Day 331

Well, it's a new phase here on Tallil. This afternoon I moved into a tent with 12 of my newest best friends. Army cots and close quarters. At least the air conditioner kind of works. Best part; we have wireless internet here, so I'll be able to stay in touch. Well, maybe the best part is that my replacement arrives the day after tomorrow and I leave next month. I cleared out of my room, as my room mate is in the States having back surgery. He and I did Skype text today and he's doing fine. Says he feels like he was kicked by a mule, and I believe it. Surgery to repair two herniated disks can't be fun. I'm into 20-something days left before I leave this place. That's 20-something too many. I tell you, the days are flying by. I purposly don't count the days, as it seems to make time slow down, and when somebody tells me how many days we have left, I am always suprised, and pleasently so. Other than the swine flu, there is a nasty bug going around. Respritory, ear and sinus infections are common. We had a guy here who, a few months ago, had eye pain and then he couldn't see out of one eye. After very close examination, it was determined that a parasite got into his eyeball and then worked its way out. As it ate its way out, through layer after layer of eyeball, all of the fluid between those layers leaked out. Last I heard they were having some luck restoring some of his eyesight. Nobody's really sure how it got in there to begin with. The best guess is that, during one of the frequent sand storms we have here, it got lodged where it shouldn't have. I know, kind of gross, but I wanted to remind you that where we're living is really dirty and disgusting, as if I haven't mentioned it already.