Life on Kwaj! |
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Ah, Life on Kwaj. Despite being a 1.2 square mile island, with a third of it being taken up by Bucholz Army Airfield, there is quite a bit to do here on Kwaj. It does get kind of old sometimes, but then you just find a new activity, or change up your current one, and it isn't so bad again! Water activities are an obvious draw, with gorgeous blue water, amazing fish and an incredible abundance of it. Snorkelling is awesome, SCUBA diving is world class, and there is always water skiing, boating, sailing, and just plain old swimming! There is also a number of landsports. There are softball and basketball leagues, a bowling alley, and since bikes are the main mode of transportation, lots of cycling! We (the fire dept) have recently been allowed to actually participate in the community activity leagues while on duty!! We go off the clock during the games ... we go right back on the clock if we get a call ... this way, other departments don't whine about us getting paid to play on duty. HELLO!!! We work 96 hours in a row ... you go home every night! BITE ME! Ok, I'm better now! In addition to the sports, there is a gym, 2 movie theatres (one indoor, The Yuk Theatre, and one outdoor, the Richardson Theatre ... don't expect first run movies, comfy seats, popcorn or soda (unless you bring your own), a skate park, and a golf course. The movies come out here right around the time they go on sale on DVD (or VHS, if you are archaic like that). We got the 3rd harry Potter movie in November. Housing comes in several forms. There are the BQ's (bachelor's quarters), the du-, tri- and quad-plexes, and the trailers. Some of the BQ's are nicer than others, but most are pretty nice, not your typical dumpy military BQ. The -plexes are block houses, some 2-story, some not. The trailers are a bit old, but tend to have the best views! This is the only place in the world that I know of, where being "Trailer Trash" is a compliment!! If you are here unaccompanied, you'll be in the BQ's. There are 2 schools on Kwaj for K-12 grades. Apparently, the standardized test scores run higher than the national average and the classes are pretty small. Great for education, only about 200 kids in the entire school system! Every year, a few kids from Ebeye are allowed to enter the schools here. Food. You gotta eat and you even have options here! Well, sort of. If you are unaccompanied with the fire department, they give you a meal card, so you can eat at Cafe Pacific (the cafeteria) every meal. If you grow tired of that food (it can happen) you can buy food at the Snack Bar (pizza, burgers, ice cream, fried chicken) or you can shop at either Ten-Ten (the convenience store) or Surfway (the grocery store) and cook it yourself, although the official word is that open-flame devices are prohibited in the BQ's. The unofficial word is ... what they don't see, won't get you in trouble! Shopping is a bit of a joke on Kwaj. There's only so much you can get here and only so much you can expect. There are 2 stores, Macy's and Macy's West. No relation to the stateside store of the same name. Macy's has clothes, shoes, electronics, toys and games, knick knacks and some souvenirs. Macy's West has the sporting stuff, including bikes, furniture, household items, like dishes, small appliances, linens, and basic outdoorsy stuff. There is a program where you can shop certain internet sites and a portion of the revenue comes back to our schools. I started internet shopping the first week I was here! We have quite the variety of people out here. They range from rocket scientists (literally) to community activities people. Kwaj has been called "The Island of Misfit Toys" before ... some of the people we have out here couldn't make it the real world! Especially people that have lived out here either the majority of their lives or the past 20 years. Some of the people that have recently joined us aren't necessarily the sharpest crayons in the box! There are some people who come out here thinking that no one out here knows anyone back in the real world. Every once in a while, we'll end up with someone who decides to tell everyone that they are much cooler than they really are. Take the police chief, for example. He decided that he needed to impress upon everyone how cool he is, so he told a bunch of people that he was the person that found Saddam Hussein. Interestingly enough, I believe it turned out that he wasn't even in Iraq when that went down! There is the classic rift between the cops and the firefighters ... mostly because when the Minnesota boys were here, the guys from the fire department got all the chicks and the cops didn't get any. That and the firefighters tend to have better parties and better times in general! Oh well ... it's entertaining at the very least! It really is a good time out here. The sunsets are out of this world! The water is amazing, the people are mostly friendly (although they do ride their bikes out in front of fire engines and ambulances with lights and sirens on), and the good times are endless (if you can ever get a day off!). If you get the opportunity to come out here, I do recommend it, despite any inference to the contrary!! |
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michelle@firefightermichelle.com |
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