Go karts…

One of the fun things to do in Djibouti, is go-kart racing. There is a track just off base where you get a 10 minute race for 2,500 Djiboutian Francs, which is about $15. It’s a lot of fun. The attached file is a live-action video of me racing around the track. The video is a little bouncy. If you get motion sick easily, you can look away from the video every few seconds to re-orient yourself. Enjoy!

My CLU

I took some pictures of my CLU this week. I just put up an Illini window covering that my mom sent me. This is where I live. As you can see, it is air conditioned. I turn the AC off during the day to dry the CLU out and then turn it on at night to cool it off. It is a comfortable living arrangement. It’s only a 5 minute walk to work vs the 15 minute walk I had at the CLU I used to live in.

Helicopter ride

I got to go in a helicopter ride recently! It was really cool. A few of the construction guys needed overhead photos of their construction sites, so the Marines agreed to take us for a ride. We took off and circled around the construction sites taking pictures and then we flew out to Mousha Island. We took some photos there and then we headed over to Lac Assal. It is one of the saltiest lakes in the world. It is several hundred feet below sea level. When we got there the helicopter landed and we got out to walk around a bit. It was really hot! We took some pics and then got back in the helicopter to come back to base.

Drew Brees

Drew Brees came to visit Camp Lemonnier, Djibouti in March! He threw the football around in a pick-up football game and signed autographs. For those of you that don’t follow football, Drew Brees is the MVP quarterback of the 2010 Super Bowl Champion New Orleans Saints. Drew also is the national spokesperson for Advocare. I got to the turf field early, stood in line for a few minutes, and got his autograph! My wife had sent me his rookie football card when I heard that he would be coming to base. It was really cool!

Cheetah Refuge

The other day I went with a few friends from the office to the Cheetah Refuge. That place is just a hop, skip, and a jump away from base. First we went on a guided tour where we got to walk amongst the wild animals (not the cheetahs). We saw some ostriches, gazelles, and some zebras and zonkeys (a cross between a donkey and a zebra). We also saw some turtles. After we finished the guided tour, we saw some of the cheetahs. They were pretty cool. It was getting dark, so I didn’t get very many pictures of the cheetahs, but I’ll see if I can find some that other people took and try to post those.

Mousha Island

Last week I went to Mousha Island with some other people in the wardroom. It was great! We went snorkeling and scuba diving in the morning, ate some lunch at the clubhouse, and then hung out on the beach in the afternoon. It was a very relaxing trip and it was nice to get away from Djibouti for a bit. Mousha Island is only a 15 minute boat ride from the Djibouti harbor.

Scuba diving was really cool but a bit freaky at first. If you’ve never been before it is difficult to stick your head under water and trust that you’re still going to have air when you take a breath. The cool part was that it was just like those dreams where you can breathe under water, but it wasn’t a dream. When I go snorkeling, I usually end up sucking in some sea water when I breathe through the tube and then I have to stick my head above water gagging and spitting to get the water out. That isn’t quite as easy to do when you are scuba diving, which can be a cause for concern. This realization occurred to me shortly after I submerged my head below the water. I quickly moved back up to the surface where there was plenty of air. The instructor that was swimming with me asked what was wrong and I told him I was just freaked out. He gave me a moment to calm down and then we went back underwater.

We got to check out a lot of coral reef and some really cool looking fish. Before we left the boat the instructors told us to be careful where we kick our fins because the coral is very fragile and it will die if it gets kicked. So I didn’t kick most of the time I was in the water. The instructor had his hand on my air tank and he just guided me around the coral. It was really neat. If you ever end up in Djibouti, you should definitely check out Mousha Island. J

Moustache March

Well, here we are again at the 3^rd month of the year, March. Or as some like to call it, “Moustache March”. A time when young Naval Officers (perhaps other branches as well) decide to have a little fun and see who can grow the best looking moustache by the end of the month. I usually don’t participate in such activities, especially since my wife is not fond of “the stache” but I decided to partake in the fun this year. There are a number of junior officers from NMCB 7 as well as some other people on camp participating. With a little more than a week left, my moustache is looking pretty good. Not quite as good as the seasoned veteran and our skipper, CAPT Finn, but it’s coming along nicely.

Disc golf

The base is working on putting in a disc golf course here on base. Last week I went out and practiced with some other guys. The shops are working on manufacturing the goals, but in the meantime we have flags posted where the goals will go. We were going to go out on the course and practice throwing to the flags, but apparently the construction that is going on has destroyed or displaced some of the flags, so instead of throwing to the flags, we just threw the discs around on the turf field. It was fun. I guess there is a Professional Disk Golf Association (PDGA) website that lists where all the disc golf courses are. Once our course is established, we’re going to submit it to the PDGA and we will be the 1^st and only disc golf course in Africa. Pretty cool, huh?

