Day 31

This morning I had french toast sticks, which really weren't as good as the real thing.  Nothing awful, but nothing special.  Then I came back, finished Destination Void by Frank Herbert, and took some clothes over to the laundry box.  The laundry is a box, similar to many of the vendor boxes, filled with washers on one side and dryers on the other.  It worked out pretty well.  After putting my clothes in the dryer, I went over to the Day Spa, and I had a 30 minute massage.

This was truly an interesting experience.  There was no table, so I knelt down on this chair thing, similar to the massages people get in malls.  I took my shirt off, but that was it.  So this big Filipino lady started the massage.  But it was kind of like a haircut too, because she wanted to make conversation, with her limited English vocabulary.  Needless to say, I was chastised for not having babies yet, and I should go home and get my wife pregnant.  Because what kind of relationship could I possibly have without baby?  She had baby when she was 18, and he 23 now.  After I stopped talking, things were more silent.  Strange experience.

But I folded my clothes, pulled out my green fleece (it's only a high of 61 in Kabul today), and then went to lunch.  I had a decent chicken fajita wrap concoction, so that was good.  Then we came back and just sort of sat around as a group and made fun of the Navy and bureaucracy.

At the transportation brief, I learned that I will be flying out of here tomorrow after dinner, to a place down south that begins with a K.  Once I've arrived and processed through there, they'll arrange my further transport to a place near Kabul (from what I understand).  Sounds like it will be another couple days of internet blackout, so we'll see.

After that, we went to the MWR building and watched Crazy, Stupid Love.  It was pretty cute, and I actually didn't see the ending coming.  After that we went to dinner, had some shrimp, potatoes, and a salad.  Then with little else to do, we went to the USO and convinced them to play Stripes on their movie screen.  It's always fun to make fun of the Army a little.

I came back, hopped in the shower, hoping to get most of the massage oil off my back.  Naturally the fire alarm goes off in the shower box while I was there.  So I hurried, got out, and went back to my room.  So tomorrow we have all day to kill before our LATE flight.  Oh yes, and we must wear body armor and helmets on this flight.  We're told that our flight will be about 3.5 hours long.  Not great, but could be much worse I'd imagine.  Plus, we can take some of the plates out of the vest for the flight.  Cross your fingers for me!