Happy (belated) Birthday!  Yesterday, the Marine Corps celebrated its 234th birthday.  Oo-rah and Semper Fidelis.  I tried posting this yesterday, but was having problems connecting to LJ.  I think our connection was acting up.  Given that our ISP is in Singapore, perhaps that’s not such a surprise.

 And Veterans Day greetings to my fellow vets, a number that grows daily.

 Here in Kabul, we celebrated the Marine birthday twice.  The first time was last Friday, when we had a ball out near our fountain.  We didn’t have an interior space big enough, so the Marines rented tents and propane heaters and the caterer did a lovely job of setting up under the tents.  It was a trifle cool, but no one was daunted.  I heard folks stayed until after midnight, but I can't verify that, as I was safely abed by then.

 Yesterday, the actual birthday, our cafeteria made some cakes with the eagle, globe, and anchor (the Marine Corps logo), which was nice.  And they decorated the heck out of the cafeterias.  They had red, white, and blue bunting and stars and Uncle Sam’s hats all over the place.  It all looked quite festive.

 Today, we’ve got a holiday in honor of Veterans Day.  Of course, that doesn’t mean that people won’t be working, but at least they can wear jeans, as long as they don’t have a meeting outside the embassy or with non-Embassy people.  I’m undecided as to whether I’ll go in this afternoon or not.  I do have things I can do here in my hooch.

 As much bad press as Halliburton and KBR get, I have to say that, as usual, the trouble is at the upper levels.  Here on the ground they have an outstanding crew providing our food services, which we desperately needed.  Before they took over in June (prior to my arrival), we had a lot of trouble with people developing illnesses from the food.  And it was over-priced, to boot.  Now we’ve got a good contractor who maintains proper hygiene and with whom we work closely to make sure things stay that way.  And they go out of their way to take care of us, like making the cakes for the Marines.  They’re just terrific.

 Now that I’ve been here a few months, I’ve gotten off the compound a little more than I thought I would.  The high level visitor I was responsible for in September was the Deputy Secretary of State, Jacob Lew.  I worked like a dog, but we had a really good trip and I was able to get out and about.  I’ve now seen the Kabul River, which runs through parts of the city.  We visited the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Finance.  On the second day, I took the party to Helmand province, so they could visit with one of our Provincial Reconstruction Teams (PRTs) and then to the Khyber Pass so he could see how the Border Coordination Center is working there between the Pakistanis and the Afghans.  That was a neat trip and he and his party got the information they needed to take back to Washington, so I can’t complain.

 It really brought home the fact that we’re in a war zone, though.  We used helicopters for parts of the trip.  In order to do so, we had to wear protective armor (flak vests to those of you who remember such things).  On the helo rides, we had gunners onboard, locked and ready.  You could read their body language and tell when we were going through hot zones.

 But despite all that, I was able to enjoy some of the scenery.  The desert here is beautiful.  On the flight to the Khyber Pass, we saw all kinds of mountains and a huge lake, as well as various types of desert (sand, rock) and agricultural areas.  The door gunner gave me his seat for a while so I could take pictures through the open door (he was very careful to make sure the door was closed while we did the switch and he tied me up in his harness well!).  That was really fun.  It was the most I’ve seen of this country.

 I’ve also had my first Rest and Recuperation (R&R) break.  Both the Ambassador and the Department are worried about the strain of working in this environment, so they encourage everyone to get away.  In order to fit in all the trips they allow, you have to start about two months into your tour, so that’s what I did.

 The timing worked out well, because my husband, Mark, was just finishing up his training in Washington and was going to be heading out to Sana’a.  We were able to arrange things so I could be there to help him get ready for the movers, then we flew all the way to Dubai together.  The next morning, I put him on his plane, then hung out at the airport waiting for my flight to Kabul.  It all worked out pretty well and we were able to save the government a little money by paying for only one hotel room in Dubai.

 Of course, I got back just in time for all the commotion about whether or not Karzai would agree to a run-off election once a bunch of votes were thrown out.  Then, in the lead-up to what would have been the election day if Abdullah Abdullah hadn’t pulled out, the Afghans increased security in the city (for good reason).  They banned trucks from entering the city for fear of a bomb.  Of course, that meant things like, oh, our mail and our food couldn’t get through.  We got low on food, but our KBR guys figured out how to keep us going until we could get some food deliveries in.  Their contract forbids local procurement of food, so we really were stuck, in that regard.

 Now that all of that is over, we seem to be heading back into a heightened security posture thanks to the inauguration next week.  Once again, mail is not getting through as it should.  We got a little, but we’re not really holding our breaths for much more until after the inauguration, which is scheduled for November 19.  Oh, well.  At least we still have Internet.