The Birds…

We have a lot of crows and some pigeons here on camp. There have been numerous stories of birds attacking humans. Have you seen the Alfred Hitchcock movie, “The Birds”? Well, it’s not quite like that, but apparently if they have a particular distaste for you, they will swoop down and hit you as you walk through the courtyard. I was walking through the courtyard the other day with another sailor and 4 drops of bird doo landed directly in front of us as we walked! Luckily no droppings hit us. Apparently we were just out of their range. It was a close call nonetheless. The moral of the story is, when you’re in Djibouti, keep your head down, and watch out for the birds!

Showers

At Camp Lemonnier, we never have to worry about having hot water available. In the summer time the hot water heaters are turned off and the faucets are switched, so the cold water is hot and the hot water is cold. Except the water doesn’t get cold since the pipes are so close to the surface and are warmed up by the sun, so pretty much all your water is hot. Even though we never have an issue with having hot water, we are instructed to take “combat showers” to conserve on overall water usage. That means getting in the shower, turning on the water for 30 seconds to wet down, shutting the water off, lathering up, and turning the water back on for no more than 2 minutes to rinse off. That also shortens the shower time so that more people can be cycled through the bathroom quickly.

Pirate patches…aaarrgh

My friend Katie P. informed me that pirates would often wear a patch over their eye, not because it had been gouged out, but rather as a way to gain a tactical advantage when overtaking a ship and plundering the booty. The pirates would board a ship and once they were done plundering and pillaging the main deck, they would descend down into the lower decks looking for more treasure. Since the lower decks were dark due to a lack of sunlight, the pirates would need to let their eyes adjust to the darkness, unless they were wearing an eye patch. With the patch, they could just flip the patch over to the other eye, and the eye that had previously been under the patch would already be adjusted to the darkened conditions. Then the pirates could continue to plunder without delay.

I have found this technique to be quite useful on Camp Lemonnier. No, I don’t go around camp wearing a patch over my eye, but often times I will have to get up in the middle of the night to use the facilities since I drink a large amount of water during the day to stay hydrated. After walking outside and into the brightly lit bathroom, it is hard to see once I get back into my CLU and I end up stumbling around. So, in order to avoid stumbling around in the dark, I keep one eye closed as I walk outside, use the facilities, and come back. Once I get back in my CLU, I open my other eye and it’s as if I had never left in the first place. Hopefully this useful bit of information will help you avoid stumbling around in your house if you have no nightlights and need to use the restroom in the middle of the night.

Food:

The food here is good, and the best part about it: IT’S FREE!! Every meal is an all-you-can-eat buffet. They have made to order eggs for breakfast, a massive fruit bar for lunch, and sandwiches anytime you want (except 0200-0400 in the morning). Tuesday is Taco night, Saturday is steak night(T-bones), Wednesday is pizza night (and sirloin steak night), Thursday night is chicken wings, Friday night is seafood night (including Lobster). All this talk of food is making me hungry. I’m gonna go grab a bite!

Djibouti - Week 1

Greetings from Djibouti!

In response to requests for information and in an effort to keep you all informed on the life and times of Brian Gates, I have decided to start a blog. The internet access here is shady at best so there is no guarantee how often it will be updated, but I thought I'd give it a try.

For those of you wondering what life is like in Djibouti, the following are my thoughts on week one.

I guess we should start with 1st things 1st. I am stationed at Camp Lemonnier (pronounced "lem-oh-nay", like “lemonade” without the "duh" at the end. I left a winter blizzard in DC on 30 Jan (yes, my birthday) and arrived in Djibouti 1Feb. I think the best way to describe Camp Lemonnier would be to compare it to summer camp when you were a kid. It's a lot like that. To get from one place to the next, you walk on a gravel road. It's warm outside and meals are eaten in the galley. You have to walk outside to get from your living quarters to the restroom. You get to call home once in a while and you are encouraged to drink plenty of water.

I sleep in a container living unit (CLU) pronounced “cl-oo”, like the board game “Clue”. All the CLU’s are clumped together in one general spot on base called, “CLUville” like in Dr. Sues. Currently my CLU is on the east end of base. My office is on the west end of base. It’s about a 12 minute walk from my side of CLUville to work. The CLU is basically the same thing that you see on a semi-truck. It’s split in half with two beds and a desk on each half. There are lockers, lights, power outlets, an AC, and a ventilation fan on each side of the CLU. I live in a dry CLU with no bathroom. I should be able to move in to a wet CLU soon, once the number of base occupants decreases.

We have wardroom (officers) PT on Wednesdays. Last Wed. we played ultimate Frisbee. That was fun. Temperatures have generally been in the 80s during the day and 70s at night. We are located 11 degrees north of the equator, hence there is a rec. center on base called, “11 Degrees North”.

I’ll try to post some pictures later. Right now I only have a Flip which takes video and I thought it took still pictures as well, but it’s a bit more difficult than I anticipated.

Ok, that’s all my info for now. I hope all is well with y’all!