What more could I want: Dancing & Shopping!

Last week our compound received an email about a ‘special bazaar’ that would be on Saturday night. When I got the email I thought to myself that this whole thing sounded lame. Some local vendor must of worked himself a deal to sell his crap two days instead of one day a week. Luckily I decided to check it out anyways.

When I stepped outside there was Afghan music blaring and people clapping. I walked around the corner and saw a huge group of people standing around a live band playing. The band had the works piano, drums, guitar, singer, amps, and speakers. It was the real deal. I walked over to join the crowd and saw a bunch of the local Afghan workers (men) dancing in front of the band while the rest of us (military, civilians, & contractors) were standing in a circle clapping them on.

standing around clapping

The Band

Dancing Workers



It was so different to see the local workers open up and be outgoing. Usually I don’t even hear them speak. Now after standing around clapping for two songs, of which I had no idea what they were singing, I was itching to dance. I had forgotten how much I missed music, dancing, and celebrating. So I used my cruise ship skills and went out to dance with the Afghans. Needless to say 15 minutes later more and more people started to join in. Soon it was a multicultural dance party. I even got the General, SGM, and my boss to dance. It was beautiful to witness and be part of. I finally felt part of a community.

Dancing Circle

Getting My Groove On

Chatting It Up

I was on a high so of course I went shopping and I bought FOUR carpets. The crazy thing about this is that at the time it was 8:30PM!! So I basically bought FOUR carpets in the dark! After that purchase I was the new best friend of the seven brothers selling these carpets such good friends that the dude who sold me the carpets wanted to dance. My reply you ask? I would dance with him but it would cost him $100.00 off my rugs. The man loved it. They love this bargaining thing. I’m still getting use to it. I even took my carpet dude to the JENG General so he could tell my carpet dude to give me a price break if I danced with him. Of course the General said that in America we would call that something else. My reply was thank goodness we aren’t in America. Sometimes I don’t know how I get away with this. It was a great night and I can’t wait for the next one I just don’t know if my wallet can handle it.

Carpet Shop where I spent all my money!

My Carpet Family and the General

Girls School

I have had the awesome privilege of volunteering at an all girls Afghan school. The mission is to create fun and easy English lessons, teach the lessons to the teachers that instruct English, and then have the teachers use the lessons in their classes. I went for the first time this past week and it was very fulfilling. To be able to get away from behind the computer and help out others was a joy.

The school has about 8,000 girls. Each class has approximately 50 students in it. The teachers move from class to class. In the English department there are about 20 teachers. On a trip 4 to 5 volunteers from NKC will go. We have a simple lesson to teach them that we go over before we leave. This time we went over an exercise that teaches past tenses of regular and irregular verbs. We also had a reading exercise that was based on present news stories. Once we get to the school we have to go up to the principal’s office and say hello. They serve us tea and we have casual conversation through a translator. This time they showed us the library as a possible bigger room to work with the teachers. The library was pitiful. It was about nine tall bookshelves with a variety of books. A couple shelves with English books but I found most of them to be too advance reading materials for the teachers and the students. We told the principle it would hard for us to get Dari (the local language) books but we could get English books for the children that were more appropriate for their reading level (approx. kindergarten to third grade would be my guess). So before I go on if you have any books laying around for beginner readers definitely send them my way J ! After our visit to the library we went to meet with the teachers. There were 13 teachers and the four of us crammed into a small room with a wooden picnic table in it. At first it was overwhelming. Everyone crammed in this small space all talking at the same time. The teachers were very excited and receptive to everything we said. I thought they might be shy but they weren’t even close to being shy. They talked continuously and over each other. To be frank they knew more about the English language and its crazy grammar rules then I did but they liked to know what each word meant and how to use it in a sentence. Their eagerness to learn was extremely admirable. We got to spend about an hour with them and then it was time to go. It definitely didn’t seem like enough time. I’m excited to go back. I have tons of ideas and can’t wait to learn more from them.

