11/24/2011 1341

Today is a perfect day.  I realize that it’s not even quite halfway over, and things could vastly change between now and the end of the day, but as of this point, it is truly perfect.  I wasn’t so sure it was going to be that way.  I woke up still sick (nothing tragic, just an irritating cold that isn’t really getting to me at all other than the simple fact that I hate being sick) and thinking that I was going to have to eat my Thanksgiving meal all by myself.  While it’s true that I have a wonderful man who eats most meals with me when he can (make that all meals when he can), he is working today and can’t make the entire crew eat at a different time just for me.  Trust me, I’d love it if he would, but I would also feel really bad for standing in the way of hungry men.  I know that’s never a good idea.  Breakfast was delightful.  The DFAC was decorated so wonderfully.  I know that the guys work there are paid wages that most of us spoiled Expats can’t even imagine, but they never cease to make me smile and inspire me to try to be more positive when I’m having a bad day.  They always have a kind word and a smile.  I love that.  And given how they typically behave toward those of us who return the smile and kind word, I have a sneaky suspicion that they really enjoyed the efforts they put into today for all of us.  The walls were covered with beautiful fall leaves.  New Styrofoam pictures were up on the walls.  Happy Thanksgiving signs all over the place.  One truly spectacular Styrofoam turkey, a cabin, a cornucopia complete with Styrofoam fruits, a few new eagles here & there… It was truly good work.  I’m hoping to sneak my cell in there later to snag a couple pictures of some of the stuff to show you all. 

I headed in to work only to have my motivation fade quickly.  Remember that whole “I’m sick” aspect of this story?  Well that helped me stay awake much of the night.  Even with Nyquil.  It was a drugged restlessness.  Not a recipe for a clear-headed day.  So it was time for my workout.  That was pretty funny all by itself.  First I thought I’d head to the gym and try to run.  Then I decided that I’d take a nap instead.  Then I decided to go for a walk.  Then that aforementioned wonderful man headed to the gym and given the fact that he’s always provided me with motivation and major encouragement, I decided I may as well aim for the first idea I had.  Gym it was.  I dropped the speed for my run, ya know, since I’m sick & all… but decided that it felt good so I went ahead and ran 3 miles instead of the 2 I originally thought I was going to do.  Awesome, huh?  Yup, definitely proud of myself.  Got back to work after a very rushed shower (running longer tends to take more time, which I don’t really have at my disposal, so it has to come from somewhere.  Don’t worry, though, I took enough of a shower that I was no longer offensive to the olfactory nerves of my coworkers) and proceeded to crash yet again.  But that wonderful man came by again and brought me chocolate, at which point I had to laugh at the comparison to Thanksgiving of last year.  I went for an early morning run that day.  It was freezing, but I did it and enjoyed it.  That same wonderful man came by shortly after my run to bring me chocolate.  Pattern?  Perhaps.  Same time next year. 

Well.  I started to hear rumors that the delicious meal of the day was lunch.  Lunch!  That meant that I’d have the company that I wanted so badly :D  It was absolutely wonderful.  The food was delicious, the company was perfect, the décor was charming, and my third crash of the day after the meal was well worth every bite too many that I took.  And it’s cloudy today.  That makes it even better.  Oh, and just when you think things can’t get any better… I got “Pee-Wee’s Playhouse” first season in the mail today from Netflix!!!!!  So.  Care to venture a guess as to what I’ll be doing for the next few hours?  If you remember anything about that show (even if you don’t care to remember) today’s word of the day is “thankful”!  I have a lot to be thankful for. 

How about you guys?  What are you most thankful for today?  

10/10/2011 1745

We had some AWESOME weather a couple of days ago.  I went on a hot date to the DFAC with a stop at Green Beans on the way back "home".  On the way back from dinner, I noticed lightning in the distance.  Um, pretty!  I really enjoy lightning.  We spent close to an hour at Green Beans and sat outside so I got to keep watching it for a while.  Got back to the station and grabbed my camera and went outside to record some of it.  These pictures are screen shots from that spectacular show.  Seriously, one of the best I've seen in a really long time!  I wanted to show even more pictures, but these are close to the coolest of 'em.  

