The 12 of us just had Japanese food in a Crowne Plaza in Kuwait City. The restaurant actually was pretty authentic looking and feeling...I’ve been to Japan so I hopefully have a good frame of reference. In any case, when we checked in we each got a complimentary drink ticket. At dinner we all pulled them out to cash them in for a pre-dinner drink. The waitresses dressed in kimonos brought each of us a small orange menu from which to choose our drinks. We all flipped through oohing and awwwing the colorful pictures and tropical descriptions. They had everything from fresh squeezed natural kiwi and mango juice (yeah, I don’t really know how you squeeze a kiwi, either) to pina coladas to Starbucks coffee. Anyway, we got through about 4 people’s orders when we realized that the drinks sounded great, but there was no mention of liquor in any of the descriptions. Oooooh, it’s a dry country...maybe that’s why the drinks were free. For some reason we all thought that the “dry” rules maybe didn’t apply within the hotel walls. WRONG. Oh well, we all got some frou-frou drinks in fancy glasses with fruit on the rim. No umbrellas, though. They had a special where sushi and rolls were half off so we helped the budget out a lot by dining there.
We started off the day waking up at Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait....actually, let me back up to last night after I posted yesterday’s blog. I signed off the computer in the psychedelic USO and was waiting for one of my co-workers who was still on. My other co-worker, Lars, was sleeping on one of the many sofas in front of the large-screen tv. There was some show about Army rangers on that I caught the tail end of. When I found out that 24 was on next I decided to hang out for another hour to see what Jack Bauer was up to. So, I watched the show and it ended just about 2 minutes before the USO closed at midnight. I woke up my co-worker and rounded up the other one so we could head over to our respective tents. My tent was number Q3 among a sea of about 100 other tents, each filled with about a dozen metal bunk beds. The mattresses ranged from being covered in clear plastic to green zippered vinyl to no covering at all. The temporary billeting didn’t have any linen to issue so, once again, my red fleece blanket came in handy; that and the beaded neck pillow Anne gave me have been a life saver. (Thanks Anne.)The tents have heating and air conditioning that runs from outdoor units to the inside via large 1.5 foot wide vinyl ducts. Even though it was chilly outside and windy, it was actually a bit stuffy inside because the temperature is not allowed to be turned below 72 degrees. No complaints, just telling the facts.
Anyway, as I mentioned, these tents are part of what is called a ‘tent city’ which is typically reserved for transient units and during rotation periods. They are also located adjacent to the passenger terminal, which means that folks who fly in and need a place to crash for a few hours can take a snooze (read: flights arrive any time day or night...read further: all hours of the night, so the lights are kept on inside the tents and there are always people coming in and out). So, needless to say, it wasn’t very much continuous sleep. When I woke up my eyes were so swollen...maybe it was from being irritated from the sand blowing around all day, or from the layer of dust on the mattress I was sleeping on (no sheets), or maybe there was more salt in the dinner than I had thought there was.
I got up and walked through the gravel with my towel and toiletries past two laundry trailers, a male latrine, a male shower trailer, until I got to the female latrine and shower trailers. These facilities are super nice compared to the ones at Victory. There, all we had was port-a-potties that you had to take a flashlight into to see. Anyway, later I met up with the rest of my team and we went and had coffee at the Green Bean. Basically the Green Bean is a Sbucks-like coffee shop that operates all over this region on military bases. It is such a treat to have good coffee. I know some may think it’s a superfluous amenity, but there has to be room for simple pleasures like a good cup of expensive coffee....strike that, a good cup of coffee, that is expensive.
We turned in our body armor and caught a ride to Kuwait City. Our driver wandered around for a bit so we accidentally toured some residential areas of the city and then we stumbled across the Crowne Plaza. (I wonder if Mac ever stayed here when he visited Kuwait.) The hotel boasts 7 restaurants...one is even a Western Steakhouse. Maybe we’ll try that for dinner tomorrow...or maybe not, we should try to eat some local food. For lunch we had Iranian food, which was fantastic. We were spoiled with lots of different dishes (hummus, parsley salad, baba ganoush, the best, creamiest feta cheese I’ve ever had, and grilled lamb, chicken, fish and chicken with rice). They were making the pita/nan-type bread right behind us in a stone oven. I went up to the guy and asked him how he made it and he gave me a demonstration. Very cool.
After totally stuffing ourselves we went up and did some work until it was time to pick up the other folks and then headed to a Japanese dinner as I described at the beginning. Now, three of us are in a room typing away. I just called my boss who is in the IZ to verify that he is okay...just got word of a rocket attack there. He is fine, but I have to say, when his phone initially said not in service, my heart did beat fast for a bit.
