First of all, welcome to November!! It's so crazy to think that I've been over here for almost 4 months, which officially puts me at the halfway mark! I must say, it has absolutely been flying by this past month or so. Maybe it's because I've gotten so involved, but I'm very ok with it. I can only imagine it's going to pass by even faster since I'm taking some college courses out here too now! Needless to say, I've become very proficient at filling up any and all of my spare time so that I'm not bored.
So in between working, planning parties, and just being in Afghanistan in general, one has to find some time to relax! The below picture is from an outing that I took with some of our physicians to one of the coffee shops on base. Who would think that there's multiple coffee shops in the middle of a war zone? From what I hear, they were some of the first things to be built after the barracks...ok, not really, but I'm pretty sure it's the main nutritional source of the military. This coffee shop is about 1.5 miles from my barracks, so I never walk there alone at night, but is a great atmosphere to just go relax. That and they have some of the best stir chai tea that I've ever had- and it's only $1.50! Definitely less expensive than Starbucks! Coming here to just hang out, read, and relax in general (you can smoke cigars outside on the deck too- a new favorite thing of mine!) really lets you get away from it for a bit and put your feet up.
This is Dr. Alexander, one of our anesthesiologists. He was down at Spin Boldak with me.
And one more for posterity showing y'all just how fancy of a coffee shop it is! They have a great little set up, and it really is perfect. It's obviously a popular place to come hang out!
So the Navy's Birthday is October 13, and being a part of it, we held a lovely birthday bash. This was put on by the MWR, with assistance from some of the other associations at the hospital. If you recall, I am the OIC (officer in charge) of the MWR, but I can by no means take credit for this. I'm more just trying to give y'all examples of all the things we do to help boost morale and let people enjoy themselves.
This was the set up for the main part of the ceremony, which included showing pictures and descriptions of all of those sailors we have lost this past year.
These are two of our cakes. I say two because I swear we had 12! We also had ice cream cake- who'd have thought that was possible in the middle of a war zone!!
This was part of the ceremony where we presented the CO with the cake. There are very specific ways of processing in and presenting the cake, and I must say that it was executed beautifully.
The oldest and youngest to the Navy are the ones to cut the cake and then eat the first pieces.
This was the memorial for all of those that have been killed this past year. As each name was read, our second class petty officers marched forward with a set of dog tags with that member's name on it. They then hung the dog tags from the pistol grip on the rifle, as seen below. I most definitely teared up.
So after this picture I thought about it and realized that I probably shouldn't have been smiling, but I didn't have an opportunity to take another picture as we got a little bit busy right after this. There was brunch with plenty of fresh fruit, near beer, and ice cream cake. What more could one ask for?
So a little bit of time passed, and that brings us to Halloween. Our party was an absolute success!! Thank you to everybody that sent along decorations- they went to very good use! The MWR decorated the British Gym, and it was really well planned. Everybody was able to let loose and just enjoy themselves. The party went off without a hitch, and we received compliments from everybody that attended. There was a fantastic turnout for it all, and it only makes us that much more excited for our Thanksgiving and Holiday (Christmas and New Years Eve) parties! This is where the picture overload comes into play, just as a forewarning. I'll do my best to give quick descriptions, but otherwise just enjoy! This is Halloween Kandahar style! (which basically means that we were all packing, no matter what costume you were in!)
This is one of the OR nurses, Glenda, and I! We've been together since training in LA
Another one of the OR nurses....notice the change in accessories? And no, I don't in fact have a mustache- just a mustache on a stick!
Sorry about the glow from the reflective belt- that's going to be a reoccurring theme. That's the dance floor! We also had a projector showing scary movies, and a whole bunch of tables with different games at each.
This is one of the nurses that I currently work with on the ward. If you watch True Blood at all, you should recognize his drink, but it's just adding to his vampire costume essentially. It's a blood orange drink, modeled to look like the blood that's human friendly that the vampires drink on the show. Also please notice the 9mm pistol sticking out from my tutu....I personally found it comical!
This is our CO, CAPT Zinder, telling us all to have fun! The costume he ordered apparently never came in, but he did a great job on short notice with very limited supplied!
So these are two of our physicians dressed up as detainees. . .it's slightly comical, but it might just be an Afghanistan thing! Basically the patients we have that have been injured by NATO troops that may have information for our guys are taken care of on our ward until they are able to be transferred to a detainee facility. Whenever they're transported within the hospital they wear blacked out goggles and ear pro, as well as always having at least two leather restraints (one on an arm, the other on a leg).
These were the costume winners!! The "Combat Care Bears" is actually our mental health department. They all went in together on it, which was so cute! There's also a "cereal killer" with little knives stuck into small boxes of cereal and Heman.
These are two of my good friends- Dr. Watson on the left and Lee Ang, an ICU nurse, on the right. If you notice Lee's sign, it says Upper GI. If you think about it, there's two meanings to that. . .do you get both of them?
This is CAPT Hatala and I. She is our Director of Nursing out here in Kandahar.
Nurses picture!!! I must say, I think the nurses had the best showing with costumes!
This is one of our Australian ICU nurses, Marty. He's so nice, and put up with holding up the mustache on my insistence!
This is our neurosurgeon, CDR Tomlin, dressed as Lance Armstrong. You might not be able to read the yellow bag that he's holding, but it says Erythropoetin. . .too soon? I don't think so.
And then there was a showing from the Village People!! And of course Wolverine. They were having a dance off! These are two of the other MWR committee members, and we all had a blast!
CDR Wolfe and I- this one's for you momma!
So this is our Master Chief and I. I didn't get the reference, but if you play HALO, that's Master Chief from Halo. I thought it was clever! And then we got photo bombed by what I would describe as a somewhat creepy costume!!
LTJG Akanu and I; he's our PAO (public affairs officer). His camera died and he needed to use mine, so that's where most of the next pictures come from!!
HM1 Hatchett and I. He's the senior enlisted leader for the ward, and he has the perfect personality to pull off that costume!! It was so much fun!
Me and one of the care bears!
So enough of the close up, good people shots. Onto the games and dancing!
One of the activities was tricycle races, and yes, they're children's tricycles. It was hilarious to watch people do their best around this small course, but most people ended up on the ground at one point or another!
The radiologists dressed up as boxers from the Rocky movies. The guy in the white robe is actually Russian, so it only made sense that he was the Russian boxer!
Aladdin and I!
Now onto the dancing!!! Most everybody participated, which was so great to see people just be able to let loose like that. Most of these don't need any explanation, so please continue to enjoy!!
After that came the electric slide, the Cuban shuffle, and all sorts of other dances that get people involved!!
And last but not least, a group shot of all of us that were in costume and still present at the end of the event!! It's amazing what all people came up with out here! It really was a blast, and it just goes to prove that you can have fun no matter where you are- even in the middle of a war zone!
And here's everybody that stayed till the bitter end! I think we had about 150 people at the height of the party.
That's it for now. . .but definitely not everything that's happened since I updated y'all last!! Standby for awesome pictures from visiting the Belgian Air Wing. Can anybody guess/share what kind of planes/jets/helos we may have been able to see?
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