Sandstorms

Yesterday morning I walked out of my complex at about 8 am. I noticed people wearing hospital face masks. And indeed the air looked very hazy. It was quite a sandstorm! In the city it's not quite so noticeable (expect maybe for asthmatic people who are trying to breath). But when you get into the desert visiblity is redused and the combination of the wind and sand can sting your skin pretty bad. Hasn't happened to me yet. Anyway, I suppose that is the practiacal reason why Saudi men wear gutras (their red and white head coverings). They can use them to wrap around their faces if thy're caught in the middle of a sandstorm.

I've heard that after a sandstorm workers spend days sweeping up tons of dirt. I notice when I have my bedroom window open that thick layer of dust collects on my furniture very quickly. And my feet are always so dirty after I come in from outside having worn sandles.

It's starting to get really hot here too. Today it was in the mid 30's. And it doesn't help that I always have to wear black! Within minutes I can feel the sweat trickling down my back when I go outside.

Yesterday I had a class on 'Basic Adult Physical Assessment'. The morning was full of lectures and in the afternoon we practiced hands-on in a skills lab followed by an exam. At the skills lab we got to auscultate this manequin that had artificial breath sounds transmitted from a computer right into his 'chest wall'. The instructer would keep changing the breath sounds to see if we could differentiate a stridor from a wheeze and then we had to determine if it was bronchial or ventricular. It kind of brought me back to second-year nursing skills lab.

Day in the Desert

At the end of orientation...about 6 weeks ago...my orientation group spent a day in the desert. I wrote about it in one of my group emails. So here are the pictures.

Pictures from Canada

Before I left for Canada, I visited my friend Melanie in northern B.C. It was a very fun weekend of cross-country skiing, meeting her friends and, as these pictures show, dog-sledding.

Below is a picture of my newest nephew Kaden. This was in January when he was about 1 month old. At four months old, I know he must be much bigger and cubbier!

To celebrate my Neice, Brianne's 10th birthday, my sister Sandi and I hosted her in Winnipeg and did 'fun things' around the city. The picture to the left is at the giant ginger-bread house at the Bay down-town.

I'm 25 now!

For my birthday some of my friends from orientaion got together and went to a nationals house. It wasn't the first time we had a taste of Saudi hospitality, but the first time we were hosted in a Saudi's house. The place was gigantic and we were only in the guest house!

We stuffed outselves with food. We ate a traditional meal of 'capsa' - rice, chicken and arabic bread. This was spread out on a sheet on the floor where we ate everything using our fingers, not utensils.

At the end of the evening when we were putting on our abaya's and getting ready to go, we got into a photo-op mood. We got some of the guys to where head scarves as well, but I kindly excluded those pictures!