Day of Sand

In Jordan there are spring showers and spring sandstorms. On Friday morning we woke up to a sandstorm, which as the day wore on, steadily decreased our ability to see the buildings around us. As the sand blew in we shut our apartment windows to keep out the sand--although we forgot about the bathroom window, which meant that enough sand fell in to the bathtub to slow the drain the next time it was used. The sandstorms here usually come west from Africa, and in the springtime they are called "Khamseeni Winds", which--since Khamseen is Arabic for fifty--refers to the roughly fifty days of sand blowing in from Africa that occurs each spring. When it does come in heavy like on this particular day, cars outside and furniture inside get coated with a thin layer of dust. Also, when you are outside, sometimes you can feel the dust pricking your skin.