A Day in the Life..

Hola again, so I was thinking today that instead of telling all about the missions I have been on, 3 since my last post all of which went smoothly and safely, I would tell you basic stuff about KAF and daily life. I don't think I have done that yet, so here you go!

Living quarters

As most of you know, we live in CHUs or containerized housing units.  Basically, they are a 18x8 room where we live.  We live with 2 other people, so 3 people to a room.  My roommates are PV2 Anders and PFC DeLong, its very tight quarters with such a small room and 3 people but we make it work.  I have the single bed and DeLong and Anders share a bunk bed, I pulled the rank card so I win.  The beds are pretty comfortable, at least I made mine comfortable by buying a foam mattress topper and sheets (Thanks Caca!).  We have a TV, fridge, microwave and PS3.  The most important thing is that we have AC that works very well, if not we would be dying from heat exhaustion in here!

KAF's wonderful Amenities

So for laundry you really have two options, self service or full service.  I usually always go full service because its fast and easy.  We got issued laundry bags when we first got here and as long as its under 5lbs they will get your dirty laundry back to you within two days and it's free.  The drop off point is right down the street, path or whatever it is these are called, so you can walk to drop it off.  

The food when we first got here was pretty good, I don't know if it is because we have been for about 2 months or if the food has gone downhill but it is getting pretty old.  It is pretty much the same thing on a weekly rotation, some sort of chicken and rice, potatoes, sandwiches and things like that.  I will say that the pulled pork is VERY good, definitely my favorite thing on the menu.  They also have the boardwalk which has some restaurants like Fridays and KFC and some food stands but its insanely expensive and somewhat of a walk so not really worth it. Just recently they opened a few places just past the chow hall you can eat.  There is a Pizza Hut, Burger King, Popeyes and some other place I can't remember what it is.  I had pizza from Pizza Hut and it was pretty good but again expensive so I won't be eating there very much.  Now that they made us wear full uniform the chow hall busines has slowed but I still go most of the time. 

The gym isn't too far from here, probably about a 10 minute walk or so.  I go several times a week when I am not on mission or doing some stupid detail I got put on.  There is the MWR gym which is the one I goto because it is closer and has everything I need.  There is also a NATO gym for coalition forces which I hear is nicer but I haven't been, I don't see the point of walking past a gym to go to another gym. 

The showers and bathrooms and attached to our CHUs on each side.  Its basically two CHU rooms for the entire side of the CHU complex.  It isnt too bad, somewhat community oriented which is the norm in the military but each shower is an individual stall so thats cool.  The only bad thing about the showers is that the water comes from a water bladder, its kind of like a big bag that gets refilled every so often, not really sure.  That means that sometimes you run out of water which SUCKS.  I was coming off mission one morning and all I wanted to do after sweating and driving for a long time , was to take a shower.  You know the rest, no mas agua.  It was upsetting but it could be worse. 

We have shopettes around to buy some supplies like hygiene items and some food stuff.  They run out of stock very quickly because of the border closures in Pakistan.  Apparently they dont like it very much when we bomb their borders taking out terrorists.  Whatever Pakistan.  The PX is over by the boardwalk which has electronics and stuff like that, not too bad but I dont go there very often. A lot of the guys buy stuff from Amazon or Wal Mart because thye have free shipping to APO addresses. 

Im not really sure what else to write, in terms of missions it has been a pretty slow week which I suppose is a good thing.  Weather here is incredibly hot and getting hotter.  Today was really humid for some reason and I am trying to hide out in my room as much as possible.  It is kind of crazy that we have been here 2 months and gone from Ohio for 3, I am kind of at the point now where I cannot wait to be home! I miss Ohio very much and the people in it!