Home sweet home

Letter from Kandahar: Week 23

... to celebrate this I have compiled a list of things I am going to miss about this place when I return home:

· Being able to throw my dinner plate in the trash
· Driving no faster than 16 km/hr
· Being startled out of a deep sleep by a fighter-jet taking off (I really will miss that but only during the day and evening – they are so cool)

I will miss sleeping on a cot – it’s like camping all the time

· Having to walk 500 metres to go the bathroom, especially in the middle of the night. Once home I may have to walk down my stairs, circle my house and walk back upstairs before going just to relive the good memories.
· I will really miss manoeuvring my way over gravel to walk anywhere
· Putting my dirty laundry in a bag, bringing it to a big bin and eight days later receiving it back – clean and sometimes folded and just a little bit dusty
· Sleeping in a room with seven other people
· Free bottles of water everywhere you go
· Stepping into a shower, turning on the tap, and seeing just a drizzle come from the nozzle
· The unforgettable aroma, nay, stench from the "Poo Pond" that wafts throughout the camp
· I will miss sleeping on a cot – it's like camping all the time
· Living out of a box
· I will miss having my meals cooked for me every day

You've just can't begin to appreciate simple things in live like a private bathroom (and the time to enjoy it in silence) until you've been deployed for a while.