Hi Everyone,
I've now got 10 weeks behind me!  72 days down, about 114 to go.  I still don't know when I'll be leaving, but I do know that my replacement should be here around November 16th (one of my good friends at Andrew's will be coming).  There will be an overlap of 3-6 days before I can leave, then it will take me 2-5 days to get home.  So assuming there are no major delays, I could be home anywhere from the 21st to the 27th of November...I would LOVE to be home for Thanksgiving, we'll see.  After a while here you start to obsess over exactly when you might be leaving.  I guess I've got a while to go either way.
 
My mom's birthday was a few days ago and we talked over skype while everyone in Maryland ate cake and ice cream.  Maryam asked my mom to cut me a piece and put it in the freezer...she said we would do this with everyone's birthday (my mom's, Maryam's, Layla's, Ashraf's and mine) so that when I came home I could eat a piece of cake from all of the birthday's that I missed.  She offered that she would help me to eat them all of course.  I ordered online some decorations for Maryam's birthday, 2 weeks from now.  Ashraf and my mom are just having a small party at the house and inviting a couple of little neighbor boys that she plays with, she's very excited.  Maryam has found a new partner in crime....her little sister Layla.  She loves having this little baby who will copy everything she does, the more dangerous the better.  Layla now can make it up the stairs in a few seconds; Maryam will follow behind her then later tell Ashraf not to worry, that she is prepared to catch her if she falls.  My mom found the two of them last night in their room, Layla standing on the seat of a small rocking chair, Maryam on the seat of the large rocking chair, both holding on to the top and rocking back and forth laughing and laughing.  God protect them both...luckily I'm well connected to the ER on base!   
 
Work's been steady, the trauma picked up again for the past three nights (after a week long slow down.)  I've also seen a major bolus in the number of non-trauma medical patients.  I guess that is inevitable as the numbers of troops in Afghanistan keeps growing and growing.  
 
I've grown so tired of the same food day after day...I haven't eaten in the cafeteria for the past 4 days.  For dinner last night I ate beef jerky and mixed nuts from my stash.  For lunch I feasted on some Indian food that my brother sent me for a change of pace.  It felt like a gourmet meal!  It has been quite hot here, about 100 degrees for the past few weeks.  It's also very windy and dusty...but at least not humid.  Every Sunday I walk 8 miles with "the girls" as a stress break, on Fridays we have "Surf and Turf" at the dining facility and if we're lucky they serve up Lobster Tails (usually overcooked but who's going to complain, it's Lobster in the desert...can't beat that!) Those are my two big days of the week, the only thing that differentiates one day from the next..."what day is today?"  "Well we ate at 'Red Lobster' yesterday so it must be Saturday".  
 
The big news here is that our main gym is being moved to "the other side of base"...everyone is upset about that.  We have 3 gyms here...The Clamshell (known as "Venice Beach"-it's in a tent that is open at the ends and all of the huge body builder guys work out there...you can hear the free weights clanking together when you walk by), The Rock (known as the "Communist Gym"-they're very strict there, if you shirt becomes untucked while exercising you get yelled at to tuck it in, you get kicked off the cardio equipment right at 30 minutes, God help you if you forget to wipe down your equipment...just picture the Seinfeld Soup Nazi episode..."No Stairclimber for you!  Come back 1 year!") and finally the North Gym (known as "Average Joe's"-it's for the average person, a bit soft in the middle, that just wants to firm up a bit).  So they've closed Average Joe's which means I now have to go to the communist gym.  That's about all for major news here. Like I said, the same thing day after day so you look for the little things to talk about or make your day different.
 
I hope you're all doing well, stay tuned for next weeks update on my exciting life at Bagram!

Angie