Heat. Sandstorms. Kuwait.

 Before I describe a slice of life as it currently stands here in the transient way station in the Gulf, some scenes from the drive from Kuwait Int'l Airport to tent city in the desert...

 Futbol, anyone?  

 Kuwaiti dress...modern and traditional mashed together, seemingly always.  Along the highway was an almost-endless stretch of very new construction, featuring numerous examples of what I can only assume is the Kuwait version of the McMansion.

Weather can be such a mind-bender.  My home these days in Colorado -- where I've lived for one Winter anyway -- received another few inches of snow last week, as I left coastal NC for this deployment.  And though it was definitely warming to beach temperature "down east", with Summery, muggy days in the 80's, it's a whole 'nother ballgame in a place like Kuwait.  It's an oven here.  Sure, it's not quite the blast furnace level to which this camp's weather escalates by July, but it's still an awful lot like an oven at least.  It's clearing 100 degrees easily already, and that Gulf humidity just hangs in the air day and night.

Shout out to Singapore!  (Middle flag above, people.)  My childhood home and current home of my cousin must be lending an assist around here, as I see its flag represented around camp.

Apparently it's sandstorm season, and the difficulty of landing in them has delayed or canceled a bit of air traffic around these parts lately.  A minor sand squall yesterday renewed my appreciation for all those doing long stretches of duty here, or even more so, Iraq.  I think of bedouins or other desert inhabitants every time I'm crossing a camp like this, squinting and trying to remember to keep my mouth shut (no easy task for a loquacious Irishman, mind you) while sand pelts everything.  It gives this camp, comprised almost entirely of tents of various sizes and floodlights, an even more pronounced industrial-yellow hue than it already displayed.

Then there is the most globally ubiquitous presence of all...the beacon (literally) that illuminates above an otherwise unremarkable skyscape of fluorescent light, bugs and sandblown dank air...

Now don't confuse me with those patronizing it...I'm getting along with the chow hall alright.  The return route might be a different story, so no guarantees there.  Instead I sink a daily allowance into coffee and wi-fi access here at the Green Bean.  The camp may be a sand pit, but this is not bad at all...

Here is a quick game of contrast.  First, still air.  Next, blowing wind.  See if you can spot a difference.

The objective when you're catching the bus to your flight and then getting on the bird is to not let your gear join this collection...

Signing off...nighty night from Kuwait tent city.