Update...

I was reminded (and justly so) that I had not updated my contribution to this blog for quite some time and there were a few questions that needed answering.

In light of the recent holiday, Thanksgiving, I felt I should share what my Thanksgiving experience was. Thursday morning started like any other day, here there isn't really much difference in what day it is, but what work has to be done. There are no days off, no weekends, just slow downs in work. The first meal I had was lunch at one of our "fine" dinning establishments. I had roast beef (a little dry but not bad), some corn and some stuffing. The stuffing was actually pretty good and not too soft or soggy. The interesting meal, however, was dinner.

Our brigade S-3 (Operations and Training officer, a Liuetenant Colonel) purchased a meal for almost the entire S-3 section...about 30 or so people in all. We had a very traditional Afghan meal, consisting of 4 different dishes. First was the rice dish. It is a long grain rice, that is cooked to be a little hard at time of service. Mixed in it are raisins, carrots (finely shredded) and several other ingredients that I can't really identify - but makes the dish very tasty! They also cooked lamb parts in with the rice to give it an added flavor.

Second dish was something that my Dad's side of the family would readily identify as my Omi's goulash. My Omi's goulash is is a stew like dish that contains potatoes, beef, onions, dough dumplings, AWESOMENESS and some broth and different flavorings (still don't have the recipe - need to work on that!). The difference in the dish that I had on Thanksgiving was that there were no dumplings or onions...but the taste was almost exactly the same! It definitely brought back some very vivid memories from my childhood, early adulthood...heck every "hood" from the time I was born to now!

The third dish was a kabob... the kabob's here are bits of cooked lamb or goat meat and bits of cooked fat wrapped in na'an (local flat bread) that is cooked over an open flame on a grill-like surface. It is very good, however I need to usually take out the fat bits just because of the pallet difference between our culture and the Afghan's.

The last dish was the bread... which seriously is a meal in and of itself. The bread is unleavened and tastes amazing... especially when it is warm and fresh!

Another experience Emily asked me to share with you all was the experience of Mass. As many of you know, going to church is a very integral part of our family life. The chapel here is called the Enduring Faith Chapel - which accommodates all denominations of faiths, except Islam (Muslim soldiers have their own worship space on Bagram). The chapel is very simple, with a lot of available seating. When you first enter the worship space (there is a very small entry way prior) you walk into a wide, but relatively shallow room. There are maybe 15 rows of seating in the main area, with wooden chairs surrounding that to complete a horseshoe like seating area. They have all he modern audio/video equipment for choirs, cantors, lectors and the presiding officials. There is a small area in the back, right behind the alter, where the priest and the chaplain assistant (a soldier whose sole responsibility is to take care of the chaplain, prepare for services and act as the chaplain's bodyguard because chaplains are not allowed to carry weapons) can prepare for Mass or whatever service is being performed. The Mass is usually kept well under an hour, no need for long pauses for greetings or exchanges of the sign of piece (there are usually somewhere around 30 - 35 people in Mass) so things tend to move along quickly. All in all, it is a very good opportunity to recharge and refocus while I am here.

I hope I have given you an idea of what my holiday (I forgot to mention that I did get to watch some pretty good football!) was like and answered some of your questions. If anyone has any questions throughout this journey, please feel free to ask - it gives me something to write about!!!

Love you all and again, to Erin and Jodi you guys are awesome and thank you for ambushing Emily and getting her back into the holiday spirit!! See you all very soon!

~Jake