What a week...

If you noticed that I haven't updated my blog in a few days there is good reason for that...#1)not a lot changes from day to day over here and #2)we have been absolutely swamped. Our work days have gone from a mandatory 12-hour day to more of a necessary 14-15 hour day. The days are not boring and they really don't seem like they are 14 hours long because we are staying so busy.

I think that Daniel and I have finally gotten ourselves into some sort of routine. Our days are as follows:

0600-0700: Wake up, personal hygiene, call home
0700-0830: Work
0830-0915: Breakfast
0915-1330: Work
1330-1415: Dinner / Supper
1415-2000: Work
2000-2100: Work out / run
2100-2200: Personal hygiene, watch movies, etc.
2200-0600: Sleep and start over!

As I mentioned...the days are long, but they sure are full. Daniel has been working in the Commodities section of the Contracting Center, which means that he buys items (ie. cell phones, desks, computers). I've been working in the Services section, which means that I actually lease/rent more than buy (ie. lease vehicles / dozers / forklifts, food services, janitorial services).

The area we work in is actually quite nice, it's very similar to any office you would see back home in that it is a solid building and not a tent! The only bad thing about the job is that we are constantly bombarded with LN's or local nationals who are looking for more work, trying to get paid, or trying to gain access to the base for their workers. Friday's are nice because that is their version of our Sunday and they typically don't come around, which allows us to get more work done. On the other hand, we only work a half day on Sunday and that allows us to go to church, get some rest, do laundry, etc.

I never judge people back home by what other people say, but a guy who performs background checks on the locals told me today that he would trust about 5% of them...the other 95% are crooked as a dog's leg. As for them gaining access to the base, there is a badging system that I won't discuss at this time...but I do believe they take a lot of pride in the color of their badge; like a caste system. One color means they must be escorted at all times and another color gives them a little bit of leniency...in my book the less leniency, the better for the sake of protection.

As for pictures, I've tried unsuccessfully to upload pictures from here and I just don't think it's going to happen. The bandwidth is just too small here. I'll keep trying, but if it doesn't work I might have to send a CD of pictures home to Loni so she can upload them.