Monday Night EDG - Horsed School of English

Monday night I decided to go out for a second night of English Discussion Group. This time the school had younger students most from 11-16 with a few older students ~18-22. We were there by ~ 7:00 pm but then students kept rolling in through ~7:20 pm. The class was evenly divided between girls and boys. In total the classroom I joined had about 24 students.

Many are shy, but some are not. This session focused on asking basic questions. The students would introduce themselves and then everyone would get a chance to ask the Americans some questions. Almost all the students were part of much larger families - some with 5 bothers and 5 sisters. It was an interesting evening and the teacher would help translate our answers to the students.

Hails & Farewells; English Discussion Group

In my office we had two good guys head home after a very successful tour of duty. Congratulations guys on the the good turnover and setting a high bar for those of us who are following in your steps. Likewise, we also welcomed a couple of new guys to the office - my immediate supervisor and an Army Major who will be working with me. We have some catching up to do on reports and then scheduling new meetings with missions coming back from down range.

I finally was successful in signing up for an English Discussion Group. It seems these volunteer opportunities are highly sought after because one can earn a volunteer service medal with enough volunteer hours over a certain time frame. These EDGs are held at English schools in Djibouti and provide a great opportunity to engage Djibouti students in conversations of various topics. For this Sunday we went to to the Africa School for English and French. Unfortunately, not soon after we arrived the power went out in the entire neighborhood. The school had a back-up generator but it wasn't working so well. Our group of 8 had to head back to Camp. Oh, well must try again for another day.

Sunday - a day spent at the Pool. Ran a 5k.

Sunday is our day of rest (we work half-days on Saturday). My buddies went golfing in Djibouti which I decided not to do. Since my work and CLU did not have power for most of the day, I decided to hang out at the Pool. Its is covered and 20 meters long. It is close by my work so I plan on using it for lunch breaks later on when it gets really hot. I swam 4 sets of 10 laps for 800 meters total. After a late lunch, the power was back on in my CLU and I rested a little while and then changed into my PT gear to run the MLK 5K run/3K walk. I wanted to see if I could handle the 5K and was able to finish it in 30 minutes so I felt pretty good about that.

I heard from the guys that went golfing that it was more like a Safari than a golf outing - Camels roaming around, sand and dirt but no putting greens!

I have been participating in morning fitness exercises for about 3 weeks now and am starting to get in better shape.

Whale Shark - Up Close & Personal!

Sunday morning began early. My CLU mate, and I had signed up for a whale shark sightseeing trip. A the Fish Market pier, our boat took us further west into the Gulf of Tadjoura where whale sharks swim in shallow bays feeding on plankton. The season for viewing them ends in late January so there was a sense of urgency in hoping to see one. From the mother ship, a smaller group of 10 jumped into a skiff from which we searched for the tell-tale signs of a whale shark - a fin out of the water or a large dark shadow in the water. Our group got lucky and everyone bailed out of the boat with their snorkel gear and swam out to the whale shark. It was truly an awesome sight! We found another one, but this one started diving down so we didn't have much contact time. However, on our third spotting, the whale shark never left shallow water and showed an intense curiosity for us snorkelers and the skiff. Luckily, Mike Sullivan, brought along a "waterproof" camera that took digital photos and they are excellent proof of what fun trip this was.

The skiffs headed back to the mother ship where we had a french bread sandwich for lunch and then it was time for some snorkeling on a coral reef. I was able to swim with a sea turtle, hold a sea cucumber, and spot a sting ray hiding on the coral reef floor.

First real week of work.

This week has been a busy one. The Holiday work routine is over and it is time to get on with our jobs. I was able to finish two reports covering our work in East Africa. I am learning a lot about the purpose of CJTF-HOA and how all of these missions fit into a grander strategy. Being assigned here is interesting work. Everyday we apply what we learn to future activities.

Friday, I was asked to do roam around Djibouti City checking out restaurants, bars, clubs, and hotels to see if anyone is doing anything bad, i.e. patronizing off-limit areas and drinking alcohol. I was the driver. So within a week I now have experience driving during the night and day.

Nothing out of the ordinary happened. Next time I will eat at one of the local restaurants.

Lake Assal

Four colleagues, myself plus some other folks decided to go check out Lake Assal. We had a convoy of four Toyota Land Cruisers. I was the driver of one of the SUVs with two of my work buddies as passengers. We drove through Djibouti City and then out west along Route 1 passing through a couple of villages along the way. The Djibouti landscape is made up of mostly broken steppe, boulders, rocks, dirt, with a few scrubs and trees. The villagers and city folk had many goats, a few donkeys, and there were even a few Camels to be seen. Driving in Djibouti was an experience all by itself! The road leading down to Lake Assal had some bad potholes.

Lake Assal lies at 509 feet below sea level and is even more salty than the Dead Sea. We could float with no effort at all. Once one started to dry off you cold see the salt begin to crystalize on your skin. On the way there we saw the Djibouti "Grand Canyon". There were a couple of vendors selling very basic souvenirs - mostly geodes and some obsidian (volcanic glass).

New Year, New Blog

Happy New Year everyone!

I have been meaning to create a blog about my mobilization to the Combined Joint Task Force - Horn of Africa ever since I received my orders back on 12 April, 2010. I found out that I could add another blog to my existing Google/Blogspot account.

I spent New Year's Eve at the Commander's compound. It is one of the original buildings from the first French Base here. It had a James Bond theme with James Bond music and movies being played, James Bond Trivia, and some card games being played.

Not too bad.