Day 16: Eating with my fingers

Unless things have changed in the last 2 weeks, it is common for our 3 year-old Eden to eat with her fingers. She will start eating with her utensil but as soon as you turn your head she puts down the fork or spoon and starts eating with her fingers. It doesn't matter how messy the food, in her mind it is just better to use her fingers. Eden would have loved being with me today because we ate with our fingers...and we weren't even having bad manners.

Tonight as part of our of our introduction into the culture of Afghanistan, we had an Afghan feast. Here are a few differences between mealtime at my house and mealtime in Afghanistan.

1. They eat with their fingers. Now sometimes they do use utensils. However, the majority of times they eat with their fingers only. It is a little messy but hey, it makes for less dishes to do.
2. Sorry lefties. It is only proper to eat with your right hand. There are left handed people in Afghanistan but they all learn to eat with their right hand.
3. Men and women eat separately. Well this is not always true. If there are visitors or guests that have not eaten in the home before, then women are not to eat with the men. However, on a day to day basis families do eat together. I think Ammon and I will try eating by ourselves when I return home...I think it might be quieter. Well maybe not, he can get pretty rowdy himself.
4. Handwashing is required. Typically I tell the kids to wash their hands before dinner. Now them actually doing it is a different story. In Afghanistan it is required that you are "clean" prior to eating.
5. They sometimes eat at a table but often just sit on the ground with a tablecloth. My kids love picnics so this would probably go over well at home.

1. 

We were served by native Afghans. They work with the Army and are an integral part of our language and cultural training. They seem to be pretty nice people. Other than that today consisted of sitting in the classroom for 9 hours! I thought my school days were over.

By the way, thanks to all of you who have been reading my blog and commenting. In a way it makes it feel like family and friends are nearby. Talk to you all soon.

Day 15: Culture Shock

Today we spent the whole day immersed in the culture and language of Afghanistan. Afghanistan is a culturally diverse country that unfortunately has a long history of war, both from internal and external sources. It has 2 official languages--Dari and Pashto. We learn Dari because it is widely spoken and also is easier to learn. Really, we only have time to briefly be introduced to the language. The hope is that you will be able to at a minimum greet your Afghan counterparts and show that you are making an effort to learn of their language and culture. I was going to post a short clip of me demonstrating the language but after watching it I realized that my brothers would probably use this against me in the future. The mockery of brothers can be cruel. Regardless, I have been able to learn some basic salutations and greetings. We have also spent some significant time learning about the culture and religion of the region. Here are a few interesting facts about their faith you may not be aware of:

-Islam is the name of the religion, while muslim refers to someone who practices the faith.
-Islam is the second largest religion in the world, second only to Christianity.
-Muslims believe in the Bible and believe and revere Jesus Christ as a prophet. However, they do not believe that he is divine or the son of God.
-Islam was founded by the prophet Mohammed. He received many revelations from God through the angel Gabriel. He is not worshiped. He is not looked upon as diety.
-Muslims believe that their lineage originated from Abraham through Ishmael (vs. Christians who follow their line through Isaac).
-Islam promotes peace and love.
-Muslims fast, pray 5 times daily, don't drink alcohol, etc.
-Technically, Muslims consider both Christians and Jews as brothers in the faith as both have roots through Abraham.

Hopefully, most of these facts are correct. I was reciting them from memory so if any of the above are inaccurate let me know. I have been impressed by the true goodness of these people and their faith. It is unfortunate that a select few have given the people as a whole a negative image in our country. Honestly, their beliefs in many ways are very similar to my own.

Here are a few of the guys on my team this morning as we were waiting to start our language training.

