I'm living the Lion King

Woah! Somehow I've ended up in the lovely African heat on this Easter Sunday. Could I be any more lucky? Ahaha I'm kidding. This sucks. It's hotter than hell here and I left Bahrain a day earlier than I was planning to which means I didn't get to say goodbye to a lot of people and that really bothers me. My last night in Bahrain was not what I was expecting, it was both good and bad. Of course, because everyone in the military is basically the equivalent of a high school girl, there was some stupid drama that just HAD to go down in my last few hours. But once I left the scene of the drama, the night took a turn for the better, I had a really great evening with one of my best friends on the island. We had a couple really great talks and stayed up late just enjoying each others company. I'm definitely going to miss him a lot. Woke up this morning at OH MY GOD IT'S EARLY o'clock and left it all behind. The next few months are going to be interesting for sure. I have to get used to not seeing certain people every day, or being able to call them to come hug me when I'm having a bad day. And it's worse knowing that when I do come back to Bahrain, most likely they'll all be gone. I love the military more than anything, but I hate getting close to people and then having to say goodbye not too long after. Granted, with modern technology it's easier to stay in contact with people, but it's not the same as actually being able to see them face to face. But I've gotten through tougher things in my life and I know I can get through this. Who knows, maybe I'll see them further down the road in our careers. With a certain few people I really hope that happens.
Back to Africa. Oh. My. Gosh. I can not imagine being stationed here. It's hot, isolated, dirty and hot (yes I said it twice because it's not even really summer here and it's freaking hot out!). The best thing I've seen so far is the galley, the food there is remarkably good, but still. I would not want to be living here on a permanent basis. Right now they have us staying in tent barracks which do give the illusion of actually being deployed but are highly inconvenient for privacy or being on someones good side. People are always sleeping in there and they get mightily irritated if you flip the light on, but of course there are no windows so if the door is closed, it's pitch black so you HAVE to turn the light on so you don't trip and die. I think I actually got growled at earlier....
I'm excited to get going on mission and finally get some experience instead of just training. I don't know how often I'll be able to update or what I can share, but I'll do my best. All I can ask for is for everyone to bear with me on this crazy adventure that is my life.
Long distance love from your favorite MA,
Victoria

I don't have a witty title for this

This is just kind of a general update, I've been beyond tired recently and honestly can't completely remember what all I've done since I last posted. Things have been up and down a lot here recently and that's been both good and bad. It's funny, I thought when I joined the military and started living on my own, that the people I work and live with would be a little more mature than the people I had to spend my adolescent years with. High school drama was the bane of my teenage existence yet it always seemed to be drawn to me. I was hoping that when I moved out here, people would be a bit more grown up. They're not. It is remarkable to me, the lack of maturity and common sense that people seem to have. People who have been in the military longer than me and have been here in Bahrain longer than me, that have the emotional and mental age of a middle schooler, it's completely ridiculous. Just from walking around and trying to hang out with different people and make friends, I get so damn frustrated that sometimes I have to go lay down and count to ten. Now, I know that I'm not everybody's favorite person, there isn't one person on this planet that is liked by everybody that they know. But generally speaking, I would say that I'm a pleasant person. And I really do try to give every one a chance to give a good first impression and to give them a chance to show me that it's worth it to me to spend time getting to know them and be friendly. It is so freaking hard sometimes though because (especially the NSF master at arms) are a bunch of catty little girls. Oh. My. God. When I'm getting told by them to NOT hang out with people from their command, you know there's a problem. Apparently, they are all out to get each other and I can't trust any of them...yea that makes me feel so comfortable...
I still try to give everyone the benefit of the doubt, but there are certain people that just rub me the wrong way. They're the people that walk into the room and my mood instantly drops, I can't help it, they just make me uncomfortable. Especially when I'm so protective of the few people that I have become friends with, I don't like when certain others show up. I won't outright be a bitch to them, but I'm not all cozy friendly with them. And it sucks because all I want is to go out and have fun with my friends on the weekend and I always end up irritated. But I can handle that, it helps that they're not actually in my command so I don't have to see them on a daily basis...that would be umm....unfortunate.
Okay so now that I got that little rant out of the way, on to the more pertinent news. I have officially been put on a team and can expect to deploy around the end of this month. I can't say exactly when, for how long or where we will go, but at some point in the near future I'm kinda gonna fall of the face of the planet for a little bit. Please don't be worried, we just don't have access to a lot on the internet on our ship. When I'm in port and can get wifi, I'll update the best I can, but obviously I don't know when or how often that will be. Just bear with me and know that whenever I can, I'll be in contact and give updates.
I'm a little sad, most likely by the time I get back to Bahrain, all of my friends in the Marine platoon here will be back in the states because their deployment will be over. I've gotten really close to these guys and they're my best friends on the island and I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do when they're gone. They've helped me get acclimated to life here, kept me company, given me laughs when I've had bad days and just been great friends in general. People ask me how I can be friends with grunts, and I just remind them that they're normal people like the rest of us. Just because they carry the title of Marine grunt doesn't make them any less intelligent or less of a person than anyone. In fact, I think that some of these guys are better than a lot of sailors I know. They look out for each other and anyone that they bring into their group, including dorky little me. They're great people and I'm going to be very sad to say goodbye to them.
**I don't want any crap from any of you Charlie 4 guys who might read this. I had a momentary girly phase but I can still take all you :P
I don't have much more to report, I'm just settling into the Navy routine and training hard as I can. I keep being reminded of how happy I am that I made this decision and that nothing will ever make me regret doing everything that I've done up to this point. I'm in the best possible place I could be.
Tomorrow I have to move rooms because they're renovating the barracks here. I hired a few of my buddies to help me. How did I convince them do you ask? I told them I would pay them in beer. I got a unanimous and instantaneous YES from them. It was quite comical actually. They haven't seen how much crap I actually have though. They're probably going to hate me. But I shall have beer, so all will be well.
Okay, that's all I have for you lovely folks who read this little nugget of randomness. Until next time!
Love always from your favorite MA,
Victoria