First September Post

Hello kiddos! I hope your year has been going well so far. I am sure you have been dealing with a bunch of changes. For instance, I understand you have finally received your computers so we can hopefully start blogging on a regular basis. What I would like to know in this blog is what you have been learning so far. I would like you to tell me three things you have learned about American History so far. From there, I'll ask you questions concerning what you have told me.

Now, let me tell you a bit about what I have been up to here. We have been constantly doing missions- sending injured troops out to the flight line to the planes. All the medics (me included), have been helping in the hospital here that is run by the Navy. We are getting ready to receive more serious patients in our tent in case things begin to heat up here and the hospital cannot hold them all. Afghanistan is celebrating Ramadan right now (almost the entire country is Muslim) and after that they are having elections. Unfortunately, we sometimes have more attacks during periods like these so we just try to be as ready as we can.

Well, I will look forward to your responses. Ms. Aguilar will give you the details on how she wants things to run on your end. I miss you all. Until the next post:

Neilsen signing off

Hello from Kandahar, Afghanistan

Well, it has been over one month since I last posted and a bunch has happened. You have all started school and will be completing your first week soon! I hear the new school looks great and that you have met some new students- how exciting!
It took me quite a few days to get here. I was supposed to be stationed at Camp Bastion, a British base. However, I was diverted to Kandahar since that is where I was needed. We have been sending out patients, some severely injured, back to Germany to get better care (and maybe back home to the states). I'll try to post some pictures on this blog when I get a chance.
One interesting thing that has been happening here is that we get frequent rocket attacks from the insurgents. We have to get into bunkers when the alarms sound.
This is the question I have for you: Since this is a NATO base with over 20,000 people on it and 40 countries, who can tell me what some of the countries may be (which contries are part of NATO)? What is NATO?
Talk more with you later.

The First Post

Hello kiddos (and Ms. Aguilar &/or 5/6 cluster)-

I hope school is going well for you already. I just set up this space for us to communicate with one another while I'm gone. Most of you I know, but some of you I can't wait to meet. Hopefully, this will make our face-to-face meeting a bit easier when I get back in February.

More than likely, I will be reading/posting once a week when time allows. Ms. Aguilar and I will be working out the kinks as the school year progresses (like, do you post as a group or individuals? Do only some read/post and relay info back to the cluster/class?).

You may have noticed the date of this post is July 2nd. I realize school did not start before I began this blog, but I have to get ready to leave next week. So far, I have been given vaccinations, medications (to avoid malaria from mosquitos), computer testing on the culture and the laws of war, weapons qualification testing, etc. I should make it to Afghanistan by July 16th.

Well, I'm going to sign off for now. I can't wait to hear from you already!