In my last post I said I was busy & that was 2 weeks ago...
Last week I had 2 general officers come visit, both from Marine Forces Europe.  So that's what consumed my hours & days, going to meetings at the embassy and answering emails & phone calls about read-ahead materials, providing biographies of the US staff here and the Georgians.  And approving a seating chart for the lunch in the chow hall on Saturday.  Yeah...good times...  But the visits went well and the generals were pleased, so I keep my job for now.

Last weekend (St Patty's Day) I went to a Georgia vs. Russia rugby game.  We got tickets through the embassy, third row on the center line.  They would have been great seats except it was windy and cold and the seats were hollow plastic so it felt like sitting on a block of ice.  But the game was great, Georgia stomped on Russia, 42-0.  Georgia is in white, they had a giant player who looked like Troy Palomalu from the Steelers.  Then we went to an Irish bar for shepard's pie and Guinness.

So this week I get to focus back on training with one battalion here and one at another nearby base.  Marksmanship training, land navigation, staff planning, communications.  All good stuff.  Sometime late next week I'm supposed to receive more MRAPs for driver training and IED training. 
OK, that's it.

Whew!  I am busier than a one armed wallpaper hanger.  I'm still turning over with the previous team who has one week left.  This week we are reviewing all the equipment I'll end up signing for including radios, night vision goggles, humvees, MRAPs, computers, etc.  About a bizillion dollars worth of stuff.
The training portion is going well; although I'm in charge of it I haven't yet actually been to any classrooms or ranges to see notes being taken or bullets being fired.  But I'll get there.
The food ain't bad.  The US Georgia Army National Guard supports us with about two dozen soldiers to run our part of the camp (we are technically tenants on the Georgian military base) like the chow hall, the post office, medical, motor pool.  We contract with local women to actually cook the food & wash the dishes and they're supervised by a Staff Sergeant.  The Georgians have something very similar to Chinese dumplings but they're about 3 times as big. 
Sorry, still no photos.  Once again, I'll get around to it.
I won't publish my address, if you want it leave a comment with your email. 

Gamarjobat!
Hello! from Georgia.  The past four days were busy with meetings and tours of training areas.  Every day ended with me being exhausted and I STILL could only manage a few hours of sleep.  Stupid jet-lag (I'm 9 hours ahead of the East Coast).
The Georgian military runs their training with assistance from us, to include some equipment they need to be able to work with us in Afghanistan (radios, night vision goggles, etc.) They have some good instructors but need help with the experience that only we can bring.
Two nights ago I and another Marine were invited out to dinner by a few Georgian officers, when I was really looking forward to some sleep.  Three and a half hours, two bottles of wine, and two carafes of 'cha-cha' (like grappa) later...I finally got some sleep.  The food was great though, some really interesting dishes.  One was a shallow pot of fried chicken in a thick broth of garlic yogurt.
I just got another email that needs my attention so I'll cut this short.
Not surprisingly Georgians dislike the Russians.  Remember, 3 years ago the Russians invaded to 'free' the people in the regions of Abkazia and South Ossetia.  This blogger service gives me simple stats on page views, etc.  It also shows geographically who is looking at my blog.  So, to my Russian friends who are enjoying my blog...hello!
And good-bye.

Gutentag!
The flight from Norfolk (to Newark) to Stuttgart, Germany was nice.  Plenty of legroom but I still couldn't sleep.  So I watched Contagion.  Then I watched Horrible Bosses.  Then I watched Real Steel.  Then I felt a little sleepy but with 45 minutes of flight time left the cabin lights were turned on so I just stayed up.  Arrival in Stuttgart was fine, clearing through customs took all of 30 seconds.  Unlike an American returning to the States where the TSA, FBI, Border Patrol, and Immigration all take turns grilling you for hours. 
So I went through another day of briefings at MARFOREUR (Marine Forces Europe) which is located on a base called "Panzer Kaserne"  For those of you unfamiliar with German military terms, 'panzer' means tank.  And who is the most famous German tank commander?  Rommel.  So Panzer Kaserne is actually Rommel's old headquarters which the US took over after WWII.  It's actually a really small base, you could walk around the perimeter in a half hour.  But on a few of the buildings there are still concrete eagles of the German army but the swastikas have been removed. 
Today is Saturday so I took the train into downtown Stuttgart (I'm staying at a hotel in Boblingen) http://www.reussenstein.com/joomla/
and walked around for a few hours.  I took pictures but they're all too big to squeeze through this internet connection, I'll have to shrink them to a smaller format.  The main tourist area is nice, probably a lot nicer in the summer.  I had a little pizza from a bakery.  They used cream cheese as the base with spiced ham & herbs sprinkled on top.  It was ok but really?  cream cheese?
Taking the train to Stuttgart wasn't too bad, the automated ticket kiosk had instructions in English.  Coming back was different.  Buying the ticket was easy but then I had to figure out which track my train was on (imagine a semi-outdoor Grand Central Station)
"Hello, I am a stupid American.  Which train takes me to Boblingen?"
  "Gretunchenken wertan obnachtingen" (yes you are stupid and I will put you on a train to Norway)

Actually the Germans were/are great.  This is a major city with lots of tourists so everyone I asked for help spoke English.  Now I'm back in the hotel drinking beer (what else?) and contemplating dinner. 
"Hello, I am a stupid American.  I'd like to order some tasty sausage."
  "Ratnakgretchen weinerschnitzel haufcraken."  (yes you are stupid but I won't spit in your food)