Mid December

A good, or in my case, passable (but barely) blog involves two major components.

1. A writer
2. A reader

I have not been a very good #1 lately, and my December totals are suffering. I really wish there was more to talk about though, its just been that sorta time around here. I do have to put a little bit of blame on you (#2 in this case) as well. You can annoy me incessantly until I starting writing again!

Last night we did something fun in the room. Bob got a whole bunch of boxes with candy, snacks, toiletries etc, so we put together little gift bags for the enlisted guys that we work with in the ANA. These guys get paid the least, get the least and do the most work. Anyway, we gave them some socks, gloves, toothbrush, toothpaste, soap, shampoo etc. and then the usual collection of candy and gum. The ANA is issued a pack of toiletries every month, but they are really low quality and often they don't get them if they run out. We figured they would appreciate something like this, and no surprise, when we gave it to them, they really enjoyed the Christmas present concept! It was nice to help them out, because at least in my case, I mess with them a lot and they have to put up with me!

The people keep pouring in here, especially the Navy variety. Our small group of 7 has turned into close to 30 now I think. The good thing is that a large group of the American mentors for the ANA have gone east for the next 6 months. At least it thins out this place a bit, we were bursting at the seams. Another camp expansion is in the works, this time the walls come down again and we participate in another land grab. I won't recognize this place by the time I leave!

11 more days to Christmas!

Gary

Christmas is coming!

Bob got a Christmas tree. Not a plastic put it together tree, but a real honest to goodness blue spruce. His mom found some organization that donates them, but she had to mail it here. It really did pretty well for being in the mail for a week or so. We put it in our Navy B-hut and water it daily and its still looking really good! We got lights and ornaments the other day, so we have now added all that! I also put up some Cardinal lights Kara sent, to add to the ambiance. Its a great atmosphere in the B-hut now when we have the lights off. It makes it feel like a little more like the holiday season, and I am pretty sure we are among a handful of people in country with a real tree! Our Christmas tree has a first name, its S-P-A-R-K-Y, our Christmas tree has a second name its - never mind, no second name. We DO call him Sparky though, only because some of the worriers in the group thought it was unsafe to have a real tree with lights in a what basically amounts to a building made of kindling. What's Christmas without a little risk of fire?

Sad note: We had to get rid of our dogs. Rule #1 in country is no alcohol, sex, pornography, and evidently no pets. The new generals in the region decided to crack down on rules, which from what I understand have always existed. What is really crappy besides the fact that we really enjoyed having dogs around is that we were close to them and that they actually did work for us. They were great guard dogs and spent their evenings walking the outer walls of the camp barking at and drawing attention to movements. It was fun having them around, feeding them and occasionally inviting them in the B-hut. Thanks for the good times Scruffy, Ashley, Angel, Petey and Boomer. Can't possibly have any good deals over here, the morale suppression team is in full force.

It's stayed cold here, winter has arrived earlier than usual and colder than usual. I expect this to last until I leave in late spring. I guess as long as the wind stays in check, I can deal with the temps.


Pictures of the Christmas tree are here.

Tangi Kalay Visit

We went over today to visit Tangi Kalay, I think I mentioned that in my last blog that the plans were in the works. It was a much smaller controlled visit, I didn't bring the remaining items, I just brought the Build-a-Bears that the company sent me. It worked out really well as every kid got a bear, dog, rabbit etc, and I even had a couple spares left over that I left for Debra to give out to some kids she knew would really enjoy them. Again, its such a blast to give stuff out to these kids, and I will upload the pictures tomorrow and you can see some of them with their bears.

With this trip, I have been out of the camp twice this week....it's good for me though because I was going stir crazy.

Our new Marines are pretty much wackjobs, they are trying to change all sorts of stuff about the camp with no real thought as to its long term effects. I am happy that I am past the half way point and I get to get out of this mess. Ideally they figure out what they are doing before they cause too much damage, but I don't hold out hope.

I uploaded a couple of pictures that Steve took of our first snow storm. Huge flakes, but none of it stuck. The mountains all around us still have snow all over them, but we are a couple thousand feet lower, so ours melted away. No idea when we will have snow on the ground that stays permanently.

That's about it for now, it's been pretty slow!

Gary