Freedom felt at last

I got to take a trip off base last week with one of the other nurses I work with and a couple of civilian contractors. We went to one of the off base malls in the capital city of Doha. Doha is only about 25 min from the base and is an easy drive down highways that look very much like American highways. The mall we went to is not the biggest one here but it was very big and beautiful. The ceilings were all painted to look like the sky and looked almost 3D. The first two stores I saw in the mall were a Starbucks and Sephora. I was so excited. We only had a few hours as we went in the evening and curfew is 10pm for the medical group. We ate at a South African steakhouse that was very good and not too expensive. We wandered around the mall and watched all the people. Lots of Europeans vacation in Doha so there were a variety of cultures. Maybe 30% of the people were wearing traditional Muslim clothing- the males in white "mandresses" that look like dress shirts that go to their feet. The women were wearing all black over regular clothing and most had their faces completely covered with a burka. They would walk around in groups of just men and groups of just women. I couldn't help but feel bad for the women, especially since their are so many Western people walking around. An ice skating rink was located in the mall so we sat and had Cold Stone ice cream and watched the children ice skate. The Carrefour is a French store very much like Walmart located in the mall. You wouldn't know the difference between this store and a typical Walmart except some of the products are from Asia or Europe. They did have plenty of American brands there as well. I have a picture of me and my friend posing with Bathing suits that cover everything from your wrists to your ankles. A muslim woman walked up while we were posing and I felt bad, like we were making fun of her culture.

It was a breath of fresh air to wear civilian clothes after 75 days of PT uniforms or ABUs. We joke though that we were in our civilian uniform- collared shirt and khakis. You can only wear certain things off base. I am very much looking forward to going again and getting to spend more time shopping. I also want to go to the museums as well, I hear they are very cool. I'm planning on getting my hair cut today, I got it cut last week but I was nervous about letting them take too much off and so she only took an inch off. It is barely short enough to wear it straight with my uniform so I am taking a picture in of how I want my hair cut- we shall see what happens. I guess I can always pull it back until it grows out if it doesn't work out.

100 days today left of my deployment. I am starting to get homesick although I am still enjoying myself. I am getting to save a lot of money because there isn't much here to spend money on.

Megan

Definitely a good week

I did it! I completed my first half marathon this morning. I came in at 2h22m which is just under an 11 min mile. After taking some Motrin this afternoon, I'm feeling pretty good. There were a lot of people out there but most just participated in the 10K that they held at the same time. I got a nice medal and t-shirt out of it as well. They took a lot of pictures that I need to get my hands on; Iwill try to post them when I get them.
We took care of a patient last month who is a Weapons system operator on the B-1 Bomber. We asked him if he would give us a tour and he took 3 of us out to one of the planes. It is a very cool jet that isn't much more than 4 engines, fuel and bombs. All of the bomb storage bays were open in the plane and we got to get up on a ladder and sign a bomb that will eventually get dropped in Afghanistan.
The other great thing that happened this week was finding out I won the CGO Desert Medic of the month. Now my picture is hanging just inside the front door of the hospital.
Altogether, this week was a pretty great week. This was following on the heels of a crazy busy week where I was the A/E nurse running two of our largest missions where we brought in 10 patients and filled all of our outpatient beds and then turned around a few days later and sent 10 patients either on to Landstuhl or to their forward operating base (FOB).
We also said good bye to one of the nurses who had finished his 6 months. We had a fun going away get together in which the CC and Vice CC showed up. It is really cool knowing everyone in the hospital and having the group CC know your name. Our entire hospital is smaller than my unit back home 86 vs 100.
Check back for pictures of both the B-1 tour and the half marathon.
Love, Megan