Some days in Afghanistan...

I don't think it is an exaggeration to say that pretty much all days in Afghanistan suck.  Some just suck to worse degrees.  Unfortunately, today was one of those days.  I really try not to dwell on the negative while I'm here, and while conditions are not ideal, I try to still look for the positive.  But there are days when I just can't keep it up.  I miss home terribly.  It is really hard knowing that you have a life on the other side of the world and you can't be there to live it.

Sorry for the debbie downer post, but it's how I'm feeling today.  Tomorrow is another day....

2 Weeks...

2 Weeks from today, I get to hop on C-17 and get out of Afghanistan for at least 15 days!  The best part of everything is that I will be spending those 15 days in Europe with my husband.  I can't wait!  That is all, just thought I would share....

Another birthday in Afghanistan...

Today was one of my paralegal's birthday.  His mom sent him a muffin, because apparently he is crazy and doesn't like cake (no offense meant to crazy people).  I had some cupcakes that my mom sent for my birthday, and we both had candles.  So, we decided to have a little blowing out the candles celebration, as I forgot to blow out candles on my birthday.  He may have went a little overboard with the amount of candles that he put on his muffin.  I opted for just one.

I got 2 birthday packages today.  One from my husband and one from Mike and Jody.  I immediately added the cards to my birthday card corner.  I finally got my Harry Potter movies today, so all in all it was a pretty good day on the mail front.

It wasn't very good weather today.  It was cooler than usual, and unfortunately that usually means that it will be pretty dusty.  I don't really understand it, but the weather girl that briefs every morning (we at an aviation unit have our own weather girl) said something about that cooler wind is denser so it picks up the dust better.  So it's a trade off.  I can go outside without immediately dripping in sweat, but I get covered in dirt.  Neither are really optimal conditions.

Here are some pictures....

My Birthday Card Corner

Blowing out the candle celebration.  I wasn't ready....

That's much better

Turning 31 in Afghanistan...

Today was my birthday, and as far as birthdays go, I would have to say that this one was definitely anti-climactic.  I'm not really one to go around telling people it is my birthday, so for the most part, no one knew.  It was pretty much just another day.

I decorated my birthday cake this morning, and I have to say that I don't think I have a future in cake decorating.  But it was really tasty, so that is all that mattered.  I had to go to the JAG luncheon today, which I don't really mind, because it is usually guaranteed time that I get to spend with my friend Caitlin who works at Division.  Friends from home are always a welcome thing here.  Caitlin decided to yell that it was my birthday during the luncheon.  So I did get a few "happy birthdays" at the lunch, so that was nice.

I got mail today.  A birthday package from parents which was delivered perfectly on my birthday.  Thanks Mom, Dad & Jordan!  I have been waiting on 2 other packages, that have mysteriously not arrived yet even though they were both shipped over 12 days ago.  One of them being the Harry Potter Movies I ordered off of Amazon.  Each day I keep hoping that they will show, as Amazon usually takes 4-6 days to get things to Afghanistan, and each day I am disappointed.  The other package I got was a package of Li Hing Mangoes that I ordered off of Amazon 6 days ago, so I don't know where my Harry Potter movies are.  It's getting frustrating.  I thought I timed the delivery of them perfectly to when I would finish the book, but of course Murphy's law strikes again....

All in all, it wasn't a terrible birthday in Afghanistan, but I do hope it is the last one I have to spend away from husband.  Last year for my birthday, my husband returned home from Afghanistan.  This year, I'm in Afghanistan.  Last year was definitely better....

I don't think I'm going to win any cake decorating awards anytime soon, but it was a fun distraction!

Aloha from Kandahar!

Today I got a package from Ann & Richard that had a birthday cake kit in it.  Cake always makes me happy!  It had 2 cakes, frosting, and sprinkles as well as stuff to eat the cake with/on.  Since there were 2 cakes, I decorated one today, and I am saving the other one to eat on my actual birthday.

My NCOIC left today for R&R leave.  I am likely to leave for leave before he gets back, and then another paralegal will most likely be gone before I get back.  And then, the BJA is likely to leave for good (as someone is coming into replace him in July) before that paralegal gets back.  I say all that to tell you that today was probably the last time we are all going to be together.  So I made everyone get together for an office photo, as I have been wanting to take one and they never want to do it, and this looked to be my last chance with this group.

The month of May is Asian Pacific heritage month, and since the 25th CAB is from Hawaii, it's a big deal for us.  We hosted a luau for everyone at KAF today.  They even flew in a pig all the way from Hawaii.  It was a pretty fun time, but it made me miss being in Hawaii.

Here's some pictures from the day...

I have pretty good cake decorating skills!

We weren't ready...

Of course SFC Blackall had to do the rabbit ears...

There we go!

Trying to act like we like each other....

The girls doing some hula

The guys getting ready to dance

The guys were really good

All of the dancers

Aloha!

Getting close....

