German Fun

Went out for dinner at a little pub in Sembach, Germany tonight. Had a great steak and some Dunkel (dark German beer) finished with some pear schnapps...on the house.  Going to Heidelberg to see a castle and other historic sites tomorrow.

November Rain [in March?]

Still stuck in Kandahr waiting for a flight to Qatar...oh how lovely to be dealing with this for the past 5 days:

Just a reminder of why I love Southern California so much!

One Last Gift to Me From Kabul

So Afghanistan decided to send me out with style!  This is what I awoke to this morning:

It's hard to see, but there's actually snow still falling as I head in to work.  I can't wait to see the sunshine of Southern California.  Thirteen days til SoCal!

The End [is Near]

My last night at New Kabul Compound.  I commence the trip home tomorrow.  Waking up today to see the following on my desktop was simply f$#@'ng awesome!

700 Club

No, I don't mean the Pat Robertson show on Sundays.  Rather, I reached 700 miles of running since last June.  While I had hoped to hit 1000 miles during my time in Afghanistan, those hopes were dashed with the Holidays and my trip to Australia and some injuries (ankle, back, and others) along the way.  Regardless, I have now gone through three pairs of running shoes.  Looking forward to buying my next pair in three weeks when I land in San Diego!

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow...

This may be hard to believe but until yesterday morning I had not really had to deal with any snow during my time here in Afghanistan (due in large part to being here in the Spring and Summer and away for part of the winter)...but yesterday there was maybe an inch on the ground which burned off by lunch...then last night and all day today it's been snowing...here are the pics:

Yesterday Morning...and yes that's a mural of a beach on a wall.

This Morning and Evening:

While it's gettin' pretty darn cold for a SoCal kid...it's not affecting me too much since I only have 36 more days in the place before I head back home. 

All the Best,
Ben

Afghanistan "1" -- Ben "1"

Well, Afghanistan welcomed me back in proper fashion by giving me a severe ankle sprain on my first day back from R&R.  One week in and it still hurts when I walk and throbs the rest of the time...awesome!  It was Afghanistan "1" -- Ben "0" until I returned to the office to discover an email telling me that I will be leavin Afghanistan two weeks earlier than originally anticipated...Afgahnistan "1" -- Ben "0"!