Day 14: The boy and the girl

Let me tell you a quick story. Once upon a time there was a boy who was busy going to school. He was happy with life but something was missing. One day a beautiful girl moved into his apartment complex. This was the most amazing, incredible, hot girl he had ever met and he really wanted to get to know her better. However, this girl was a man hater. The boy just happened to be her home teacher and when he would go visit her he would hear of all the wrongs committed by the male species against her. The boy was scared. He wanted to ask her out but he was afraid to because he of course was a man. The boy waited. He dated several other young ladies but still he longed to take out "the girl". Finally, he mustered up the courage to ask her out. To his surprise, she said yes. Not only did she say yes, she acted excited. Unfortunately the first date had to be canceled due to scheduling conflicts. However, soon thereafter a date was scheduled. It went well. Again the boy was surprised because she seemed happy to be with him. The days went by blissfully as the girl and boy started dating. Before long the boy and girl decided to marry. Two months later they looked into each others eyes at the temple and were married. Eight years have now passed. The boy still loves the girl. The girl amazingly still loves the boy. They have 4 beautiful children. The boy is eternally grateful for his girl and glad that she decided that men are okay after all.

The Boy and Girl

Happy Anniversary honey. I love you and miss you.

On an unrelated note...Today was my first chance to attend Church since I have been away. I went to a ward in Manhattan, KS. As is the case everywhere, people were great and made us feel welcome. There are 2 LDS members in my class--myself and an ER doctor from San Diego. I just contacted the LDS service member group leader in Afghanistan. I found out that as of now, there are no other known members in Herat (this is the name of the base where I am headed). So I will enjoy the membership of others for now, because I may soon be on my own.

Day 13: Roommates

Think back on your college days. Remember roommates that you had...good and maybe not so good. I remember starting my freshman year at BYU in 1994. None of my high school friends initially attended BYU, so I moved into Robison Hall with five complete strangers. The details are still somewhat haunting...but let me share a few memories.

First there was the return missionary roommate. He was newly returned from his mission and was living with a bunch of 18 year old high school graduates. As many return missionaries are, he was marriage hungry. I have to believe he moved into Heritage Halls to prey on the poor, unsuspecting freshman girls. The only problem was that he was a little socially awkward. Now I am not being critical. I am more backward than most, but really this poor guy had some issues. He tried and tried to find a little lady to love but success evaded him. One habit that may have repulsed some, was his wart picking habit. He used to sit at the kitchen table and use a sharp knife to dig out the rather numerous warts on his hands. This was a little gross to us all, but what made it worse was than he would not clean up his mess afterward. He also liked to "create" meals that to every one but himself were rather foul smelling...again, not cleaning up afterward. Now don't get me wrong, he was a great person and overall he was a decent roommate. However, as a new freshman having my first "roommate experience" he was, well, let's just say interesting. By the way I did see him once after my mission...married and with a little one.

Next there was my actual room, roommate. He was from Texas (need I say more). He liked to stay out late, sleep in and skip class. He also was pretty proud of the fact that he had a 20 year old girlfriend. He was kind of a loud guy and at times could be rather abrasive. I remember one experience where at 2 AM in the morning he placed his stereo speaker outside of our kitchen window and blasted all of the neighbors with his music (he apparently thought someone below us was being too noisy and this was his way to get back at them). After my mission, I had a physics class with his now ex-girlfriend, and her comment in regards to him was, "I don't know what I was thinking?"

Last there was my freshman roommate from New Mexico. He also was a nice guy but he was obsessed with some "interesting" beliefs. He was convinced that aliens were going to invade the world, that the US government was conspiring to put regular citizens into concentration camps in the desert, and of course, that the United States did not really land on the moon but rather fabricated the whole event. He was very passionate about his beliefs and was not afraid to tell others about his unusual ideas. I think his approach at times put off some of our visitors and may have cut back on the numbers who made a return visit to our dorms.

Why do I bore you with these details? Well yesterday we moved down to our training camp and moved into the "40 man barracks". We actually lucked out because there are only about 20 guys in our room. However, having roommates reminded me of my freshman days and made me wonder what experiences I may have with these guys over the next 60 days. So far there has been no wart picking, loud music or conspiracy theories. Hopefully the good roommate trend will continue.

Let me tell you a little more information about Camp Funston and our upcoming training. We will be here for 8 weeks. We will have extensive cultural and language training. We will be learning some Dari, which is one of the predominant languages of Afghanistan. We also will learn more about Islam, history and geography, common cultural faux paxs to avoid, etc. Later we will have some combat and weapons training. All of us here are part of what are called "transition teams". We will be advisors to the Afghans and our goal will be to help them become more self sufficient and proficient at taking care of their own needs--whether they be medical or military related. It should be interesting.