First War Wound

I was wearing my new expensive Army Combat Uniform on a movement to renew four of our employees Visas. There were five of us total and me being the youngest and lowest ranking (I know depressing, the ranking part) I had to hop in the trunk of the SUV (all the SUV’s have a third row that looks out the back just like a station wagon). In the trunk they have two metal boxes about 1’x2’x1’ I assume they hold communication stuff in them. Who really knows or cares because it is not the point of the story. While I was getting my fat ass out the back I caught my leg on the very sharp edge of one of the metal boxes. So of course I yelped and fell harder into the box tearing a hole in the butt region of my NEW uniform. GGGRRR. So here I am my leg bleeding and bruised and a hole in the butt of my uniform. Not such a great moment. I must say the two drivers found the whole thing hilarious when all four female co-workers are staring at my ass trying to see how bad the tear was. I wonder if I’ll get some kind of award for my injury?

Shower Curtians

Sometimes the days here are long and lonely and you can lose perspective. But then I will get an email from our Garrison Sergeant Major. Who is this man you might ask? Well, he is in charge of ALL logistics when it comes to New Kabul Compound. I'm sure you can imagine some of the emails, calls and run ins he has. Luckily he shares. Below is one of his emails I got today:

All,

Seeing as how I get all sorts of issues vital to National Security placed upon me....and seeing as how I've already solved the vital issue of replacing the rubber gasket on the power washer that the local national workers are using. 

(Now at least most of the water comes out of the nozzle instead of pouring all over the ground...another score.)

It's time for the Shower Curtain issue. 

Contrary to obvious popular belief...I DO NOT have an extra 400-500 shower curtains in my locker...strange as that may sound.  I have already issued out as many replacements as were on hand.  So...here's what we can do.  I have spoken with EcoLog...they will wash your shower curtain and have it back the next day.  They ask that you put it in a separate laundry bag by itself.  Please remember to tell the guy to write "DO NOT DRY" on the slip.  I have already tried this and had no problem.  Your shower curtain will come out clean (probably) and life as you know it will continue to be wonderful and care free.

Your Garrison SGM...making the War Zone a better place...one shower at a time.(of course that's when we have water)

Garrison Sergeant Major

New Kabul Compound

The man cracks me up. Oh and by the way we can't use the toilets, showers, or sinks b/c the truck that empties the septic tank can't get to us b/c all the roads are down. Just another day in Afghanistan.

Work Environment

I work for the Joint Programs Integration Office (JPIO) which is a department under Joint Engineering (JENG). As of now JPIO has about 25 employees but with the plan to withdraw of troops that number is expected to jump quite significantly. Many of the positions within JENG will be replaced with Civilians too. Part of my job is to track the status of hiring within each division of our department. We get our employees from two places the Army Corps through the USACE Deployment Center or the DOD through the Civilian Expeditionary Workforce (CEW). We would prefer USACE because the process is about 60 days as with CEW the average time is 4 to 6 months!!!  I’m still trying to understand why we have to go through CEW and I’m not sure if I will find out the answer. In my opinion some kind of crazy deal was made and now we must work through DOD. Sounds like the typical government to me.

The next part of my day is processing all movements of our people. I have to keep track of where everyone is at all times in case of an attack we have 100% accountability at all times. Now in order to go ANYWHERE people have to take a ‘movement’. The movement consists of a bullet proof SUV and two armed soldiers. I process all movement requests and work with the drive teams to arrange movements. I wrap up my day with personnel paperwork such as everyone’s timecards, travel logistics/paperwork, and pay problems.

As for my working space you could call it miniscule. JPIO has about 8 offices. Each office has at least 3 people working in them. Except our director, who is equivalent to a general so duh she gets her own office. But the other two who have their own office think they are that important.  I sit outside the offices in an open area with 5 other people. Everyone has either a desk with a couple of drawers or what most of us have, me included, is a tall hutch without the doors. It has a surface for your computer and keyboard, a small drawer, and two cabinets above your head. I don’t really like it because the workspace is so small. I love to spread all my papers and files out but here you can’t do that. So my desk looks like a big mess.  The other problem with space is that I have three phones and four computers at my desk too! We have to have a phone and computer for the Army Corps, JENG unclassified, JENG classified, and a computer for movements. The amount of heat coming from my desk could warm a small Afghan family!

Alright after reading this back through I’m bored with it!

