Life in JBB - Part 2 - Dirt

It is hard to imagine JBB without thinking of the dirt.  It is not that things are dirty or messy, but everything here is covered with a fine layer of some kind of powdery dirt or dust or fine sand or something.  I am not quite sure what it is. It is not quite sand, it is much finer like talcum powder, and it is light brown or tan, I think.  It seems to be everywhere on everything.  It is in the air you breathe, the floors you walk on and the walls that surround all the buildings. It covers everything. The tactical vehicles all have a layer of this dust and the non-tactical vehicles always need washing. The dirt is similar in color to the tactical vehicles, so you when you look at them you only know it is dirty because if the vehicle has been parked too long, the windows are the same color as the rest of the vehicle. I am told that there is always a long wait at the car washing place.

The air conditioner filters are constantly amassing a layer of the fine stuff and really do need to be shaken out from time to time.  It is on the floors of all the rooms that don't get mopped regularly because it is on all the boots.  I am always sweeping my room and I really ought to get around to investing in a mop. Basically, the stuff is everywhere.  It is not disgusting in any way and it doesn't feel dirty, but this stuff is ubiquitous. Many of the roads are paved, but nonetheless in parking lots and when you have to drive off the road you see vehicles kicking up these huge dusty plumes.

We have been pretty lucky so far not to have major dust storms which gets the stuff into everything, though we have seen some minor ones. The little dust storms we have seen look like any foggy day in the states, but the fog is a brownish color. Everyone in JBB knows what that dust tastes like. This is the kind of dust that you don't just smell, it gets in to your mouth and nose and everything. It is not gritty like the sand on the beach, it is just part of the atmosphere here.

I should add that it wasn't until I got to Iraq that I understood the Talmudic passage: "When the Rabbis would leave from the study sessions of Rav Huna and shake off their clothing, the dust would rise and cover the sun, and those in the West Palestine) would say 'they arose from the study session of Rav Huna the Babylonian'." (Ket 106a) It makes perfect sense once you've seen the Babylonian dust.