Made it to the carrier!

From Molly (her new email address is molly.laufer@cvn68.navy.mil):

Hi! Just wanted to let you all know that I am here safe on the NIMITZ. A little rough start when I got seasick in the COD as we were lowering down towards the ship (seriously the most miserable I’ve EVER felt airsick!) and threw up in the little baggies they give you right as we hit the trap. Luckily, being the experienced puker that I am when it comes to motion sickness, I kept it all in the bag and walked off the ship proudly with my souvenir.

It’s really busy here! I have a LOT of work cut out for me.

Carrier life is crazy already- getting SO lost. My stateroom for 2 is as big as the CO’s on the SAMMY B. I think I live right under the catapult. It sounds like an explosion right over my head everytime they do a launch cycle. I wish I could record it so you could here it!

But I am Too Le Tired!

... to even come up with a clever blog spot title.

It's currently 0430 in the morning and I'm waiting in the military airlift command terminal. I got to sleep around 10:30 last night, luckily I was SO exhausted that despite my stomach being in knots and being paranoid about oversleeping, I easily drifted off. I just want to get to the Nimitz & go to sleep; something tells me that's probably not in the cards. I'm not sure how "comfy" a COD flight is and I'm hoping that my ability to fall asleep anywhere, anytime will come in handy today.

My throat is VERY sore as we went out on Tuesday night and the bar we were at was VERY VERY smoky, my throat hurt SO bad from the smoke the next day. And yesterday, Marc & I traversed almost all of Bahrain, chatting it up the enitre time (weird for me, I know :) so between that and no sleep last night, I feel pretty miserable.

I am so super nervous :/ Hopefully this is less painful than I am imagining.

Bahrain was REALLY fun! The first night, I got to experience some good Bahraini night life (it was mid-week so obvoiusly not too crazy) and topped off the night with some late-night 2am schwarma- DELISH!

The next day we hit up some schwarma before lunch (at none other than Shwarma Alley) before hitting the carpet stores; I can't make good dceisions about rugs on an empty stomach!

We went to a place that seemed very legitimate; the store front was COVERED in Navy stickers from all kinds of ships and units that had been there. Once we walked in, in addition to the hundreds and hundreds of rugs, there were TONS of command coins, letters, & autographed pictures from visiting ships and commands. I even saw a letter from Admiral Stavridis and a picture that Abdullah had hanging up of him and the Admiral. Seriously, everyone who's everyone buys rugs from there. Abdullah was so much fun to work with. Refueled by schwarma, he first had me go around and point out colors and styles that I liked, then we discussed size. While this was happening, he also taught me about threat count and material and quality and how some are made for hanging on walls, thus more delicate (and expensive) and some are made for walking on, more durable and hand washable with soap and water. Quickly, he got an idea of my tastes and then he got to work pulling out carpet after carpet after carpet. It was almost exhausting! When I would sort of like one, he would unroll another that was similar and then I could pick between them. He was a great salesman, and not pushy like many others in Bahrain.

I left with 2 rugs, a larger area rug (good for a small living room like ours), and a long hallway runner. I'm not sure if we will use them right now but I think they will be something we will have forever; they are mainly colors of navy blue, maroon-ish, and ivory. I think they will match a lot of things. Abdullah also lived up to his promise of a "special price"- and with shipping back to the states, the 2 carpets were less than $400! I was VERY pleased. He said he used to sell them on base but then they started wanting a 25% cut, and so he moved off the base. Now he says he does MUCH more business. After the purchase was made, he even offered to drive me and Marc back to the base, where we were going to go to mail it. We took him up on it and on the drive he told us all about how he sells rugs to all of the distinguished visitors in the Navy. He said whenever a DV comes to Bahrain and wants to buy rugs, his shop is one that they go to- the Navy even comes to do a security sweep to make sure it is safe. If you've been in Bahrain longer than like 6 months, Abdullah probably knows you.

He told us about this thing he does called "rug flops"- rug flops are basically like Tupperware parties... but for Persian Rugs. He and his shop will bring carpets, food, and non-alcoholic beverages to a person's house. If you are hosting a rug flop, you will supply the libations for the evening and lots of friends; you eat, drink, socialize & then Abdullah will show tons and tons of rugs. He says there really is no pressure to buy; sometimes he doesn't sell any rugs and he brings the food. There are no cost for the host for these parties- Abdullah says that even if he sells zero, the people there usually end up coming back later to look at more now that they have met him. It is very common when a ship pulls into port, if someone on the ship knows someone who works in Bahrain (not hard, given how small the Navy is!), they will host a rug flop for the visiting ship's Wardroom. I thought this was an AWESOME idea. If I had been in Bahrain longer (and had more than like 2 friends), I would have easily hosted a rug flop!

