Marhaba!

Well, I'm finally moved into my permanent residence, and as you can see, I finally have some internet access. I must say though, that up until the time of writing this, the internet has been so extremely slow that I have been contemplating the thought of quite possibly canceling my subscription. Although, it is actually moving with some decent speed... so maybe it will work out after all? Hopefully it all works out, because this is my main avenue of communication. I gets hot here, around 110 or so, in the afternoon time and into the evening, but then it cools off to the point that my ears fingers and nose get cold! It might only be like 70 some outide, but brrr!
I've been working long hours, as Sarah said earlier, 12 hour shifts right through the night! I work at what is called an ECP - entry control point. This is where vehicles come in and out of the base. There is also an LSF - legion security force ECP located just in front of ours. This is where 2 Iraqi's work. It is pretty fun being able to talk to all of those guys. It's kind of weird, for many different reasons. First of all, I've never come in close contact with people of such a different culture before! The left hand is considered the 'dirty' hand, so you don't point, shake, or wave with this hand. The 'thumbs up' symbol is horribly offensive here, along with the 'OK' symbol. Another thing that makes it weird, is that in order to communicate, you have to speak all broken up. You pretty much drop all words of the English language except for the important verbs and adjectives. Then, to fill in the blanks, you use a whole crap load of hand gestures.
Well, Sarah sent me the camcorder, so I hope to take a small video tour of my living area so that everyone can see what it is that I live in. I have to say though, that for this being my first deployment, I am getting extremely spoiled at this base. It is a very nice place, with lots of food, and enough space so that you can get away from the hustle and bustle of the ECP area, and still be a few minutes drive away from the DFAC - dining facility or the GYM!
I hope to keep in touch a lot more! Especially if this internet keeps up! And thank you to everyone for all your prayers and continued support for my wife as she battles civilian life back home.

P.S. - The title of this post is the Arabic word for 'hello', and I spelled it how it should be pronounced phonetically.