The Sunset

Here is the sunset. I have't seen it for myself yet but these pictures are pretty nice. I can't wait until I do see it. Today I didn't do to much. I had the day off and I moved rooms today. I will have a whole new set of roomates. its just another sign that ROTO 2 is leaving, and I am sad. Today it was really nice out. I sat outside and read a book and got a tan. I was wearing shorts and a tank top. If its this warm now I can just imagine what the summer will bring.

31 Hours

Well what a day! 31 hours of straight work. If you think that you ever feel tired and think that you get the giggles.......I don't think that you have ever giggled as much as us. Thank Goddness that Green Beans coffee house is 24 hours. We went to get an expresso around 400am and I think that we made their day, they were like CUSTOMERS!!!!

right now my eyes are burning out of my head and my skin feels like its going to peel from being so warm. The OR was super warm to make sure the patient was at the right temperature. I think that must have lost about 6 pounds in that time. ( but gained 2 from the triple expresso)

The experience was super but i tell ya, after the 7 surgery you wonder if you can still function properly but everyone gets the job done and to the best of their abililities. Think of the surgeons who are still at work right now becuase specialits can't just leave their patients in ICU or in critical condition. These pictures are both taken at 500 am and thats when we were the most giddy. The surgeons were laughing at us and asked us if we were ever unhappy. They told all of us that we made their jobs easier with just our smiles and attitides

that makes it all worth it to get recanized for the job that we do and we are appriecated. I am going to bed now. it sucks because it is beautiful out but i need some rest. talk to you all soon

The Full Monty

alright everyone here it is. THE FULL MONTY I call it. This is me at the range. We had to go and shoot to make sure that our weapons are zeroed. Meaning that we are actually shooting on target. YES I am still a sniper. The range officer asked what was I doing in the Medical field and I told him. Well if I was anything else I would have to wear this get up more often. He just laughed and said that I really was COOL. like I haven't heard that before.

Ok here is a little backround. What I am wearing is called your PPE. Personal proctection equipment. My first layer is my combats, the second is my frag vest, to you normal folk its a bullet proof vest. There are 2 plates in it one in the front and one in the back. It weighs about 35 pounds. Then on top of that i have my Tac fest. it has all kind of pockets for my ammunition and all other sort of things. along with that you have your weapon, which i have 2 a c7 and a pistol and your helmet AKA the bucket your balistic eye wear that is shatter proof, ear plugs........................... and if you con't feel like The Stay Puff Marshmellow man and you are walking normal then chances are you forgot something.

Just Picture this......................our troops outside the wire wear all this gear and then some. our medical staff that go outside still have a 40 pound medical bag to carry. CRAZY eh NOW PICTURE THIS......................WEARING THAT IS when its 50 degrees out. That is dedication. I had a hard enough time to get it on and out the door. God forbid you have to go to the bathroom. although this morning I forgot that my wallet was in the first layer and there was no way I was getting at that so all that meant was.............NO TIM"S for me LOL maybe later. Now i am showered and off to the hospital where I will continue the work that I like to do. We have a heavy load today but we have the tunes and the surgeons so we are all good

Talk to you all later. SCRUBS ARE THE WAY TO GO!!!!!

Ping Pong

Ok so this is Ping Pong, a way to have a little fun over here. if you see that this picture is cloudy its because of the sand and dust. you can't get rid of it.
things have been busy since then. it was about 10 minutes after this picture was taken that my pager went off and off to the OR. It has been steady going. mostly locals. we had 4 surgeries today and i was lucky if i had lunch and supper. we finished tonight really late and now I am getting ready to go on the range tomorrow. sorry for such a short one

Pete I love you and I am sorry that I haven't been able to write or call but it gets hectic sometimes........I am thinking of you always and will call when i get the chance I LOVE YOU

Tims Horton's (The taste of Home)