So if you find yourself in Bahrain, I highly recommend his shop.

We did so much that day, walked everywhere and saw everything. I may be running out of time here and won't have time to write about EVERYTHING, but I must tell you about the bread! We went downtown to the gold city and souq's, which was much more "authentic" and local, not a lot of Americans. I am glad that I had a tour guide who was familiar with the city, I felt very safe and it was a lot of fun. Marc took me to this TOTAL hole-in-the-wall shop on an off the main road side street- literally it had no name or anything! It was 2 guys who make bread in this really hot fire-pit stone oven. They take little circles of dough, slap them on the wall inside of the fire-pit oven and it cooks in like 2 minutes. It was sorta like pita- but bigger and thinner and way better- I guess you could make schwarmas out of them? I'm not really sure. He sold them for the equivalent of like 30 cents! But what was really cool was the ones that he rolls flat and spread with some kind of soft cheese (tasted sorta like Laughing Cow cheese). He folds it in half to make a little half-moon shape bread, then he scores it with a ravioli cutter looking thing, sprinkles with sesame seeds and slaps onto the wall inside the oven. It cooks and bubbles and melts the cheese and then he gives it to you wrapped up in a piece of paper. AWE-SOME! It was like $1.20 for 2 and when Marc described it to me at first as a "middle eastern grilled cheese," I knew we could not go wrong. DELISH! I meant to take a picture of it finished, but I gobbled it up before I even got a chance :)

Alright well, I should probably get going b/c I am going to skype-type with Dan and then try and scrounge up enough change to get a little snack before we have to leave. I'm not sure how I will blog next so I will probably just shoot Dan an email when I get to the carrier and he can post for me.

"I Give You Special Price"

Hi Everyone! Sorry I didn't get a chance to tell you all about my trip over here, but I recently found out today that I have to be at the airport at 0400 in the morning and am getting picked up at 0330! I also just got home and got all packed up again around 9pm which means I'm leaving SOON!

I will hopefully have a few hours tomorrow at the airfield waiting during which I can blog. Til then, here is a picture of me and Marc and Abdul, the owner of the carpet shop, where I got a special price on not one but TWO Persian Rugs. I can't wait for Dan to receive them in the mail, if we ask nice he might post pictures online :)

But rest assure, Bahrain was awesome, even if I only had 36 hours! Shout-out to Emily's boyfriend, Marc for being an awesome tour guide and running me all around the city to show me everything fun in less than 24 hours!

Back in the Kingdom

Hi everyone! Not much time to blog but just wanted to let you know (ok, mainly my mom :) that I arrived safely here in Bahrain. The direct 2-hour flight actually became an 8 hour trip after we left the Destroyer, made a stop on a British supply ship, made an unexpected stop in Kuwait at an Army base and then went to an Amphibious Ship too. The helo ride was fun for the first hour- by the 5th hour I was really ready to put my feet on the ground. Here I am with the 2 guys I traveled with while we were stopped in Kuwait. It was SO dusty; a sand storm was coming through and the sand was getting worse; luckily Navy helos have been instruments and can fly in worse weather than the Army helos- I would not want to have gotten stuck on that base overnght! I had to wear my glasses to keep the sand from getting in my eyes and for once in my life, keep my mouth shut- sand does not taste good!

I am staying at the luxurious Gulf Hotel (it seriously is quite nice!) I am about to go out to meet up with a few people that I know. My old roommate in Jax, Emily's boyfriend Marc, a girl I knew from Jax who's IA out here (and by know, I mean, met one time when she was on our ship for a certification- thank goodness for Facebook!) and the other girl, Malissa, that helps coordinate our logistics. I am very grateful to know a few people to hang out with.

It is also no coincidence that tonight is wine night at a restaurant Camelot just a few minutes cab right from the hotel. Also, given that I have only eaten a few cheez-its, a Coke Light, a bottle of Gatorade and 2 freezy pops (thanks to the generous carepackages that stocked up the free snack area at the Army base in Kuwait) I think a meal might be in order first!

