a Ben update

Whew! Almost one week down. When Ben was in Afghanistan, we were able to IM with each other every single night for an hour. His hotel in Timor, does not have a phone or internet. His local cell phone is at least a dollar a minute to call here. So the only time I get to IM with him is if he is at work. It makes it frustrating but I will take what I can get!!! I can't imagine dealing with deployments back before all of this wonderful technology that we have!!

One of the projects that Ben is helping with is a school. He said that all the kids looked at him like he was Godzilla or something. All of the people there are short, so to see someone as tall as him was a shock. They are also working on a community center.

Other things I have learned while he has been gone are, East Timor supplies 40% of all the coffee that Starbucks uses, all the "American snacks" are about $3-4 dollars more so he is sticking with Indonesian snacks. A pint of Ben & Jerry's was $17! Yikes. The restaraunts offer a lot of Australian food and that they serve rice and french fries with everything. He has been eating a lot of seafood. There are apparently no driving laws over there and so he is hoping to make it home without getting in a car wreck. He is trying to get used to driving on the other side of the street. He described Timor as being a cross between Guam and Afghanistan. Although he said that compared to Timor, Guam is like Beverly Hills. That's kind of a scary thought!

I am enclosing some pictures that he sent. The one with all the statues was taken on his 12 hour stop in Bali. The rest are views from his hotel.