Here are some pictures of my new home.

The forty-man barracks

My bunkA view from outside
Amazing what wireless internet will do for moraleMy transportation for the next year (poor gas mileage so be glad you don't have one)

Day 12: Missing my baby girl

A lot happened today. We finally moved down to our official training site (Camp Funston), we received our weapons, and we formally were oriented to life in the Army. However, I will update you on that stuff later this weekend. Tonight I want to talk about one of my special princesses--Ellie.

I just got off a webcam chat with Sue and the kids. Ellie was in tears and very sad because she missed her daddy. Now maybe it was the 103 degree fever that pushed her to it, but seeing my sweet 4 year old in tears because she missed her daddy was very hard for me. I wished I could just reach through the computer and give her a big hug. There have been a few moments during the past 2 weeks that have reminded me of how much I am and will be missing my family, but this was a particularly powerful moment. For those of you that know Ellie, you know how much energy and how much "fun" she can be. She is a sweet, beautiful girl and I love her a lot.

Ellie--I miss you too and I can't wait until the next time I get to hug you, tuck you into bed and read you a story. I will see you soon.

Day 11: Mama

I thought the kids would like to see the birds nest I found today. These little babies seemed hungry and mom would intermittently come to the nest to bring them a snack.

Thanks to all the mom's in my life for taking good care of me. For my kids--be good to your mom or she might feed you WORMS for dinner!

Day 10: Travis and the Valentine's Candy

During medical school, my friend Travis and I used to carpool from Virginia into Washington, D.C. together. I have many great memories from those days but there is one in particular that I would like to share with you today.

One Valentine’s Day, Travis’ wife, Erin, decorated the inside of his car with some candy. Travis did not particularly like the candy so he just kept it in a bag in his car and set it aside. A few days later as we were driving home from school, Travis must have seen me eying the candy and he invited me to have some. I, who inherited my mother’s sweet tooth and have always had a difficult time turning down a treat, said in reply, “sure, I’ll have one or two”. Well quickly my “one or two” treats turned into a good portion of the bag being devoured over the course of our drive home. Over the next several days Travis tempted me with the treat bag during our drive and it wasn’t long before I had finished off all of the candy. From that point on, Travis knew of my weakness and he seemed to always be trying to get me to eat something that I didn’t really need or even want at times.

Sue will probably confirm that I have a history at home as well. I admit there have been a few mysteriously empty treat bowls, ice cream buckets that have disappeared and cookie dough that was never cooked. I have had a problem in the past. However, when I deployed I committed myself to cutting out the treats. This was going to be 15 months without a single treat, and when I left I was feeling very motivated. However, I never imagined that when I arrived in Kansas I would have to face such a horrible enemy. No, it wasn’t the Taliban or Al Queda...it was the feared soft serve ice cream machine. I have many weaknesses, but ice cream is one of my greatest challenges.

Initially, I fought the urge. Gradually I convinced myself that since I was eating a lot of salad, veggies, and fruit that a little dessert wouldn’t hurt. After all, I was exercising and walking around a lot. I really did need the extra calories and energy. Soon the innocent small ice cream bowl at the end of dinner, turned into a brownie topped with chocolate and vanilla ice cream, cookie crumbs and chocolate syrup with every meal. It was delicious but I was feeling guilty about not being able to stick with my plan to cut back on desserts.

Well yesterday I was reading in 2 Nephi chapter 2. Nephi talks about the natural man and the weakness of the flesh and how we need to put aside the desires of the flesh. I decided that I needed to have the will power to decide what it is I bring into my body. Now I realize that brownies topped with ice cream is not the most horrible vice and probably will not cause my eternal damnation. However, I think it is important that we realize that to become as our Father in Heaven, we do need to be able to suppress our “appetites” and the desires of the flesh. So, to prove to myself that I could do it, today became a day without treats. Breakfast was easy (no ice cream available). Lunch was a challenge due to the heat and others partaking of the “forbidden fruit”. By dinner I knew I couldn’t blow it, so it actually wasn’t that hard.

