Transient

My experience from Kandahar to Manas was basically the same as my trip in, but in reverse, and without the extreme sleep deprivation. There were no all-night flights. I was able to appreciate the experience of flying in a C-17 because I wasn't nodding off, using my body armor as a headrest.

The Manas Nato base at the Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan airport, is meant as a staging area/transient base for people going somewhere or coming back from somewhere (mostly Afghanistan). Everyone not leaving within a few hours is assigned transient billeting, which is like what you imagine old-timey barracks to look like. Rows of bunk beds in a tent, and that's it.

I got to Manas Monday evening and was stuck here until I left for my commercial flight back to Germany very early Thursday morning with nothing to do in between those times except turn in my body armor which took about twenty minutes. So with all that time on my hands, I got to know the base fairly well. 

After getting everything scanned in, and getting some linens for my stay, and arranging for my travel to the Bishkek commercial airport on Thursday morning at 0430, I traipsed over to Pete's Place.

This is where residents of Manas are permitted to buy and consume two alcoholic drinks per day. As far as I've been told, most other bases where alcohol is permitted, but restricted offer two beers smaller than a regular 12-oz can/bottle. Here, they're serving big, European-style, .5 liter bottles. Also they were serving these beers at incredibly low prices  - nothing over $3 for a wide variety, including many fancy schmancy brands. Not having had the ability to drink for a very long time, my alcohol tolerance had diminished... noticeably.

Across the room at Pete's Place I noticed a man wearing a Yarmulke. I went up and asked him if he was with the chaplaincy, and he told me not yet but that he planned on it and on going to JTS for his rabbinical training. I'm sorry we didn't get to chat longer, I didn't even catch his name, but good luck to that guy.

Also on base, there is AAFES town. AAFES has set up a sort of courtyard of shops off to one end of the base. There's a bunch of souvenir shops, a Burger King, a Pizza Hut, and a Green Bean coffee place.

AAFES Town.

Apparently structures of this shape are central in Kyrgyz culture, and that's why this gift shop was shaped this way.

Most of Wednesday evening I spent wasting my energy trying and failing at getting some sleep before my shuttle to the commercial airport. Since that wasn't working I got to chit chatting with some of my tent-mates (who were also my plane-mates on my way out of Kandahar as we were all assigned to the same tent). One of the two soldiers I was talking to said that he was from Ohio. Where Ohio? Cleveland area. Where Cleveland? Do you know the Shaker Heights area? Ha! How crazy is that? A guy from the Shaker square area and I (also being from Shaker Heights) end up sleeping in beds 6 feet from one another on the complete opposite side of the world! We spent some time leading up to his (and everyone else in my tent besides my) departure recommending restaurants in the Cleveland area for each other to visit once we each get home.

For a brief moment at the Bishkek commercial airport just after 0500 on Thursday morning, it looked as though I wasn't going to get on the flight which would've been a disaster. Apparently, the interpreters had told me I had the proper stamps on my paperwork to travel through Kyrgyz customs, but in fact, I did not. After the interpreter with me rushed off to get me the right stamp, I made it through customs on time and I was on my way.

Honor First Coffee Second

Because so many vices are strictly against the rules here under the umbrella of the US military, the two most popular ones that are not forbidden are caffeine and tobacco. People become experts in what's available to them, so clearly there's a hierarchy of what's considered good in these vices. Far and away the number one choice for a very long time was Tim Horton's coffee.

How do I miss thee? Let me count the ways... I guess it would be one... I miss you one way...

Tim Horton's closed two weeks ago very sadly. With Timmy H, I got into the specialty drinks I'm ashamed to say (normally I'm a regular coffee kind of guy). Not that it has anywhere near as ridiculous a menu as Starbucks does, but they carry a french vanilla cappuccino that is out of this world. I went there every day for the last two weeks they were here. Probably haven't spent more money anywhere else on KAF (and I'm pretty sure the prices were lower here than in Canada). I was never much for Tim Horton's in the past, but you can bet it now holds a special place in my heart. I'll remember fondly my days spent in Kandahar as I order my french vanilla cappuccino and a white-chocolate macadamia nut cookie sometime in the future.

One notch down on the list of coffee available here are the two British coffee places. One of these is the Heroes Cafe where they sometimes sell the lox bagel. I hear they even do a trivia night over there. It's pretty solid.

NAAFI is like the British AAFES

See? These places are like legitimate coffee houses.

The next tier down in the echelons of coffeedom here are the Coffee Time, and the Green Beans Coffee Company. These are franchises that sort of follow the military wherever they go. They have locations in most large-ish bases in the country and were all over Iraq as well. There's a coffee cup sleeve that sort of sums of the view of coffee around here:

It speaks for itself.

After the actual coffee places comes the various forms of home-brew or instant coffees. Most in-demand would be the K-cups that you put into keurig coffee makers. They seem to be a bit impractical for the average consumer (like nearly a dollar/cup for a brew-at-home thing? that's a little ridiculous), but if the military is providing them then great! They come in all sorts of flavors so they have a sort of inner-heirarchy of themselves.

My secret stash of chocolate glazed doughnut coffee (upper-right) is the envy of all of KAF!

I try and limit my coffee/caffeine intake as much as possible, it's hard sometimes.