Humpday. The same anywhere in the world as it is at home. Though this is the first time I've started teaching a class in the middle of the week, so I'd call it more MonWenday than Wednesday. Still, glad tomorrow's Thursday. I've frequented the PX a lot the last two days, mostly out of boredom. We go there for lunch, coffee runs, buying last minute things like the Brookstone umbrella I picked up yesterday. It has a button to open it like most other umbrellas, but that same button CLOSES the umbrella so you can de-telescope (?) it and put it away. Super high tech and only $10. No tax in the PX either (ballin'). Aside - on Air Force bases it's a BX which is Base Exchange I think, instead of PX for Post Exchange. Anyway, on Veteran's day cub scouts gave out fabric Poppies so I stuck one in the lapel of my peacoat (see? Fashion blog notes when you least expect them). Not sure where else I would have put it. A woman in line at Taco Bell turned around and asked if I was British. I said, "Nope, do I look it?" I guess British people don't look different than American people, but she said the Poppy-in-the-lapel thing was very British. So we chatted about London where she used to live, Hurricane Sandy and then I took my burritos and left. Yay for a come-on, put a feather in my cap (or a Poppy in my lapel), minus the fact that she was pushing her toddler in the shopping cart -_-. Swing and a miss.
Well that brings me to class this week. The class we're teaching here holds 16 students, and lasts for 5 days. Most of the time, the last day is just reserved for testing and we're wrapped up and out by 1pm (or you know, 1300 if you're keeping with the Army thing). We have been scheduled here for a few double classes, meaning we'd have a big room with 32 people to teach. That's a feat in itself, let alone the equipment needed to support that class. At one point in the curriculum we'd need 48 of those CBMs I showed a picture of in an earlier post. Add their transit cases into the picture and you quickly run out of space. Good thing for us, the Army is terrible about making sure messages are distributed and read, and we haven't had a full class yet. Today brought 20 students out of that possible 32 so it'll be a busy couple of days through Tuesday next week.
Today had a lesson outside (the class has 14 lessons in total) and the outside lesson consists of assembling and raising a 30 foot antenna mast. Well, I got stuck with the Katusas in my group (Korean Attaches to The US Army that either don't really speak any English, or pretend not to speak any English) so most of the time out there was spent with me giving directions and them looking at me. Blankly. So I did what everyone else would do, and just talked louder. Mike did step in dog poop, so that was some entertainment, albeit kind of crappy *pun!* More of the same tomorrow, though no outside bits.
And finally, the topic of the post; The Glamour of Life on the Road. This travel thing is fun, sometimes. Like when you get upgraded to a first class seat, or get to sit in an Apache cockpit, but coming back to the same hotel room, eating the same thing for lunch every day, and being too tired to get to the gym wears on you. And that's not to say it's different than any other job because people get burned out all the time, in all kinds of work. That's why it's so crucial to be out with a good team, with people you can get along with, whine and dine with (yes, pun again), and tolerate for weeks on end. But at the end of the day you just want to kick back with friends and relax. Well, sooner or later on the road you meet new friends. And not always people you expect.
My friends: Jack, and Coke.
Well that brings me to class this week. The class we're teaching here holds 16 students, and lasts for 5 days. Most of the time, the last day is just reserved for testing and we're wrapped up and out by 1pm (or you know, 1300 if you're keeping with the Army thing). We have been scheduled here for a few double classes, meaning we'd have a big room with 32 people to teach. That's a feat in itself, let alone the equipment needed to support that class. At one point in the curriculum we'd need 48 of those CBMs I showed a picture of in an earlier post. Add their transit cases into the picture and you quickly run out of space. Good thing for us, the Army is terrible about making sure messages are distributed and read, and we haven't had a full class yet. Today brought 20 students out of that possible 32 so it'll be a busy couple of days through Tuesday next week.
Today had a lesson outside (the class has 14 lessons in total) and the outside lesson consists of assembling and raising a 30 foot antenna mast. Well, I got stuck with the Katusas in my group (Korean Attaches to The US Army that either don't really speak any English, or pretend not to speak any English) so most of the time out there was spent with me giving directions and them looking at me. Blankly. So I did what everyone else would do, and just talked louder. Mike did step in dog poop, so that was some entertainment, albeit kind of crappy *pun!* More of the same tomorrow, though no outside bits.
And finally, the topic of the post; The Glamour of Life on the Road. This travel thing is fun, sometimes. Like when you get upgraded to a first class seat, or get to sit in an Apache cockpit, but coming back to the same hotel room, eating the same thing for lunch every day, and being too tired to get to the gym wears on you. And that's not to say it's different than any other job because people get burned out all the time, in all kinds of work. That's why it's so crucial to be out with a good team, with people you can get along with, whine and dine with (yes, pun again), and tolerate for weeks on end. But at the end of the day you just want to kick back with friends and relax. Well, sooner or later on the road you meet new friends. And not always people you expect.
My friends: Jack, and Coke.
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