Late July

I've been really struggling with this job over here.  The hours are long, the system is complex and there are lots of issues that require a lot of attention to detail.  (Attention to detail is definitely not my strong suit.)  The good news it that I work with really nice people and I have some amazing bosses'. 

I haven't had much of a change to work on my hand quilting project.  I've decided that I can only take one class in the Fall.  So I'm delaying my masters classes until I get back home.  That's disappointing but it's a realistic decision. 

I've been here for almost a month, away from home for almost 5 weeks and I'm homesick.  I miss my husband, my cats, taking a shower without shoes and real toilet paper.  I've had to call friends and pull them away from work so I could vent.  But at least I have friends that I can do that with and they've done the same with me.  So that's been a blessing. 

I try to occasionally escape the office and sit and read or either be quite and watch the birds and enjoy the roses or grapevines that they have around camp.  I haven't figured out what type of bird this is but they're everywhere and they have a nice song. 

I hope everybody is doing well.  I miss ya'll!

Mid-July

I've been here for over two weeks and I'm finally getting used to my job, how things work around here and figuring out who is who and who does what.  I don't think I'll ever get used to the long hours though.  It's just inhumane.  The only time we get off is Friday mornings and two extra hours on Sunday morning. 

Afghani

The people are nice though and I've finally moved into my permanent room.  My room mates are nice.  I'm on the top bunk but only until late August.  Then one of them goes home & we'll re-arrange ourselves so I'll get a bottom bunk.  I've got the quilt I made on my bed and it's much nicer than sleeping under a sleeping bag.  It makes my little area feel like home. 

I celebrated my 30th birthday a few days ago.  I woke up early, went in to the office & opened the presents from my family. 

That is a SC Dork bumper plate from my sister. 

That evening we had cake.  A friend's translator had brought it in from downtown & it was quite good.  It wasn't as sweet as the cakes we're used to in the US and it had a slightly herbal taste to it.  It was interesting, unexpected but not bad.  Overall it was an awesome birthday. 

Afghanistan Arrival

A lot has happened in the last 15-20 days so let me fill you in.  I am now in Afghanistan & officially on day 6 of my deployment.  However, getting to this point was a comedy of errors followed by repeated tests on my patience and willpower to function without good quality sleep.  I weathered the storm but let me share some of my high/low-lights with you.

My flight out of California was delayed.  The travel agency had recently lost the contract for our base, so they didn’t finalize payment for my flight.  So while I was booked on the flight, I hadn’t paid for it.  So I paid at the ticket counter for the flight so they could transfer me to another airline so I could make it to Norfolk that same day.

At Norfolk I find out my flight left in 2 days (not 1).  So I sat around for two days.  The good news is that I got a lot of work done during those two days.  I find out I had the wrong type of orders and was able to get that fixed.  I went to the mall, did some shopping & watched a movie (Mr. Popper’s Penguins, which I recommend.  It was funny, light-hearted & a nice G-rated comedy). 

My last night at Norfolk I was almost booted out of my hotel room but they moved some folks around so I could stay in the same room.  

The day of the flight it was delayed by 12 hours.  However, I still had to be out of my room by 11 a.m.  So I spent all day hanging out in the hotel lobby, which thankfully had pretty good WiFi.

That evening I caught the flight out and managed to snag a seat in first class.  (The DoD contracts out airlines to fly us to & from the US.  I flew out on a 757)  Our first stop was in Shannon, Ireland for almost 2 hours.  Many folks got Guiness but for me it felt like 6 a.m., so I ate breakfast & passed on the beer.

The next leg took us to Germany.  At this layover we weren’t allowed off the plane or to turn on any electronics.  So… we sat there for about 3 hours.  We picked up 11 passengers.  Here’s the kicker; they didn’t have room in the baggage compartment for their bags, so they had to go in the first class cabin.  Meaning, I was kicked out and booted into the back of the plane.  We ended up all squished together – it was terrible.  

The last leg of the flight was to Manas, Kyrgystan.  I should have spent less than 24 hours there but my first flight was canceled and I ended up leaving 3 days later for a flight to Bagram.  The good news is that the second you land in Manas your hazardous/combat duty pay starts.  YEAH!

Bagram Air Base is in Afghanistan so at least now I’m in country.  It took us two days but we finally caught a flight to Kabul.  From there I went to my final destination, Camp Eggers.  11 days after I left Las Vegas I finally arrived.  

I'll post more photos of Kabul shortly.