The craziest thing will be taking a shower and getting ready tomorrow morning in a bathroom with marble and a bidet, and real towels and a hair dryer. I almost feel guilty for even being here for 2 days. I mean, after a week of traveling I really appreciate being here, but I wonder if it will be harder to go back to tents, sand, and port-a-potties. I’m here so I might as well enjoy it while I can. Tomorrow will be a big day packed with lots of work. Four of us are going to lead meetings all day in front of the team before w e head north.
We started off the day waking up at Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait....actually, let me back up to last night after I posted yesterday’s blog. I signed off the computer in the psychedelic USO and was waiting for one of my co-workers who was still on. My other co-worker, Lars, was sleeping on one of the many sofas in front of the large-screen tv. There was some show about Army rangers on that I caught the tail end of. When I found out that 24 was on next I decided to hang out for another hour to see what Jack Bauer was up to. So, I watched the show and it ended just about 2 minutes before the USO closed at midnight. I woke up my co-worker and rounded up the other one so we could head over to our respective tents. My tent was number Q3 among a sea of about 100 other tents, each filled with about a dozen metal bunk beds. The mattresses ranged from being covered in clear plastic to green zippered vinyl to no covering at all. The temporary billeting didn’t have any linen to issue so, once again, my red fleece blanket came in handy; that and the beaded neck pillow Anne gave me have been a life saver. (Thanks Anne.)The tents have heating and air conditioning that runs from outdoor units to the inside via large 1.5 foot wide vinyl ducts. Even though it was chilly outside and windy, it was actually a bit stuffy inside because the temperature is not allowed to be turned below 72 degrees. No complaints, just telling the facts.
Anyway, as I mentioned, these tents are part of what is called a ‘tent city’ which is typically reserved for transient units and during rotation periods. They are also located adjacent to the passenger terminal, which means that folks who fly in and need a place to crash for a few hours can take a snooze (read: flights arrive any time day or night...read further: all hours of the night, so the lights are kept on inside the tents and there are always people coming in and out). So, needless to say, it wasn’t very much continuous sleep. When I woke up my eyes were so swollen...maybe it was from being irritated from the sand blowing around all day, or from the layer of dust on the mattress I was sleeping on (no sheets), or maybe there was more salt in the dinner than I had thought there was.
I got up and walked through the gravel with my towel and toiletries past two laundry trailers, a male latrine, a male shower trailer, until I got to the female latrine and shower trailers. These facilities are super nice compared to the ones at Victory. There, all we had was port-a-potties that you had to take a flashlight into to see. Anyway, later I met up with the rest of my team and we went and had coffee at the Green Bean. Basically the Green Bean is a Sbucks-like coffee shop that operates all over this region on military bases. It is such a treat to have good coffee. I know some may think it’s a superfluous amenity, but there has to be room for simple pleasures like a good cup of expensive coffee....strike that, a good cup of coffee, that is expensive.
We turned in our body armor and caught a ride to Kuwait City. Our driver wandered around for a bit so we accidentally toured some residential areas of the city and then we stumbled across the Crowne Plaza. (I wonder if Mac ever stayed here when he visited Kuwait.) The hotel boasts 7 restaurants...one is even a Western Steakhouse. Maybe we’ll try that for dinner tomorrow...or maybe not, we should try to eat some local food. For lunch we had Iranian food, which was fantastic. We were spoiled with lots of different dishes (hummus, parsley salad, baba ganoush, the best, creamiest feta cheese I’ve ever had, and grilled lamb, chicken, fish and chicken with rice). They were making the pita/nan-type bread right behind us in a stone oven. I went up to the guy and asked him how he made it and he gave me a demonstration. Very cool.
After totally stuffing ourselves we went up and did some work until it was time to pick up the other folks and then headed to a Japanese dinner as I described at the beginning. Now, three of us are in a room typing away. I just called my boss who is in the IZ to verify that he is okay...just got word of a rocket attack there. He is fine, but I have to say, when his phone initially said not in service, my heart did beat fast for a bit.
The craziest thing will be taking a shower and getting ready tomorrow morning in a bathroom with marble and a bidet, and real towels and a hair dryer. I almost feel guilty for even being here for 2 days. I mean, after a week of traveling I really appreciate being here, but I wonder if it will be harder to go back to tents, sand, and port-a-potties. I’m here so I might as well enjoy it while I can. Tomorrow will be a big day packed with lots of work. Four of us are going to lead meetings all day in front of the team before w e head north.
I’m attaching a pic of the Al Faw Palace, me fly fishing in a canal in front of the palace, and the Flintstone
house.
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