Arrival

Well, I'm here and in my CHU, which is what they call these newer , smaller containers. It's exciting to be here but will take some getting used to. The plane ride was dramatic. We were practically skimming over these very steep, snowy mountains and then the pilot announced we were coming down and had reached 24,000 feet. So that was interesting. The little I saw of Kabul looks pretty poor but this is also their main day off so I didn't get a real appreciation of it I think. Security is tight here but also bureaucratic, so I have to be on dozens of lists and I can't get my permanent access card till I go to a briefing on Monday, etc. The attorneys all seemed happy to see me and met me in front of the Embassy building. That was nice because the "expediter" at the airport didn't meet me so I was wandering around in various parking lots looking for him at the airport. I finally found a car which a local ute told me was an American Embassy car. The driver confirmed that and called the guy who was in the airport, supposedly meeting me. Anyway, it worked out and the kid made a couple of bucks.
The CHU is tiny. It's also filled with the boxes and stuff we already sent over so I need to unpack but there is a very limited amount of places to put stuff. We'll see.
I will try to call Vicky on Skype now and we'll try more calls later. It's now 5:25 pm here. Why we're off an extra half hour I have no idea. Love, Jim.