Greetings From Africa

Greetings all. This is my first post from Africa. I sit here waiting on equipment to arrive. It's 9:41 AM my time here on Monday, so it's 2 AM back where you guys are. Hope you're all having a good night's sleep... lol... I can't even begin to describe the hundreds of experiences I've already had since I've been here. It's been absolutely amazing. The country is beautiful. There are palm trees everywhere and sand.. LOTS and LOTS of sand. The weather is about 65-65 degrees all day and the nights are perfect. When I get to a better connection, I'll actually post a few pictures for you all to see so you can share in the experience. I'm staying at the Bab Al Bahar Hotel... and yeah, we're the only americans I've seen since we've been in the country. However, you can't even imagine the view I have from my room. I have a 12th floor room that is maybe a total of 50 feet back from a cape on the mediterranean sea. I wake up every day and drink coffee at 7 AM while sitting on the balcony looking out over the sea. It's the most beautiful sight imaginable. Throughout the day, you can hear the prayer singers at the mosque standing in their towers with their PA system, chanting the muslim prayer throughout the city. There are so many sights to see and so many things we have done already, that I can't even begin to describe them all here at this time, but I'm going to. I'm going to take the time to write it all down tonight and try to post it inthe morning from GECOL (where we are working.) We do not have wireless at the hotel yet, but the country has asked us to implement a wireless solution as well for them. So guess what, Tim and I are taking the entire country of Libya wireless!!! It's awesome! I will share one experience we had with you. We wanted to experience the culture from the local point of view while we had time, so we went out to a local fish market. Picture an older american movie depicting a Korean or Little-China fish market and you'll have a good idea of what this place was like. The road was pure dirt and clay, and it was surrounded on both sides by tiny little fish huts where the fisherman bring their catch from that day and display it on large trays for you to see. You browse through the vendors and make your selection of fresh fish and other seafood. They have Tuna, Swordfish, Shark, Calamari, the biggest shrimp you've ever seen, and hundreds of other fish that have no name in English that we can seem to translate. After you pick your fish, you go up to this little shack at the top of the hill where a man is standing out side cooking in a 1 foot wide by 10 foot long little iron grill. We were all wondering where in the world we would actually eat. The streets are running with salt wate and fish guts and the place reeks of the natural scents of dead fish. However, we are ushered inside this "little " room behind the grill. Once inside, you have entered an entire different world. As we enter this little rickety shack, and escorted through the front doors, we are greeted with a lavish restaurant that seats maybe 50 people. The entire building, and I mean ALL of it (floors, walls, etc) are made of solid marble. And I don't mean marble tile. I mean solid 8 foot sheets of polished blue marble. Oops.. the Doc is here, so I have to get back to work. Be back soon. Love you all.