My Other House is a Tent

One of my Kuwaiti friends told me today that he no longer likes to camp in Kuwait because it has become, "too ghetto."  There is an area in Southern Kuwait right around Julai'ai (exit 245) that is always so crowded and full of lights/noise that it looks like a circus to me.  I hate the places that are set up right next to each other with loud music playing all night and screaming kids on ATVs.  That's not my thing.

Our camp is further South - towards Wafra.  It is still close to a McDonald's ('Baby, will you bring me an apple pie?'), a convenience store, a Starbucks (where ISN'T there a Starbucks??), and a great little restaurant where they sell kababs and machboos.

It is also located far away from other camps (although we can still hear loud music from 2 of the other camps in the distance).  I love the solitude and the nature.  There are only 7 of us who stay there.  We have only one other person who is invited (but doesn't stay as he has his own camp closeby - I don't know why because he's always with us).  We don't invite visitors.  We don't have parties.  We talk.  We laugh.  We listen to music ("Oh my God!  Not "Diamonds" again, Desert Girl!").  We joke with each other.  I love that.

I'm extremely blessed that we're out there with nature (ok, and optional conveniences...).  I like sleeping in a tent instead of a trailer (although we've got 2 trailers and one has a Jacuzzi (no, not the one with the pop-up TV, but close).  I like taking showers in the kirby bathroom that is absolutely freezing until the hot water steams the entire enclosure. I still have to have my hair dryer and thank God, the generator is big enough to accommodate all 1500 watts. The ice maker I brought (Desert Guy's favorite toy - he loves that thing) is another story.... usually trips the small generator.    Most of the time, we sit outside, but we've also got a tent that is enclosed.  That tent has a 60" TV (F soccer!)  It also has a mouse who we feed.  He usually only comes out after 4am.

The other morning, I woke up and the newest addition to the family, Bibi, an Aikita-mix puppy (who is much more aggressive/territorial than the older German Shepard), was barking frantically.  It had just rained and I was already half-awake listening to the sound of the rain on the tent roof when Bibi jolted us out of bed.  Camels were grazing behind the camp and apparently, she had never seen one before.  I couldn't go back to sleep, so I got up to take some pictures.

Best friends, Rose and Bibi

I don't want the camping season to end.  I'm loving it too much.  This has been the best time for me ever in the desert, Mashallah.    Since early December, I've been living there every weekend.  I leave work at 6 on Thursdays, pick up my stuff, and head to the camp.  We don't go home until late on Saturday (and everybody is in a bad mood because they don't want to go).  

I've grown so accustomed to this life that I don't know what I'm going to do when we have to take the camp down.  I'm already feeling depressed thinking about it.  I don't want it to end.

Diamonds

At first sight I felt the energy of sun rays 

I saw the life inside your eyes 

So shine bright, tonight you and I 

We're beautiful like diamonds in the sky 

Eye to eye, so alive 

We're beautiful like diamonds in the sky