Christmas Overseas

It was a different Christmas this year.  Growing up it was always a beautiful madhouse.  Tons of kids running around, lots of food, never quite.  It was a great tradition.   If only i had the writing ability, i would describe in more detail how great it was, but i dont, so i wont. 

I was able to join some friends from church for brunch, and it was a pretty good brunch.  All the guests cooked something connected with their holiday tradition, it was an interesting potluck.  One guy had this dish that was like eggs, sausage, cheese and peppers mixed up on top of bread.  it was baked like a quiche.  It was my favorite dish.  We also made gingerbread men, and no, the candy beard was not my idea, but it was awesome, so i did it.

settled in

while i can't say i love or hate working nights, im starting to adjust.  Either that or all the sugar from a few candy canes is really helping me stay awake.  regardless, the last two nights haven't been too difficult.  thank you americans who support the military, there are boxes of candy canes and homemade cookies all over the place.

on a different note, i'll be moving to a new apt in a couple of weeks, hopefully close to the new year.  i haven't seen the new place, but i hear its a little smaller.  can't say thats gonna bug me, i have no objects to small living quarters.  my sophomore year i lived in a 12x13 foot room with Joe and i loved  it.  although i wont have a bunk this time, and im sure they will have a queen sized bed, what a waste of space. im pretty sure i'll be closer to greg/becca and scott/sarah, so that will be nice.  i'll also be closer to the mall, grocery store, and papa johns.  i'll say this, the large pizza may be a little smaller than the US version, but they deliver really quickly.  you can get almost anything delivered here.  craving burger king, delivered.  groceries, delivered.  not sure about starbucks, but i only order papa johns and have eaten at least 6 large pizzas since being here.  luckily im working out now.

third night shift

so im 3/4 done with my third night shift, and while i do enjoy the time to read, its pretty boring here at night.  I just finished "Christian Jihad" by the Caner brothers. its basically about the war the "official" church waged against the non-official church (mostly muslims and jews, but also a lot of christians who cared more about the word of God than what the church leaders thought)     im not even catholic, but as a christian i'm ashamed of all the evil done in the name of god. there is a lot of argument as to why the church should not run the state, since man is always corrupted.   its a fairly dry book, as im sure you guessed, but there are a lot of historical accounts that would open the eyes of many americans who think christians have always been peaceful people and the muslims are a warmongering people.  while both sides have killed and murdered, i believe its important to know the past of whatever group you associate yourself with.  in the end, only God can judge.

this is gonna be short

So its 3:11am, my time, and im staying up late because im about the start working the night shift.  I'm about to fall asleep, but thanks to tays reminder, i realized i never posted pics of my loan payoff visual aid.  I got two vases from IKEA in kuwait and a bunch of coffee beans.  I filled one vase up, and as i pay off my loans, im moving the beans from the right side, to the left.  I wont say how much each bean represents, but i have measured how many beans there are in total and how much i need to more, depending on how much i pay.  here is a pic:

new spot

sorry to say nothing exciting going on here, just one update sort of worth mentioning.  with a co-worker leaving, i've started working at a different location my group supports.  its in a different building, and while not always busy, i support a lot of higher ranking army people, so the stress is higher. the room im in is really cool and i wish i could give some details, but if i told you, i'd have to kill you, and i dont want to kill anyone.

hope everyone is doing well and enjoying the snow in TX.

An explanation of why it takes me so long to post pics or mail stuff

A Day in the Shoes of Bobo,

I wake up at 4-4:50, depending on if im gonna try to read before work or shower or whatever.  I get up, brush my teeth, comb my hair and get dressed.  That part might take 10 minutes if i have time, or 3 minutes if i overslept, much like college.

I try to leave the apt by 5, or 5:15 depending on who im riding to work with.

After driving 20 minutes to the base, i spend 20 - 40 minutes in the security check line or getting my car searched.

The goal is to be in the office by 6 where i start fixing stuff, taking a breakfast break around 7.  They have kiwi almost every day and if i get a to-go box, i'll stick 3 or 4 in there and eat them throughout the day.  Free food is only not awesome for my tummy, which likes it a little too much.
Lunch is a little after 12, then sometimes i get a to-go box at 5:30 for dinner or just to snack on during the evenings.

We leave the base around 6:30 and are hopefully back at the apt by 7:15.  This leaves 3-4 hours until i need to get to bed, which is why it takes so long to do anything.  My internet is really slow, but we were told there would be DSL at the new apt which we are moving to next month, but we shall see.

