Bizaars and Water Bottles

It's 2:30 in the morning, and I just got off the phone with Cliff. They're in Kuwait, and he had some time to call and I was so glad he did!

Though I probably should have rolled over and went back to sleep, I wanted to jot down some things we talked about so I wouldn't forget in the morning when I tried to remember and when I tried to tell everyone else.

First, he sounded great. Sounds like he's catching up on sleep - he was his old self, joking and describing things in huge detail which I have always loved about him. He told me about the bizaar that's nearby that he and his friends have walked through. He said there are a lot of knock off kind of things being sold, as well as Saddam dollars and even sheer lingerie which he said they jokingly said, sorry, you don't have my size.

He said there's a KFC, McDonald's, Subway, Pizza place and a Chinese restaurant, as well as a Hole-in-One Doughnuts that says they're the best doughnuts in town. Cliff laughed and said they're the only doughnut shop in town.

They've run into a lot of international troops, not just U.S. He said they've seen guys from South Korea, and a couple of other countries my brain can't remember right now, and also some "Aussies." They passed a group of them, and one of them said something like "Cheers, mate" and Cliff's southern-drawled friends kind of looked like "what did he say" and Cliff said, "he said hi." No doubt having Lucas, our Aussie friend, has helped Cliff with Aussie lingo. :)

They've also been hydrating a lot. Cliff said wherever you go, there's water bottles for the taking which has been great, but the downside is they've had the need to "go" almost constantly, even at night when they're trying to sleep. But the good thing is it's not just one guy, so they've been going in packs to the bathroom, even in the middle of the night. And they always make fun of us ladies for doing that! :)

Caleb actually got to talk to him and hear his voice - I almost forgot that he had crawled in bed with me, so I quickly put him on. He was coherent enough to remember to tell Cliff about figuring out what Aunt KK was going to do at the beach with him - earlier tonight, when he was taking a bath, I was talking to my sister, Karen, and she gave him some hints about what we're doing - she said, we'll need a bucket and a net. As soon as I got off the phone with her, he said, are we hunting crabs? So of course I had to call her back and tell her. She thought that was pretty funny. Cliff did too.

Thankfully, the delay and echo I'd heard the first time he called went away during this phone call within the first 10 seconds so we were able to talk echo free so it was like he was calling from the street over. We got to talk about 10 minutes I think, before there was a "beeeeep" which Cliff said was the warning that the phone would cut off in a minute. So it was quick "I love you's" and "be safe" and we hung up. Such a great feeling to be able to talk to him.

Well, it's almost 3 now, so I'm headed back to sleep. Dreaming of Kuwait bizaars and water bottles. :)