I wrote this in Afghanistan, it chronicles my travel to and 1st day in Afghanistan. After 3 journal entries, I became too embroiled with everyday business to write anymore. I had to vegetate and decompress in order to keep my sanity.
This was one of the best and worst years of my life, which will be explained at a later date. Note I left this how I originally wrote it, incoherent.
24 Oct 2011
Afghanistan Day #1
Afghanistan what can I say; it’s about what can expect, it’s like any other army/airfield in the middle east. It's dirty, dusty and 8,000 miles from home. Had what I hope was my only glitch of the trip (it wasn't). Emirates air lost my bag with all my clothes. Oh well, add that to my list of things that will keep me busy for the next 364 days.
The trip seemed fast actually, although it took 3 days of travel minus the 9 hours that Afghanistan is ahead of the states, the day here is almost at an end when it is just beginning in the states. The trip from Houston to Dubai took nearly 15 hours luckily Emirates Air is an outstanding airline, heck all the liquor and beer you could drink for 15 hours. The flight being half full made it a lot more comfortable. Needless to say, it is the last drop of alcohol that I will have until I leave to go on vacation which is in about 6 months.
After landing in Dubai in the early evening it was an adventure at the lost luggage section talking to a luggage clerk in broken English who ensure me that my bag would be here in a few days and they would send it directly to Bagram. After getting to the hotel and having a great buffet dinner at the hotel restaurant, which consisted of stuff I had never had before with a definite Middle East flavor. The one thing I have learned about middle eastern food is that there are a lot of vegetarian choices which are actually very good, but the lamb meatballs in curry sauce were the best thing I had all trip.
After tossing and turning for 3 hours at the Dubai Holiday Inn Express, it was time to get up at 2 AM to make my 6 AM flight, shared a cab with another expat on the way to the airport going to Mazer Serif, on the same flight. He was a big help navigating terminal 2 of Dubai International; it made his stories of his messy divorce bearable.
The flight into Bagram was stunning how a country that is so beautiful be in such turmoil and strife for so many years. After landing in Bagram it got off the plane and line up by what Forward Operating Base (FOB) you were assigned too. The biggest group which I was in was staying at Bagram which is about 30Ks north of the capital of Kabul.
There was another group that was boarding plane to leave Afghanistan they had a look of joy on their faces some running to get on the plane. I guess the beer they serve on the outgoing flights might have something to do with it.
I had a group coworkers meet me at the DFS terminal that included the person that I am replacing We stopped at the PX right away so I could buy what necessities they had until my bag or boxes arrived from the state. I got to Skype with Terri in Dubai before the flight into Bagram she has two boxes in the mail for me of clothes. It should be here in about 7 days.
The first day was a whirlwind in which, I got most of my in processing done and most importantly got my network access request completed. I finally got to my room about 7 PM it was a long day made my bed stuck my stuff in the wall locker and took my first crap and shower in Afghanistan. Tomorrow I will get my office set up and start working; although the conditions are harsh I plan to make it an enjoyable year.
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