thoughts from the desert

Hi guys,

Another day has gone by!

It is 21:24 on Thursday 30 October as I write this from my room. And as most probably I’ll be doing most times, I’ll be uploading this blog tomorrow morning…

This morning (Thursday) I woke up extra early… at 5:15am I was already staring at a mirror trying to open my eyes while throwing some water on my face! I put everything back into my backpack (chargers and stuff), grabbed my luggage and at 5:40 was headed down the stairs and out of the block together with Maurice and John towards the minivan which had to take us to the airport.

At 6am (actually it was a bit before I think), the van was full of people and left for the airport. Nothing too amusing here. A small terminal takes care of all internal flights towards the various sites in the desert. Checked-in and waited a bit. Our flight was scheduled at 7. When our turn came we queued to pass through the terminal, x-ray machine and ticket rubber-stamping (they seem to want to mark everything with ink in this country!). Everything went by smoothly. Another minivan then took us to where our plane was parked.

It was a small 50-seater (circa) plane… with propellers!! quite a strange feeling!
(very similar to this pic I found on google… http://lh4.ggpht.com/allison.b.wheeler/SCYfWmCPV-I/AAAAAAAAC7I/v8jvtfDRZEc/s800/DSC_0023.JPG )

Our luggage was waiting on the ground next to the plane… The procedure here is that you pick up your luggage and hand it to the airport personnel who is filling up the plane… from what I grasped this is done so that there is no luggage without an owner… safety reasons, and so that no one remains on ground!

At around 7:30 we took off towards Sharara in the Ubhari desert. Bit by bit as I looked out of the window the ground was becoming drier and drier and browner and browner! the desert was getting closer!!

The flight was very comfortable, although occasionally, as I looked out of the window and saw the propeller spinning around so fast and so close, I must admit, had strange feelings! :)  similar to (http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w212/jzzsxm/DSC02292.jpg … but spinning very fast)

At 9:15 we landed in the desert… army personnel checked our desert passes and guided us towards (yet another!) minivan which took us from the desert airport towards the main buildings. Where we waited for our luggage and then went to reception to collect the keys for our apartments.

The guy at reception thought I was Chinese!!!!! Can you believe that? That he came up with the excuse that it’s because of my hair… yeah whatever! 

Here I met Joe, my colleague, whom I’ll be with for the coming 2 weeks… cool guy and excellent company!

As we went out of the reception area I was quite surprised to find all this greenery and some flowers too! A few more steps and we passed by a big fountain and a huge pool… yes a swimming pool in the desert… will do a test swim for you guys in the coming days.

The temperature was 32degrees but felt more like a 24degrees day in Malta, not hot at all… because of the dryness and lack of humidity, (or so I was told).

Joe quickly showed me around the place and explained a couple of procedures then showed me my room and after less than 30mins in the desert I was already in my office… yes guys, for those of you who don’t know I’m here on work and not on holiday at a desert resort! …

A coffee and a glass of water… a couple of settings to hook my notebook onto the network and there I was starting my first day of work in the desert! (I’ll leave the details of the work to a separate email addressed to my colleagues).

Noon soon came and we went for lunch. The place was full of hungry guys!
The food was quite good, having a selection of rice, pasta, beef, fish, chips, vegs, (etc insomma) an apple, a can of soft drink, and a small sweet thingy. We grabbed a glass of water and went round looking for the table where all the Maltese were seated. All Maltese from the different departments try to stay together as much as possible during lunch.

Chatted a bit while eating and then went in our rooms for a quick siesta… which was quickly over and at 13:50 we headed back to the office… the air was a bit hotter by now, although still very bearable.

[… work stuff …]

By 18:30 we were quite tired although the time passed too quickly!!!! Didn’t feel like dinner because I had eaten too much at lunch. I went back to my room while Joe stayed in the office waiting for his friend to do their daily walk down to the airport strip and back… was too tired and needed some rest today… will join them in one of the coming days.

Back in my room I relaxed on the bed for 30mins, and then ate an apple, which I hadn’t eaten from lunch-time and had a good shower… I’ve been wearing the same clothes since I left my house in Malta!!!!

Wrote some stuff in my personal journal and now I’m writing this blog. I have a few more emails to draft which will be sent in the morning and then off to bed as tomorrow work at 7am!

Enjoy!

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