It's me, I'm alive! LOL

Hello all from Tripoli! I arrived safe and sound, as was mentioned in the previous posts. It's been an adventure, I'm not gonna talk about the issues with work, but I'll talk about the rest of my trip so far. I LOVE IT HERE!! Believe it or not, but I do! The crazy driving (these guys should teach the Nascar drivers a thing or two..) is awesome! I am actually calm during the whole trip, not grabbing the 'Oh Shit' handle or anything..... sometimes I do have to hold on to keep my balance, but never cause I'm scared.... hehe So far the food has been pretty good too, the guys weren't joking when they said there was a lot of pasta, but that's because the ONLY places we've gone to eat have all been Italian!! :P Every day as we ride to and from work I see all kinds of sights that I'd like to check out in depth, but just haven't had the time to do it. ALL of the guys I'm with HATE it, all of it, so I know I won't get the opportunity to sight-see until Tommy gets here. He sees things the way I do, so we'll be going out as much as possible! We've made a few runs to by necessities for the apartment (which I'll talk about later), and have found some really nifty shops.... luckily for us we had our driver with us, so he helped haggle the prices down to a more 'local' cost... not get ripped like we do by ourselves. Most of us are living in an apartment, and Man! I would love to live in an apartment this size back home!! We're on the 5th floor (actually 6th here, they don't count the ground floor as a floor.... don't ask), and have 3 good size bedrooms, 1 3/4 baths (one with tub and shower, the other just shower), kitchen, dining room, living room, and an Arabic sitting room (which we have converted to another bedroom so the guys don't have to share a room). The furniture is ok, it all looks gorgeous, but isn't really comfortable. Evidently we're in a building that is reserved for special guests, long-term visitors to the government or for the embassies, cause it's pretty high class for local standards. To me it's amazing! I love the marble, the doors, the windows, the balconies, I could go on and on! I promise to get some pictures uploaded as soon as I can, but the pictures won't do it the justice it deserves. We are on the coast here, and even though we're not beachfront like the hotel, our front windows overlook the beach and the highway that separates us from it. The water is gorgeous! We drive by the public beach every day, and in the shallow part it looks almost mint green! Even where it's deep it's a deep royal blue. AND SO CALM!! I miss the sounds of the ocean, but I could get lost gazing out onto the water... I really can't wait until Tommy gets here. (I MISS YOU BABY!!) So much will change once he gets here, and then hopefully I'll really get the opportunity to enjoy this country and the culture! Everyone has been great so far, a lot of the people remember Mr. Thomas and have enjoyed meeting his 'wife' ;) LOL If I could learn more of the language, or at least learn to understand the locals better, I could definitely see myself spending a lot of time here. As much as I LOVE the comforts of home, I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE traveling and immersing myself in a new culture. Ok, I guess it's time I cut this off, I've wasted enough time at work today (not really, but the bulk of my job was finished today, and now I'm waiting on others so I can finish the rest). Please keep in touch, I'll try and reply to emails, but check back here often for updates. Also keep me up on what's going on there, I don't want to miss out completely on the details of your lives while I'm gone. I love you all and can't wait to hear from you! XOXOXO April Oh, Tommy, give this site info to Mary & Billy, Amber, and anyone else at On Cue that you can think of (be selective though.... you know what kind of stuff is on here, we don't have to let all of them see it. LOL) I love you baby!