Thanksgiving Week

This is the week we all reflect on things we are grateful for.  I have so much to give thanks for in my life.  On top of a wonderful husband, family & friends I am also grateful to be safe, healthy and have supportive friends and co-workers out here in Kuwait.  I am not in danger and I am able to provide medical care and support to those soldiers, sailors and marines that are going in or coming out of theatre (Iraq & Afghanistan).   Surprisingly Camp Virginia did not have a turkey trot (although we have races for every other obscure event) so the girls and I created our own Turkey Trot.  Danika and Becky ran 8 miles and I continued on for 2 more to run 10 miles. At first Danika was a little upset at us for dragging her along but in the end she was glad we did it =)

After our run!!! 

Then the three of us served chow for over an hour to all the troops in the DFAC.  The third country nationals who work at the chow hall went overboard with decorations.  Although most of the decorations were a little obscure (mermaid, statue of liberty, donkey) the effort they took to carve and design these things was very admirable.

Turkey and little chicks made out of butter

Becky with the donkey ... ????!!! 

Danika and I with some turkeys ...

Mermaid out of butter .... 

Serving food ... 

Once we got our hats to stay on our heads we were on a roll ... 

Overall it was a fun and relaxing day off from work.  So thankful to have these girls to spend the holidays with out here in Kuwait.  

Qatar Trip

During our deployment we are allowed a 4 day
R&R pass (Rest & Recuperation).  There is only
one place we are allowed to go for these four days,
Camp As Sayliyah in Doha, Qatar.  It's an hour
by plane from Kuwait but it can take a while to
catch a flight (we waited for 48 hours) so your
R&R really ends up being about a week long
which is nice.  We finally boarded the C-17, only
 to discover we would be sitting next to five
coffins covered with American flags.  It was a
difficult and humbling way to start our vacation.

Doha, Qatar

Qatar Flag

Me, Emily & Nate on the plane

We landed at 3am on our first day (Day Zero) so we slept in a little, then went to lunch at Chili's (REAL AMERICAN FOOD!!!!)  That afternoon we went on our first MWR trip off base, to the Villagio Mall.  You might be thinking, why would they go to a mall when they are in this great middle eastern country.  Well Emily and I had one goal ... to get our hair done!  This mall was unbelievable, not only were there expensive stores like Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Burberry, Cartier, Dior (I could go on forever) there was also gondola rides, a ferris wheel, go carts & an ice skating rink all inside the mall!  

Gondola rides in front of Gap! 

Ferris Wheel

The guys were tired of waiting on me and Emily!!! 

Emily, Nate & I when the driver stopped to
pump up the air in the tires.

On our second day in Qatar we went on a beach picnic.  You are probably thinking beach in November?  Qatar is pretty close to the equator so the weather was actually perfect, the highs were mid 80's and it was bright and sunny.  To get to the beach we rode in SUV's over sand dunes which was a little scary but very fun!  We got to swim in the ocean, play volleyball, eat some traditional middle eastern food (hummus, pitas, fruit, kebabs) and smoke hookah! 

SUV's zooming around the desert about to go over the dunes!

That evening we went into town again to the Old Souq.  This is kind of like the town center, it has markets and stores and restaurants.  This time we went and mostly just explored and bought some trinkets.  We did get to eat in a traditional style restaurant where we sat on oriental rugs on the ground.  It was so nice to have different food that was fresh and flavorful! 

Streets of the Old Souq

Eating our traditional middle eastern food, we are so happy!! 

Old Souq

The following day was my birthday which was really nice that I got to celebrate in Qatar with awesome friends.  We decided to go back to the mall (surprise surprise!) and we spent all morning shopping.  We ate lunch at Macaroni grill and even got to have coldstone for desert, quite an awesome start to my birthday =) 

COLDSTONE!!! IN QATAR!!! 

Look at all of those shopping bags ...

With Nate on my birthday night.  My friends sang Happy Birthday
about 20 times and we all shared a birthday brownie.  It was more fun
than I could have hoped for while deployed. 

We also played Bingo on my birthday, unfortunately none of us won. 

Friday we woke up early and hopped on board a traditional wooden boat and sailed out 45 minutes to an island.  Once there we went tubing & rode jet skis all morning.  It was a lot of fun to be outside and see some of the city skyline (pictures at top of blog) as we were sailing around the harbor.  The water sports were also a lot of fun and we got served the traditional meal of hummus, veggies, pitas, kebabs and fruit again!  

