Here There and Everywhere

Expat wanderer

Sandstorm Blowing In

I was back in the project room, making the best use of the day’s light – and Kuwait truly has great light – when all of a sudden, it was as if I had just put sunglasses on. Big orange sunglasses, blocking out a good half the available light.

Here is what it looks like where I normally take the sunrise photos:

Here are more views:


 

April 30, 2008 - Posted by | ExPat Life, Health Issues, Kuwait, Living Conditions, Weather |

23 Comments »

  1. I was on the 9th floor in a building near downtown when I saw that wall of orange approaching fast. First thing I did was call my mom (she’s visiting kuwait) and told her to park under any bridge NOW. She panicked lol and kept asking me to come to get her!

    Everyine is ok as far as I know, I’m holed up in a coffee shop waiting for it to blow over. A 2-car accident just happened a few seconds ago right in front of the cafe. Interesting.

    bilaterallynumb's avatar Comment by Я | April 30, 2008 | Reply

  2. I certainly hope this won’t last long. I haven’t seen one like this.

    afleetingmoment's avatar Comment by afleetingmoment | April 30, 2008 | Reply

  3. How strange! while many people were expecting rain today!

    Um BB's avatar Comment by Um BB | April 30, 2008 | Reply

  4. Oh! Я! Your poor Mom! I hope she isn’t stuck on the road somewhere! And yeh, the idiots were driving my my house, not slowing down at all, but hand on the horn like “I’m coming and you can’t see me so get out of my way!” LLLOOOLLL! Like they’ve never seen sand before. You are the smart one – get off the road!

    intlxpatr's avatar Comment by intlxpatr | April 30, 2008 | Reply

  5. Fleeting – it blew in fast and hard, didn’t it? I felt like one minute everything was normal and the next minute, light was cut in half or less.

    intlxpatr's avatar Comment by intlxpatr | April 30, 2008 | Reply

  6. Um BB – wouldn’t rain be nice around now, damp down all that dust, wash it away? Make our tomatoes sweet and tasty? 🙂

    intlxpatr's avatar Comment by intlxpatr | April 30, 2008 | Reply

  7. Where’s the rain? :/

    3baid's avatar Comment by 3baid | April 30, 2008 | Reply

  8. I work on the 25th floor and I was sitting with some coworkers and we saw it coming from far .. and then it turned so orange like a vitamen C tablet in water. Now its beige again …
    when its gone we can all hold hands and sing “I can see cleaaaaaaarly now the dust has gooooooooneeee”

    Chirp's avatar Comment by Chirp | April 30, 2008 | Reply

  9. 3baid – I dunno, where is it when we really need it? In Seattle, it SNOWED a couple weeks ago, in April, that is just unheard of. We need a little snow in Kuwait, don’t you think?

    Chirp, WOW. What a view you must have had. I would love to see a photo of what it looks like rolling in. With me, I was right by the window and just one minute it was thick with dust after being clear!

    Aren’t there any Kuwaiti rain songs like “Matar matar matar” (Qatar) and “Betna Jdeed” that we could sing to encourage some rain?

    intlxpatr's avatar Comment by intlxpatr | April 30, 2008 | Reply

  10. Whoah. Pretty…interesting.

    On another note, we had rain last night here in Saudi; oh the excitement.
    I do not recall what time that was; early morning probably, all I remember is whirling in our front garden; drenched nightclothes; an angry mother; a quick half-asleep change of clothes and the start of a sound dreaming process all over again. Lol!

    manutdfanatic's avatar Comment by manutdfanatic | April 30, 2008 | Reply

  11. wishful thinking 😛

    3baid's avatar Comment by 3baid | April 30, 2008 | Reply

  12. Isn’t it lovely? …. 😦

    Nicole's avatar Comment by Nicole | April 30, 2008 | Reply

  13. Wow!thanks for sharing your sandstorm! I’ve never seen anything like that.

    momcat's avatar Comment by momcat | April 30, 2008 | Reply

  14. I remember rain in Saudi, Manut – but I don’t think I remember rain in April. I remember the irises blooming in Tumayr. It sounds like you and your family had some great middle-or-the-night excitement – why was your Mom so angry?

    It is kind of amazing, isn’t it Nicole, the way it comes and goes so quickly.

    Momcat – you had SNOW in April! What a month!

    intlxpatr's avatar Comment by intlxpatr | April 30, 2008 | Reply

  15. omg those views are scary

    Big Pearls's avatar Comment by Big Pearls | April 30, 2008 | Reply

  16. the scene in the sulaibiya was worse..

    Amu's avatar Comment by Amu | April 30, 2008 | Reply

  17. Big Pearls – I think the scarier thing would be to be in the car with your kids bringing them home from school. On your own, you can be scared but you know you will be OK, but when you have kids with you – I remember those days!

    Amu, I think it was pretty scary almost everywhere in Kuwait for an hour or two. Looking out my window, I don’t have great hopes for today; we could face another storm. I see big haze, but it is all white.

    intlxpatr's avatar Comment by intlxpatr | May 1, 2008 | Reply

  18. It was beautiful..to look at safely from behind windows. Alot of classes were canceled and schools let out early

    jewaira's avatar Comment by jewaira | May 1, 2008 | Reply

  19. Wooo Hooooo! You got a Sand Day, Jewaira!

    intlxpatr's avatar Comment by intlxpatr | May 1, 2008 | Reply

  20. Visibility was ZERO!

    Ansam's avatar Comment by Ansam | May 1, 2008 | Reply

  21. Ansam – Thanks be to God, it was so short – just a couple hours and then . . . it just stopped!

    intlxpatr's avatar Comment by intlxpatr | May 2, 2008 | Reply

  22. OMG!

    ::: ShoSho :::'s avatar Comment by ::: ShoSho ::: | May 2, 2008 | Reply

  23. That’s what we said, too!

    intlxpatr's avatar Comment by intlxpatr | May 2, 2008 | Reply


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