Two farewells - but my relief is here!

Lots of pictures for you tonight - hard to believe this is my 50th blog post! OK, that may not be a lot to other people, but it sure feels like a lot from this end!

Steve, one of my good friends who came through the training pipeline with me all the way from San Diego, is now happily on his way home. BBF! (inside joke, sorry!) Steve put in more hours than anyone I know, and that's saying a lot! He's off to another school before heading to his new job - best of luck my friend!


This was also the week that my boss Caren departed. We had to "suffer" through a week of three Afghan meals (delicious!), a movie night featuring all the chocolate ice cream we could stomach, and lots of people showing their appreciation for the great work she's done here. Below is a picture of the food our Afghan interpreter brought in (and no, we couldn't finish it all, but we gave it a credible try!). It's a tough job, but someone had to do it! :)


And one of the many farewell pictures taken this week. This is the two of us in our mentee's office with our co-mentors from EUPOL (European Police Assistance Mission to Afghanistan), Kari and Konrad. Safe travels Caren - I'm sure our paths will cross again!


But of course with the departures comes new arrivals - including my relief, Dave! Here we are back on top of one of the buildings at the Ministry (this is becoming a tradition!). Welcome Dave!


We also had an incredible opportunity this week to climb Mt. Ghar, a nearby mountain. It may not look like much, but trust me, it was a challenging hike! It's not Fuji, but it was a great escape for a little while...

Here's our group of intrepid climbers. This was a great mix of all three of our SJA shops - a good chance to hang out with other people I don't normally get to work with on a daily basis.

And finally, I'll leave you with the view we had the privilege to see. Yes, we really were that high! :)

In memoriam

Mr. Shawn Pine

1LT Roslyn Schulte

Conference

Scott and I were lucky enough to participate in a Rule of Law conference up at Bagram this past week. Besides being a fantastic conference, it gave me a chance to say goodbye to a few people that I don't get to see very often. I was also able to catch up with a few others that I hadn't seen in a while - funny how we all seem to run in the same circles (and "see" each other in emails all the time) but often our paths just don't cross.

Anyway, I ran into Rebecca while I was there. Rebecca has been serving as an advisor to the newly-formed Afghan Independent Bar Association. Getting the bar association up and running has been a huge achievement, and I'm sure Rebecca has played a big part in that. She just found out that she has been accepted for the LLM program at Harvard (wow!) so she will be leaving here a lot sooner than she had first planned. Best of luck Rebecca - and give me a call when you get to Boston!


We had absolutely beautiful weather for the conference - nice enough that we had lunch outside. Kicking back in the rose garden with Scott...

After the conference it was back to work as usual. On one of our trips, our usual vehicle was not available and we had to borrow this Land Rover. Now, I have nothing against Land Rovers, but this little one was definitely not made to carry people in full battle rattle. If I only had the video of us trying to get in and out... :)



I splurged a little bit at the bazaar this week, and finally bought a painting I've had my eye on for a little while. Here I am pictured with the painting and with the artist - and yes, all that work behind him is his. Very, very impressive... The mosque in the painting is one that we've actually driven by, so I have a little bit of connection to it.

Unfortunately, my pictures took forever to upload tonight, so I'll leave this short post with just a couple more rose pictures. The entire base is in bloom in so many colors - and they just look so perfect that I have to stop and take pictures... and share them with you!

Coming to an end

The days are flying by as I'm starting to wrap things up here. I took a quick picture of the wall over my desk - thanks to all the kids that contributed artwork for me to display! :)

The thought of leaving here is finally settling in. One person from my training group has already left, a couple leave next week, one the week after that... and then comes my turn! :) My roommate received her end-of-tour award at a ceremony this week. Here she is being congratulated by MG Formica:

She's been a great roommate - I know I probably won't get that lucky once she leaves, but at least my next roommate will only be for a short while!

We had another delicious Mongolian barbeque meal prepared by Drew tonight, and he was sporting a great new apron. It says "Camp Eggers, home of the Drew-burger." I told him I'd make him famous, so here goes!

