December 07

18 December 2007

Yesterday I found out that sometime towards the end of the middle of January I will be heading home for a break from my government sponsored vacation. I’m looking forward to spending some time with my family and eating good food.

After a few days at the main base, I’m back to the smaller base where I’ve been enjoying life for the past few weeks. I was able to pick up four important things while I was there, but I forgot one. I will see if I can get it next time. The last three days were a blur, but they went well. My job at this base has never been easier, and I have never felt so good about the way it’s running.

While I was at the bazaar at the main base a few days ago, I accidentally found and bought the perfect item for my house. It’s an electric kettle, and I’ve been very impressed with how quickly it can boil a liter of water. Now I can have tea or coffee anytime I want to take the chill out of the cold desert nights. My first cup was some Tazo that my sister had sent me. After dinner tonight I went shopping at the Dining Facility and got some instant oatmeal packets and more tea.

Some local shopping

One of the units that we support asked for our help with something a few days ago. It was something that only my battalion could do because of our heavy equipment. The mission came down at the last minute, and I had no idea about it until I saw the LHS drive up to my house and said to myself “that’s not good”. 15 minutes later I was on the road headed to do something. I didn’t even know yet. Turned out there were several different things that they wanted us to do, and our equipment was capable of all but one. On the way there I was looking out the window and saw a shop with table full of baklava and pastries outside. At the next stop I asked the 1LT if we could stop and go shopping on the way. It turned out that one of our next stops was right next to the shop, and he even had his interpreter do the negotiating for us. I gave him 250 dinar (worth about a $.25) and got a plate with about twelve pieces of different kinds of baklava. It was dripping with honey and the best I’ve ever had. I hope to somehow get the opportunity to get more.

The 24^th of December

Not much happened today. My soldier and I got bored so we made a bonfire and then when that died down we got in the pick up and went cruising, but there was no where to go. We decided to help SGT L by lacing his cigarettes so they would explode when smoked.

The 25^th of December

We decided to celebrate the 25^th with an even bigger bonfire than we had the day before. The dining facility had a nice dinner, but I thought the lasagna they served for lunch was more meaningful. I had orange juice, lasagna, and broccoli. It was rumored that some high ranking officers were supposed to come have dinner at our chow hall, so I ate quickly and left. After diner we had the bonfire, and then went to the internet and phone café. I tried to call my parents and sisters, but the phone hung up on me after a minute. Then I could not call back on that phone so I called another. I was told that there was a problem with my PIN and I needed to call customer service, but I could not get through to them. After half an hour I gave up and went back to my room.