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.