We are about to hit a milestone within the Wings Legal office.  The first person from our office is about to go on R&R leave.  He only has one more day of work and then he will be off.  He likes to remind us of this quite often.  I don't really mind all of his reminders, because the faster he goes on R&R the quicker I go on R&R.

R&R is 15 days long, plus however many travel days it takes you to get back and forth from Afghanistan and wherever you are going.  He is going back to Hawaii, so it is likely he will be gone over 20 days.  Back when we were still in Iraq, it was very common to get stuck in Kuwait for a long time and you could be gone for a whole month with travel days.  Now, the possibility of getting stuck in Kuwait is way less. With the Army going to 9 month deployments, there are way less people going on R&R, so it is easier to get flights.  Soldiers on 9 month deployments do not get R&R, my unit will be deployed for 12 months, so we do.

The good thing about R&R is that the Army will send you any where in the world you want to go.  And in case you haven't been paying attention, I'm going to Europe!  I can't wait!  So my NCO will be leaving in 2 days and once he gets back, it will be pretty much time for me to leave.  So, I say this with love, but good riddance to my NCO!

Happy Mother's Day!

I have been without air conditioning for the past 3 days, so when I woke up to the maintenance men knocking on my door this morning, I knew it was going to be a good day.  Turns out they couldn't fix the AC unit, so they had to replace it with a brand new one.  This makes me happy, as there is less chance that it will break again.  Not saying that it isn't a possibility, but it definitely makes it less likely.

After they got done installing the new AC, I left my now cooled room to head into the office.  Not much is ever going on on Sundays.  So, I usually use it as a day to get some reading done, as other days have a tendency to be busy and then work gets in the way of my leisure activities.

My paralegals were out of the office most of the day today playing flag football. The company was having a tournament.  It was way too hot to be outside playing football, as well as watching football.  I passed.  After the football tournament, the Company had a Mother's day/May birthdays celebration BBQ.  I am fan of the BBQs as it is not DFAC food.  Plus the smell of the grilling meat drowns out the other horrible smells of KAF, and makes the air not as bad.  There was a huge cake with all of the people's names who are celebrating a birthday this month on it.  It was quite huge.  It wasn't the ideal birthday cake, but for an Afghanistan cake, it wasn't too bad.  Let's just say that I have had way worse while here.  This one, the icing actually tasted a little like icing, instead of straight crisco.  The cake part was still pretty bad and was so dried out it had the consistency of biscotti.  But, as I said, it was one of the better cakes that I have while here, so I am not really complaining.

My Birthday is in 10 days, and it was nice to have a little piece of cake with a candle to blow out.  Being at home with everyone I love would be waaaaay better, but it definitely helps when the unit does something little to make those who are celebrating mother's day or a birthday to not feel alone.  Below are some pics from the BBQ.

Everyone chowing down on some BBQ

The huge Bday cake.  Somehow, I made it on here twice.  Apparently, I'm also a CW4.  I need to see about that 2nd paycheck....

Right after I blew out the candle.  Something tells me that my wish isn't going to come true...

All the mothers getting together for a picture

It's the end of an era....

Today I got a package from Ann & Richard.  It was a new pair of boots for my birthday.  Boots, as you can imagine, are a pretty important thing to have.  And for me it is really hard to find a boot to fit my foot that doesn't give me blisters.  I'm not talking about little blisters.  When I first joined the Army, the many pairs of boots that I went through all would take all the skin off the back of my heels, and I would end up a bloody mess.  The problem is that I apparently have narrow heels, and the rest of my foot is normal width.  So, that makes it pretty hard to find a boot that my heel doesn't move around in.

After buying 4 different pairs of boots while I was going through training, the 5th pair I bought ended up being just right.  I have worn that pair of boots everyday for the last 4 years.  They were getting a little ragged, to say the least.  Afghanistan hasn't been very kind to them either, and I was starting to get a hole in the side of them.  I brought an extra pair of boots with me when I deployed, but I really didn't want to switch to those as they really aren't that comfortable.  I bought them right before the deployment, and got a different brand than what I knew worked for me and have never broken them in.  So, these boots arrived just at the right time!

The good thing about them is that they are probably the most comfortable boots ever.  They may even be more comfortable than my 4 year old boots, and that is saying something as most the time I don't even feel like I have a boot on when I am wearing them.  So, while I am very sad to say goodbye to my old boots (I will not be throwing them away, as they will be really good mud boots when the rainy season hits again), I am pretty excited about the new boots, and the fact that they are so darn comfortable.  Thanks again, Ann & Richard!

My new boots!  I put them on right away.

The old boot...It was a very good boot.

Camels are cool. Camel spiders, not so much....

Before I deployed, I had heard about camel spiders.  I had seen pictures on the internet of them, but had never seen one in person.  Just looking at the pictures, gives me the creeps.  Today I came face to face with one.  Since then, I keep thinking I have spiders crawling on me.  I hate spiders!  If there is one in a room with me, my rule is that one of us has to go.

