it is not the country itself that is valuable here, but the projects that I had to deal with. Cherry was the project of the TV3-117 helicopter engine test bench , which was to be built practically from scratch. My whole life has been associated with aviation and UAVs, and here such a project goes right into my hands!
This is what the stand looks like now
By that time, we had been successfully sharing living space with my future wife for five years, but the consulate categorically refused to give her a visa as a "girl", which she skillfully used. There were only 2 weeks for the marriage (before the departure date) and had to work hard to get us signed without the prescribed "month for thinking". It seemed especially monstrous for the registry office employees that we didn’t want a stormy wedding with rice and pigeons sprinkling, but wanted to "paint us and we will go." As a result, we entered the registry office through the back door. After sitting out in line among repeat offenders of the divorce case, who already had 2-3 trips behind their backs, we still got the opportunity to put the cherished signatures. Just two days later, I left to change the world, and my wife left her last name.
By my arrival, there was already a box of the stand room, a metal pedestal for the engine and cable channels were laid. Nearby were several coils of cables and a box with ADAM units , purchased after a similar project. It was necessary to collect, debug everything, rewrite the source code made for Delphi-5 and add the necessary functions. The number of upcoming hardware bugs was impossible to even estimate.
Everything was given 4 months.
In parallel, it was necessary to deal with the paperwork for a work visa. Among other things, it was necessary to pass tests for HIV and hepatitis B / C.
In Colombia, there is insurance medicine, so if you do not have health insurance, only private doctors can help you. Companies (and individuals) choose cheaper options, so it is common for a doctor, a laboratory and a pharmacy where prescription drugs can be dispensed to be located in three different parts of the city, moreover, somewhere between a brothel and a butcher shop .
So it happened with me - the doctor was in the South, a referral was sent to a laboratory in the North of the city. Re-admission was not expected. The next morning I came to the lab, where in broken English (I did not understand Spanish then) the girl explained at the reception that they could not do exactly the same analysis as the doctor wrote, but they could do a similar one. To my question - is he also for hepatitis? - the girl nodded affirmatively. Well, not so different, what difference does it make to me? Money paid, blood pumped out, let's go home.
Analyzes of this level are handed over only personally to the hands according to the document, and they are sealed in an envelope. I had to go again. I took the envelope, went out to the shop, printed it out and oops ... Bold red line.
At the first moment, I didn't even understand which of the three viruses was found. The vision worked, but the brain refused to process the information. After a short time, I was able to read that hepatitis B is marked in red.
Now you understand why I told in such detail the background of marriage? At that time, our marriage was less than a month old. Who exactly is the source of the infection and how long ago it was with us is not important (and the fact that both of us, there was no doubt, hepatitis B is very contagious). It is important that this is a completely different status and quality of future life. Well, the prospect of getting a visa and a job went into a foggy distance ...
With such thoughts, I came to my boss the next day. He was as shocked as I was. They decided that I would do the maximum possible on the project, and they would pay a bonus, because "you will need the money."
I was also taken to a corporate physician, who took me to the hospital, where I was given antiretroviral therapy. These are 3 drugs in faceless white jars with a barcode instead of a name and a red ribbon on the lid - the symbol of HIV infection. Two drugs are drunk in the morning and afternoon, and all three at night. It knocks them off like a glass of vodka. Buzz in the ears, dizziness, apathy, lack of appetite, depression - all of this comes with a free bonus. Well, and the realization that you are now with this for life ...
Also, the doctor knocked me out of an appointment with the doctor who prescribed the tests, but he had a free seat only after 3 (three [THREE !!!]) weeks. Zhenet decided not to speak before the appointment.
In order to somehow distract myself from sad thoughts, I began to plow. When you work, there is no time to be sad. At work he pulled and unsoldered cables, assembled boxes, sensors and systems. I didn't really want to eat, so I also worked at lunchtime. I left work on the second flight (corporate buses ran at 17 and 20 hours). At home, he ruled the code on his personal laptop. Throwing wheels from faceless cans, I slept. And so at first. Repeat until KeyPressed;
In general, what was given 4 months, I launched in 4 weeks. By the time of the next visit to the doctor, the engine on the stand was already doing cold scrolling, and the measuring part was fully functional.
A corporate physician and an interpreter who knew my sad story went to the doctor with me. It should be noted that although Colombians are gouging at the genetic level, they are very sympathetic and sympathetic.
The doctor listened to my story, including the change in the type of analysis, once again (as in the first appointment) clarified whether he had been previously vaccinated against hepatitis B. Having received an affirmative answer, the doctor pronounced the previously unknown medical term "hija de puta" , explained that the PCR analysis prescribed by him, which determines the DNA of the virus in the blood, was replaced with an analysis for antibodies to the virus, which I, as a vaccinated, of course, had.
This is the end of the fairy tale. The repeated (already PCR) analysis came out green, and the moment when I threw the faceless cans into the trash can is one of the happiest in my life.
It happened on the eve of Catholic Christmas, December 23, 2010, and on December 28 I was bought a return ticket home. The trial period ended ahead of schedule, and there was no doubt about the receipt of the contract - no one had ever met such nuclear operability in the company. And now there were no barriers to a work visa.
We returned to Colombia in February and there were many more similar cases related to the Colombian initiative, but this is a completely different story :)
Well, for a snack - the awakening of the dragon: