Still in Kuwait...

We've already moved to a new camp. We were very near Kuwait City before, now we are in the middle of the desert.

The food has been excellent so far. Last night we had "surf and turf" for dinner, but I didn't feel like steak. Instead I just had two lobster tails. Tonight I thought I'd dine out, so I had a Spicy Italian sub from Subway. There were a few other options as well, such as Pizza Inn.

We are still adjusting to the time difference. For those that didn't know, we are 9 hours ahead of central standard time here. Right now we are tired all day and alert all night. Its fun though, because I can call at 4am here and it is the 27th of January for example, and reach someone in MN where it is 7pm on the 26th ...I like to pretend I am calling from the future.

Where we were at previously, the landscape was very nice. We were near the ocean (although we couldn't see it), so there was a good deal of moisture in the air. There were lots of palm trees and most of the ground was covered with grass in areas of low foot-traffic. However, now the area that we are in is very much like a gravel pit. Only, it is not so much like a pit as it is like a vast expanse of gravel and sand that appears to have no end. There are no trees and very little green vegetation. The temperatures have been in the high 60s during the day and the 40s at night.

So far I've had little chance to practice the little Arabic that I know. Most of the nationals that work on the bases speak English very well. I expect that this will change once I get to Iraq and perhaps begin dealing with the general public on a regular basis.

Well, myself and the other medics are doing very well so far. We are all anxious about the upcoming elections though. We hope that things are uneventful for our boys up north, as we will not be able to join them until after the 30th.

Thanks again to everyone back home for the thoughts and prayers.