Night-time Dancers

At various times, while walking to my room from work, I pass these groups of people.They don't notice me, because I'm not one of them. It's like something out of The Sixth Sense. They're like the dead in the sixth sense. I speak of course, of the salsa dancers.

In their own little world.

I must've made it clear by now that there is very little to do here outside of work, play video games, exercise, eat, sleep, watch movies, read, and write a blog that people claim to enjoy. I'd probably turn to things like salsa nights and karaoke as well, if I weren't working 12 hours shifts every day of the week...

It does look fun...

I work right below an office of lawyers, and when I asked them what they typically deal with they said there's the usual stuff... and salsa night. Apparently if you get 18-20ish-year-olds together and organize a night of a very physical-contact-centric dance some people are going to claim sexual harassment.

We unknowing can only look on in envy.

A crowd always forms around the salsa dancers. Dancing is a spectacle around here. Not many people have a reason to dance, which is why, I suspect, that they organize salsa night to begin with. People need to unwind and why not salsa dancing to help them do it?  ... Maybe because of the lawsuits is why not? But I'll leave that to the powers that be.

Dancing being a spectacle, you can imagine my surprise when I saw this:

Hundreds of dancers!

There was a breast cancer fundraising dance-a-thon a couple of weeks ago. It definitely side-tracked me from my route to my room because just look!

Hope they raised a lot of money.

9/11

It didn't occur to me until a few weeks into my time here, that I would be in Afghanistan during the 10th anniversary of 9/11. If there was a way to tell little 8th grade Josh Kramer that 10 years later he'd be working with the troops in the war that was started as a result of 9/11 I think he'd probably be surprised.

Anyway there was a concert last night to celebrate and after havdallah in the CMC building me, Warren, Christy, and I went to check out the festivities.

Warren didn't stick around long - he and I were both there mainly for the comedian, only I was willing to wait for him.

The band's name was goldilocks or goldy locks or something like that. They were mostly a cover band and I guess not achieving the fanfare that they were expecting at first. As far as a USO show is concerned I guess it was what I was expecting... lots of we appreciate what you're doing out here (to the troops) and then they played music.

Lots of American flags...

Yet they pulled up an Australian soldier to make a fool of himself dancing on stage.

Hey look there's Benari!

Benari's military experience apparently involves the more peaceful type of shooting.

Have I not mentioned Benari? He works in public affairs for the army. I've told him he needs to work on putting out old school propaganda posters/newsreels in theaters, and I suppose he's working on it. I found out about Benari through his blogpost about meeting Jon Stewart when he came through Afghanistan just before I arrived here. We were wondering why he was missing at Havdallah and now we knew - he was working on this show. I took a few pictures of him taking pictures.

I'd classify this audience as whelmed...

It's not that they were a bad band, it's just that they were a little lesser known and it was hard for me at least to get into it. I'm not much of a concertgoer anyway.

Rock-on Goldilocks.

I say they add a new model to the army men toys. The camera pose!

Then a mosh pit formed.

The one guy really got into it.

Next, the commanders of KAF got up and gave plaques to the touring group and thanked them. Turns out another part of observing 9/11 involves the company that owns outback steakhouse sending dozens of chefs and providing steaks and bloomin onions to the troops. So representatives from those companies and the chefs came out and were recognized.

Finally it was time for the comedy relief. Andy Hendrickson? Yeah I hadn't heard of him either but they can't all be Bob Hope. He was pretty good, considering. I did laugh a bunch...

Of course he made a poo pond joke.

After a slight break, goldy locks came out for a second set and I was done and ready for bed.

Here's what it looked like from another part of the boardwalk.

Now, I'm not complaining about the steak and bloomin onion I had for dinner today, but I was surprised overall by the way 9/11 was commemorated here. Granted, there was a candle lighting ceremony over at the USO tent today, for most of the day as I understand it, but steaks and music? Hardly a mention of 9/11 at that concert? In the states I know there were ceremonies all over. What I had expected when I realized I'd be here for 9/11 was a solemn gathering with speeches from military leaders, a moment of silence and maybe some 9/11 inspired country music of which there was a lot. Instead we got "Sweet Home Alabama" and jokes about not enjoying reading... surprising.

One Month Contractversary

It has been a month now since I arrived at KAF. It is extraordinary how fast the time here seems to slip by. I'll turn around and a week has gone by. This is definitely related to all the days being the same, and having very little variation. Here's how my week normally breaks down:

The first half of the week I get the late shift. That's 1000-2200. I wake up around 0730ish and go to the MWR gym (because it's closer to my room), as opposed to the NATO gym which is supposedly cleaner and nicer (it's nicknamed two-shoes because you must bring a second pair of non-dusty does with you in order to exercise there). Afterwards I pick up breakfast and then get ready to go to work.

Throughout the day there are various odd jobs that I'm responsible for, as well as breaks for meals and incidentals and this helps break up the time on the clock. You'd think it would drag on because it's half a day's worth of work, but it doesn't.  When I get off work at 2200 I sometimes stay after a bit to skype with home - then go to my room and sleep.

The second half of the week I have the 0700-1900 shift. I pick up breakfast on the way into work and eat it in the early slow hours during which relatively few soldiers come in for help in the Army Learning Center. I try to come in a bit earlier because when it's 0630 here in Afghanistan, it's 10:00pm back in Eastern Time, and once daylight savings time starts in November it'll be 9:00pm: perfect time to talk to friends and family through skype.

After work on these days I either go to the gym or to the Shabbat Services available to me (this is why I requested the early shift during the second half of the week), and then the gym. After I exercise, I'll read or watch tv, or if I'm feeling up to it after the long day I'll go to the MWR or the USO which are like morale and welfare institutions for those living on KAF. They have movie theaters, pool, fooseball, video games etc. And that's pretty much how my time here is spent barring any routine-changingly significant events.