Let me try and come up with something more entertaining.

Our office decided to have a Dari (local language) word of the day. We are suppose to use this word as often as possible throughout the day. Well one co-worker, who has been here two weeks and every day he tells us he has to lower his expectations (I think he thought he was coming to the Hilton), gave us a Dari phrase to learn.  It was “tabyah shewai bam chayrtah dai?” Of course we all asked what does that mean and come to find out it means “do wires come from the IED?”

Really?!? That’s the phrase he teaches us. Can you picture me walking up to the dude who serves ice cream and asking him wires come from the IED?  Needless to say that was the end of Dari phrase of the day!

This is a picture from our compound. These are the overflow tents that some people have to stay in if they can find them a room in the dorms. Behind the tents is a local Kabul neighborhood. When I first saw this view I was a little discomforted by how close and vulnerable we are. But we constantly have soldiers patrolling the neighborhood.

It's definitely not boring over here...

Ok around 1PM yesterday, 13 September, the 'big voice' (our emergency PA system) went off and we all had to go to hardstands and put on our protection gear. FYI a hardstand are the buildings on our compound that are built to withstand blasts and bullets; similar to bunker.
At that point I got on Google to see if I could find anything out. As you may know the Taliban attacked several government buildings around Kabul. We could hear some of the fire fighting from inside the building. It definitely freaked me out. So I called Dad (sorry dad!) around 2:30 in the morning his time to wake him up so I could cry a little. My expectations for coming over here was for it to be boring and uneventful. So far none of my expectations have been met.
Around 5:30PM we were still in the hardstands with our vests and helmets on. At that point the only information I was getting was from the internet or rumors around the hardstand. Apparently there were some snipers and suicide bombers taking cover in the construction buildings that are in sight of NKC and the US Embassy.  Our Force Protection guys were hard at work protecting us and the US embassy. I am very thankful for those guys.
Around 7:00PM we could finally remove our gear. I was relieved because I was getting antsy and hot. Plus it was hard to concentrate on work.
It is now 9:15AM on 14 September. We are still required to stay in hardstands, wear our protective gear, and movements outside are VERY limited. I have to be escorted to and from my barracks (which is also a hardstand). Our water has been shut down because our septic tanks are full and no one can come on the compound to empty them. Other than that everything is fine. I am very lucky to be located where I am and have great men protecting me.
Love you all!

Group Shot - Before 'shit' hit the fan.

At the Compound

I have been getting your mail and LOVE it! It's nice to get mail and it breaks up the 12 hour days. Sometimes they go by really fast and other times (like today) they don't. I've been a little homesick lately. I think because I'm having a hard time finding friends. I have really nice co-workers but they are all at least 10 years or more older than me. I'm still meeting people though and I just found out that they do spade tournaments so I'm going to try and get in on that. Hopefully they don't have any manipulators like Amy playing :)

When I finally got to New Kabul Compound (NKC) I was first taken to the JPIO (Joint Programs Integration Office) office where I would be working. I got to meet some of my coworker and met up with Christine Altendorf. She is the one who helped me get the job. I dropped my luggage off and headed to the DFAC (dining facility) for in processing. There I got a sheet of paper with a list of offices I needed to visit. For example the laundry service, mailroom, HR, legal, IT services, and things along those lines. The first thing I did was go by billeting and get a room. I was lucky enough to be able to be housed in one of the dorms. Sometimes when it is overcrowded you have to stay in a tent. Once I got my key I went to my dorm. I would definitely describe my housing building as a dorm. It is three stories with a basement, all females (use to be intergraded but people were not following the rules if you know what I mean), and a public bathroom on each floor. The bathrooms have three showers, three toilets, and four sinks. The bedrooms have two sets of bunk beds and three wardrobes. I was placed in the basement and only have one roommate. When I first walked into the room I was a little shocked. It was a disaster. Now don’t get me wrong I am messy. BUT I am not dirty! There is a difference. My roommate had taken over the room. Her stuff was everywhere on ALL the beds. Plus there were dirty dishes, old food & drinks, and a BIKE in the room. I mean a BIKE! We do have a road that goes around the inside perimeter of the compound. If you go around it three times it is 5K. Can you imagine someone riding their bike around and around the road? CRAZY! I was in shock and by this time it was dinner time and I was exhausted and hungry. I went to dinner and decided that my roommate and I were going to have coming to Jesus talk once I met her. Luckily everything turned out cool and we get along great. Her name is Amanda. She is from Nebraska, divorced, with three boys (who are staying with her ex) and in the Air Force. She is a pharmacy tech and works at the Afghan Hospital up the hill from our compound. She has all kinds of crazy stories about how they treat the sick. Basically if you don't pay people off you won't get fed! They don't sterilize their operating rooms. They don't rotate out expired medicine. It sounds really bad.

