Go Karting, Bingo, and Snorkeling!

A couple of weeks ago I went on a Saturday night adventure to the Djibouti Karting Club to experience Djiboutian Go-Karting.  We had about 15 people with us and after figuring out the best deal, we had our tickets and were ready to ride.  The first five were on the course and racing for about 8 minutes when all the power was lost at the karting club. We thought the night might be over, but we decided to wait it out.  After 40 minutes we started to give up hope that they would get the power restored, so we called to have a bus come and get us, and just like Murphy’s Law normally works, the power was restored.  The racing began yet again.  The go-karting was a ton of fun!  One of the girls had us laughing as she crashed through a
section of the course 3 times in a row.  Come to find out later that her brakes weren’t working in her car.  All-in-all a good time was had by everyone!

The week of September 11th, we were not allowed to leave the Camp and once again our fun was limited to the pool and movie theater.  On the upside however, was a scheduled MWR Bingo night on one of these days.  The table I was sitting at was hot!  My old CLUmate, Val was the first to win, and all games continue until there is a second winner. Erik won the second prize behind her.  Several games later, Warren got a win (even though he wasn’t really paying attention and Val and I yelled Bingo for him) and then I won the 2nd prize behind him.  I won a Casio watch that I’m very happy with.  When Bingo was over the Packer game was just about ready to start on the big outdoor screen.  I was surprised at how comfortable it was to sit outside and watch the game.  I think this was the first time I didn’t acquire a gigantic pool of sweat by just sitting. I stayed until the end of the 3rd quarter and with the Pack up by several touchdowns I decided to turn in and go to bed.

Over the past couple of months I have been on a planning team for an Air Force Half

Marathon and 10K race.  We held the race on 21 September, which is the same day the official Air Force Marathon is held at Wright-Patterson AFB.  The race took a lot of planning and effort by all volunteers.  I’m happy to say that race day went very well.  The race began at 0400 when it is slightly cooler.  I ran the 10K and was happy with how I did . . . for being Djibouti and all.  I have run 105 miles with only 95 more miles to go to hit my goal of 200 miles ran in Djibouti.  I can do it, but I’ll have to increase my mileage to 4 miles 3 times a week instead of 3 miles 3 times a week.

This past weekend, Warren and I signed up for a MWR snorkeling trip to White Sand Beach.  White Sand Beach is near the city of Tadjoura which is across the Gulf of Tadjoura from Djibouti City. It took about two hours by boat to get to our location. The snorkeling was absolutely wonderful!  The water was super clear and warm.  We snorkeled for about 2 hours and then came back to the boat for lunch.  I was on the same boat as my 4th of July snorkeling adventure and had the same meal, but also had fresh grilled tuna skewers.  The food once again did not disappoint.  After lunch we snorkeled for 2 more hours!  The highlights that we saw were 2 blue spotted stingrays, an eel, a sea turtle, a lion fish, and puffer fish. I took some pictures on a disposable underwater film camera, but I will have to wait until they’re developed to find out if any of them turned out.  It was a great day and although I had SPF 30 sunscreen on my back, I failed to put sunscreen on my legs.  The area by my swimsuit bottom got burned the worst.  Not too terrible, but enough that I’m certainly feeling it today!