Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving! I hope everyone had a great day. Even though a lot of the leaders, to include the international officers, told us Happy Thanksgiving I have to admit it just felt like another Thursday. I had a pretty easy day though. It was very slow at work, so in the morning I went to the south side of KAIA and did some shopping; found some Christmas presents for the kids, and in the in the afternoon I went for a run. That may sound like I goofed off all day, but when you work a 14-hour shift there’s a lot of time to get work done. The chow hall did make the effort to give us a good Thanksgiving dinner. I had to wait in line for 30 minutes since everyone wanted the good meal. Night shift workers got up early to come to chow. And every foreigner on base wanted a taste. They should have made the rule that Americans go to the front of the line. Oh well. I had real turkey, mash potatoes, green beans, and crunchy stuffing, which I softened with gravy. For desert, I had a Danish! A real pastry and NOT pudding! That was a real treat. I wasn’t able to call home to Val and the kids though; that was a bummer. We use to be able to make 15-minute morale calls for free, but (of course) people abused it and they reconfigured the phone system so now you have to use an international calling card or go through a base operator. Unfortunately, the Army operator back in Heidelberg says I need a PIN to get through. AND the free Internet for the dorms is still not operational (three months behind schedule), so no Skype’ing home either. I’ve had it with the base support here. Tomorrow I’m going to go to the south side again and try to buy a cell phone and calling card. Val and I need the mutual support of a phone call more often. Wish me luck!