 Kabul can be an exciting place, at times.  Timing is everything -- the bad guys missed us in one convoy because we were not using vehicles they expected to see.  However, the security in the last vehicle saw the fireball and heard the explosion that was aimed at a NATO convoy behind us (this was on September 8).  I didn’t hear a thing, but I was up towards the front of the convoy.  Our security team back at the embassy gained a few white hairs that day.

 I did hear the explosion that killed the six Italians on September 17.  That one rattled our windows.  It sounded as if someone had dropped a really big piece of equipment in the building somewhere nearby and we all looked at each other, hoping nothing more would follow.  I didn’t hear the two mortars that hit the Presidential Palace back in August, which is essentially about two blocks away, but some folks who were outside at the time said they heard them go over.

 I missed one earthquake while I was on my R&R, but felt the second one, which was two weeks ago.  I have to say that sitting on an exercise ball as an earthquake hits is an interesting experience…not one I’d ever expected to have, either.  That one just shook things up a little bit, but wasn’t strong enough to knock anything off the shelves.  My main concern was all the books above the desk where my computer sits.  I’ve been through the pain of trying to replace a keyboard for a laptop and did not want to go through that again.  Take my advice – if you ever need a new keyboard, just buy a new laptop!

 The weather changed while I was on R&R.  By the time I got back, there was snow up on the mountains (we’re in the Hindu Kush mountain range).  There’s more junk in the air, now that people are trying to heat their homes, so it’s not particularly easy to see them, but what we can see of them is pretty, in a brownish-hazy-sort-of-way.  The Afghans burn whatever they can, which, unfortunately, includes dung, so the air is not the healthiest in the world.

I thought it might be useful to check in from Kabul.  I've been here 11 days and already put in more than two weeks' of work.  But, as we like to say -- what else do we have to do?

Life in the embassy here is just that -- life in the embassy.  We live and work on one compound.  It's in two halves, with a controlled access road dividing it, so when you want a change of scenery, you "cross to the other side".  I've done that a couple of times, so far.  Since I'm living in a trailer in the front yard of my office, the commute is pretty short, so getting over to the compound across from embassy (CAFE) side is a big deal!

I can't say the days are full of routine, other than the part where you go to work and eat.  Once you get to work, you never know what you'll end up doing.  In the 11 days I've been here, I've been off compound three times.  I've gotten over to Camp Eggers (a military base of sorts) twice and once to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Unfortunately, both are fairly close, so I haven't really seen much of Kabul, though I can see the mountains in the (not so far) distance when there isn't too much dust in the air.

Perceptions shift when you get into situations like this.  I've experienced this before, in places like Russia and Pristina, Kosovo.  Someone in Russia would say they saw a turkey in a store and everyone would rush over to the store to see if it was still there.  In Pristina, it was things like celery.  Here, we're grateful if they have toilet paper in the Camp Eggers PX...it's the little things that make it easier to deal with the hardships around you.

And for all that, we all realize how lucky we are.  We go to Camp Eggers and we see the young soldiers sitting on or around their vehicles, getting ready to head out for patrol and they look so young.  And you overhear snippets of conversation, like the kid who didn't get a letter from home that week and how bummed out he is.  We've taken to just saying hi and exchanging a few words with them as we go by.  The kids are here doing their duty, but they're so tired.  And they don't get to go home as often as we do.  Seeing them really brings home to us diplomats how lucky we are, with numerous trips home each year and some space to call our own (as small as a hooch is) and an office where the lights stay on and the air conditioning works (usually).  We've got a rather open compound with lawns and grass.  Even the soccer pitches are greens, not browns.

So when things don't go right or you can't get something you need, just think of the kids over here, who can't run out to 7-11 if they want, who don't get a break from the dryness, many of them are here for close to a year and are involuntarily extended frequently, and the dust, and who don't get those letters from home.

I'd suggest sending some postcards -- if you know someone over here or in Iraq or if you know someone's kid, sister, brother, or friend is over here, send them a postcard.  It doesn't have to be a long letter, but just something that says you were thinking of them.  It won't take long, but it really makes a difference to know someone took a couple of minutes just to say hi.

So, now that I've gotten that written out, it's time to go to work.  I haven't had a whole day off since I arrived because of all the work and now I have a VIP delegation coming soon and I have to complete the planning for the trip.  Well, perhaps that a little misleading.  I have to keep revising and updating the plan so that when they take off on departure, I'll have gotten them where they needed to go, they'll have seen and talked with those they needed to talk with, and will have whatever it is they wanted to find out while they were here.  The most important qualification for managing one of these trips is having herded cats in the past.

As they say here, Khudah haafez (Dari for goodbye).

That's me.  Each day, I discover something else about LJ.  Denvention 3 housing issues have been driving my foray into this world.  It's certainly been an interesting trip, so far.  I don't know if I'll be spending a whole lot of time here, but it may turn out to work well for me to report on my trips.  We'll see how it goes.

In the meantime, back to following up on outstanding issues for Denvention.  Thank goodness I've got breaks at work so I can get personal stuff done!