Thanksgiving

Well today is Thanksgiving. I got a call early this morning from Sarah, singing "Happy Thanksgiving to You" to the tune of Happy Birthday. It was quite cute and put a smile on my face. We finally got a chance to talk for a few minutes today before she sat down for dinner... It's been pretty tough lately for her and I being so far apart with the holidays coming up. Lots of emotions flowing... But at least she has the promise that I'll actually be there next year. 9 1/2 months to go till I'm back state-side.

Everyone's finished getting moved into their rooms so I'm now able to finally sleep thru the day w/o being disturbed with the noise of folks moving about. Most everyone seems to be happy with the renovations, however there are some folks you just can't please.....

The conference in Qatar went off a lot better than it was seeming as it would. Several people had issues w/ visas and other entry requirements, so many had to cancel. But overall there was much healthy discussion and information dissemination. Plus it helps I got a chance to catch up with Danny and Mike from Kandahar... it really was nice to see them again.

I learned how to break down an AK-47 the other day. Always a useful bit of knowledge. A few days ago I was sitting at the safe house and one of the guards was doing PM's on the weapons so I went out and watched him disassemble, clean, then reassemble the weapons... I watched, but didn't get to touch (touching a weapon = possible/probable termination). The AK-47 is a pretty simple weapon, much like the SKS, with a very simple design. The parts (well depending on the country it's from) tend to be decent quality and easy to manufacture which goes to show one of the reasons that the AK-47 is one of the most widely used guns in the world.

But anyways....

Happy Thanksgiving to all....
-David

Frosty....

Hello All....

Well it's getting quite nippy here in Afghanistan. We just had our first frost a couple of nights ago... Odd because the Weather Channel site said we only hit 41°F... So yes, you can definately feel winter coming on here in Kabul.

Good news. I'm moved(more like, moving) back into Moon House after several weeks of being displaced due to renovations. I've got a private room now with a locking door, quite nice. The major construction was finished two days ago, but there's small projects still left. They just finished hanging the curtains in some rooms and put in one of the water heaters. There's still a bit more to be done, but it's almost complete.

Even better news.... Sarah picked up her wedding dress today! I don't know exactly what it looks like, but supposedly it's somewhat sparkly and shows off her shoulders/arms so I'm figuring strapless/sleaveless... And well I think it's going to be white.... Though Sarah has threatned pink with purple polka-dots.

It's coming up on 1 yr to go for the wedding. I'm getting excited. I'm also getting excited about leave coming up... Can't wait to see Sarah again and hopefully this leave will be a little more relaxed than the last two... Not as much running around flying between different cities and states, however we (Sarah and I) will be quiet busy takign care of wedding stuff and working on buying a house.

Anyways, I'm off to Qatar for a conference this week... Hopefully I'll be able to update my blog a bit more frequently now that I'll be back in Moon House and will have internet connectivity once again....

Take care...
-David