During those 3-4 hours, this is what i do:
Read Network+ or CCNA training books, pretty boring, but required for advancement at work
Hang out with Greg and Becca, always fun
Thurs nights i go to church, im really liking it, very small but close
Read good books (i've knocked out 5 books since leaving TX, its a good feeling finishing a book)
Just got my computer working, but i've spend a few nights working on that
I have the newest, greatest computer game, Modern Warfare 2, but have only played it for about 30 minutes so far, i dont want to get sucked into it, there are so many other things i need to do right now
Work out at least once a week, but like i said, tredmills suck, so do stationary bikes
Chat with or try to skype family, and soon friends, but thats all dependent on the internet.

first kuwait market day

So Greg took me to the friday market last week.   sorry this has taken so long to post. this post will be mostly pics, and im gonna try to edit some of my older posts and add pics.

Here is a pic of one of many overpasses with incorrect spelling.  Not sure

here is a picture of the parking.  this is just a small representation of how dumb this country is when is comes to parking, driving and transportation in general.   notice all the cars on the edges of the pic.  they are all parked correctly, then some guy parks his car in the middle, facing the wrong way.  monkey see, monkey do...

here is a little (maybe 5 ft) guy carrying two seats.  good old philippino workers.  they are everywhere. some will follow you around with a wheel barrel and carry all your stuff.  i also saw a guy carrying three chairs, pretty impressive, but i couldn't pull my camera out before he took off.

here is how many couches they had

 

all of those plastic bags on the table each have a remote in them.  and the TV's are all wrapped in plastic wrap.

here you can get a small idea of how big this place was.  you're looking at most of one roof, and part of another.  there were around 16 of those things.  some with electronics (where all of Americas computers from the 90's went) some had hardware and building supplies.  some had clothing, others rugs, others carpets, others furniture, others couches, others toys, and the rest were just random collections of random crap.

i just thought these water towers looked cool.

and here is a road sign on the way back to my apt.

nothing new

just a quick update to let yall know im still ok. 
oh, and i have another "you know you're in kuwait when...."  there is one radio station that plays garth brooks, then lady gaga, then some arab song that sounds very similar to the intro music of the beloved disney classic, Aladdin.

Weird Kuwait, Part 1

Today i start a mini-series into the odd things Kuwaitis do that may be normal to them, but seem fairly odd to this american.

1)   bandsaws in convenience stores.      last week i stopped at a little shop near my apt to get some instant coffee mix. (i've recently started getting up at 4:10 to read a little before i leave for work at 5 and need coffee and dont wanna wait for brewing or i would make real coffee)   i walk into the shop, its about 10 ft wide and 20 feet long, with two isles, very small and cramped.  I start looking around while hearing a buzzing sound and begin to get a little curious. i reach the end of my isle and turn to see a man cutting a piece of wood on a band saw in the back of the store.  this isn't a lumber store, or at least i didn't see any wood or nails on the shelves next to the food and candy.  I shrug this off and after buying some mix, go to the shop right next door and look around.  it is also very small, and guess what, has a bandsaw chilling in the back.  who knows...

2)  Car party.   i left gregs apt last week after accompanying him and becca to church.  church ended around 9pm and after hanging out at his place for a little over an hour, i head back.  while im walking to my car i hear a bunch of honking and look up to see a guy setting on the window seal of a ford explorer.  one hand holding on the the luggage rack, the other in the air waving with the music.  he's got a bandanna on his head like a thug.  there are two cars next to him who are honking and flashing there headlights and all are going slower than traffic which causes congestion because they are driving side by side.  i catch up with them and like the other drivers, flash my brights to signal "Get the crap out of my way!!!"  (thats a very popular kuwait thing to do, and im certain thats what they are saying when they do it)    i eventually pass them and think, really???


more to come as i witness this strange new world of men in dresses and female ninjas.
(side note: what the men wear is more like pajamas, and im a little jealous.  a lot of americans call the females that dress in all black and seem to sneak around ninjas.  its an awesome nickname if you ask me)

Possible TShirts

found some fun shirts today.  I think im gonna order one or two and mail to blanco to be a nice surprise for me when i get home.

Beards, they grow on you
BeardVember 2009
Real men grow beards
Beard Types

First Day Off

I had my first day off this last wed.  slept in, went on base to get lunch and mail, my computer monitor finally came in and wasn't broke, which was nice, but something else on my computer broke.   It started raining while driving to the base, it stopped a minute later.  The next day it rained for another 2 minutes.  Thats like half the raining season here.  Went to church with greg and becca.  it was a nice service, small, but seemingly had a really close, family like feel.  I think im gonna enjoy being a part of it.