Those were all from one tiny portion of a second.  Amazing when they're shown individually, isn't it?  

Pretty gorgeous, aren't they?  I wish the quality was a little better, but they'll do.  I also apologize for the major differences in the sizes.  I was cutting out a lot of unnecessary stuff in most of them.  
I'll add more pics when I get inspired to capture stuff.  And as I get motivated.  I think that's the tougher portion of the equation!  
Loves & hugs from the lit-up desert,
D

08/02/2011 1630

Alright my dear family and friends.  It is long past update time.  Things are going good here, but definitely warming up in an impressive way.  In case you haven’t heard already, I’ve decided to stick around a while longer.  A while meaning about two more years if all goes well.  Might as well stay where you’re happy, well paid, and having fun, right?  And even if the weather is currently 122º (something I have a very hard time believing, given the fact that it feels at least 10º warmer), it’s a good place to be.  I was walking back from lunch today, thinking about the fact that I was probably sweating faster than I could drink at that exact moment in time, I realized I should tell you all the awesome story of my fairly recent sickness.  I had just gotten back to Dwyer from R&R.  I managed to stay healthy through all the travel and finally lost that control just a day or two after I got back.  It was awful.  Our clinic here, while full of very sweet & caring people, will send you home with Mucinex if you have a broken toe.  Seriously.  And I know from past experience that Mucinex doesn’t cut it for me… at all.  Not for a broken toe, not for a sinus issue, not for a cold, not for bronchitis.  NOTHING.  Get that?  Well.  I was given Mucinex.  And yet I kept getting worse.  A few days later I went back to the clinic.  It was a toasty day, as they all are this time of year.  I arrived at the clinic, escorted in by my chief (I was supposed to go armed with a form that says I’m allowed to be there, but we forgot about it so he wanted to just make sure they weren’t going to give me any problems) and we discovered that the power was out in the clinic.  It. Got. Hot.  Quickly.  Uncomfortable.  The clinic is a tent, and not a huge one at that. And there were around 7 or 8 people waiting in a room that comfortably accommodates 4.  And there was the staff on duty.  Maybe 4 or 5 of them.  And me.  And it was hot.  Have I mentioned that yet?  Well.  I got into the “room” and the medic comes in to take my temperature.  Only it won’t read.  So he tries again.  Nothing.  He tries a different machine.  Twice.  No luck.  Why might this be?  It’s not because I had an unreadable temp.  It was because the air in the clinic was far higher than anything I could have produced and it was reading the air over me.  Awesome.  You know you have it good when not even a digital thermometer can read you! 