I will post more tomorrow about my travels and after I get to explore Bahrain some. I am going to go to the NEX, go to the market and maybe the mosque. Shops are open late here, so I will go shopping at the mail tomorrow night after dinner.

Rafiki on the Run

So for those of you who know me, and know me well, you are familiar with a small purple and yellow stuffed monkey that I have. This was a "gift" from Dan- and by gift I mean, he won it in one of those claw hook machines at a mini-golf course in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina during Beach Week 2005 (or, BW2K5 for those of you who know what I'm talking about :)

Since summer of 2005, Rafiki has been QUITE the world traveler. His "List of Cities He Has Lived In" includes Charlottesville, VA, Jacksonville, FL & San Diego, CA. He enjoyed many weekend getaways to Atlanta, GA & Baltimore, MD. His passports includes stamps from Mexico and London. He even has a visa from a summer trip to Russia!

He was a guest on the USS JOHN PAUL JONES where he hopped with the kanagroos in the Land Down Under and met his distant relative, the koala, for the first time and on the USS BONHOMME RICHARD where he sipped mai tai's and did the hula in Hawaii. He has also done TWO South America Counter Narco-Terrorism deployments as a member of the USS SAMUEL B. ROBERTS and made port visits in Boston and Maine. His favorite was when the SAMMY B took him to New Orleans, where he enjoyed throwing beads off a balcony on Bourbon St during Mardi Gras. Rafiki is currently on his first deployment to the Arabian Gulf. According to Rafiki, the pros of this deployment include no seasickness, the same sleep schedule every day and high speed internet. On the downside though, he says the humidity is bad for his skin and wishes there weren't so many flies. Luckily, a quick tumble in the washing machine today cleaned him up pretty good. He's really excited for the rest of deployment too, most notably to watch the planes take off and land on the aircraft carrier.

However, Rafiki's life is not all jet-settling glamor. The worst is when Molly & Dan go on a trip together because he's never asked to come along- he missed out on Spain, Key West, the Bahamas, Disney World, NYC and most recently, Greece and Paris (Rafiki's still mad he didn't get invited on the honeymoon). 

One of my biggest regrets in life so far (up there with loosing my beautiful lace wedding veil at the wedding, anyone out there perhaps know of its location? and not knowing that September 29th was going to be my last night at home and wishing I had stopped to enjoy the sunset more and ate another piece of angel food cake and hugged my husband more) is not getting photographic evidence of all of the places that Rafiki has been. He is green with envy of the Travelocity Gnome, who gets his picture taken EVERYWHERE he goes. Rafiki doesn't understand why the paparazzi likes the Travelocity gnome almost as much as they like Paris Hilton; Rafiki thinks Paris Hilton is WAY better looking than the Travelocity Gnome. He at least thinks he's better looking that that silly little gnome.

So Rafiki, while I'm sorry that I failed to document your life thus far on film, I promise that I will do a better job of it in the future. And, so to make up for it, here is a picture of you somewhere the Travelocity Gnome has NEVER been (nor will probably ever go)- the most exclusive, most highly defended and protected waterfront property in the world, the Al Basrah Oil Terminal.

Pack your suitcase Rafiki because tomorrow by boat and by helo, we're on the run. Next Stop: The Kingdom of Bahrain!!!

If Rafiki could talk, he would be saying: "Do you have a good grip on me? Have you SEEN how unstable these rails can be? I read your post about the sharks, I'm sure they would love to take a bite out of me, I look so delicious and all. Are you crazy?! Put me doooooown!!!!"

Now let's play a little game called "Which one of these is not like the other?" Answer- it has nothing to do with who is an officer and who is enlisted... here I am with some of the DESRON 23 folks: OS1, Senior & OS2. I am easy to spot as I am the one with the super sweet kicks. So not only was my foot seething in pain, but I also looked ridiculous. When people ask, I tell them that I am just prepared it at any time I were to be chased, I could run away.

I'm trying to rest the foot one last day because I have to wear the boots tomorrow back to Bahrain. I'm off to my last dinner here and my last 6-hour stint on watch with my "fingers on the jugular." Oh, how I will miss the power of holding the defense of a small, strategically important country's economy in my hand.

Alright well, bon voyage!

A Very, Merry (early) Christmas.

