Thursday, November 27, 2008

Thanksgiving in Iraq

Another milestone has been passed during my time here in Iraq. I was here last month for Halloween as well, but this holiday brought a more acute feeling of being apart from home. I've grown accustomed to having to choose a family to spend the holidays with, but this year I'm away from everyone. I'm still feeling okay. I'm surrounded by my brothers in arms, and that's good enough. In the morning, I attended a special mass for Thanksgiving, and spent a few minutes afterward talking with Fr. Hotel and a few of the other church-goers. I'm really starting to feel friendships building there. It's great to have another group of people out here to have for company.

After church, I worked for a couple of hours, and then Sgt. Rhino sent us home and closed up the shop early. There were few people in the offices anyway. The dining facilities (DFACs) put on a royal feast, as they usually do. It's one of two days that the military cooks put on their white chef's coats and cook their gourmet dishes. There were decorations everywhere!

I've been doing my best to get into the holiday spirit. It's not very efficient to get a lot of decorations to put up here. I would have to buy them here or have them sent from home, put them up for a couple of weeks, then either ship them home again or throw them away. But I have found a good way to remind me of the season. Using my Rhapsody subscription, I've been listening to a lot of Christmas music. One of my favorite CDs has been Mistletoe and Wine from the Mediæval Bæbes. The group is a small choir of women with a little instrumental accompaniment, and their music is reminiscent of very old church music and chants. A few songs are even in Latin and French. If you can get a hold of it, it's certainly worth a listen.

Thursday, November 20, 2008

Pros vs GI Joes Photos

I've updated my Kuwait photo gallery with pics from Pros vs Joes. Check 'em out!

The GI Joes

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Advancement

I've got tons of exciting news (exciting to me at least), and I'm sorry I haven't written sooner. You have to believe I've been busy! To begin with, I finally passed my physical fitness test a couple of weeks ago. It has been about three years since I've passed one, and my career has been in a holding pattern because of it. But after two months of steady work, I finally managed to earn a pass, and actually scored well!

A couple of days later, I was elated to learn about the good consequences of passing. My commander decided that I had shown good job performance and was an outstanding soldier all around, and since my PT was finally in order, he decided it was time for a promotion! So now, I'm earning a little more money and have a little more rank on my chest.

Not only that, but as a reward for my hard work, I was selected to accompany SGT Yankee for a mini-pass to Kuwait. Normal passes are 4 days in Qatar, but this time we were sent for a special MWR mission: a chance to participate in an event by Pro vs GI Joe! They are a wonderful organization with a great idea: they get pro athletes together to play a few rounds of video games with soldiers all over the world via the internet, and even get the soldier's families involved! SGT Yankee arranged for his family to fly to Tampa Bay for a couple of days to watch the match. For me, it was just a couple of days off, but I did get a chance to play. Our internet connection held us back, but it was a fun event overall. You can read a little about the event here.

Beyond that, the office has been relatively busy. We've taken several new units under our care, so business is booming. I'm still taking the RCIA classes, and I'm still enthusiastic about the whole process. I've signed up for a couple of computer courses that should prepare me for several certifications, although I'm not sure if I can use the college credit towards my degree or not. The format of the classes will be interesting, though. Rather than local teachers or mail correspondence, the course will be delivered by videos on an iPod, with an online system to submit homework and get instructor help. I'm not sure how that will work out, but it will be interesting to try. If I don't enjoy the iPod class delivery, I'll copy the course DVD from the field rep, and get a free iPod out of the deal.

Monday, November 3, 2008

Internet

We have liftoff. The satellite has been working for a few days, and the wireless network has been set up. However, we still have some kinks to work out. The wireless network has potentially saved us many hours of digging trenches and laying wire... that is, if it works. We've been having issues getting it to reach all the way into the chu's, which are big tin cans and don't allow the signal through very well. As I type, I'm sitting outside, and getting a few weird looks from people passing by. But it's a small sacrifice for internet.

I realized that the internet is a little like a drug for me. I never realized how much I relied upon it, but when I'm home, school, or work I have a high-quality connections with very few restrictions. But when we first got here, we had the office internet, which is very restrictive and in a public setting, or the internet cafe, which is a little bit more open but still very public. When I'm posting personal pictures in the cafe, it's awkward to be sitting there, shoulder to shoulder with a couple of Ugandan security guards. So with the drug analogy, it's like I've been on a low dose, a phantom of what I'm used to, whereas the satellite is like getting the real stuff back.

Speaking of posting pictures, I've updated the Kuwait gallery with more pictures, as well as finally created an Iraq gallery. Feel free to peruse them!