This is me the morning of the 18th:
Smoking the really nice cigar Barby sent to me:
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Happy 3 Year Anniversary!
November 18th, 3 years ago, Barby and I were wed! Happy Anniversary my beautiful precious dove!
This is me the morning of the 18th:
Smoking the really nice cigar Barby sent to me:
This is me the morning of the 18th:
Smoking the really nice cigar Barby sent to me:
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Kandahar Update
Kandahar is an interesting place. I wish I could explain or show all the different and weird things that go on here. Crazy things also. Especially since this base is a coalition/joint operated base. I'm keeping a journal, so maybe once this deployment is over will I be able to share more. War is hell.
After living in a nasty transient tent (nastier were the latrine and shower containers), a couple weeks ago we were moved to a 20 person tent just for the guys in our unit. That was a little more comfortable and secure. Even better were the cleaner latrines and showers, plus good hot water. We were relatively comfortable there, but yesterday we found out there was permanent housing for us guys in the MOD container buildings! These are long, single level container buildings with about 7 6-man rooms plus indoor plumbing. They saved 2 rooms for us 12 guys.
Yesterday we spent the better part of the morning moving our stuff over and trying to rearrange the furniture in the room. Each 6-man room comes with 6 beds ready to setup as bunk beds, 4 large wall lockers, 4 night stands, and a small fridge. The number of beds and wall lockers don't add up, that's what we thought. We believe the rooms were really meant for 4 people. However, there is enough room for all 6 of us to be relatively comfortable.
In re-arranging the furniture we ended up setting up 2 single beds, and 2 bunk beds. The guys who got the top bunk got a wall locker in exchange for being on the top. I am on the top of a bunk, so I have a wall locker. It is a nice trade, actually. I am really glad to finally be able to spread my things out and organize them in the place that we will stay living in. We were tired of moving around. Unfortunately, the fridge had leftover food that had been sitting in it while unplugged for about 2 months and had molded over pretty good. We regretted opening it how strong the smell was from it. That got put outside.
The MOD housing also come with good LAN line internet connections ready to be setup. Today I went to the internet shop and finally got a decent internet connection to communicate home. It's crazy, actually, the different prices for the packages don't compare to what we pay and get in the states. We are getting ripped off here, honestly, but we are at least able to get a connection. The packages are $35, $70, or $100 per month (30 days). The lowest package connection is about 80 down/30 up kbps, middle 120 down/60 up kbps, and highest 120 down/80 up kbps. I got the middle, $70, package. We are paying a lot for what we get. I hope I will be able to Skype good enough on it. I think I will for sure be writing a lot of these 'work' expenses off on my taxes after I am home next Summer.
About a week and a half ago it started to get a lot cooler at night, and even during the day. It still stays pretty clear blue skies and sunny during the day, but it is in the 60s or 70s usually. At night it's been getting in the 30s. We've been turning the heat on during the night and the days now. We have these really slick AC/Heater units that help keep the temperature good. I've never heard of the brand Chigo before, but they honestly make a pretty good small unit that does AC and heat. We really haven't seen many clouds here also unlike back home in Seattle right now. It's weird because it kinda feels like a late winter in Eastern Washington.
The holidays are going to be interesting around here. I'm not quite sure what we are going to do. I know we will, at least I will, make the most of it.
I have a few more photos from around here. I will put some more up soon, now that I have good internet. To be honest, there doesn't seem to be as many interesting things to take pictures of here in KAF compared to BAF. Maybe I just haven't explored around here enough.
Tomorrow, November 18th, is Barby and I's 3rd year anniversary! I really wish I was home to celebrate with her. We are trying to make the most of it while I am away.
Any help anyone can bring to Barby and Violet would be greatly appreciated. Especially through the holidays.
After living in a nasty transient tent (nastier were the latrine and shower containers), a couple weeks ago we were moved to a 20 person tent just for the guys in our unit. That was a little more comfortable and secure. Even better were the cleaner latrines and showers, plus good hot water. We were relatively comfortable there, but yesterday we found out there was permanent housing for us guys in the MOD container buildings! These are long, single level container buildings with about 7 6-man rooms plus indoor plumbing. They saved 2 rooms for us 12 guys.
Yesterday we spent the better part of the morning moving our stuff over and trying to rearrange the furniture in the room. Each 6-man room comes with 6 beds ready to setup as bunk beds, 4 large wall lockers, 4 night stands, and a small fridge. The number of beds and wall lockers don't add up, that's what we thought. We believe the rooms were really meant for 4 people. However, there is enough room for all 6 of us to be relatively comfortable.
