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.