I’ve shared port-o-potty stories before here.  It’s a subject of great interest sometimes.  Probably because it’s not something that most of us thought we’d be visiting multiple times a day for a minimum of a year.  It’s got intrigue!  Anyway, the stories of the past have been regarding the cold.  This is obviously not the right time of the year for that so instead, I’ll share the story of the not-so-cold.  Those charming little oven/boxes are cleaned twice a day.  They restock the TP and hose down the entire thing.  Thankfully not in that order, though the TP is often wet shortly after they clean.  But the fact that they clean so often is great news for those of us who like a “fresh bowl”, if you can call it that.  Only something funny happens when you take a 2’ x 2’x7’ plastic box with very few vents that’s been sitting in the sun all day and add water to the walls, the seat, the door, the ceiling... The humidity percentage reaches near-fatal levels.  Great if you can manage to either do your business with the door open or within 10 seconds.  Not as great if you’re like all of us who live here.  I have seen more people stand here in dispatch for 30 minutes complaining about the misery they’re about to experience in order to gain relief than I ever thought possible.  They’ll actually wait and try to figure out if it’s really that worth the trip.  The jokes about sweating off 5 lbs. just for a moment of relief are constant.  Only I fear it’s not all that much of a joke!  Between the weather outside and the amazing air conditioners inside, there is a major havoc being wreaked on our bodies.  And add our “pre-sudsed” water and we’re all just a giant mess.  It’s so charming.  I still can’t quite understand who first had that great idea to inhabit this place.  I don’t mean as a military installation, I mean the natives.  Who saw this arid land and decided it would be a good place to live?  Didn’t they read the National Geographic specials on Hawaii???  Eh, I suppose they didn’t.  And I suppose that getting to live in weather like this actually does give me a better appreciation for not only the people that live here (outside of this camp), but also my former life.  And the life I’ll have when I’m back to the plentiful benefits of a bathroom adjacent to my bedroom.  Meals prepared and eaten in the same building in which I live.  Running water that’s not pre-sudsed.  You think I’m kidding about that?  This water is slimy.  We know it’s not pre-sudsed… but we all prefer to think of it that way than to really understand why it’s slimy.  I’ll appreciate getting to go out when I want a diversion.  I’ll never take a tree or grass or flowers for granted.  I’m having a blast here but it’ll just be dang nice to feel human again.  It’s going to feel great! 

Speaking of diversions, a few weeks ago a Green Beans opened on this camp.  It’s a coffee shop and it’s conveniently located a very short walk away from the fire station.  I dig that.  Delicious coffee.  Mochas, cappuccinos, smoothies, etc.  It is a nice diversion.  They opened a beauty salon too.  I haven’t been in yet, but those who have gone to get their nails done have really enjoyed it.  I may have to try it out.  After all, not everybody can say they got a manicure in Afghanistan, can they? 

Alright, the temp is now up to 125.6 (yes, that .6 really seals the deal!) so I’m going to sign off and watch a good zombie movie.  I know, it has nothing to do with it, but I just can’t bear the thought of needing to head out to the port-o-potty so I’m opting for the distraction method.  One of two things will happen.  The temp will eventually start to drop and I’ll head out then, or it won’t and I’ll regret not going now.  At least it’s been a little while since they last cleaned.  Hopefully the port-o humidity level will be somewhere closer to the 1% that is outside instead of the 99% inside, post-cleaning. 

I hope you’re all doing well.  Feel free to drop me a line and give me your latest & greatest news. 