Game Night

last night i hung out with becca and greg, we had tacos (christina, i hope you've been practicing because becca made some great tortillas, you've got considerable competition), which were great, then played a game and talked for awhile.  overall a great night.

news on the mail front, or lack there of i should say, is that 3 of my boxes have yet to arrive.  while my recruiter was very helpful and very friendly, giving me the wrong zip code has caused a big headache.  this sucks mostly because one has my computer monitor. considering the state of the boxes i have received, im preparing to receive a broken monitor and looking for the best replacement monitor to get.  tomorrow is my first day off since being here, so im gonna get my phone, and maybe an aircard to get internet in my apt. 

yesterday i overslept 30 minutes and didn't make it outside to catch a ride to work until 5:30, my current alarm clock is a little speaker plugged into my ipod.  the volume is hardly loud enough to overcome the awesome power and peacefulness of my fan.  i fixed that problem yesterday by stopping by the PX (its the 'store' in the military, they have food, electronics, cloths, and other stuff, the bigger the base, the bigger the PX, the more stuff they have)  i looked for the cheapest ipod speaker setup (i have one of these at home, but i left it because i didn't want to worry about getting a power adapter for it)   the cheapest one turned out to be pretty nice.  2 built in alarm clocks, and aux input so i can plug my computer into it and dont have to worry about buying computer speakers now.  it also can handle 110V and 220V so i can bring it back to the states without issue.

Getting Lost: 101

It was recommended to me by a co-worker that the best way to learn how to navigate a new area was to just drive around and get lost.  You then try to find your way back.  I guess if you have all day and a full tank of gas, thats not a bad idea, but i dont recommend doing it with small back roads.  I pulled into a parking lot hoping to find a decent fan in a home furnishing store.  It was a 4 story place with a lot of good stuff but no fan.  Oh yea, did i mention parking spots aren't always marked? This block had a 50' by 30' plaza like bricked off area on the corner, if your car can make it on the curve, its fair parking.  I generally dont prefer one way streets, but sometimes you just get stuck in them.  After spending 5 minutes driving about 30 yards down one street, and 15 yards down another street,  i see a store with some electronics and a appliance like store next to it, and guess what, there was a spot open so i pull in.  No fan, but i did find a place to buy xbox 360 games for about $3, and a hacked xbox 360 for about $375.  I walked around the shops for a while and was reminded of vacations south of texas. you ever go to mexico and find a long alley with a bunch of little shops packed full of fake stuff?  it had that feeling. I finally find an electronics store with a fan so i try to head back.  After about 25 minutes of driving through horrible traffic spanning a few small one way streets, i find myself on a bigger road but have a very slim idea about where i am since the back roads turned a few times and didn't spit me out on the same road.  After about 15 minutes of driving down different streets, i see the persian gulf and know where i am.  Overall i was gone for an hour and a half, got a fan, found a few neat little shops so it was a good evening.  Big Guy, Mom, if you have any souvenir requests (shirt, coffee mug, shot glass, hookah, tea set,..) just let me know or there's no telling what you're gonna get. 

Got some Mail

So i got eleven of my boxes in today.  Based on the condition of most of them, im thankful most of my boxes have a lot of cloths in them, lots of good padding.  I will hopefully be putting my computer together tonight, but either way, i will be unpacking until i go to bed.  When I get my residency ID card, i will be able to get the internet at my place and will be able to post pictures.  Dont worry, im taking a bunch, but can't post any yet.   

interesting side note, if i watched TV for 4 hours a day, changing the channel every 30 minutes, it would take me 162 days to watch every channel i have access to at least once.   Granted, only like 10 of the 1300 channels i have available are in English,  there are still a lot of channels.  

CRC Day 4 & 5

CRC Day 4
Meet at 9am
....wait till 10am
take bus to med shed
....wait 4 hours
get processed, 30 minutes
...wait 1.5 hours
bus to CCTF, get another shot
....wait one hour
what a day.

CRC Day 5
Meet at 6am
Classes start at 6:30
lunch from 11-12, chicken pesto MRE (not as bad as it sounds, yet i still can only eat 5 bites, not that starving yet)
Classes from 12-6:30
buy a 6-pack of Killians Irish Red ($4.55, what a deal)
go to day room and watch the last 10 minutes of The Proposal hoping to stay or a few hours watching movies, drinking my beer, and snacking on chesse-its, but they put "Drag Me to Hell" on the TV, so no movie for the next 97 minutes.
hopefully something better will be on later.

CRC

its day 3 at CRC (dont ask me what it stands for, i've seen so many acronyms lately i cant keep track)


days 1 and 2 weren't terrible. there is a lot of waiting in lines for an hour or two, then doing one minute of something (sign something, try on something, get tested for something)


I've finish "The Peace Child" by Don Richardson, not a bod book, will post more when i dont have a 30 min comp limit


I started "A million miles in a thousand years" by Donald Miller and will post more on it when i have more time.


I turned 26 today, not a very eventful day, but i prefer it to the day i turned 22 or 23 (sometime in college) and found out i bombed a test i thought i did well on, and had 3 quizes.

With day three over, I'm going to get a 6pack of Killians Irish Red (for $4.55!!!) but dont worry, im only gonna drink a few of them.

Tomorrow is health check day where im pretty sure i have to get the 14 shot smallpox vaccination. Then i get my bullet proof vest, jacket, sleeping system and bags. Likely to finish reading a million miles in a thousand years and start another book. there is going to be a lot of waiting in lines.

i'll post more when i can.