Kyrgystan?

Yeah, that’s what I said too. We were treated to three nights and four days of Club Med ‘Manas’ – all free and complimentary courtesy of the US Army. Now with a vacation package like that generously offered at the end of the year like a bonus compensation just after the end of the year Christmas Party you know something’s up and it doesn’t smell rosy. Where is Manas? Where is Kyrgystan for that matter! Definitely like Club Med – no distractions from the outside world. No phones; No television; No nothin’ at all to distract you from relaxing from the cares of the world. Just imagine a soviet-style forced vacation together with a group of company colleagues being similarly compensated in a location somewhat like Siberia and you wouldn’t be far from the truth. The temperature never rose above freezing and in fact hardly changed at all from day to night while I could never tell if it was truly snowing or if the flakes that wouldn’t melt but just bounced off my frozen face were just old and being blown around by the wind. Accomodations? I’ll attach a nice picture from my top bunk. With jet-lag and the way we had our place was lit I never could tell if it was night or day in that place.

But hey, it was all good. I got to hang out in the snow and to tell you the truth, walking around the first night in the dark with the snow crunching under my feet and moonlight to guide me and the inside of my nose getting that sensation of freezing – it reminded me of cross country skiing at night back home. I had time to hang out with some of the soldiers, I got over my jet lag and they DID have phones and internet to call home and talk to Leigh Anne, Kerrigan and Lily. You had to walk a ways in the cold but you could find 'em and they worked fine. Everyone was in good spirits despite the delay and we finally got on our way to Afghanistan.