I let the days get away from me and I’m a week into my Gamberi trip. I’ve been going a little stir crazy without the Internet but I went without it before during my early days in the Navy. After having it though it gets harder to go without. I got to use it for a moment yesterday on someone else’s computer but the connection was beyond slow. It tests the best of patience but I at least got to post on Facebook that I’m fine.
I’ve been busy writing stories and taking lots of photos of different events for briefing the Brigade leadership. It’s been good to stay busy but I’m ready to leave this place. I’m even more ready for my move to Kandahar after the New Year because that means I’m past the three-month mark and I’ll have about four months to go. I can start saying I’ll be home this year and stuff like that. I watched a lot of movies today because I was given the day off by my Major since the ANA soldiers don’t do any training on Fridays. I finally got to watch the rest of “The International” and it was a good movie. I had started watching it when I took Sari to visit her Auntie Sarah in Malibu but Sari got very sick and I had to take her home and to the emergency room. I’d been hoping to see the rest of it at some point. I’d recommend it as a good action spy type movie.
In the movie one of the characters says something that has stuck with me, “Sometimes a man will find his destiny on the winding road he took to avoid it.” I figure sometimes you find your destiny after running headlong into it. Always in the back of my mind is the thought that I had made so much happen so I could come to Afghanistan that I hope my destiny isn’t to perish here and never see my daughter again. It would be like I asked for it or something. Not that signing the dotted line of a military contract isn’t like asking for it too but I pushed really hard to make my coming to Afghanistan happen and I hope I don’t have to regret it. The last couple days that I haven’t written about weren’t as active as the first few but there are some things to write about.
I got hit in the face yesterday with a soccer ball about 20 feet from the goalie when he kicked the ball back out toward the infield. It stung and brought tears to my eyes but nothing was broken or bleeding. I walked it off a little bit and then I got back in the game however I didn’t have much of an active role anyway. The Afghan interpreters and soldiers were hell bent on kicking each other’s asses and I’d have been collateral damage. Oh wait I was collateral damage. The goalie, who was an ANA soldier, felt really bad about hitting me with the ball and kept apologizing and then finally he let me kick the ball for him to the infield. I kicked it to one of my teammates so I felt I had contributed something to the game. I suck at sports and maybe that’s why I’m a good sport about losing.
After a volleyball game earlier in the week with the ANA General, he told me that he was purposely avoiding hitting the ball in my direction because he didn’t want to hurt me. I don’t like for guys to hold back when they are playing sports with me but I’m glad I didn’t take a ball in the face by him because I probably would have a broken nose or black eye. I join in for the camaraderie but if I think I’m a handicap to the team then I’ll make an excuse to step aside so they can do their best.
Everyone has been pretty nice here but I think the Army guys aren’t sure what to think about me though. I hang out with the terps a lot and work side by side with the Major and the Army bosses so I don’t spend a lot of time around the soldiers but I’m always smiling and saying Hi. Still, I get the feeling they think I’m being snooty or something. I like the terps though and I can hang out with Americans whenever. I won’t get the chance to learn and experience the things I have if I just hide among my peers all the time. I’ve been learning Dari, the dominant language of the Afghans from the terps and they are so funny. They have a good bond among them and they treat me well. I enjoy it. They were impressed that I didn’t take off after getting hit in the face with the soccer ball but that I came back in the game and continued on. They joked that I’m a soldier first and a woman second.
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