Surprise Call From Afghanistan

So the highlight of my day today was the fact that my boyfriend, who is a demineur in the French Army, called me from Afghanistan. He is serving in Kapisa, Eastern part of Afghanistan, for 6 months. I haven't heard his voice in over a month now and it was an awesome surprise. He is in the valley with the Afghan Army, so internet doesn't really exist in that situation. I get a weekly update from the military on how all the French troops are doing in Afghanistan in general, but it was really nice to finally get to hear it from his perspective. I guess it helps that him and I are both in countries where we can't really communicate with one another. We both know how it feels to be in that situation, so it is easier to take it day after day. I am in Haiti, where electricity and running water is a luxury and rodent problems are common in living quarters. He literally gets how I feel when I say I get woken up at night by mice or the fact that that's no electricity or having to go to the bathroom in a ditch outside. It seems to be almost the exact same things with him living in the valleys of Afghanistan and it's nice to know that we are both going through the same things. I am super proud and have the utter most respect for what he does. He joined the army to especially learn how to find mines and disable them, so that innocent children and bystanders do not have to be handicapped and/or die from these weapons. It is admirable what he does and I pray everyday for his safety.

So the phone call was pretty funny. On the Haiti end, I was using Frank's international phone and on Greg's end, he was using a military satellite phone in Afghanistan. The connection was so bad on both ends that when Frank picked up the phone, he thought Greg was a Mexican speaking Spanish to him, and Greg thought Frank was speaking French, when he was speaking English. So on the third call, Frank finally got some words and heard my name on the other end and ran to the office to get me. I was a little bit shocked and didn't know what happened. It was echoing so much on the phone and there was another woman speaking another language in the background. It was quite hard to get anything out of anything. I just laughed and he laughed. So on the fourth try, the connection was better. I was speaking in my room and the generator is right outside, so it was really loud. I apologized to him saying that the generator is really loud, and he just laughed and said that he was standing next to a generator, as well. I couldn't ask for a better present today! I am truly blessed with amazing people all around me and that inspire me to do better!

So Greg and I both have our missions and we are both doing what we love! I am so thankful for everything and every opportunity that comes my way! And especially thankful for Frank and Jan, letting me use their phone! So I guess Greg gets 30 minutes every week on the satellite phone when it works. How awesome is that????