New Continent!

     Local Qatar time: 3am, Central time: 7pm, Lets just say my body is severly confused as I am wide awake. So I will write my first entry of this blog. Leaving DC Tuesday night I boarded the biggest plane that I have ever been on, they cruely made us board from the front of the plane so that we had to walk through the first class cabin into Economy (first class gets lots of room and chairs that actually go horizontal! Economy was SLIGHTLY more squished.  I was lucky in that I only had to share the three seats in my particular section with one other person, however, somehow his feet still ended up in my space! My brilliant idea of sleeping through the flight did not go well, I just am not good at sleeping while sitting up, and my butt got sore! Luckily the airline was equipped with these personal entertainment devices that have you the option of watching hundreds of movies or tv shows or playing various games. So instead of actually sleeping, I ate a few meals, watched a couple movies, and tried to keep my butt from growing numb!
     Arriving in Qatar the first thing I noticed was while standing in line at immigration was that I was the tallest person there...kind of a strange feeling. Once on the base I found exploring it to be interesting. All of the military employees always have to be in their uniform or pt gear, so at the bar (yes there is a bar, but you can only have three a night!) everyone is hanging out in their workout clothes, with the exception of the few of us who don't have too...we kind of stick out. The bar area is open all night long, and people continue to hang out all night long.  It is definately like another world, being unaccustomed to the ways of the military I had to ask how to do simple things such as get food from the DFAC (Dining Facility) and I had no clue where the bathrooms/showers were located. It can definately be a humbling experience.
     I am staying in a tent for the night with a few other people who are also passing through the base. Everyone else seems to be accustomed to the local time and I am still on state time, so after not being able to sleep it was getting up and dressed in the dark so as not to disturb the others. I need to go back in a few hours and put all of my stuff back together so I can catch a flight to my final destination. I am looking forward to getting there and settling in.