May 1, 1956 - No Longer an Only Child

Happy Birthday Pitzah! I love you.
xxxooo
Your Seeeeeesssssssster.

Cheap Treats and Reflections

I don't know if I mentioned, but about 2 weeks after I arrived, Camp Virginia decided that they would discontinue paying for meals for USO employees. I've been saving my receipts (it's over $10/day) and turning them in on expense reports. I'm still waiting to see if I get reimbursed. Some of the Camp Virginia USO employees have been driving to other bases (Camp Buehring and/or LSA*) to get the free meals. Last night Christine and I left the USO to Jose (Center Director) and Drumm (one of our wonderful volunteers) and went with Mike C. and Mike E. to LSA. Although the food is basically the same, the DFac at The Rock is a lot different than the DFac at Camp Virginia. They have small tables for 6; we have long, institutional tables. Their set-up encourages conversation, whereas ours encourages people to veg and watch TV. They have metal flatware and ceramic plates; we have plastic forks, spoons, knives and disposable plates. (You should try eating steak with cheap picnic forks and knives.) Their chocolate soft serve is a lot darker and more chocolaty than ours. Their streets are paved, their bathrooms indoors with flush toilets, their sidewalks cobblestone, their bunks have balconys, etc., etc., etc. Ahahahhhhhhhhhhhh!

*Life Support Area/Ali Al Salem Air Base aka "The Rock." (For more on LSA/Ali Al Salem see http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/facility/ali-al-salem.htm)

The actual reason for this post is to tell you that Christine bought a mirror. I don't know why she went to The Rock BX (Base Exchange) instead of the Camp Virginia PX (Post Exchange) since we have plenty of mirrors, but . . . anyway, she needs a mirror to see what her outfit looks like before she goes to work. What she had been doing -- this is the absolute truth -- is taking digital pictures of herself and using that to see how she looked. She doesn't know how to work the timer on her camera, but the flash takes ~~1.5 seconds to activate after the button is pressed, so she presses the button, runs in front of the camera, gets in three pictures and then can see her outfit from the front, back and side. Now that she has a mirror she does't have to do that anymore. Christine is not even blonde; she has red hair! (Looks like the mirror worked. Love that outfit.)

I'm in the office and the USO is opening so I'd better get back to my bunk. I hear thunder so there's a good chance it's pouring outside. Sand, dirt, crust, mud -- it all looks the same after awhile. Cheers.

Too Much of Nothin'

OK, so I just wrote for 10 minutes and then the freakin' Internet went down and I lost everything. ajajaughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!! The Internet has basically been down for two days, but it's NOT THAT FRUSTRATING! aughgersfhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!

Not too much going on here. If you are one of the people who think I am making a sacrifice, you might want to read this section twice. I'm basically on an 18 month vacation. In my off hours I've been watching TV and movies. Saw one show from the current season of Rescue Me (I forget how good it is), three complete seasons of Entourage (I'm ready for more), watched Forgetting Sarah Marshall (much cuter than I expected), Marley & Me (I did not cry; I have dust in my eyes), Step Brothers (hilarious!), College (glad I saw that after my kids graduated) and Quantum of Solace.

Weather has been hot during the day (108+) and lovely at night. Sometimes we get our dinner to go and eat it outside on a picnic table.

For a couple of days it was really slow at the USO, then Camp Virginia had an influx of Marines, then Navy, then Army so we were very busy, now back to normal. Last Friday I asked one of the guys how he was and he replied, "I'm just swell." so "swell" became the word of the day. Our Words of the Day since then have been "modification," "perspire," and "enthusiasm." I haven't been to work yet, so I don't know what the word will be today. I'll decide when I get there. Everyone must use the Word of the Day in a sentence.

Yesterday I finally put up the murals I had bought months ago. I found out we are not allowed to alter our rooms permanently (makes sense) so instead of using wallpaper paste, Berry and I put these up with two-sided tape, Scotch tape and thumb tacks. Considering, I think they look pretty good.

One of the Army guys (Spc. Troy Yocum) is trying to break a record for the Guinness Book. He will be playing the drums on stage for five days straight, trying to reclaim his own former record that was recently broken. He gets 5 minutes break every hour and the whole thing needs to be recorded for verification.

Update: Spc. Yocum's attempt was not successful. I didn't see it, but from what I understand, after 32 hours he got up to take his 5/60 break and his leg collapsed out from under him. They took him to the TMC. He's OK, but the Guinness Book will have to wait.

I had some weird hours because a lot of people have been out. Joe is on R&R for 18 days. He works graveyard, so I covered 1800 to 0200 last Thursday and Friday. Don't know if I'm built to work until 2:00 a.m. Kristine took her respite in Aman, Jordan for 3 days; Bettie (my roommate) is now in Dubai for 3 days. Soon Jordan will take an 18 day tour of Europe. I'm still trying where to meet my family; some place we can get to without spending too much $$ and where I don't have to fly through Dubai.

Guess it's time to go to lunch. I wish I had more interesting or exciting events to report.

What We Love and Where We Love It

Thank you for all of your inquiries. We LOVE getting care packages. My address is:

Bonah Bachenheimer
USO Southwest Asia
Camp Virginia - Kuwait
APO
AE 09327

The troops enjoy all kinds of munchies: hard candies, chocolates, cookies, brownies, GoRP, nuts, bagged Doritos, Fritos and chips (Pringles don't travel well), microwave popcorn, energy bars, indivudally wrapped cakes or pies and beef jerky.

Me, personally, I'd really like to get some Golden Spoon, any flavor. . . .sigh.

I wish you could see these young faces light up when I put out some snacks and tell them it came in a package for them. Huge thank yous to everyone for your support.

p.s. My e-mail of choice is bonnie.bachenheimer@kyl.com. Thank you.

Warm and Fuzzy in Kuwait

Archie and Edith are Everywhere

For reasons known to the military and not to me we are getting a lot of new bunkers. I will go into a building for a half hour or so and when I come out there's a new bunker. I don't know why this is happening, but I do know that there are a lot more places to smoke a hooka.

Slow Down, You Move Too Fast

It’s been very quiet at the USO since (at this moment) there’s no one except resident troops on base. We have one new group of 40 marines from North Carolina that will be here for 90 days. (That’s considered permanent.) Martin (picture) is one of the nicest and one of the most adobrable. I hear from him and all of his buddies every single day, “Thank you ma’am. We really appreciate you being here for us.”; “I don’t know what I would do without the USO.”; “You people are wonderful. We’re so glad you’re here.”; “Life is bearable if I can hang out at the USO.” "I wish there were more people like you."

I’ve heard these with my own ears.
Thanks to YOU (who are reading this) for your continuing support. bon