So Far So Good

I can hardly believe it's been almost a month since my last blog entry. I see men around me starting to grow their mustaches for March and I realize time is pressing forward.

A few weeks ago life got considerably better. I'm now in a room that used to be a Col's single room. I share it with my most awesome previous roommate from the room I left, Amanda. For now we are 2 peas in a pod, but our 3rd roommate gets in soon. It's funny to hear myself say "Hey Manda... are you there?" when I get home. People ask me "So how is Amanda?" and now I'm like "Me, or Amanda?" My bed is set up as my cave, with Christmas lights inside. It's heavenly and I am much much happier in this space.

The other day I was coming back from the gym wearing shorts and I was carrying my magazine, a water bottle, my nano, and my ID carrier/"wallet". I was fumbling to wrap my earpiece chords around my nano to consolidate my stuff when an Army Col walked by me and I only saw his rank as he was about to pass me. It was too late to salute so I gave a big head bob and made eye contact to acknowledge him. He turns to me, stops walking and says "Excuse me but WHAT are you supposed to do??" I shifted my stuff to the left and I said, "Salute you sir" then I saluted the douche bag. I felt like saying "If I could f**king carry a bag on this base all my sh*t would have been in a bag and I would have easily saluted you." I think the officer Army rank needs to remain on the collar anyway - it's too hard to spot in their uniform pattern and it blends into the middle of the chest. That kinda crap always leaves me with a "f**k the military" attitude. I never want to be that guy. Do you know how many people don't salute me? It's because people walk everywhere and there are too many people walking by to pay attention to and I realize that. Plus this is a war zone - why are we saluting here anyway???

Work-wise things have picked up. Inpatient care is basically the same, but I've been seeing a few more individual appointments. I've also met the new Army RD here and we are putting our heads together for National Nutrition Month. Some of the FOBs have requested education so I'm setting that up and today I counseled some guys at COP Michegan on the Pakistani boarder in the Korengal valley. That is one of the most dangerous places in this war. There was a movie made about it that we watched in Nut Med a few weeks ago - Restrepo. http://documentaries.about.com/od/revie2/fr/Restrepo_movie_review.htm I wished them well and told them it was an honor to be of service to them. I update FB a ton so maybe none of this is news to my millions of readers. :)  I also was able to go to the Egyptian hospital to help teach their RN staff how to administer bolus tube feedings; there is a bit more to it but somehow it doesn't feel right to blog about the details. Pretty neat experience. The picture I posted online is of an Afghani girl who shook our hands as we walked into the hospital. She just never let go of mine and stood with me for about 10 minutes. When we left she found me outside and tugged at my arm and asked me for money quite forcefully. That left me with very mixed emotions as I left. That was definitely a pinch-myself kind of moment... like, am I really here right now? How did I end up here? Is this my life? Sometimes I can't believe this is my life.

I feel very grateful for my family and friends who have sent me care packages and cards... it means a lot to me. Vegan baked goods make me very happy!  I'm still keeping up my Veg DPG newsletter responsibilities and I'm trying to gather up AD vegans to write a little article about being deployed as a vegetarian. There are plenty of us here. I'll get that done eventually. There has been some talk of force-shaping for officers... I'm not worried about getting booted but it has led me to re-shift focus on school. So back I go to the goal of finishing my masters degree while here. I may have to hold off on my last class until I get home... we'll see how motivated I am. I've met some great people here and I'm having fun. There are days I want to run away, but in some ways, I can't believe how much I am enjoying myself. I have my core crew, and a standard lunch and dinner date that keeps me smiling. I'm very lucky to have built these relationships in Afghanistan. :)