First impressions….
I last left you with my arrival into Djibouti and meeting up with my new boss, Cathleen, and co-worker, Cheryl. The airport is very small and really nothing much to write about. Stepping off the little plane onto the tarmac was very different than in Ethiopia. It is extremely bright and hot outside, and everything just seems so brown and dirty. This is pretty much what I expected. The dirty dust you get from that red clay kind of dirt. But wow – it’s HOT! And no shade, so that sun just beats down on you.
We head to the car. They brought a Toyota SUV to pick me up. There is a shuttle that goes back and forth to the airport and the base, but they came personally to pick me up. As we exit the airport I am offered by a dozen people to take my luggage for me. I actually have one of them take my suitcases…they were over the weight limits to begin with. As we walk to the vehicle, there are people all over the parking lot. I learn quickly that these folks will wash your car windows (for a price, of course) or they try to convince you when you park that your vehicle is not safe parked there, but they will protect it for you (again for a price). Wow, getting to the car could have cost $20 if you gave money to all of these people. So the nice gentleman puts my suitcases in the back of the SUV and I hand him $5 - $2.50 for each bag. Within seconds he is back in my face telling me that I didn’t give him enough money and that I needed to give him $10. I respectfully decline and tell him that $2.50 per bag is plenty. And then I am pushed into the vehicle by Cathleen so we can get out of there. She explains if I had continued to discuss, it could have gotten ugly. So Cheryl quickly checks to see if the way is clear behind us and we are off. Since this is still very much French influenced, they drive on the right side of the road and sit behind the steering wheel on the left of the vehicle.
The airport is only about 5-10 minutes from the base. So it’s a short trip back. But I do get to see a little bit of Djibouti. There is a closed down BBQ joint that Cathleen explains had really good food. It was closed, apparently, because the owner was a little too into the local Khat scene. Khat is a very interesting business in these parts. It is perfectly legal in Djibouti for people to use Khat, in fact the President’s wife controls it. But what it does is pretty much make almost all of the working population in Djibouti just about useless every afternoon. Khat is imported from Ethiopia. You can learn more about this little gem by checking the article from Esquire magazine called “High in Hell” - http://www.esquire.com/features/ESQ0906KHAT_182. The local men here chew this stuff just about every day and pretty much sit around doing nothing all afternoon and evening. We saw a number of Khat stands as we drove through the small area of town.
As we head down the last stretch of road to the gates of Camp Lemonnier, I am told the story of why there is so much trash all over the sides of the road. It was quite a site – just a mess. Interestingly enough, as would be expected from the US Military, several times the Military has set out to clean up the roads surrounding and leading up to the gates of the base. The locals immediately accused them of trying to steal their trash and then told us how much we’d have to pay them for taking it all. It was crazy. So needless to say, we dumped the trash right back where it was and it still remains there today. Good grief!
So there it is…the gates to Camp Lemonnier. Wow – seems like it would be hard to get in there, unless you had business. I won’t describe it all, as I am sure it would be some sort of security violation…but let’s just say that when they say you need to belong here to get into here…they mean it! Several check points, X-ray machines, search stations, etc. etc. We stop at the check-in hut so I can get a temporary badge. My bags and my person all X-Rayed. I hand over my Driver’s License so I can get the temp badge. I can get my license back once I get a permanent badge. Thankfully they let us drive up to the hut – otherwise we would have been lugging those suitcases across all the gravel. UGH! Anyway – it wasn’t too hard. I was fortunately on the “list” and was granted access to the base.
As we get onto the base, it reminds me of so many bases I have been on in my life. So it oddly almost feels like home. But a little dirtier. The buildings are all marked with their purpose and there are people, military and civilians, all over the place. It’s lunch time. People are headed to the Galley or the gym or perhaps to the exchange for some needed items. I am so excited to be here.
We stop to get my badge. Cheryl heads off to pick us up some nice cold bottled water – which I am in desperate need of at the moment. I find out that there are very large coolers all over the base filled with bottled water and ice! We just help ourselves whenever we need something to drink. We are reminded the importance of staying hydrated in a climate like this. It’s very cool – one of these coolers is never too far off. They even stock them on the running trail too!
We head to Billeting so I can get the keys to my assigned CLU (Containerized Living Unit). I am in T311 – my temporary Dry CLU until my Wet CLU is ready. Difference, the dry CLUs use shared/common bathroom space – think Girl Scout/Boy Scout Camp, must put shoes on and grab a flashlight to go to the bathroom facility. The wet CLUs have a shared bathroom with just 2 people. You are given the wet CLU based on your level/position with PAE and the contract. They have a number of wet CLU buildings currently under construction. This is good news for PAE; it clearly shows that the contract has expanded and that more people are coming onboard to support this important mission in the Horn of Africa.
People here are all so nice. I guess it makes sense; we are all in the same boat. I don’t even have to think about lugging my suitcases upstairs, there are several men at the staircase in no time offering to carry them for me. And it doesn’t even cost me! ;-) My room is cold – they’ve had the A/C on in there blasting some cold air. The door and window to my CLU are covered with condensation. The cold air from within hitting the heat and humidity of the outside of the metal door don’t seem to mix very well. Inside, there is just a twin size bed. It’s a new bed, but not a new mattress. Oh well. My memory foam mattress topper arrived already and I get that out of the box immediately to air out and to put on my bed. What a godsend that they told me to have one of these shipped over here! I quickly make the bed up and lay out my suitcases on the floor and head to the office. If I lay down now…there won’t be any getting up for me!
So I manage to meet a bunch of people. I must be a site. I am walking around like a zombie trying to stay awake and absorb what I can (which isn’t much right now). But I do get to head up to the Galley for dinner.
WASH YOUR HANDS! For those of you who don’t know this about me, washing one’s hands was quite a chore back at my old job in Herndon. Good grief, you would think I was asking people to give me their first born child! Anyway, just a pet peeve of mine. Walking into the Galley I swear I saw the glow of light coming down straight from heaven…there are 4 sinks just inside the door. YOU HAVE TO WASH YOUR HANDS before you are allowed to enter into the Galley! Happy Day! It’s such a pleasure to see so many people washing off those germs before we all go and access the same ladles and tongs and buffet lines and drink machines, etc. What a concept – one quick and easy little step…and we ALL do it here!
Okay, enough about that. Now that all of us have clean hands, we enter into the Galley. We all sign in – they keep track of counts. If you decide to go to the Galley six times in one day, that’s okay, just sign in six times so you are counted. Food is unlimited. But they do have scheduled hours in which you can enter the main Galley for all the hot foods. But the sandwich and snack line is open 22 hours a day. The food is actually quite good. They have scoop ice cream, usually 4 or 5 other desserts to choose from. Several (up to 6 or 7) main courses to choose from each day. Brunch is served on Sat. and Sun. Salad bar. And even Sweet Tea! The hardest thing for me so far has been there is NO DIET COKE! They have Coke Light here…which is NOT the same. But I am getting used to it. I find I drink a ton more water here.
In the Galley we can catch up on the latest International and US news, the latest on sports, and also the latest from the base. There are several TVs that are showing different things. They even show reruns of some of the NFL games, in case we missed them over the weekend. There is a really strong wireless signal in the Galley too, but you are not allowed to use your laptops during actual meal times.
What else…not much else to report on my first impressions. Just getting settled in and trying to find my place. Trying to find my inner sleep person too! It’s been tough…but getting better.
Cheers y’all and more to come.
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