Hard to believe the places I have to dig sand out of !!!

I just thought I would take some time out of, what I will refer to as my busy schedule, to tell of the joys of driving in a Sandstorm. Being from Canada, we get the joys of driving in damn near every type of weather condition known to man, and I was not expecting to find sandstorms to be that much different. Although the visibility is the same as driving through a really thick fog, with low visibility, the joy comes from the fact that no vehicle, no matter how expensive, is sealed well enough to keep this shit from getting up your nose.
The above picture was taken at mid-day while I was travelling down the highway which runs north from Kuwait to Iraq. This normally would be a bright, sun high in the sky, kind of day. The visibility was actually pretty good on this day, but the dust that hangs inside of the vehicle is still a pain in the ass. With the wind that is blowing the sand, blasting at the side of the vehicle, it sounds almost like a fairly hard rain. The sand/dust seeps into the vehicle though and hangs the same as if you were going to beat the dust out of your floor matts inside the vehicle. Blowing sand, like blowing snow, will get into your eyes, mouth, ears and nose: but unlike snow, this SHIT DON'T MELT. It is with you all day. No amount of blowing your nose, or rubbing your eyes seems to help when it is bad enough. Nothing short of a warm shower standing on your head, seems to wash the sand from all the crevices, at least on me, that this sand has crept its way into.

The picture above is taken on another day, at around 8 in the morning. Still normally a fairly bright time of day, the dust in the air has seemed to cancel out the sun. I know that I need to wear extra tight underwear and don't bother putting in my contact lenses when the weather forcast is kind enough to forcast " dust later today, with possibility of dust through the night, with dust again tomorrow." WTF, I didn't know dust was one of the elements of weather, but I guess I can chalk it up as another lesson learned.

Till next time,

Brett Out!!

What the hell's with all the sand?

Greetings again from the land of sand. I know, due to the constant reminding of my Mother, that my Blog's have been few and far between. I would like to say it is because I am so terribly busy curing cancer, or something as important, but instead I will make no excuse. Not sure if it is lack of inspiration or motivation but, low and behold, today I have something to say.

First off, I would like to introduce you to one of the many camels I pass to and from my way to site each day. They are a terrible nuisance when it comes to them on the roads. They saunter at their own pace and are not overly concerned with the bumper of my Mitsubishi almost knocking them at the knees.(Mom always asked when I would post a picture of a camel)

The other day at work I had a meal very unlike anything I have had before. Maybe it is due to the fact that I am not the most worldy person that you may meet, but to me this was a few shades off the norm. I was informed by my Operations Manager that we were going to have a party at work for lunch. I don't have time to explain the differences between his idea of partying and mine, but we will just say that he meant we were having lunch. Lunch was held on a rug, with all of us sitting on the floor surounding what was to be the root of my gut ache that afternoon. In the picture, if you look in the middle, right in front of the grinning egyptian, you will see a large platter. This platter is a bed of rice which is topped with a whole roasted lamb. When I say whole I also would like to clarify that that includes the head, along with the tongue, eyes and brain. After one of the men tears into the lamb with his hands and starts tossing pieces of meat to each of us, we begin to eat. They throw chunks, torn by hand, of the best pieces to myself and the operations staff. at this point I suppose I should be flattered. They then proceed to offer me part of the brain which our maintenace supervisor dug out of the skull with his hands. Not wanting to be a killjoy I, with which was best described as false enthusiasm, agreed to eat it. Not something I will place very high on my favorite culinary experiences, but an experience it was all the same.



Well after a meal like we had that day on site, their was only one way to get the mushy tast of sheeps brain out of mouth. A couple drinks of bootlegged Whiskey, which has to be the most expensive liquid I have ever seen. At what would be $200 canadian per bottle, you could see why it is reserved for special occasions, of which washing brain out of my teeth does count.

Well i hate to keep it so short, but the weather is beautiful and the Vodka is chilled, so it is time to head out for the weekend. Tune in next time, when I tell of the joys of driving in a sandstorm. Gotta love the desert.

Baldwin Out!!