Had a chance to finally do some rug shopping. I ended up buying just a small one - so many beautiful ones to choose from, but it's really hard to decorate from so far away! I felt like I had a "real" Afghan shopping experience - I was even invited to have chai with the owner and his son (SO cute!).

And, as promised, the roses are really starting to bloom all over the base. Here's my favorite picture so far:

We're in the middle of turnover with my new boss, and my relief is now on this side of the world. Stay safe and we'll see you soon Dave!

Milestone!

A little bit of news to report this evening - would you believe this little blog has now registered over 1,000 unique IP addresses??? That's either a whole lot of people reading (well, at least checking out!) or a small group of people have been very busy logging in from a bunch of diferent computers! :) Kind of mind-boggling when you think about it... Anyway, just a quick "THANK YOU!" to everyone who is keeping up with my little adventure - and especially to those who forward the link on to others. I really appreciate it!

Just one funny picture to leave you with - I don't know about you, but this doesn't look at all like a comfortable journey to me! :)

Yet another farewell

Yep, another farewell. It was Martin's time to go today. He returns to Canada where I'm sure he'll do great things. He worked on the Afghan National Army (ANA) side of the SJA shop, so I didn't get to work with him directly on many things, but he certainly made my life much easier when it came to sharing our vehicle with them! The Colonel on the left runs the ANA shop (much like my boss runs the Afghan National Police (ANP) shop). And yes, that's an Arkansas hat - she's very proud of her state!


But with all the farewells have to come a few hails - and my boss is very happy that her relief is here! Welcome Scott! He's been here about 48 hours now, but he's handling the jet lag and time changes much better than I did!


Springtime in Afghanistan definitely means roses. The bushes are everywhere - I think it's just a matter of days before there is an explosion of roses. But, I managed to find this one hardy little flower a few days ahead of its peers:

We observed a multi-national prison assessment this week. They were focused on the actual prisons run by the Ministry of Justice, but while in Kabul they stopped by the detention center that the Ministry of Interior runs. We've been there many times, but it was an eye-opening experience for most members of the team. During the visit, this teenage kitty decided it wanted to get up close and personal - he/she actually came right up to us, but by the time I got the camera out it was time to go...


As part of that same assessment, we were privileged to conclude our meeting at the British Embassy. As you'll see below, the Brits don't have the same prohibition on alcohol that we do. Talk about rubbing our noses in it! :)

All in all, it's been a good week. My relief is now in the training pipeline. Dave, take care of yourself and don't get hurt! I'll see you in just a little while...

Spring is here!

Spring really is here! We've had entire weeks without rain (although I have to admit it's pouring at the moment!), the sun has been shining, and in general the weather has been really pleasant.

I've been asked what driving in Kabul is like. Let me first explain that they don't need driver's licenses. :) Then I'll explain that the traffic can really vary by day - the same trip can take anywhere between ten and forty minutes depending on what is going on in town that day. I took this picture (not while driving!) a few days ago - this is pretty much typical in the areas we go. And yes, it really is that dusty!



A quick pic of one of the local artists from our mini-bazaar. I haven't decided if I'm going to bring any home with me, but it's interesting to look!


A few spring pictures for you. I managed to catch this one at the Ministry where we mentor.


We were pleasantly surprised to find a lilac grove next to our basketball court. I have to admit I detour regularly there now - these smell SOOOO good! Not bad to look at either!

I'm afraid I don't have good news about the little garden. I went to see it a couple of days ago and there's nothing in bloom. A few grasses are hanging in there, but it doesn't look good...

My boss and I are getting ready for the arrival of our reliefs - hard to believe it's that time already! Her relief will be here shortly, and mine should be here in a few weeks.

But of course with new arrivals come farewells. Barbara left this week. :( This is a pic of her and me on her last Friday, which of course we spent outside making jewelry! Hopefully she is home now with her husband and two beautiful daughters. And yes, we really made a mess. :)

I would say "fair winds and following seas" - but since she's in the Army that probably doesn't mean as much to her. :)

I'm afraid not much else going on here. We're having great success with our training program and things appear to be clicking on all cylinders for other projects. That's not to say the job is easy - but I finally feel like I'm getting a better handle on things (of course, as it's almost time to go!). Pretty typical around here I guess... :)