Greetings from The Sandbox!

Well, it's a little late for first impressions. I've been here a full three months or so now, so there's not too much here that surprises me a great deal. Things aren't that different here than they are back home: wake up, shower, ride your camel to school, study, watch a public stoning, go to bomb-making class, eat dinner, etc.

No, I'm kidding. No one rides camels to school - too slow in the roundabouts.

But seriously, it's not really that different from home. I think the best description is that it's foreign enough to be cool and different but familiar and Western enough to not be alienating. You'll have towering Western-style fancy hotels lurking over fenced compounds, cramped apartments stuffed with foreign workers, and midsize apartment complexes all crammed into some twisty, dusty streets. The older neighborhoods do have that Chuck Norris/Delta Force Middle East feel, but the newer sections have some breathtaking modern skyscrapers. Foodwise, you can get anything from local favorites like shish tawooq and chicken shawarma to American abominations like McDonalds and Bennigan's. But that's another blog.

I guess the most popular question I get, other than "What time is it there?" from my sister, is "How hot is it there?" Unfortunately for all of you who laughed as I roasted for my first month, it is absolutely gorgeous. The high is in the mid-80s, and it rarely drops below 70s; it's been perfect weather for running. Of course, it was hard to believe it would be this nice when I stepped off the plane at midnight into an oven; it rarely dropped below a very humid 100 at night, and it warmed to the 110-115 range during the day. I've lived in hotter places, and I've lived in wetter places, but never in that kind of combination. Nightfall rarely brought more than a 10 degree drop in temperature; I would sweat through my pants after about 15 minutes of walking around even after 11PM. The sunrise times are all hosed up here; they don't do Daylight Savings Time, and we should really be in the next time zone to the east; Qatar wants to stay on the same time zone as Saudi Arabia, so we get sunrise at about 4:30AM and sunset at about 4:30PM.

Anyway, I suppose I'll keep this brief. I'll post some pictures of the A&M building and Education City when I get a chance. I need to get a few pictures of everyday things; it's hardly remarkable to me anymore, but I suppose some people might find a Middle Eastern country exciting and different. But I need to rubdown my camel and beat the dust out of my carpet before bed tonight, so I'm off. Until next time...