Just before we went Jet Skiing, Emily had never driven before and went a
little heavy on the gas which resulted in me going overboard at one point.  It was
actually a lot of fun!!! 

On top of the boat with the skyline
behind us.

Coming back from tubing ... 

Our entire group on top of the boat: Three MA's (Military Police), Two Corpsmen and Three nurses!!! 

Of course the best part of the entire trip was that we were allowed to have "three" alcoholic beverages a night,  either beer or wine.  The MWR on the Army base had a few little "bars/restaurants" where we hung out pretty much every night.

Wine & Pizza ... YUMMM! 

       















We never got to go to the Gold Souq because of the holiday Eid it was closed.  We did go back once again to the Old Souq where we did quite a bit more shopping!  Overall the trip was very relaxing and enjoyable and an awesome break away from Kuwait.  I got back to Camp Virginia just in time for Thanksgiving week.

Kuwait City

Arabian Sea

Huge Soccer Stadium

We got to take an MWR trip into Kuwait City on Sunday.  It was great to not only get off base but also to see some of the local sites and get a feel for how the locals live.  It takes about an hour to get from Camp Virginia into the city.  Along the way we passed the brand new soccer stadium, GREEN trees and BLUE water, all of which was beautiful to my eyes which have only seen brown desert for the past few months!!!!

The Kuwait Towers

Danika, me and Becky at the top of the Tower

The Kuwait Towers that you see above were built in 1975 and were originally to hold water.  They have turned the large one into a viewing sphere, tourist attraction which spins around and has a little cafe.  We were sort of rushed here because it was our last stop.

With our Army friends Tasos & TJ

Our first stop of the day was the Science Center and Aquarium.  The science center part is really for little kids so we just went to the Aquarium.   It was pretty cool with a lot of exhibits on native animals (and some that aren't very native to Kuwait - like the Penguins).

Outside of the Aquarium which was right on the Arabian Gulf.  It
was very foggy the day we went.  Normally you can see the other
side of the city across the water. 

Next to the shark sign inside the Aquarium.  Everything was very modern and clean.  Kuwait is a very wealthy country so everyone inside the Aquarium was dressed extremely nice and had designer purses and sunglasses.  I could fit in easily in this country!!

You can see our tour guide 'Big Mama' (she insisted we call her that and refused to answer to anything else) in the background.  According to her this is the largest wooden boat in the world.  So of course I had to get a picture next to it.

Next to the penguin exhibit.  

Below you can see a beautiful leopard print stingray.  It was trying to avoid the persistent advances of a male stingray while we were watching.  Those men are relentless!!

 

They had pretty big sharks in this large tank.  We even got to see them feeding the fish and sharks.  It was a true 'feeding frenzy'.  The fish were swarming everywhere.  They were using a white pole to keep the sharks from getting too close to the aquarium workers.  There was also a pretty aggressive sea turtle in the tank who was fun to watch.  

Tasos, T.J. and me and the Restaurant 

Trying out Hookah 

After the aquarium we went and had our own 'feeding frenzy' at a true middle eastern restaurant.  It was wonderful to eat food that wasn't from the DFAC and they had lots of vegetables, hummus, pitas and tabbouleh so I was more than covered.  They also served hookah at the table which was a new experience for me.  Everyone in the restaurant was smoking hookah with their lunch, like it was the normal thing to do.  Quite interesting.  Overall it was a great trip and just nice to get off base and see something different!  

Concerts and Camel Rides

Camel Crossing

This past weekend we traveled to Camp Buehring for a concert by the band Filter.  Buehring is one of the other outlying Army camp's in Kuwait.  It's about an hour car ride from Camp Virginia.  The concert was pretty good and it was nice to just get away and see some of our other friends.  On the way we ran across some camels being herded across the road.

It was really sad because their front or back legs were
tied together making it hard for them to walk.  

Me and Danika (the dentist)

Don't worry that is "near beer" or non-alcoholic beer that you can buy at the PX.  There is no alcohol allowed in theater.  Additionally Kuwait is a dry country.  They also have a non-alcoholic wine that we like!!! 

Kosha (PA), me (nurse), Danika (dentist) and Becky (PA).
Kosha works at Camp Beurhing full time and Becky has started
going to Camp Beurhing a few days a week to help out since they
are so busy.  Danika and I are at Camp Virginia full time.