Now many of you have been asking what my schedule is like so here is an average day:

0800  roll out of bed put on my DCU (desert combat uniform)*

0815 get to work

1215 drop off my laundry or pick it up from the day before

1220 eat lunch

1300 back to work

1800 eat dinner or go to the gym

1900 eat dinner or go to a bible study

2130 finish work and go to bed

Pretty boring. Sometimes my days differ if I have to travel to a different compound or something but it is basically like this.

Some of my next posts will be about the DFAC, laundry service, gym, my office, mail room, and definitely the Bazaar we get to go to. You can buy all kinds of things for good prices. You all will have to place an order! I still don’t have internet on my iPad but maybe one day I will! J 

*in Virginia during in processing i got issued four sets of DCU. However when I got here to New Kabul Compound (NKC) the uniform is actually ACU (army combat uniform). I'm the only one wearing the DCU. I don't actually care but my bosses do. I really didn't want to spend $300.00 on ugly uniforms so I went asking around to see if anyone had extras. People were very nice and I got some to try on. Of course with my luck. They were either to small (I'm working on that problem) or to short. BUMMER. So I had to go online and order some. Oh well I guess I will be wearing it for the next year.

This is the DCU (above).
This is the ACU (below).

They call it Camp Cupcake but I call it Camp CRAPcake

Qalaa House was a small compound located inside the green zone. I don’t exactly know where the green zone is I Kabul or how big it stretches. I’m still trying to get my directional baring here. It is hard because all the compounds are surrounded with huge walls and on top of those walls are green tarp fences (called sniper blinds). Then when you travel you are in an SUV where the windows are tinted so dark you can hardly see through the windows. It’s practically impossible for me to know where I am in the city. Anyways I digress.

Qalaa House was not my favorite place. It is a predominately Army Corps compound. All the buildings are very close together. You could walk from one end of the compound to the other in 4 minutes and that is at a moseying pace! When I arrived there from the airport the “welcoming committee” did not have their shit together. They had no idea if anyone from New Kabul Compound (NKC) was going to pick me up and basically told me I was on my own until they heard something. Of course here I was in a war torn country where I knew no one, I had just traveled for 24 hours to get there and they couldn’t help me with anything. I felt blessed that they gave me a room to sleep in. Speaking of rooms. I was not expecting what I saw. The “dorms” were basically metal boxes that you see at a ship yard stacked on top of each other with wooden stairs on the outside leading to each floor. The insides were divided up into two bed bedrooms with bathrooms at the end.  Now where I stayed my room opened up to the outside and I had to walk down two flights to the bathroom. Where men and women shared bathrooms. I’m sure I would have gotten use to it but it was shocking at first. I was imaging/expecting an actually building. Not containers stacked on top of each other.

Let’s get into my first impression of the work ethic at Qalaa. The woman who had no idea what to do with me told me that if I needed anything I could find her at either of the smoke pits or at the DFAC (cafeteria). I was like “do you have desk hours?” I mean jiminy crick.  I spent 24 hours there and pretty much observed that people took a lot of breaks! Not the kind of work environment I was looking for.  I shared a room with another lady who was waiting to leave Qalaa but neither of us slept that night. So by the time my people came and got me the next day around 3:30pm. I was thrilled!

