Going home on leave in a couple weeks, don't want to forget what little Dari I've learned, so here are my notes:

Dokhtar – girl

Zan – woman

Bacha – boy

Karachi – cart

Khar – donkey

Sag – dog

Gurg – wolf

Peshak – cat

Asp – horse

Gow – cow

Shadi – monkey

Gosfand – sheep

Buz – goat

Boro – go

Baba – grandfather

Stad – stop

Tayara – airplane

Man dostat daram – I love you

Man ham dostat daram – I love you too

Tashakor – thank you

Chotorasti – How are you?

Khobastam – I am fine.

Khobasti – You are fine?

Sobbakhair – Good morning

Chastbakhair – Good afternoon

Shabbakhair – Good night

Shambakhair – Good evening

Ba omid dee dar – See you tomorrow

Khaira – no problem

Salam – Hello (informal)

Salamalaikom – Hello (formal)

Allah akbair – God is great

Inshallah – God willing

Bali – Yes

Ne – no

Ah, another fun-filled day in Afghanistan.

Jim Foster recently joined us, taking over Dorothy's position as Material Accounting Manager. Dorothy was moved to the Ministry of Interior (MOI) to manage five employees in Kandahar. Kind of a demotion, but that's another story...

Jim Foster is a likable old guy, former Air Force, sort of a dottering grandfather type, and looks a little like Droopy Dog.

Part of his in-processing and acclimation to working with the Material Control Team (MCT) at D-1 is to visit the vehicle area at D-2 in Pol-E-Charki. Dana wanted to take him out there and meet with the manager, Mark Orthman. Troy and I went along for the ride.

D-2 is further down Jalalabad Road, towards Pakistan. Incoming vehicles are staged there for issue to the ANA. Mostly US-made military vehicles, there are also a variety of vehicles from other countries, including some old Russian trucks left over from the Soviet occupation.

After Jim's tour of D-2, on the way back to D-1, we decide to stop at the ISAF base for lunch. After getting some Euros from the ATM machine, we went to an Italian restaurant. Dana & Jim had steaks (I saved the bones for the yard dogs at D-1) and Troy & I had pizzas. Dana also bought pizzas and sodas for our two Afghan drivers.

After that delicious treat, we headed back to D-1. The MPRI warehouse manager, Ramon Padilla (loud, opinionated Puerto Rican) was supposed to meet with LT Hogan (US Navy) about the weapons inventory and Dana wanted to be there to referee. However, just before we turned off Jalalabad Road to D-1, we got a call from BDOC that there was a suspected suicide bomber in the area. So instead of turning we went straight to our safe houses.

So now it's a little after 1:00 PM, I have a full belly (pizza and two cokes), I'm in my room in my shorts and t-shirt and the bed is calling my name.

Out.