Love from sunny Afg,
Dana 

05/08/2011 1356

Okay, I've got to be honest.  I feel like a little bit of a complete and total retard now...  and I mean that in the gentlest sense of the word.  I am a 33 y/o woman and every time I see a TV, child, car, or store front, I giggle like a 5 y/o.  I don't remember what to do with such things! 
Okay, let me rewind a bit.  I've been out of touch for quite sometime.  My name is Dana.  I haven't changed.  If you're reading this, you likely know me.  It's all good.  Enough of that.
So I got to Dublin day before yesterday.  When I made it to the hotel, I was sufficiently frustrated and angry.  It took forever and a day not only to find the right bus but also to find the hotel.  But I finally made it, I'm happy to report.  My first hotel/vacation-related order of business was a shower and it was spectacular.  I think it lasted at least 30 minutes.  No shoes, no slime, no turning the water off in between sudsing and soaping.  Sheer paradise, I tell ya!  I went down to the bar and had a drink (or 4) and my first real meal.  Aaaahhhhh.... Spectacular :)  Spicy beef sandwich.  Basil.  Watercress.  Cheese.  Real cheese.  All sorts of deliciousness that I don't get in my Afghanistan paradise.  It was wonderful.  I met a local who gave me a lot of good information.  Truth be told, after watching him as he spoke, I have a sneaky suspicion that he and I might be related.  No joke.  His expressions varied between my dad's and my grandpa's.  It was bizarre to say the least.  I'm going to have to get a picture of him to show the fam.  Uncanny.  Anyway, I wanted to stay up late but could not.  I was almost falling asleep mid-sentence on Skype.  Not pretty.  So I crashed and slept for somewhere around 9 or 10 hours.  It was nice.  Yesterday wasn't too pretty either.  I was lacking motivation to do much of anything.  Breakfast was overpriced and not worth it.  I took a nap, went back down to the bar for another round of 3 Guinnesses, and then sent out to find food.  Mexican food to be exact.  Of all the places I found, that looked absolutely delicious, a burrito the size of my face was the winner. Came back and relaxed again, more movie, a bath even!  
Didn't get all the sleep I wanted to last night but I still feel vastly better today.  I swam, hit the sauna and jacuzzi, and had wine.  And more beer.  And I'm out exploring a bit.  Hit up the pub/restaurant at the end of the corner where the hotel is.  I just consumed a beer (Smithwick, which, for the record, is infinitely better on tap than from a bottle), garlic bread with cheese, and garlic fried mushrooms.  Um, yum! So this is what it's like to feel human!  I almost forgot.  
From here, I plan to head to the nearby shopping center to do some shopping and look into my tattoo. Defnitely looking forward to that.   
I just met a nice gentleman named Robin.  I do believe he's currently teasing me for being such a writer.  Yes, I'm sitting at a bar writing.  He actually just came over to ask if I'm writing about him yet.  Might as well give him a place here, right?  I realized that people are a lot nicer (the typical Ireland friendly that everybody talks about) behind closed doors than they are on the streets.  I suppose on the streets everyone is going somewhere.  In restuarants and pubs, they're just chilling, chatting, watching a game...  If they're anything like me, watching people.  Europeans are such a fascinating sort to me.  As are Brits.  And there is a very large amount of both here, which really appeals to my love of observing people.  I started off sort of slow, but I'm pretty sure I'll have a good time here.  If nothing else, I'll get to watch a HUGE amount of people.  
Alright, signing off for a bit so I can go spend money on things I don't necessarily need.  Hmm, I've sorta missed that too! 

Ooh, before I go, my pictures! 

The lightning I mentioned.  Gorgeous shot, isn't it?

And this beauty is a sandstorm coming in. The walk to breakfast that morn was NOT fun.

Our rocks when they're wet. When dry, they're all the same color.

Rain on its way.

The ditches we're supposed to find "safety" in.  We might drown first!

The two guys I traveled from Dwyer with. They kept me sane.

Real trees.  Real greenery.  Really beautiful.

Definitely not what I'm used to seeing...

05/05/2011 1835 local time, 1905 “home” time.

I’m currently sitting in Dubai airport.  The dear guys I’m with and I all got passes to go to the lounge until our flights, which are all early morning, but none of us can check in yet because our respective desks aren’t open until 8 or 9.  Oh this waiting game can get old when traveling!  So we got to KAF yesterday after a flight that actually caused a significant amount of nausea in all of us.  I don’t recall that ever happening from turbulence.  It was beyond impressive.  The bumps didn’t really bother me, but apparently the ride bothered my belly.  It was rough.  When we landed, it was just in time to watch a dust storm cross the airfield as well as encounter the rain, thunder, and lightning as we got to stand waiting to go inside.  Charming.  We all snagged rooms at the “hotel” at KAF.  At that point in time, there was nothing to complain about, but it’s still not the real shower without shoes that I’m anticipating enjoying in less than 24 hours…  

Did our checkout today, meeting yesterday, just the basics of going through the motions to be allowed to go away.  Go here, go there, wait forever in between… It’s drama, I tell you!  Nothing can be simple with this company, I fear.  But we’ve made it this far.  That’s a good start.  I had two beers on the flight.  That was a major perk.  I contemplated not having them, waiting until I got the good stuff in the lounge, but as they got closer and closer, I decided I may as well.  Took a picture of the second.  I’ll introduce you as soon as I get to the hotel and have connection and can unpack all of my cords & chargers and such.  At any rate, that was a good call.  I’ll have gotten them completely out of my system by the time I get to the lounge.  Oh but they were spectacular.  Heinekens.  Twins.   I’ll never forget their faces…  

