New Temporary Office

Many apologies for the time which has passed since the last posting.  Much going on and you’ll understand more in future posts!  Life at Shindand is never dull, and life back home goes on whether you’re there or not.

So now we have moved from the old temporary office to this shiny new slightly larger and much nicer temporary office, complete with a conference room and MWR (Morale, Welfare and Recreation) area.

That’s my co-worker Peter waving (please note his Green Bay cap – go Packers!) and Wahid’s on the phone.  We are all enjoying the nicer, roomier office, mini-kitchen and conference room, particularly now that we have a place to sit down and hold meetings instead of everyone standing around and packed into our old office space, or huddled around a tiny outside picnic table in chilly temperatures.  Sort of like going from the Motel 6 (we’ll leave the light on for ya) to the Hilton.  Definitely not 5-star but certainly a step up from the cheap and (non-) efficient.  Doesn’t look too bad, does it?  Doesn’t look like it used to be an open area between the concrete building and 3 conexes, closed in and covered over by a local Afghan contractor.  The three conexes are still there but now hidden behind beautiful faux wood panelboard.  Others are jealous. 

The TV isn’t hooked up to anything yet, but the other guys are more interested in getting AFN (Armed Forces Network) piped in here than I am.  The fridge and microwave are awesome, and ramen noodle dinners are quite the norm now (as well as the smell of microwave popcorn).  Having storage space for supplies and files is great (we are the government – we generate large amounts of paperwork), as well as having desks (with drawers) that aren’t about to collapse.

But just another temporary home as we have some new RLBs (relocatable buildings – conexes) coming in for more office and housing space so we can get all of into more of a centralized location instead of being spread out through the compound.  Stay tuned!