Heidelberg

Heidelberg, originally uploaded by ~*nma*~.

Dre took me to Heidelberg last weekend where we ate lunch outside, drank some beer, people watched (there were lots and lots of people), walked up this monster hill to an old castle...

More photos are here.

We just returned from 3 days in Rome. Pics to come...

Japanese Garden

Japanese Garden, originally uploaded by ~*nma*~.

Woohoo! I'm on leave!

We went to the Japanese Garden in Kaiserslautern (i think I'm spelling that correctly). I also have time and while procrastinating doing homework, I discovered Comic Life on my Mac. Created this little storyboard in about 3 seconds.... fun fun fun.

The rest of the pictures can be found here.

Coffee. And Thai Food.

We've figured it out, Green Beans Coffee has a mafia-like hold over coffee in the camp area... the dfac coffee is awful, thus after breakfast and dinner we'll walk to the coffee container, and spend $ on good {better} coffee. My battle buddy orders a latte and I usually go for the spiced chai. mmmm.





We're still here in Kuwait - though tonight we'll do our pre-travel briefing and then sometime tomorrow we'll be leaving. The camp here has a pretty nice set up, and they try to keep the transient troops entertained - big MWR tents with movie screens, movie watching booths - you can check out a movie and watch it on your own tv/dvd w/headphones, internet cafe, foosball, pool. The USO here is very comfortable... lot of couches, carpet, bean bag chairs... I fell asleep there not once, but twice yesterday.

Yesterday, I went to get a massage (yes, there is a beauty salon here) and the girl who did it was Thai! She was like "we same-same"; she's been in Kuwait for a few years and her sister and brother live here as well. She asked what Thai food I was missing, and this morning she brought me som thom & khao ni aow...never thought I'd get this in Kuwait.

Kuwait. and the Air Force Marathon - backwards.

So...I'm here in Kuwait for a few days waiting to fly out to Germany and I've been trying to stretch the fun I'm having here ... taking my time at meals, sleeping whenever I feel like it, procrastinating on finishing my homework assignment..

Anyway, I traveled down here with another Soldier from Zaytun, and we discovered that there was a 5k Fun Run, so we gave that a whirl - well, we each won if it had been a race! He was the first boy, and 5 minutes later, I was the first girl! Zaytun sweep :)

This morning I decided to run again...went out the little check point, took a left instead of the right we took for the 5k, and I see all these people running towards me. More so than the normal morning run. And most of them are wearing Air Force PT uniforms. And a little bit further, I smiled and waved at this guy and he giggles and says "Hey! You're going the wrong way!" Uh, then I come across a water point. I ask one of the volunteers what's going on and he's like "Oh, its the Air Force Marathon!"

Me and T

Me and Tino, originally uploaded by ~*nma*~.

....well, not only am I missing my korean sister, I'm leaving the guy acting as my older brother! When I return from R&R, T will be on his way back home. While I'm happy he's finally returning to his family (after fifteen freaking months here), I will sorely miss his friendship.

**this was taken tuesday morning, after a nice, slow jog where we argued the first 1/2 mile (as our days usually begin - in argument, just like a brother I imagine) or so, we fell into our usual rhythm of point/counterpoint conversation ..this time about the recent testimony, though usually not about such heavy topics.

My Korean Sister ....

Me & CPT Park, originally uploaded by ~*nma*~.

Went back to Korea!!!

My job (since, you know, the world is all about me) just got, like, a million times harder.

CPT Park was such a delight - each morning she was smiling and had already done the work I was going to ask her to do for the day and had the answers before I asked the question... She advocated for me and my team, fought her staff on my behalf, giggled with me about boys... ah! I'm so missing her right now!

We've got a new group of ROKs in, and I'm just lacking the energy right now to develop relationships... I figure when I return from R&R I'll feel better and a bit more energized... we'll see in October :)

Jonah

This is an old church/temple. Very old. Apparently, this is where Jonah preached God's message to the people of Ninevah. {If you've forgotten your Bible stories, here's the one about Jonah}

Mosul sits in the Iraqi province of Ninewah and a Chaplain told me this Ninewah was the same as Jonah's Ninevah.

Along for the Ride

Truck, originally uploaded by ~*nma*~.

I needed to get to Mosul and another team going to Mosul needed an additional person, so I tagged along. I haven't been in HMMWV in years thanks to working at an Air Force base in my last assignment. It was a relatively short trip - about 2 hours maybe.

We arrived early in the morning and it was like entering a different war. Irbil and Zaytun are so quiet, dark and comparatively safe, but Mosul is a different story. Despite the early morning mortar attacks and constant activity, I was happy to be with Americans and on a larger, more populated camp.

apologies

Yikes, its been awhile since I've posted - I know this b/c the emails have been of the "haven't heard from you in awhile - you ok?" type. Apologies!

I'm up to my eyeballs in catch up work due to a quick trip to Mosul last week to take care of some other work before the end of the fiscal year. I ended up on a convoy with the border team, which, was a first. The convoy was fine, we didn't get blown up (yay!). I did get some teasing - one guy wasn't used to a girl-voice on the radio. Hmmph.

Getting away from my office was a nice break, but being in Mosul reminded me of the good things about Irbil and Camp Zaytun. The daily rocket attacks, the number of people be-bopping around, the constant noise from the airfield and generators - its QUIET at Zaytun.

Pictures soon...