Anyway, I just wanted to provide a bit of an update.  I miss my “home”.  It is very possible that I may be the only person in that station that did not look forward to leaving.  I’m okay with that.  I’ll also probably be the only one not dreading going back from R&R.  I’m sure I’ll have a good time… and I’ll be here to tell you all about it.  

Ooh, while I’m thinking about it, I’ve been meaning to write a blog with updates on our weather as of late.  I know I complained bitterly about the cold (which, incidentally, was completely tolerable and I was wise enough to enjoy it while it lasted…) but I haven’t updated on anything since then.  The rains were amazing.  I’ve got pictures of lightning, flood waters, some dust storms, all the good stuff we get.  And when I left, it was 120.  Aah, spring.  Actually we hit 100 the first week of March.  It cooled off again for a bit, but I’m fairly certain that the summer is here to stay for another few months.  So time to put away the warm clothes and bring out the baby wipes and twice-daily slime showers.  Woo-hoo!   It’s a fun experience.  I’m glad that I’m doing it.  Glad that I have a lot to enjoy. 

01/27/2011 1951

I swore that I would never take a cold shower here because of a lack of hot water.  I swore it!  I would never have faced a time where I would willingly put my body into an already cold environment and hose it off with cold shower that leaves a very creepy, slimy sensation no matter how hard you try to scrub it off... but that's another gripe for another blog day.  I swore that though I might rinse off, by choice, with "colder" water just to cool down, but I was NOT going to take a shower when there was no hot water to be had.  That's what I have a year's supply of baby wipes and no-water shampoo for.  Oh, for the record, the "No Rinse" brand of no-water shampoo?  Avoid.  But I digress.  I swore I would not stand in the shower with my teeth chattering, cursing Afghanistan and all its inhabitants, miserable and angry, all in an attempt not to smell vile.  Apparently, I was wrong.  I don't know what happened, really.  I had a great workout and was really excited about the shower.  For those who haven't yet gotten a description of them yet, the showers are a decent enough little set up.  I think there are about 6 or 7 stalls in each (never bothered to take an official count and I just can't picture it well enough right now), two sinks with two faucets, mirrors, a bench for our belongings, and hooks.  They request that we take "combat" showers, which means that we only use the water to wet & rinse, while keeping it off during the soaping/shaving/shampooing processes.  There are two of these shower trailers for the women, quite a bunch for the men.  The women's showers are at opposite ends of the block.  That means that one is not very convenient to get to, but that's okay.  There's not usually a need.  Sometimes it's bad enough to get to the close one.  We have to walk over the rocks, through the engine bay, over more rocks, across the road, over the bridge (it's a 4' bridge but it still counts), across more rocks (such a theme here!) then we get there.  It's not awful but I'm not a fan of the rocks.  To get to the other requires even more rocks.  You can see why I prefer the closer one, right?  Well.  I get to the shower and there are about 3 open, but two of them have shower heads that have sprung a bit of a leak.  And by that, I mean that the water doesn't come out of the shower head but instead it sprays out of the hose at various points along the route.  Pointless to try to shower there!  So I take the last open good one.  I get it.  It's just as wonderful as I think it is going to be.  

...and then. 