I find myself going through that thought process articulated in the show Seinfeld. You know when they're stuck in Florida for an extra five days and Seinfeld goes on about how the first and the last days don't even count, sleeping and meals don't count, and so on until they're really only stuck in Florida for 20 minutes instead of five days? I find myself thinking this way about months going by.

I know I shouldn't start thinking about leaving this early considering I have five more months to go, and considering that I'm not miserable here and don't plan to be... but I can't help it despite all the advice I've been given to not count down to when you're leaving until at least 3 months have passed... and that's only two months away from now and if you take away sleep and meals... see? I'm doing it again...

Here are some more interesting pictures I've collected from living in Afghanistan:

I live on Illinois, the most commonly landed upon space in Monopoly.

Ohio street is only a block away, where everyone is playing cornhole all day long and is nice to each other

The airport has lost some of its 1960s sheen.

 We had clouds last week. It was significant.

Christian enjoying a cigarette on the Education Center's porch.

What feels like the only tree in KAF.

Obligatory sign pointing out which direction and how far away things are.

Remember VHS tapes? They used to be the way to consume media and still are in some places (like the Kramer household). VHS tapes are still popular in very specific places, namely: The Kramer household, and Afghanistan. I'm pretty sure all the VHS tapes that aren't in the Kramer household are either destroyed or have somehow found their way here.

Lots of VHS tapes.

Some Classics. You'll shoot your eye out kid! Also, You can't handle the truth! Also, 1.21 gigawatts?!?!

Update on my own personal content consumption: I'm waist deep into "The Wire". Season 2 was sort of a let-down, but 3 is better. Reading The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo is pretty enthralling - it reminds me of Dan Brown books. I'm also reading Theodore Rex about Teddy Roosevelt's time as president, he was a badass.

Until next time!

The USO

Take a look at this: 

A Tent.

You wouldn't expect this innocuous looking, beige tent to be a place where people gather to socialize and go for a general morale boost, would you?

Boom:

Soldiers socializing and boosting morale.

Turns out you were wrong! It is a place where people socialize and gather to boost morale! The seemingly standard tent pictured above from the outside is the USO headquarters for KAF. The structure itself offers computers and phones available for use, as well as designated TVs for video gaming available for sign up. There's also comfy furniture, large televisions playing the stuff people over here want to watch (largely sporting events and movies). There's also this little area where soldiers can record a dvd of themselves reading children's books to their children and can send home - it's adorable. There's also my favorite thing so far, a movie theater!

Example of one of the aforementioned TVs.

A very similar example.

Video game area.

Computers available.

I've only visited twice so far, but I would like to spend some more of my limited free time here. They run activities like guitar hero competitions (an opportunity to show off my truly remarkable skills at guitar... hero), and I'm investigating the opportunity of volunteering to run a trivia night event... not sure how receptive the KAF community will be to that idea.

The USO is generally known for bringing morale-raising entertainments to the troops and they've been doing that since 1941 - its history is actually very interesting. Those same sort of entertainments exist here, but I never knew how much more they do. I'm appreciative for myself, but also for the troops serving here at KAF who have this great opportunity to divert their attentions even for a little while with the services that the USO offers.

While I haven't heard any plans yet to resurrect the bones of Bob Hope and bring him here to do a USO show - here are some pictures of the celebrities that entertained KAF last year around Christmas time:

Robin Williams and Lewis Black!

And some others! Some USO crew pose with the USO Holiday Tour as it came through KAF last year.

To learn more about the KAF USO, visit the USO Kandahar Facebook page, where I stole most of the pictures for this post. I'll leave you now with the much-anticipated (I'm sure) pictures of the movie theater at the USO headquarters.

All the seats are La-Z-Boys!

I watched Death Race last Saturday.

One Week Contract-versary

Today marks the end of my first week downrange. So far things have been pretty manageable. Quick shout-out to Captain Dr. Warren Gross (more on him later), and Sarah Kemp for helping me to adjust to life here. Sarah deserves a plug here on my blog for hers: A Blogworthy Life

I found her blog through a bit of stupendous facebook stalkery. By searching people's names in google that I found in pictures posted on the USO Kandahar facebook page I stumbled upon her blog and it's really helped me prepare for life here and adjust to it. Her blog is more weighty and deals with more serious issues and is better than mine... so far... just thought people should know that going in. Also, she doesn't know it yet, but I plan on stealing some of her pictures to illustrate some things here - I think she can get away with taking pictures of cooler things than I can considering she works with the USO and is a girl.

Anyway, I've gotten into sort of a rhythm here of work, eat, sleep, and exercise. I've neglected working out since I last wrote about working out in Germany, I didn't go again. So now I went nearly a month without running (and I'm used to going every day). So far I've gone only to the MWR (Morale, Welfare, and Recreation) gym which means it's the American gym. Generally it's considered dirtier than the NATO one where you need to bring a pair of non-dusty shoes with you if you want to even get in.

Didn't take this picture - I work out alll the way on the left on those cardio machines.

Maybe later on down the road I'll get more into weight training. Some people have been suggesting I get really buff because that is the more common work-out style here...  In general I've been adjusting to life in the desert and to one surrounded by a multitude of extremely large vehicles meant for war and for lifting/digging/carrying.

Don't even take sides against the family.

I've been slowly working my way through Curb Your Enthusiasm. I've watched many of the episodes in the past but by no means all of them, it's really hilarious. I'm almost finished with Season 6 right now. The number of guest stars is crazy! If anyone has a suggestion regarding what my next show/movie endeavor should be don't hesitate to suggest.