Ice Bath Anyone?

Okay, so I just got back from my lunch trip to the dining facility (DFAC for short) and...how do I describe the weather here in Qatar? Imagine that you are standing at the gates of hell. In front of those gates is an industrial blower, hurling the unimaginable heat towards you at speeds of 35-43 miles per hour. (That's what it's blowing today) While that wind whips around you, you feel as if you should be cooled somehow, but no. The wind makes you hotter. Your mouth becomes parched, your face is as red as an heirloom tomato and caked with salt from the sweat that evaporated too fast to cool you, and your hair is stuck to your head when you take your hat off (which threatened to fly off a hundred times during your exposure to said hell gates). You are so pretty. We keep saying "how can the wind make it hotter?"

Man, it is REALLY, INCREDIBLY hot outside. I know I mentioned the heat a few weeks ago, but it is just nothing like I have ever ever imagined. We have reached highs so far of about 109, so about 10-15 degrees more to go until we reach our max. The sun rises each morning at around 0400, so by the time I am up and out on my way to work, it is already 90-some degrees. But that honestly feels like a crisp spring morning compared to what it gets to during the late morning/afternoon. I wonder if Hansel and Gretel felt like this when that old lady in the candy house threw them into her furnace. Bet they thought a time or two before straying from home again with their freakin' breadcrumbs.

So, there is a camel farm about 5 miles from here. And camels smell a lot like horses, except more...camel-y. When we wake up in the morning, there is a certain smell in the air...imagine that you are standing at the gates of hell, and in front of you is a pile of horse poo that is one mile high. And 10,000 horses. That's what it smells like in the morning here.

This place is a PARADISE people!!! COME ON!!!

Have I mentioned to you that I have left my shampoo, face wash, and body wash in the shower TWICE in the past week? It was all pilfered (the word of the day is pilfer) from the bathroom including my $21 bottle of Aveda face wash. So I went to the BX and bought more shampoo and body wash and brought my travel bottle of Aveda face wash to the shower while I await more from Aveda. That same day, I left them in the shower A-G-A-I-N!!!! So AGAIN I had to go back to the BX, buy more shampoo and body wash, and am still awaiting my bottle of face wash from Aveda. I am a real putz-enheimer, I tell you. This communal bathroom is for the birds. No, it's for the professional athletes. I swear when I get home I am going to just stand in the tub with no shoes on for, like, hours. And I am going to leave my stuff in there and I am going to put my towels on the floor and walk away. And I am going to go blowdry my hair with a hair dryer that does the job faster than air drying it. I swear, every time I blowdry my hair with these dryers, it gets WETTER. Is that even possible??? I think it is.

But it is still pretty freaking cool here. I woke up in the middle of the night last night and I could hear the Bombers taking off to go do their mission and I thought "go get 'em, y'all!" It was exciting. Well, I woke up in the middle of the night *because* the Bombers were taking off, but you know what I mean.

Most people in my squadron are getting ready to leave so we've been saying lots of goodbyes and BBQing and stuff like that. The nights are a bit steamier so I've been spending a bit less time outside under the Bra doing computer-y type stuff, but I'm spending more time in the gym so it's a good tradeoff.

I haven't taken a sleeping pill in 4 days now and have slept more than soundly every night. That's a record, considering that I've been a sleeping pill nightly for the past two years. Usually I just can't turn my brain off when I lay down. At this juncture I'm too tired to even think about thinking when I get in bed. I can barely lay down and read right now, I get all sleepy. I hope it continues once I am back at home. Thing is, though, my stress level is so low here. I am not constantly worried about stuff at work. When I'm not at work, I don't think about work. When I leave work, I leave work. It is so refreshing...I wish I could find that balance back at Andrews. It is virtually impossible, however.

Aaaaanyway, that's about it for today. No huge news. No gossip. Just the daily babble.

Holler if you hear me.

Love.
xo