Well..........here it is. The place where I start my day. My morning routine is to go to breakfast with they OR team, have some laughs over Lucky Charms. YES they have LUCKY CHARMS. Then we make our way to this lovely place. TIM'S. The line up is usually insane but we all know what it is like back home. You always wait for a good cup of coffee. the only difference is I am not in the drive through. The coffee tastes pretty similar but brace yourself.......The milk here has an expiration date of a year so I don't think I really want to know where it comes from or what they put in it to make is stay good for that long. The chocolate milk tastes like Bailey's which is not bad but that too I don't drink too much of it. Today I have the day off, so I remembered my camera and went for my morning coffee. Last night we were paged at 930 at night and had a local shot in the leg with a fractured femur. We were in surgery until 230am so Tim Horton's tasted really good this morning.
Green Bean coffee house is super nice too and it is close than Tim's so I will get pictures of that too. I went there first today but they were out of milk.........at least someone likes the milk around here.
anyway until the next blog.

the ROTO 2 Team

Here are the people that have trained me so far in Afghanistan. They are super funny. Today at work we had an "OLD SCHOOL" day. We downloaded all kinds of old school music like Run
DMC and so on. We had a dance off in the CSR which mean the Central Sterilization Room. It was so fun and I filmed it all. I have laughed so much in the past 2 weeks. Does everyone remember the CowBell skit from Saturday night live? Well Joe (The one who even looks like Kris Kattan) played the song and recreated the skit.I almost peed in my pants it was so funny. Everyone tells us that we are too happy all the time and well "They are not Wrong" thats what Joe says and it cracks you up "YOUR NOT WRONG" and everyday at least once the words " I HAVE A FEVER...................AND THE PRESCRIPTION IS MORE COWBELL" he then brakes out the cowbell.
So up to date I have been having a blast. My crew is coming in sometime next week. I am really going to miss these guys, but I am looking forward to my new crew. Tonight is movie night in the boys room and I think that we are all going to watch Wedding Crashers or Old School. We seem to have a Will Farrell theme. Last night was Night at the Roxberry.
Anyway that is it for today and tonight i am hoping to get some pictures of the coffee places for you guys. I seem to always for get my camera when i go for coffee

Oh Yeah Pete..... The other night they had a hockey skills compition. They have an outside arena. i will send you pictures of that too.
LOVE YOU ALL

People you meet old and new

Being in Afghanistan you meet so many people both old and new. In the first picture is Adam Houghtaling. We completed Basic Training together along with Warnie in 2000. We spent time together when I first got here and then we are running into each other all the time. Last time I seen him was here at the Market. Its good to see those people again and it makes you realize how small the world really is.
The New...........The British Oral Surgeon. He is a wonderful man, very well mannered and I tell ya he knows his shit. Facial trauma is nothing to him. He was very patient with me the first time we worked together.What I would call a scalpel or a 15 blade he calls a knife. Mosquito forceps to me are snappers to him. Its really interesting that instruments are called so many different names so that will take some adjusting to.....There is a retactor that he just called a tongue retactor but us Canadians call it a sweetheart retactor..............He is taking that name back home with him.
So all in all we both learn from each other and that is an experience of a lifetime. I am really enjoying the ability to work with different nations and take a little bit from everyone and share it with my home.
Peace out

The Market

Today was Saturday. Every Saturday there is a market where all the locals come and sell there things. Its crazy!!! They are all like..."what do you need" " I give you good price my friend" You have to bargin with them and if you don't like their price and walk away they pretty much give you whatever price you want. They have some really nice stuff. The carpets are amazing. One guy asked if us three ladies wanted to sit in an expensive chair....... It was a STACK OF CARPETS. The locals..........some are really pushy but some are really nice and funny. The Market closes at 200 so at 130 they basically give there stuff away.

In the botton picture those are some marble glasses that i got. IT was 20 dollars USD for all of that. The glasses are SUPER heavy. They have all colors and sizes and yes Kerri they even have pink in both designs sen here. If anyone would like some just let me know. MOM i saw a really nice set that you will love. I will have to get it before i leave for you. I plan on going to the market every Saturday just to walk around and look. There are some really nice tradional outfits for kids. I am going to get Mason one of their traditional hats and all the girls with Kids watch out they will all be having their tea parties in Afghan clothes. They are beautiful. I bought a couple pashmiras. They are afghan scarfs and I have never felt anything so soft in my life!!!!

anyway that was my day. Until tommorrow

The Salsa

I think that Afghanistan might make a dancer out of me yet. The Duch OR team made me go to salsa dancing lessons last night. Hey why not.... what else am I going to to. So of we went. This is one of the americans TRYING to teach me the Salsa. Maybe after a few lessons i will be ready yo audition for the shoe So you Think You can Dance. LOL.
It truely is harder than you think. Its all about the count and the beat.................but for some reason i can't seem to count and listen to the rhythm at the same time. 1.2.3.4 5.6.7.8 thats all i know so far. Don't worry Pete if I get good I will teach you. Tonight there is another lesson. And I am forced to go again......maybe I will learn the turns. JENNIFER GRAY WATCH OUT.

