Tooty Fruity

Today has been another good day. It has been busy busy and everybody has been all smiles. We had a military aircraft full of Navy sailors that had an emergency landing here today - 180+ people on a plane that lost cabin pressure and dropped 20000 feet in a matter of 10 seconds - lucky that they were so close to Al Udeid! So they've all been coming in here today for phone cards, telling their stories and burning off all of that extra adrenaline they've got in their bodies. Airplane fun!

My buddy Leo works in the rations warehouse, where all of the food is delivered to base. And he knows that I loooooooooooooooooooove fruit - I have a table in my office with at least 10 pieces of fruit on it at all times (we've been getting these awesome oranges lately...hoo-wee!) Anyway, tomorrow he is going to hook me up with a bunch of freshly delivered mangoes and strawberries when the shipment comes in. They normally don't give us lowlifes the mangoes and strawberries - those usually only go to special functions. But I've got the fruit hookups now and the MAN can no longer oppress me.

My other buddy, Gabe, and I were going to go on a tour called Arabian Adventures next Saturday which I was SO EXCITED about because you get to go to the beach and hug camels, but they are full so now I have to wait. Boo! I am on a camel crusade, determined to show these animals that they deserve so much more than to be eaten and ridiculed (not necessarily in that order). Now they'll have to go another week or two before they experience my pure love.

I discovered a website the other day that has so much cool information on it! It is actually http://www.livestrong.com/ - what a freaking cool website with so much good stuff about nutrition and fitness on it! It is a little bit on the slow side because it is so graphic-heavy (I sent them a complaint, don't worry) but I love it! My friend and I have been using the daily plate section to try to keep ourselves healthy in a place without much healthy food, and it helps!

Today when I went in to do my weekly report, Gabe gave me this HUGE bottle of pure strawberry juice that he bought downtown. Strawberry juice! This thing must be about 40 oz - that's right, I have a forty of strawberry juice. That's how we kick it here in arabia. Anyway, it is just about the most delicious thing I have ever had. Now, they may mistreat their women here, sex and alcohol may be completely taboo, and their tomatoes may taste a bit off, but they sure do know about their fruits and fruit juices here in this piece. Going to Gabe's office is always a treat because every time I walk in there he gives me something - some kind of food or drink or other special goodness. I have asked him to please start mailing the stuff to me instead.

I am noticing a food/fruit theme, here. It is probably because that is all we talk about...well, here's actually what we talk about: how hot it is outside, what we ate today and what we will eat tonight, how we slept last night (too much/not enough), whether we got anything in the mail, and how sore we are from the gym. Seriously, it is a primitive form of humanity that exists here. It is like a big prison with a pool, except dudes don't get raped nearly as much. And we have a DQ. We call it "Camp Cupcake" or "Disneyland" depending on the day. Sometimes you feel trapped and cut off from the rest of the world, sometimes you feel SO LUCKY compared to where other folks are deployed and what they are experiencing, sometimes a little bit of both. But I am blessed.

Hope this message finds you all well.

Love. xo