Apparently these things are harmless and the myths that you read about them on the internet are just that.  I still don't want one biting me, as I generally don't enjoy anything biting me, even if it doesn't have poisonous venom accompanying the bite.  Below is a picture, as I like to provide a full service blog for my readers.  Sorry in advance if this blog makes you think you have spiders crawling on you for the rest of day.

This one wasn't that big for a camel spider, but was still pretty big for a spider.  Apparently they can get to be up to the size of a frisbee.  I was too scared to kill this one, and nobody else would do it, so it got away.  Hopefully, he doesn't come back to scare me to death when he reaches the size of a frisbee.  I'm afraid that I will have no other option at that point but to shoot it with my M-16....

The only good spider is a dead one

It's been a good couple of days for mail!

For the past 3 days I have received mail.  This is a good thing!  It's always better when I go to the mail room at mail time to find a package waiting for me.  Sometimes the mail clerks get mad at me because I go and check everyday, but I don't care.  I try to explain to them that it is perfectly normal to check for mail everyday, and that I still check my mailbox at home everyday even if I'm not expecting any mail.  You never know what could show up!  And I would hate to know that a package someone sent me sat an extra day in the mail room because I didn't go check!  Although, that wouldn't really happen as they send out an email everyday with a list of those who receive mail.  But I don't like to wait for the email...

Anyway, as I said, for the past 3 days I have received packages.  The best kind of packages too.  Packages from my family back at home!  I got some snacks from Michael and Jody, a package of snacks, some more decorations, and knives from Parents, and a package with snacks and letters from the 1st graders at Michael's Aunt Cheryl's school.

The new decorations were a nice edition to my office.  I now have the Longhorns, Paris, New Orleans, and New York City represented in my office.  These are all of my favorite things, so it is way better looking at that than the ugly plywood walls that the decorations are covering.  And I can't forget the cards and notes that everyone has sent, as they take up a good portion of one the walls as I like to hang them so I can look at them to remind me that everyone is thinking of me while I go through this experience.

Here are a few pictures...

My new Longhorns pennant

There is never an inappropriate place for the NYC skyline

Some of the letters from the 1st graders

Reading the 1st grader's letters

A change of plans...

Well, I was all set to celebrate cinco de mayo with a quesadilla at the DFAC.  That plan was shot at about 2200 last night when I got a phone call from the chief of justice saying they needed me to sit second chair on a case for an Article 32 today.  Nothing like last minute notice...

Unfortunately, the first witness was on the stand from 0945 until 1400.  Which meant I missed the taco bar at the DFAC.  So, I hope all you who are reading this eat  an extra taco for me.  And not that they ever have this in Afghanistan or that it would be even remotely close to edible if they did, but eat some guacamole too.  That's my favorite!

Sometimes it's hard to write...

I feel bad sometimes when I don't update the blog for a couple of days.  It isn't because I don't want to give you an update, it is usually because I don't want to bore you to death with the same stuff everyday.  Most posts would consist of:  today, I went to the office, ate egg whites, had a few apples, scrounged together some salad for lunch, went to the gym, walked back to my office to pick up my weapon (can't take it to the gym), and walked back to my RLB.  That is pretty much my ground hog day.  So for the days that I don't update and you are wondering what is going on with me, just come back and read this post and you will know exactly what I did that day....

Tomorrow is Cinco de Mayo, and I am going to celebrate by going to the DFAC.  They are supposed to have a taco bar!  Me and my NCO look for the taco bar, as it is one of the better things they serve.  I don't necessarily get the tacos, because they have what they call quesadillas.  These quesadillas are not like what you think, they are deep fried and horribly bad for you, but I love them.  They are my one splurge over here.  And luckily for my efforts in trying to lose weight, they don't serve them very often.  So for all of you who have the ability to partake in REAL Mexican food, eat some for me tomorrow!  I am totally jealous!

Some days in Afghanistan are more productive than others...

Today I got to the office around 0730 and ate my breakfast while watching a few gun tapes from engagements last night.  I then went to my morning meeting.  Upon returning from the meeting, I came back to a completely dark office.  The power had went out.  Me and my NCO sat around a little while, and the decided to walk to the boardwalk so he could get a coffee and I could get an Iced tea.  We figured that would kill some time and when we got back the power would be back on.

It wasn't.  Sat around for a little while longer, and then found out that it was going to be out until around 1800 hours.  Well there was no point in having all 3 us sit around in the dark doing nothing, so I sent the paralegals home.  Then I sat in the dark.  ALL DAY!

1800 hours came and went and I was still sitting in the dark.  By 1830 hours, my boss had decided he wasn't going to sit in the dark any more (mind you he had only been there since about 1730 hours).  So, I told him if he was leaving, I was definitely leaving.

On the bright side, I was able to finally finish the 4th Harry Potter book that work kept getting in the way of.  The downside is that my eyes are killing me now from looking at the kindle for 8 hours in a completely dark room with nothing but a little flash light.  I'm sure at some point my eyes will get used to all this light I'm experiencing now that I am out of my office/dungeon....