In re-arranging the furniture we ended up setting up 2 single beds, and 2 bunk beds. The guys who got the top bunk got a wall locker in exchange for being on the top. I am on the top of a bunk, so I have a wall locker. It is a nice trade, actually. I am really glad to finally be able to spread my things out and organize them in the place that we will stay living in. We were tired of moving around. Unfortunately, the fridge had leftover food that had been sitting in it while unplugged for about 2 months and had molded over pretty good. We regretted opening it how strong the smell was from it. That got put outside.
The MOD housing also come with good LAN line internet connections ready to be setup. Today I went to the internet shop and finally got a decent internet connection to communicate home. It's crazy, actually, the different prices for the packages don't compare to what we pay and get in the states. We are getting ripped off here, honestly, but we are at least able to get a connection. The packages are $35, $70, or $100 per month (30 days). The lowest package connection is about 80 down/30 up kbps, middle 120 down/60 up kbps, and highest 120 down/80 up kbps. I got the middle, $70, package. We are paying a lot for what we get. I hope I will be able to Skype good enough on it. I think I will for sure be writing a lot of these 'work' expenses off on my taxes after I am home next Summer.
About a week and a half ago it started to get a lot cooler at night, and even during the day. It still stays pretty clear blue skies and sunny during the day, but it is in the 60s or 70s usually. At night it's been getting in the 30s. We've been turning the heat on during the night and the days now. We have these really slick AC/Heater units that help keep the temperature good. I've never heard of the brand Chigo before, but they honestly make a pretty good small unit that does AC and heat. We really haven't seen many clouds here also unlike back home in Seattle right now. It's weird because it kinda feels like a late winter in Eastern Washington.
The holidays are going to be interesting around here. I'm not quite sure what we are going to do. I know we will, at least I will, make the most of it.
I have a few more photos from around here. I will put some more up soon, now that I have good internet. To be honest, there doesn't seem to be as many interesting things to take pictures of here in KAF compared to BAF. Maybe I just haven't explored around here enough.
Tomorrow, November 18th, is Barby and I's 3rd year anniversary! I really wish I was home to celebrate with her. We are trying to make the most of it while I am away.
Any help anyone can bring to Barby and Violet would be greatly appreciated. Especially through the holidays.
Friday, November 6, 2009
Photos of Kandahar
Here is a link to my Picasa Web Album with some photos of Kandahar. I am thankful for the LAN line connection that I am able to use while here for a day in Bagram. It used to be in my b-hut room, but now I am living in Kandahar. Thankfully while I crashed here for the day in that same room I was able to use the connection. It would be nice to have a connection like this in KAF. Enjoy some of the photos.
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Kandahar
Oh boy, getting a nice whiff of the poo pond right now. Feels like you're sitting inside of a septic tank. Thank you British. I'm in Kandahar now. So, conveniently on the boardwalk here there is some decent free wifi. Funny thing is when I was pulling up my site here everything on the top banner bar was in Arabic, or something (what we like to call 'durkas'). I think I may have flagged my site accidentally when I was trying to log into my dashboard to create this post. I couldn't read the durkas to find the link to click. So, for all of you reading, this is not an inappropriate site. I hope any flag doesn't stay there. I may have to figure out how to clear it.
I haven't took as many pictures of KAF here yet, but when I get some I'll post them here if I can get a good wifi connection to upload them.
Kandahar...what an interesting place so far. This place is coalition ran, so a different country runs it in a rotation after a certain period of time. Right now the Canadians are running it (Kanada-har, ha ha!). All the food here is European based. Us Americans are naturally guests here since we don't really run the show on base. The food here isn't the best because of that. At the least, the selection isn't as good. There is some good stuff - I've become a master at the panini grill for sandwichs - but it doesn't compare to the good food and variety in Bagram. However, I had a really great steak last night thanks to the chaplain BBQ. I'm in a transient tent that is meant only for people staying a few days either waiting for R&R, leave, for a job trip, or to get into permanent housing. We're waiting for permanent housing, but the tent has become "permanent" to us for the time being. I've created my own little fort/man cave over 2 bunk beds trying to keep privacy and security. The rest of the guys have a large man cave compound.