So there you have it. One day without any treats. At least for a day the “natural man” did not have control of me. Travis, I hope you are proud. I can't wait for tomorrow...bring on the ice cream!

Day 9: Gear issue

Much of the last few days has involved issuing of our clothes, equipment, accessories, etc., that we will use here and then overseas. To give you an example of what we received today:

Winter gear--8 layered tops, 6 bottoms
2 sets of gloves
Combat helmet and cover
Large Back pack
2 camelbacks
Canteens
Pistol holster
Sleeping bag
Sunglasses
First aid kit
Plastic ties that can be used to make handcuffs for detainees
Large duffle bag

This is an incomplete list (I actually don’t know what a good portion of it is for). Tomorrow we will receive body armor and related equipment. On Thursday we will be issued weapons--both an M4 (rifle) and M9 (pistol). All of our equipment/clothes will eventually fit into 4 seabags (large duffle bags) which we will take with us. On average we will always have about 60 lb. of gear on us as we walk around on a day to day basis. So if I look a little weighed down in future pictures you will understand why.


My Dad is a Google Earth expert and he downloaded an aerial view of where I am right now on Fort Riley. Thanks Dad.

Day 8: Tornado Watch

Before I get to the real excitement of the day, let me give you a quick definition. IA stands for individual augmentee. I am an IA. What this basically means is that I, as Navy personnel, have been called to augment or help out the Army. Consequently, I am not sent with anyone else from my current command (Fallon). I train with and then work with the Army. For this reason I am at an Army base, Fort Riley, and will, when in Afghanistan, fall under the direction of the Army. I only mention this so that you understand why I am here versus at a Navy base. Also, you may see me throw out this term later on in my blog...so now you will understand what I am talking about.

Well, when I first arrived in Kansas I joked with some of the other Navy guys that I was hoping to see a tornado before I left. Today I learned that you should be careful what you wish for. At approximately 10 AM a storm blew in. Initially it was only rainy but then quickly turned into a pretty strong hail storm. The sky darkened and then sirens started sounding indicating that we were in the midst of a tornado warning. Now I didn’t actually get my wish...I did not see any true funnel clouds. However, some in my group who had a better view were able to see some small ones that formed, but that did not make it down to the ground. I haven’t heard of any official tornado touchdowns in the area. However, I do know that Manhattan, Kansas (20 minutes down the road) had some golf ball and baseball sized hail which caused some significant damage. The storm passed within a few hours and the remainder of the day was pretty calm. It was somewhat exciting but I have decided that I no longer truly wish to see an actual tornado...I think I will stick to watching tornados on the internet or news.

Here is some footage from the day. Initially you will see the hail storm followed by the video of the dark storm clouds (they actually were much darker at the storm’s peak) and tornado warning sirens. The picture is of some of my group in the hallway during the storm. This was considered the most tornado safe part of the building we were in.

Day 7: Fort Riley

Fort Riley is stop #2 in my journey to Afghanistan. We arrived last night and today I spent much of the day finding my way around. We are located for one week at a part of base called Custer Hill. Here we will have some basic orientation meetings and receive more equipment.

I have a private room but share a bathroom. Although the pictures look like I have a TV armoire, this is really just a cruel trick...it is empty. Also my internet access is gone. I have to find internet access on other parts of the base. I think they are trying to slowly take things away from us so we won’t be shocked when our living conditions deteriorate even more. Next week we are scheduled to move down to the “40 man barracks”. So again, I will be grateful for what I have for now.

Outside view of the Barracks

My Room

My Walk Around Base

There is no LDS Church on base and unfortunately I wasn’t able to make arrangements to get off base today. However, I was able to contact one of the local bishops and hopefully we will find a way to make it by next week.

Otherwise all is well and life is good. Yesterday as I was reading in the Book of Mormon I was reading of Lehi and his family’s difficult and long journey in the wilderness. Nephi states that “great were the blessings of the Lord upon us (1 Nephi 17:2)”. He was able to look past his trials and recognize the Lord’s hand in those things that he had been blessed with. I think this is a good lesson for me. Hopefully I can apply it as I face the challenges that lie ahead.