I noticed the next time I turned the water on that it wasn't very warm.  I did not approve of this situation at all.  Not only was it not warm, it wasn't even tepid.  I got to take a downright cold shower.  One of my roommates was in the stall next to me.  She complained bitterly about it.  I tried to keep the word "invigorating" running through my mind.  It seemed that the more I mentally said that word, the less room I had for the cursing that was trying to come out.  Do you know that there are people in this world who take cold showers on purpose?  And worse than that (aah, this is where I reground myself), there are a lot of people who never even get to take warm showers.  Ugh.  How can I complain about that so easily?  That reality is brutal sometimes.  I thought it was bad washing my face in the mornings with my cold bottle of water.  I guess it's not so bad, is it?  

At any rate, I got to have my first unwilling COLD Afghanistan, slimy-watered shower today.  Woo hoo!  :)  

And in other news, we got a call from our vehicle tech on the radio asking us to call Vector Control because there was a fox outside the station.  A fox!  I was so excited.  Granted, the little baby was pretty mangy looking, but she was a cutie pie!  She was drinking from the puddles of water around our big water bladder.  So very wonderful to me to see wildlife.  I miss it so much.  I miss animals with every ounce of my being, but even wildlife was enough to restore me.  I guess we'll be seeing her a bit.  Seems as if Vector won't do anything with them for a while.  Yay!  Okay, nobody needs to remind me of the diseases that a mangy animal can carry.  Don't rain on my parade!  

And speaking of rain, the weather shocked me today.  First day in months where we were above 65, and they said our high was going to be 71 but it felt definitely warmer than that.  It was downright comfortable in the sun!  And sweatshirts to dinner with no need for the gloves, scarf, and/or beanie.  I'm sure we'll still have a few more weeks, if not a month or two, of very chilly nights, but it felt great to have my skin bake a little bit today.  

Alright, kids.  It's bedtime for this redhead... and I'm very ready for it.  I'd been having a horrid string of sleeplessness again but I think I've shaken it for a while so I'm going to try to take full advantage of it.  Sorry there are no pics today but I didn't have time to grab my camera for the fox and I didn't think it would be a good idea to give visual aids of the showers.  At least not while occupied. 

Goodnight, all.  And to those of you on the other side, Good Morning! 

01/25/2011 1049

It needs to be established here & now that the details of my actual job really trip me out sometimes.  If you would have told me that the easiest forms of communicating in my job would ever involve yelling, I would never have believed you.  Seriously.  Sometimes I’m starting to feel like this is a fire department.  We had three days in a row where we had real, actual calls.  That lulled me into a false sense of excitement about our potential.  Then we had a few days of nothing.  That’s more common.   But today we broke our streak of nothing again!  We had a call.  And how was it dispatched?  Lemme tell you.  It was a chief screaming down the hall to the guys, then screaming to me to dispatch the engine.  Uh… to what?  So he yelled the details to me (all two of them) then I “dispatched” it and the engine was already responding because the chief had already summoned them.   It’s far from perfect, but in the big picture, it works!  See, once upon a time, I worked in a job where we regularly complained about our radio system.  About our tone alert system.  About our CAD system.  About all sorts of things.  But even when I was complaining about it and how antiquated it was, I always knew that in the big picture, we’d get the assets to where they needed to be.  That’s what we do.  All dispatch agencies everywhere manage to get it done, even if it’s not pretty during the process.  So here I sit in Afghanistan with a radio system we share with the entire camp that sometimes works when we’re 10 feet away from each other but never from one side of the camp to the other, NO CAD, NO tone alerts, a doorbell to alert the crews of a call, NO mapping system… and we still get it done.  If I go back to my little dispatch world in the states, I’m going to laugh at the blatant dissimilarities of my two jobs but the fact that no matter where we are or what we have, we’ll get it done.  

I should apologize right now for not being in touch for so long.  Things have been sort of… funny around here.  I’ve had a lot going on, been trying to get quite a bit of stuff taken care of.  Some days I really don’t feel like doing much of anything but watching a movie or cross stitching while I wait for yet another 12 hours to pass.  Horrible excuse, I know.  I’m sorry! 

