So I realized that today is the last day I can write a "Merry Christmas" post without it making the "Happy New Year" post late, haha. Christmas was relatively uneventful here, but as you probably already know if you see my Facebook posts, my best Christmas present came the day after! ;-) But first things first...
On both Thanksgiving and Christmas, the dining facility staff has gone to an enormous amount of effort decorating for the holiday. It has been really fun to see what they come up with, and the atmosphere is like a big party with music and people dressed up (even some dancing, haha). Here I am with the giant turkey on Thanksgiving (excuse Doug's finger over then lens):
And then here I am with Santa and his reindeer on Christmas:
On Christmas morning, I did a "12 Days of Christmas" workout with a bunch of people at our Crossfit gym, which was pretty brutal, but made me feel less guilty about having a second piece of pie at Christmas lunch! Then I met Doug and a couple other co-workers for the big Christmas meal (served at lunchtime). After lunch, I went to work for a bit (weather never gets a day off!) and then came back to my room for some Christmas FaceTime. I got to talk to Martin and then "open presents" with my parents and Lisa. Gotta love the internet!
Then the last thing I did on Christmas day was... pack for my trip to Qatar the next day! :-D The trip had been planned for a few weeks, but I told very few people about it ahead of time because 1) security reasons, and 2) I didn't totally believe it was going to happen! I was invited to go on the trip with a small group of people from another base in Kuwait, from a unit that Doug and I are technically a part of (it's complicated, haha). They were visiting a unit in Qatar that just so happened to be at the same base where Martin is currently deployed, so of course I said I wanted to go! Here is a picture of us by the awesome little plane we flew in:
The official parts of the trip were really interesting, I learned a lot about the weather support done out of that location, and got some cool tours of several ops units. But of course... the best part was seeing Martin!!! It had been over 7 months since we last saw each other in person. It seemed totally unreal at first that we were face-to-face, and it wasn't through an iPad screen. Once the initial shock wore off, it was so amazing just to be together again. We spent most of our time just hanging out and talking and enjoying being with each other.
Martin's base has an awesome sports bar that was paid for and built by Fox Sports (the TV channel) for the deployed personnel to enjoy their time off. I have to give major kudos to Fox Sports, because the place is awesome! There are TVs everywhere, with really nice tables and chairs, pool tables, couches, and bar stools.
The first night there, Martin and I got a pizza and sat watching sports together... it was just like being at home, except we weren't on our own couch!
Though I had to come back to Kuwait yesterday, I will remember the last 5 days as the best ones of my deployment. I think one of the guys in the group said it best when he said he was glad Martin and I got to "reset our clock" on this trip. It's hard to explain, but before I saw Martin, it felt like it had been forever since the last time we were together. But when we were together again, it almost felt like no time at all had passed, because it was so easy and natural to be with each other. And though of course I was sad to leave Qatar yesterday, I left with the feeling that Martin and I can do this, that the hardest part is over and now it's all downhill from here until we can be together again.
I am so grateful for all of the people who helped make this trip happen (people both here and back in the States), and though I know none of them are reading this, I hope I can tell them all how much it meant to me and how thankful I am. I'll end with a pic of Doha at sunset as we departed last night... farewell 2013, tomorrow I'll say hello to 2014!
On both Thanksgiving and Christmas, the dining facility staff has gone to an enormous amount of effort decorating for the holiday. It has been really fun to see what they come up with, and the atmosphere is like a big party with music and people dressed up (even some dancing, haha). Here I am with the giant turkey on Thanksgiving (excuse Doug's finger over then lens):
And then here I am with Santa and his reindeer on Christmas:
On Christmas morning, I did a "12 Days of Christmas" workout with a bunch of people at our Crossfit gym, which was pretty brutal, but made me feel less guilty about having a second piece of pie at Christmas lunch! Then I met Doug and a couple other co-workers for the big Christmas meal (served at lunchtime). After lunch, I went to work for a bit (weather never gets a day off!) and then came back to my room for some Christmas FaceTime. I got to talk to Martin and then "open presents" with my parents and Lisa. Gotta love the internet!
Then the last thing I did on Christmas day was... pack for my trip to Qatar the next day! :-D The trip had been planned for a few weeks, but I told very few people about it ahead of time because 1) security reasons, and 2) I didn't totally believe it was going to happen! I was invited to go on the trip with a small group of people from another base in Kuwait, from a unit that Doug and I are technically a part of (it's complicated, haha). They were visiting a unit in Qatar that just so happened to be at the same base where Martin is currently deployed, so of course I said I wanted to go! Here is a picture of us by the awesome little plane we flew in:
The official parts of the trip were really interesting, I learned a lot about the weather support done out of that location, and got some cool tours of several ops units. But of course... the best part was seeing Martin!!! It had been over 7 months since we last saw each other in person. It seemed totally unreal at first that we were face-to-face, and it wasn't through an iPad screen. Once the initial shock wore off, it was so amazing just to be together again. We spent most of our time just hanging out and talking and enjoying being with each other.
Martin's base has an awesome sports bar that was paid for and built by Fox Sports (the TV channel) for the deployed personnel to enjoy their time off. I have to give major kudos to Fox Sports, because the place is awesome! There are TVs everywhere, with really nice tables and chairs, pool tables, couches, and bar stools.
The first night there, Martin and I got a pizza and sat watching sports together... it was just like being at home, except we weren't on our own couch!
Though I had to come back to Kuwait yesterday, I will remember the last 5 days as the best ones of my deployment. I think one of the guys in the group said it best when he said he was glad Martin and I got to "reset our clock" on this trip. It's hard to explain, but before I saw Martin, it felt like it had been forever since the last time we were together. But when we were together again, it almost felt like no time at all had passed, because it was so easy and natural to be with each other. And though of course I was sad to leave Qatar yesterday, I left with the feeling that Martin and I can do this, that the hardest part is over and now it's all downhill from here until we can be together again.
I am so grateful for all of the people who helped make this trip happen (people both here and back in the States), and though I know none of them are reading this, I hope I can tell them all how much it meant to me and how thankful I am. I'll end with a pic of Doha at sunset as we departed last night... farewell 2013, tomorrow I'll say hello to 2014!
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