So yesterday Dan & I had our early Christmas. It consisted of me eating chicken and potato chips while Dan opened up his present from me on Skype. It was the best first Christmas as a married couple I could have asked for right now; we are both safe, and healthy, and have ample ways to communicate, and have a wonderfully strong relationship- a lot to be thankful for. I do not have one of those "Our First Christmas" ornaments that I really want, so if anyone can find one for me that is in the shape of an oil tanker that says "Molly & Dan's First Christmas, 2009" I think that would be just swell :) 

Here is Dan with his new game- the Big Game Hunter for Wii. For those of you that don't know, Dan can tick off on his fingers the number of bars in San Diego, Jacksonville and Atlanta where he holds the record for highest score at Big Buck Hunter- a video game where you shoot at dear and antelope and other game creatures with a pretend shot gun. The Big Game Hunter for Wii was the closest thing I could find and it even came with a sawed-off plastic pretend shotgun. As you can imagine, this game doesn't really phase me too much but I knew instantly that Dan would love it and and was so happy that I could watch him open it on the computer- I was so excited and tracked the package every day online- I couldn't wait for him to receive it :) I also got him something else but won't arrive for a few more days, so I won't ruin the surprise on here!


I am still looking forward to our Christmas (and Thanksgiving, and New Year's and Valentine's Day) in April but this was definitely the next best thing. You and yours are all cordially invited to join us for these holidays this Spring. The best part? No sky-rocketing cost of air travel during peak season, no worries of delays due to snow (I mean, it's San Diego, after all!), not having to worry about lack of pumpkin pie mix or turkeys or holiday baking supplies at the grocery store and no lines and crowds at the shopping mall (you don't even need presents- just bring yourself!). Holiday dates for the Spring 2009 season are also flexible. Please let us know in advance when you will be joining us :)

 In other, unrelated, yet exciting news, Dan and I were interviewed by the C-Ville (a news & arts weekly publication in Charlottesville) for their "Making Marry" column about our wedding. Since we (obviously) couldn't interview in person, I had my 30 minute interview with the writer over Skype! I am not sure when it will be out but I trust that my in-laws will scoop up multiple copies for us in town :)

ABOT's Deadliest Catch (aka- why we don't go swimming)

As promised, here are some pictures of ABOT's own "Deadliest Catch". I'm not sure of the names of all of them, but enjoy! This one I call "Big Fish"

Here is a close up of Big Fish's mouth.

This is the shark that we see at ABOT sometimes. It is hard to tell how big he is because we are looking at him from like 20 feet up. We estimate between 3 and 7 feet. General consensus is that it is a "Molly Sized Shark" (I am 5'2"). Now, as a human I know I am not of a tough and intimidating stature, but give me some teeth like that and I'm sure I could be scary too!

Here is a fish that they caught on KAAOT when I was visiting. So I lean in for a close-up and the thing JUMPS (I guess it was not already dead yet). I nearly had a heartache and jumped like 3 feet in the area. The SOC worker who was fishing laughed at me :)

Here is the bait that they use to catch fish. The waters below ABOT are literally swarming with these little guys.

Gar is the eel-looking fish that is most commonly caught on ABOT. The Iraqis SOC workers catch them and they cook them up and eat them. When I asked if I could take a picture of him and the gar, the SOC worker got really excited and thought I wanted to take my picture with him. He immediately whips out his camera (every Iraqi Marine & SOC workers seem to carry their digital cameras around in their pockets- just like us!) and so I figured we may as well take one with my camera. As you can tell, the gar is almost half the length of my body!

Here is a full body shot of the gar.

And while we're on the subject of gross things, here is a good illustration of what exactly is going on with my feet. All the guys on the staff make fun of me because between the layers of skin that I lost on my heels, the toenail that fell off and my foot infection, they all think I'm like totally un-hygenic and un-sanitary. I was like "no no I shower every day and dry my feet and change my socks twice a day- I swear I'm not gross!!!) It hurt really bad last night but healed a little bit overnight. Now it's hurting again so I'm about to go soak it and sit down with my feet up (Doctor's orders, but can't complain :)

This is what a "normal" foot should look like:

Here is the side profile view of the infected foot. I didn't take a pic of the actual infection- toooo gross.
Obviously, as you can imagine, putting this swollen foot into a boot seriously exacerbated the problem!