Djibouti - Day 8 - Surprise!

I couldn't sleep last night. Again.

I did end up walking over to 11 Degrees North and sitting in a booth. As I was catching up on email I got an IM (instant message) from Ash wondering whether I would be on the conference call. At that point (2:30am) I said, "Sure." So I stayed up until 4:00am and got on the conference call just to say "Hi" to everyone. Five minutes later I closed my laptop, walked back to the tent and hit the rack.

My trusty little wristwatch bleeped at 6:30am. That's cute, I thought as I rolled over. I opened my eyes again - 7:45am. Great, I thought as I hopped down from my rack and got dressed. Class starts in 15 minutes and I have a 12 minute walk in the heat. This is not going well. But to my surprise the shuttle bus rolled by as I was walking - the first time we both got to the bus stop at the same time. I was grateful for faster, air-conditioned transport to the classroom.

My class shrunk in size from 5 to 3 students today. Undaunted, we pressed on and had some very good discussions as the students dutifully worked through the labs. Early in the afternoon we wrapped up the lab exercises. And as the students said their goodbyes, I told them how much I had enjoyed them. This group was a warm, caring, thoughtful, talkative group. I joked that maybe we should have put away the laptops and started a card game - they were that friendly.

I then turned my attention to the next couple of days. The thought of staying on base was a real downer. Granted, nobody is shooting at the base like they are in Afghanistan, but Bagram had a whole lot more going for it. So I looked and found a flight to Dubai leaving around 3:00pm. As I did, I heard one of the contractors in the next room making plans to go meet that flight. Ten minutes later I had arranged for a flight, a ride to the airport from one contractor and a ride to and from my tent from another contractor. We drove back to the tent where I grabbed my suitcase and bedroll, and we drove back to the Billeting office. I signed in my linens before making the rendezvous with the airport shuttle. Sadly, the only casualty of this rushed effort was my souvenir shopping. I suppose my family would prefer souvenirs from Dubai.

So why Dubai? I figured that once I got to Dubai, I could find an earlier flight home. Instead of waiting in Djibouti until Saturday night I thought I could get the Friday morning or Saturday morning flight through Paris and be home a day or two earlier. Sure enough, when I got to Dubai I made a phone call, and the kind people at Air France were gracious enough to change my ticket. I then walked up to the ticket counter and picked up boarding passes for flights that are scheduled to leave Dubai just two hours after I got to the counter.

I'm typing this from the lounge. The flight leaves in 50 minutes. I think I'll go board my flight now.

P.S. Don't tell my family I'm coming home early. It's a surprise - they think I'm stuck in Djibouti until Sunday!