In the middle of Babylon...

Greetings from Mesopotamia!

Been here on the ground for a few weeks. This adventure has started off at lightnin' speed. 32 days after learning about my new 'situation'--(sandwiched into those 32 days..we moved our entire household into a new home (via SUV & Uhaul truck), cleared out the 'new to us' home as the previous owners left most of their belongings in it, we renovated one entire bathroom and bedroom and attempted to paint several other repairs and perform minor repairs on electrical things, etc.)--I departed home and spent a few days in Georgia (US) where I underwent some training and equipment issue. Then it was off to distant lands--with a little blitz in Europe before continuing on to Kuwait. Spent a whirlwindy, sandstorming few days in the middle of mid-100 temps and about 60% humidity. Then it was off to northern lands. I couldn't make much out from the tiny little window in the plane as we crossed the border but it was exciting nonetheless. Sitting next to me was a gentleman who hailed from the region but who had fled for undisclosed reasons some 29 years prior to his return on the same flight as me. This little personal disclosure of his gave me the chills and reminded me about why we were in this region in the first place.

Once we'd landed, I was whisked off to another region of the city where I was provided fairly nice accommodations. I was anticipating camping with limited access to showers and hot meals for a year but was pleasantly surprised with the 'modern' conveniences we were afforded.

Unfortunately, I'm unable to post any photos that I've snapped since arriving, but I'll attempt to post some descriptions of things.

Local Flora: Date Palms

About a week ago I stumbled upon some local gentlemen who were collecting dates from a date palm. I inquired as to what they were and they offered me a handful of them. They were absolutely delicious.

Local Fauna: tiny little fruit bats

Each evening I'm greeting by swirls upon swirls of fruit bats who circle about the spotlights that illuminate the sportsfields near our billets. They remind me of fish in an aquarium and I find myself mesmerized by their antics. It's very relaxing--I sort of consider them my 'birds' like I study my hummingbirds back in the US.

Local Weather Patterns: sand storms

One afternoon when I departed my workspace, I opened the door to the trailer and was absolutely SHOCKED by a blood orange red sky. A dust storm was passing through and had altered the color of the atmosphere to this bizarre mix of orange and red. It was really bizarre, eerie, but interesting all tied up together. The sandstorm dust lingered in the atmosphere for several days.

Gotta run...the internet powers that be have 'signed' for me to depart. I'll post more later...