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Love ft bliss!! We have been here almost 2 years and I am starting to get used to it! When we first got here in oct 2011, it was a big change shock for us. We are from nc and to go from there to a desert was a big change. It is very dry here and the temps get well into the 100s during the summer. Winter can get very cold and into the 30s. It has snowed in both of the winters we have been here. When it gets cold a lot of the pipes burst bc they are not up to date on things like that. There is not really a fall or spring. Usually goes from one extreme to the next. sand storms are terrible. There isnt any trees or grass, just sand and rocks so the wind gets to blowing really hard and kicks up the sand so bad you cant see the mountains anymore. I miss the rain but there is a monsoon season. El paso isnt built for a lot of rain so when it does rain, it floods easily. The base itself is great! Lots of restaurants and shopping at the PX. BK, chinese, japanese, taco bell, subway, charlies subs, pizza place, einstein bagles, cinna bon, annies pretzels, arbys, starbucks, brusters, spudnicks are just a few inside the food court. Dennys, buffalo wild wings, smash burger, sushi place, DQ, shamrocks are some that are outside of the PX in a courtyard like setting. Has a small playground for younger kids in the middle. They have a fire pit where the have karaoke and dancing every friday night. there is also a movie theater out by the side of everything. They call this "freedom crossing" and bliss is the only one to have it but it is supposed to be something every base is going to be getting. Off post there is a small amusement park called western playland and my son had a blast at this place. There is an outlet shop, a lot of big name restaurants like chilis, applebees, outback, red lobster and olive garden. Babies r us, toys r us, world market, bed bath and beyond are some of the big name stores. jungle jacks is a fun place to take the kids. Higher enlisted housing is great! They are all really nice. Lower enlisted housing used to be sooooo bad!! But they are in the process of tearing down the old houses and building new ones. I actually live in one of the new ones and they are amazing. single story houses are 3 br and 2 story houses are 4 br. We have a 4 br and it is 1700 sq ft. They only have one neighborhood for now but are already building the 2nd. The waiting list is long. about a year but the good thing is, if you are just moving here, you get first bid. The army cant let you move here and not have a home so if you get on the housing list and tell them you just moved here and are in a hotel, they have to give you something! Schools in the area are not great at all!! The school my son was going to (hughey elementary) is a bi-lingual school (most of them are considering were 5 mons from the boarder) and he was in pre-k. So he learned just as much in spanish as he did in english. I dont mind my kids learning spanish but I would like them to learn how to count to 20 in english first! There was also a bully in his class who choked him and pulled his pants down and hit and pushed him. It got to the point he was crying every morning when I took him to school. I talked to the teacher, the principal and the assistant principal. The only one who was the least concerned was his teacher. The principal was actually rude to me about asking him about this kid. All in all I really like el paso. The weather takes some getting used to but once you do, you end up liking it better than humidity and frizzy hair!!
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