My co-worker was the one who came and rescued me from Qalaa House. She told me to pack up my stuff (it was already packed and ready to go) put on my helmet and vest and off we went to wait for Force Protection to pick us up and take us back to NKC. Now please picture me dragging my silver target luggage across gravel roads while wearing my helmet and vest with my new purse strung across my shoulder. I must of looked ridiculous. After waiting on the side of the road for 30 minutes our ride had finally arrived and off to NKC I was bound. (It’s only about a 10 minute drive)

Next blog to come will be about my very messy roommate (yes messier then me) I got assigned to!

Also, I was suppose to have internet and even paid 5000 of some kind of Afghan money for internet in my room. But the darn thing doesn’t work. So I’m taking my loud American mouth back to the provider when he is here on Monday. Wish me luck!

Dubai to Kabul

My flight from Dubai landed in the Kabul runaway on Sunday afternoon.  The terminal looked like a worn down manufacture plant. I disembarked from the plane onto the tarmac and made my way to the terminal where I first had to go through immigration and show my passport. No issues there. I picked up my luggage in the next room where there were about 15 males trying to help me with my luggage (for money of course). I had to be pretty stern for them to get the point (they didn't like that) and ended up being the 'bodyguard' for the rest of my Corps buddies.

 Next I went through customs with no problems. I should have taken pictures of all this but I was preoccupied with trying not to stick out or get pulled to the side for interrogationJ. From there the group and I walked about two blocks to the secured parking lot where our Force Protection caravan was waiting for us. We put on our tan jump suite, helmet, bullet proof vest, and safety glasses. We were given a safety briefing basically telling us what to do if we were attacked on our way to the compound. After that we were assigned SUV’s. I hopped in the back of a huge suburban and off we went barreling through the city of Kabul with lights and sirens.  It was about a 15 minute drive to Qalaa House Compound where we all taken. Most of us were not going to work at Qalaa House this is just where we were taken to be in processed.

As soon as I have it typed I will tell you my adventures at Qalaa House and how I finally made it to New Kabul Compound (NKC). Hopefully pictures will follow too!

Last Meal....Subway

Most of you know my luck with traveling and once again I have been struck with bad traveling karma. I'm sitting on the floor of Dulles waiting for their very common thunder storms to pass so we can board our flight. I have been here since 2pm but spent most of my time at the USO. I love the USO. They are always kind and helpful. a great organization! They even gave me a premier pass so I didn't have to wait in line at security.

Once in the terminal I went for my "last meal" so to speak. I knew my coworkers would appreciate this picture!

I love me some subway!!!

Suiting Up In Winchester

I've made it to Whinchester thanks to Aunt Dorothy and Lauren!
They were nice enough to pick me up from Dulles and drive me to Winchester. While here I have been issued my equipment, seen medical (where I had my anthrax shot), and been briefed on various topics. The hardest part has been getting ready by 6:45AM!!! There are about 40 other civilian employees who are deploying with me. However we all seem to be going to different places within Afghanistan. I can't seem to get pictures loaded to this blog through my iPad (I got an iPad and love it). I will work on that!


Ok I got a picture loaded but it is huge. I don't know how to make it smaller. Grrr! You can see my malaria pills at the bottom of the picture. I have to take those everyday for my entire stay in afghan.

The detials are in.

 I will be departing Sacramento on Sunday, August 14th and flying into Washington/Dulles that same day. I then will have to take a driving service (whoop whoop) from Dulles to Winchester where I will spend 4 days at the Deployment Center preparing for Afghanistan.

On Thursday, August 18 I will fly from Dulles to Dubai.

Now what happens in Dubai I'm not entirely sure. I'm hoping when I get to Winchester they will give me the details on how exactly I'm getting from Dubai to Kabul.

Now in order to prepare for the 14 hour plane ride I have ordered myself a TravelRest-The Ultimate Travel Pillow!!!

I'm excited! They even give you instructions on the different ways you can wear it.

How cool is that. Now it doesn't even matter if I get a middle seat!

The Beginning

"I'm not going to lie" because D.A.D. hates it when I do that. So let's be honest with each other. Writing & Colby? Can we spell o-x-y-moron? 

Therefore,  I've decided to start a photo blog instead. I think I'll be able to keep up with it longer then journaling. Of course the longest journal I have is about 4 entries within the same year so my standards are low. 

See I'm already tired of this writing thing. More to come later. Fingers crossed.