TTT - 4/19: Kuwait Update Pt. 4

Is it really Tuesday again?! Well, my iPhone alarm says it is so I guess I should come up with something to write about! Here we go...

So the weather here has been interesting since I arrived in January. First off, it was winter when we got here so the days were in the mid 60s and the nights got into the 30s...no big deal, if this is how the desert is going to be I'm gtg! The unit we relieved told us it was even the rainy season...never heard of such an animal in the desert, but some things are green here so I guess I'll buy it.

After the first week the rain decided to show us what "rainy season" truly meant. It would roll in ominously, as most rain storms do, and then it would rain for about 30 minutes at night. Then the storm would blow over and the ground wouldn't stay wet for more than a couple hours. And I got some good sleep! ;) This type of rain, however, was merely a tease. About a week after the rest of the guy showed up the true rains came. It rained about 15 days out of the first three weeks everyone was here...including a stretch of 8 days where the sky leaked at various intensities. During this storm system the grounds flooded, including the creation of what we at the BMF (Boat Maintenance Facility, where I work) have dubbed "Lake Bjorn." Don't ask me why Bjorn became the namesake for this ever growing pond at the entrance to our shop, I was not there at that particular venture (probably off dealing with driver's licenses or internet!)

After the week and a half long flood the rainy season was over...and the heat started coming on. At first we didn't notice the heat. It slowly crept from mid 60s to 80s with little mention of how hot it had gotten. It actually was quite comfortable after the last month of disgustingly damp weather. During this time though (roughly a 6 weeks into the deployment) we got to witness another awesome weather phenomenon that happens in this part of the world...sand storms!

This storm came in on a Friday night (I know because I pick my laundry up on Fridays) about the time I was getting ready to go to dinner and then grab my freshly cleaned clothes. As I walked out of my PCB I saw people staring to the west, mouth agape and taking pictures. This was pretty odd because our PCB is in the corner of the compound and all there is to the west is a brick wall and Constantina wire...not very picture worthy if you ask me. So being the curious being that we all are I took a peak. To my surprise, all I see is a big black cloud rolling in, FAST! Upon further staring I noticed that the cloud was not black at all, but dark brown, and it was pretty low...clearly the desert has decided I am impeding on it's space and I need to go away. So I ended up not going to dinner that night or picking up my laundry. That storm blew from about 5:30 PM until about midnight, but the dust didn't settle until after 3 AM. There was sand EVERYWHERE! We ended up cleaning the shop for about 3 days afterward...luckily the PCB doors were closed and tight enough to hold most the dust out.

The good news after that dust storm was our shop got really clean...the bad news was that another storm rolled through the night we got the shopped all clean. :p This second storm wasn't nearly as bad as the first, but all the nice clean shop needed another bath. Go figure...

Well, now we are into Spring and we are doing good with the 80 degree weather then one day last week it hit. BOOM 97 degrees. And now I must mention again that my shop is open on one side and the air conditioning isn't exactly rated to cool...Kuwait. :p Since then it has consistently been in the mid 90s with one day (Friday) being just into the 100s. Anyone want to sweat off a few pounds? I know this place... :D

Well, I have rambled on about one topic again for a great length so I guess that leaves the cat discussion for next week. Fine by me...with things going the way they are I'm going to run out of material! So with that I leave you for another week!

See you then...