This is where it all happens

This is it. This is where everything in my world

happens. The first picture is me scrubbed in for the first facial case. The doctor to the left of me is the British OralMaxial facial surgeon. He is super nice guy. The bottom picture is one of our Operating rooms. Yes I know its really small, even I look big in it. We have to mop once in the morning and once at night and between every patient. The dust gets everywhere and it has to be as clean as possible. it gets pretty crowded in there when you think about the surgeons, assistants, nurses. You sweat alot because it gets hot in there and well you are all gowned up for hours. anyway not such an interesting blog but things are really quiet around here and thats a good thing. i am still waiting to show you the coffee houses around here but there is still a big cloud of dust and last night it rained......................IT RAINS MUD HERE!!!! crazy!!!!!!
talk to you all tommorrow. I am going to salsa dancing tonight with the dutch so i will write about that later. Wish me luck!!

The Dirt and Sand

Today I was going to show you Tim Horton's but instead I am going to tell you about the sand.
I woke up this morning and it was freezing out. i was wearing a sweater and a jacket. Outside was windy and these pictures are a result of the wind. The sand is incredible. The first picture is outside my shacks. and the second one is our little sitting area outside. the table is originally white and the chair.....I dare you to sit there in black pants. I was going to go to breakfast this morning but instead I just stood outside with my mouth open wide for a couple of minutes, I am full and i am good until lunch. LOL Everytime you lick yourlips you eat sand......you put your teeth together, it crunches and sometimes its hard to breath. I have a coffee and i was outside taking pictures and my coffee cup lid was full of sand...... Who needs chocolate sprinkles on a cafe latte when you have sand!!!!!!!
Everything that i own that is black is now beige. my shoes, my pants and yes even my underwear. If you put enough gel in your hair and go outside, its a great hairspray and volumizer.

The Americans

This blog is dedicated to the Americans in this picture. They have served over 1 year in the hospital. They are very hard workers and most of them will go home and turn around and go to Iraq. The bald guy in the middle has a baby that is a year old and has never seen them. I can't imagine doing that.

Funny but the lady in the front gives all the Canadians black names. the first day she met me she looked at my name tag and instantly named me MOesha Cool But she likes to call me MO COOL so the name has stuck and my new name around here is MO COOL. LOL its funny.

good group of people. there is another round of them coming soon. and they too will stay a year. It would be hard to see us Canadians coming and going all the time.

Power to Them!!

My Room

OThis is my Lovely room. Well bedspace if you want to call it. Its not bad for sleeping in but man its tiny. In the corner you can see a little corner of an Afghan blanket. That is my divider, I pull it down when i sleep and need privacy. My lovely computer desk is by the bed so when you all messenger me i hear the beep. and don't forget the barrack box as a chair. It's home i guess, the walls are bare but they are getting there, give me some time. Oh yeah and nothing has changed I still don't make my bed!!!

Hi Everyone,

Well i decided to start a daily blog just so you can all read what has been going on with me so i am not sending 100 emails.

Its Monday the 15th of January and I have been here almost a week on the ground and i have assisted in 2 major surgeries. Awesome!!!! Today us Canadians in the OR have the day off. But we were called in this morning. Some Americans were out convoying in a hummer and hit an IED and one of the soldiers has a very bad fractured pelvis. I wasn't involved in that surery and his outcome is still not sure. we are waiting for him to stabilize. Its sad when that happens.
So the weather outside is beautiful. i think that when i am done with this i will go out and read a book with my tim Horton's coffee.
Ladies i need you all to keep me in the loop of things

KYLA>>>> MY BOYFRIEND IS NOW SINGLE. Sorry Pete but Justin Timberlake is back on the market!!!! LOL

until later