 

So what’s happened since I last wrote?  Well… Christmas, New Year’s, my grandparent’s 66^th anniversary (today! And I know it’s irrelevant to my living over here but I just wanted to point that out to everybody that reads this simply because I’m so happy for them), a few calls here & there, many movies, many workouts, finished a great book…  It’s really not been terribly interesting.  And that’s good.

Christmas was nice.  It wasn’t depressing as many of my coworkers said it would be.  It was fairly late in the day, but I had dear friend that I got to have my Christmas dinner with (okay, breakfast too, with proof in the picture below, but the dinner was the Big Meal so I'm just counting that). One of the most spectacular things we get here are the Styrofoam creations by the DFAC workers.  They are awesome and I can't keep all of their talent and production to myself so here are some pictures of the ones we had waiting for us on Christmas.    

I really had a halloween moment here, expecting someone to jump out and scream at me... The legs look so real!

The wild gazeindeeraph.  Gazelle/Reindeer/Giraffe.  I guess they guide the sleigh in different parts of the world.

Do make note of the Christmas Bunny.  Not sure which story he falls into, but cute nonetheless.

Juli and the Smurftue of Liberty! 

Our Christmas decorations were quite cute.  We had dispatch looking nice, I had a few in my room, and there were a few interspersed throughout the camp.  It's always nice to see twinkling lights when walking to laundry in the wee cold hours of the night.  

My cute little tree and a few presents in my room

Andy's snowman

My tree during the day with more presents. It was tough to wait until Christmas to open these!

Stuff in a care package from very appreciated, yet unknown people.

The cards and letters in those care packages are priceless. 

What would life be without a green Christmas flamingo pen? 

The presents kept increasing.  It is so nice to feel so loved by my friends and family.

From my mom & baby bro (LOVE the calendar, Mom, thank you!!!) (love the clothes too!)

From Joe (can't wait to get to the book & cookies, and to start posting some of the Mad Lib responses we come up with!)

From the Cruz/Malloy/Workman groups.  All so much fun and so useful!

So as you can see, this was a very wonderful Christmas.  I didn't post pictures of Jill's care package because I was too busy digging into it and stuffing my face with the contents to take pictures.  I feel really bad about that, but those products-- the shampoos & conditioners, the Glee episodes & Christmas movies, the candies & microwavable treats, the Christmas decorations... everything was so wonderful.  Thank you to you & John, the kids and their contributions, and to your (our ;-)) mom.   And thank you to the rest of you who have been keeping me in your thoughts and prayers.  Thank you for the Christmas cards (all of which made it onto the wall), for the boxes of candies & other goodies, for the emails, and for the encouragement.  It is so comforting to know that I really do have the best of friends and family, even when 9000 miles away. 

I also posted something on Facebook about our weather.  The chilliness.  The frost.  The trauma of going into a port-o-potty that had ice on the walls.  It actually turned into a very amusing string of comments, but just so you can all enjoy the concept, here are some pictures for proof.  

The weather actually never got much worse than this.  Some think that we're making a turn around and it's all up from here, but we're still hitting the low 30's some nights.  We had a few days of clouds and about two whole separate "storms" complete with rain once and drizzle the second time.  The camp actually got beautiful after the night of rain.  I was very impressed with the way things looked.  Granted, we can't really say the trees looked good because we don't have a tree anywhere in our line of sight, but the rocks showed their colors... 

Alright, gentle readers.  It's about time to head to lunch.  Rumor has it, we've got chicken available today.  We have chicken available almost every day!  They do feed us well.  Our DFAC is still reportedly about the best in all of Afghanistan.  It's just up to us to try to be creative and as healthy as possible.  Some days aren't easy, others are.  The healthiest meals usually involve those when we decide to skip.  All I know is that I was hit yesterday with the most profound sadness when I realized how much I miss Rachael Ray, my pots & pans, and VARIETY!  But that's okay.  I just think of how good my formerly familiar food will be when I get to feast again. 

Love to you all,

D