No Tanning

I had thought that having spent any time here in Iraq that one would soon be sporting a deep mahogany tan. This simply isn't the case, as most westerners are as alabaster a month into a deployment as the day they arrived. Today I realized the cause of this. It’s just too damn hot to sit in the sun.

I tried to sit outside beside the pool and begin working on a tan, but after about five minutes my book, my iPod, and me were covered in flowing sweat. I could feel my body literately baking in the 120-degree sun like a big cupcake. Nope that’s too much. I’m retreating back into my air-conditioned room with my industrial-strength fan. How has humanity survived here for thousands of years? I think that I would have packed up belongings and moved to foothills of the Himalayas about a century ago.