Oops, has it really been a month? Well, it has been a busy one and I have some fun pictures to share, so hopefully that will make up for my lack of posting...
Spring is officially still 5 days away, and you may wonder if spring is even really a season in Kuwait (I won't get too technical on that argument), but there are plenty of signs that winter is on its way out. First of all, it's warmer! We are back into the upper 70s to low 80s on most days, and the sun is rising a lot earlier and setting a lot later. I don't have to wear sweats to walk to the gym in the mornings, and I'm starting to get the sunglasses/Tshirt/shorts/sock tan back that I had in the fall. (I'll have to even that out when I'm back in AZ.)
Secondly, we are seeing less fog (a mostly winter occurrence here) and more blowing dust (more common in summer). In fact, we had our first "haboob" dust storm this week since I have been here! It was pretty crazy... a big thunderstorm collapsed near the northern border with Iraq, and sent a huge wall of dust flying south through Kuwait. Lucky for me, the weather guys at a base to our north called to give me a heads-up so I had time to get the warning out to my base. I was at work without a camera when it hit here, but here is a picture from the base to the north:
When I peeked out the door at work, ours looked even thicker than the picture... I couldn't see the building right next to mine, it was all just brown. It smelled funny too, can't really think of how to describe it, but I realized pretty quickly that if I was smelling it, I was probably breathing it in, so I decided to shut the door. :-) I'm pretty excited that I got the chance to experience one of these storms while I was out here.
Another reason it's feeling more like spring is that I'm getting pretty darn close to going home! I can't say exactly how close, but it's close enough that I am allowing myself to get excited and think of all the wonderful things I will be able to do again in just a short amount of time. Maybe I'll make a list in my next post, some of them are kind of random and funny (like I plan on hugging my washer and dryer).
The time has also seemed to speed up because my two closest friends here have left in the last two weeks, which makes me feel like my time is coming. The first to leave was Doug, the other half of the "weather duo" for my whole time here. Doug was an amazing co-worker and became a very good friend, someone who made my first deployment a great experience no matter what issues we faced. It was sad to say goodbye, but of course I was thrilled for him to get home to his family, just in time to see his son play in a college baseball tournament. Here's a picture (taken last fall) of Doug and me by the HQ building on base:
Then last weekend, another good friend (I'll call her Jenn to avoid using last names, even though she outranks me, haha) headed home at the end of her tour. She worked in the same building I did, and we bonded over Crossfit classes and Season 3 of Game of Thrones. What impressed me the most about her was that despite her rank and amazing career, she always acted like a normal person... something that unfortunately you don't find too often in senior officers (especially females). I'm really happy I got to know her and hope we run into each other again. Here's a picture of our Crossfit class taken after Jenn's last workout with us:
The day before Jenn left, a bunch of us went out into the city for some shopping and a farewell lunch. We went to the marina/beach to take some pretty pictures:
Ate some amazing Indian food (best chicken tikka masala I've had since England!):
And stopped at the Nestle Toll House Café for dessert, where I picked up these amazing little creations:
Sorry if the food pictures are boring for most of you, but when all you eat on a daily basis is DFAC food, a small deviation like this is pretty darn exciting. :-)
I've been invited to go into the city again tomorrow, and I'm leaning towards going even though I should be doing homework (which clearly I am avoiding right now by writing this post, haha). But with such a short time left here, I hate to pass up the opportunity to see and do more in a city I may never see again. I guess maybe I should get around to that homework tonight, since I'll probably end up being "bad" tomorrow and going on the trip... ;-)
Spring is officially still 5 days away, and you may wonder if spring is even really a season in Kuwait (I won't get too technical on that argument), but there are plenty of signs that winter is on its way out. First of all, it's warmer! We are back into the upper 70s to low 80s on most days, and the sun is rising a lot earlier and setting a lot later. I don't have to wear sweats to walk to the gym in the mornings, and I'm starting to get the sunglasses/Tshirt/shorts/sock tan back that I had in the fall. (I'll have to even that out when I'm back in AZ.)
Secondly, we are seeing less fog (a mostly winter occurrence here) and more blowing dust (more common in summer). In fact, we had our first "haboob" dust storm this week since I have been here! It was pretty crazy... a big thunderstorm collapsed near the northern border with Iraq, and sent a huge wall of dust flying south through Kuwait. Lucky for me, the weather guys at a base to our north called to give me a heads-up so I had time to get the warning out to my base. I was at work without a camera when it hit here, but here is a picture from the base to the north:
When I peeked out the door at work, ours looked even thicker than the picture... I couldn't see the building right next to mine, it was all just brown. It smelled funny too, can't really think of how to describe it, but I realized pretty quickly that if I was smelling it, I was probably breathing it in, so I decided to shut the door. :-) I'm pretty excited that I got the chance to experience one of these storms while I was out here.
Another reason it's feeling more like spring is that I'm getting pretty darn close to going home! I can't say exactly how close, but it's close enough that I am allowing myself to get excited and think of all the wonderful things I will be able to do again in just a short amount of time. Maybe I'll make a list in my next post, some of them are kind of random and funny (like I plan on hugging my washer and dryer).
The time has also seemed to speed up because my two closest friends here have left in the last two weeks, which makes me feel like my time is coming. The first to leave was Doug, the other half of the "weather duo" for my whole time here. Doug was an amazing co-worker and became a very good friend, someone who made my first deployment a great experience no matter what issues we faced. It was sad to say goodbye, but of course I was thrilled for him to get home to his family, just in time to see his son play in a college baseball tournament. Here's a picture (taken last fall) of Doug and me by the HQ building on base:
Then last weekend, another good friend (I'll call her Jenn to avoid using last names, even though she outranks me, haha) headed home at the end of her tour. She worked in the same building I did, and we bonded over Crossfit classes and Season 3 of Game of Thrones. What impressed me the most about her was that despite her rank and amazing career, she always acted like a normal person... something that unfortunately you don't find too often in senior officers (especially females). I'm really happy I got to know her and hope we run into each other again. Here's a picture of our Crossfit class taken after Jenn's last workout with us:
The day before Jenn left, a bunch of us went out into the city for some shopping and a farewell lunch. We went to the marina/beach to take some pretty pictures:
Ate some amazing Indian food (best chicken tikka masala I've had since England!):
And stopped at the Nestle Toll House Café for dessert, where I picked up these amazing little creations:
Sorry if the food pictures are boring for most of you, but when all you eat on a daily basis is DFAC food, a small deviation like this is pretty darn exciting. :-)
I've been invited to go into the city again tomorrow, and I'm leaning towards going even though I should be doing homework (which clearly I am avoiding right now by writing this post, haha). But with such a short time left here, I hate to pass up the opportunity to see and do more in a city I may never see again. I guess maybe I should get around to that homework tonight, since I'll probably end up being "bad" tomorrow and going on the trip... ;-)
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