Pretty dull here most days. Usually my day consists of waking up and going to breakfast at 5:30 AM, to work at 6:30 AM, off at 3:00 PM. Go to the gym and dinner, back to the safehouse and give Julie a wake-up call, then in bed by 9:00 PM or so.

We had a little break in the monotony--Monday was a national holiday so I got to sleep in. It was Ashura-when Muslims commemorate the martyrdom of Husayn ibn Ali in the 9th century. Some of the Shiites display their mourning by flailing themselves bloody with chains.

There are a myriad of military forces here. Besides the US Army, US Air Force, US Navy, and US Marines, I've seen soldiers from Canada, Great Britain, Germany, Egypt, France, Romania, and Turkey. The two oddest services (in my opinion) that I've seen are from Poland (they wear forest green jumpsuits and in addition to their sidearm wear a fighting knife on their belts) and Mongolia. The Mongolian soldiers didn't look any different, I just thought it interesting that soldiers from Mongolia would be deployed here. The ones I saw were here to repair AK-47s.

Camp Eggers has a monthly photo contest. I won 2nd place ($30 Wal-Mart gift certificate) for my photo of the kids in their traditional Afghan outfits.