Season Of Sand

Before we came to Iraq we were told that sandstorms had a "season".  I thought that meant a couple months each year.  The teacher announced that the season was from April through October.  That's quite a season.

Once we got here, I quickly wrote it off to urban (or desert) myth, since we were here for September and October and didn't see one sandstorm.

Of course if you keep up with this blog you'll know that we got stranded and missed our first day of R&R in the Maldives thanks to a sandstorm.

We returned without incident, but shortly after we got back several friends were stranded trying to return due to sandstorms.  And since then it seems we get a small sandstorm every few days.

Today, a mama sandstorm rolled in.  This place looks like the set of some sign of the times movie - or maybe a scene from the movie "Outbreak".  The sky is, well, gone - you can't see anything on the horizon.  Everything is tinted sepia and it's sort of eerily quiet.  We have to block our door at it's base with a towel, because even though it's a tiny crack dust just piles up in here and the halls are filled with it.  People are walking around with masks on their faces, although for the most part it's a total ghost town outside.


 It was so odd how it came upon us.  I walked home and it was clear and brilliant - the sun was shining.  It's not like a rain storm where you see clouds on the horizon.  James and I were eating lunch and all of a sudden our room just went dark.  But sepia-toned dark.  It was so strange.  We looked out the windows and it was as if someone had literally pulled a switch and we went from sunshine to dust storm in one second flat.

Anyway, it's odd.  I hope you get that.  It's very, very odd.  And I HOPE that this is not going to be something that happens all summer long.  And I also hope it doesn't keep us from our next R&R.  Who ever heard of dust holding you down?