Who would have thought, after going through Kyrgyzstan and Bagram having hot showers there, that they can't figure out how to keep hot water to the showers here in KAF. I've had luke-warm and cool showers a few times since getting here. Thankfully, this morning I had a nice hot shower. That was nice for a change. You don't want to know what the condition of the showers & bathrooms are like either. Hopefully soon we will be getting into permanent housing in a mod or something. Mods are like converted metal container buildings. The rooms are setup 4-6 people to a room, I think. They have indoor plumbing which is pretty sweet. They also come with internet connection packages.
Something that is nice about this place being coalition ran is there are different PXs for different countries. There's a small French PX, small British PX, Dutch PX, American, and there's even a duty free shop. It's pretty cool to be able to get some European favorites if I want to try something. Chocolate in particular. The Brits have their own nice cafe' and coffee shop that has a Starbucks feel. It's a pretty nice place. We have something called Green Beans Coffee. Their coffee is pretty good despite where we're at. They have gift cards you can get through their website and send to us. Feel free to hook us up, if anyone is interested in sending gift cards www.greenbeanscoffee.com.
Cheers for now,
Aaron
I haven't took as many pictures of KAF here yet, but when I get some I'll post them here if I can get a good wifi connection to upload them.
Kandahar...what an interesting place so far. This place is coalition ran, so a different country runs it in a rotation after a certain period of time. Right now the Canadians are running it (Kanada-har, ha ha!). All the food here is European based. Us Americans are naturally guests here since we don't really run the show on base. The food here isn't the best because of that. At the least, the selection isn't as good. There is some good stuff - I've become a master at the panini grill for sandwichs - but it doesn't compare to the good food and variety in Bagram. However, I had a really great steak last night thanks to the chaplain BBQ. I'm in a transient tent that is meant only for people staying a few days either waiting for R&R, leave, for a job trip, or to get into permanent housing. We're waiting for permanent housing, but the tent has become "permanent" to us for the time being. I've created my own little fort/man cave over 2 bunk beds trying to keep privacy and security. The rest of the guys have a large man cave compound.
Who would have thought, after going through Kyrgyzstan and Bagram having hot showers there, that they can't figure out how to keep hot water to the showers here in KAF. I've had luke-warm and cool showers a few times since getting here. Thankfully, this morning I had a nice hot shower. That was nice for a change. You don't want to know what the condition of the showers & bathrooms are like either. Hopefully soon we will be getting into permanent housing in a mod or something. Mods are like converted metal container buildings. The rooms are setup 4-6 people to a room, I think. They have indoor plumbing which is pretty sweet. They also come with internet connection packages.
Something that is nice about this place being coalition ran is there are different PXs for different countries. There's a small French PX, small British PX, Dutch PX, American, and there's even a duty free shop. It's pretty cool to be able to get some European favorites if I want to try something. Chocolate in particular. The Brits have their own nice cafe' and coffee shop that has a Starbucks feel. It's a pretty nice place. We have something called Green Beans Coffee. Their coffee is pretty good despite where we're at. They have gift cards you can get through their website and send to us. Feel free to hook us up, if anyone is interested in sending gift cards www.greenbeanscoffee.com.
Cheers for now,
Aaron
Sunday, October 11, 2009
New Guitar!
On Thursday I had a few packages come for me in the mail. There was a really big package. Inside was a brand new Takamine G-series acoustic/electric guitar! It is a beautiful guitar and sounds really, really nice. Thank you to the wonderful people at Guitar Gallery www.guitargal.com and the donor that was able to make this happen for me here in Afghanistan! The guitar will be used well. I actually used it this morning to play in the worship band for the chapel service.
Saturday Rain and Sunday Clouds
Last Saturday, a week ago yesterday now, it rained pretty hard. Below are a couple pictures from right outside the Bagram office.
This was a pretty cool shot at the end of the day last Sunday. The sun was setting and the beams shot out over the clouds that were blocking the sun. It was pretty.
I also got this cool shot of the knarly thunder clouds rolling in. These clouds provided a nice lightning display as it got dark.
This is a shot of the moon Sunday night. On my way to get some dinner I took this shot. It was really cool because the thunder clouds were blocking part of the moon out, so it seemed like the moon was rising from the clouds. The picture wasn't the best to show how cool it looked, but it did turn out better than I thought it would. It is hard to get good night shots.
Cuban
Friends of ours that we work with in a unit from Puerto Rico were nice enough to share some good cigars. A pic of the cigar before smoking it last Sunday night, and a pic of me smoking it. It was a good Cuban cigar.
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