Aliza Nadi, the UAE
On our way to the UAE yesterday, we flew straight over Baghdad, passing Mosul and Tikrit.  From 30,000 feet above, it seemed like everything was fine on the ground.  Peaceful, calm, speckles of bright orange lights here and there.  The Tigris right beneath us.  I thought about the troops stationed there.  And how different their life is from the ones we’re about to film, the ones whose road to home doesn’t lead [see entire entry...]

On Wednesday evening we had a great meal of chicken kabobs and giant Russian beers at the restaurant near our apartment which features a pair of karaoke singing fellows we’ve dubbed the "Bishkek Boys."  As we nibbled our kabobs the boys ran through a medley of Russian and American pop songs.  We got Stevie Wonder’s "I just called to say I love you" a reggae song I’d never heard (and I once had a pretty [see entire entry...]

Well. As the author of another blog that no one ever comments on, I have to say that it’s exciting to know that this blog has an audience–at least in the halls of the USFK PAO. Or, to be more specific, at least on the computer of (I believe) one Maj. Bailey, who greeted us this morning on base with a rousing call of, “Well, it must be the world-famous News 21 team!” And then, [see entire entry...]

At about 5 am this morning Katya and I touched down on the Manas International Airport runway (the most superior artificial runway in all of central Asia, both in length and strength, according to the superlative-packed brochure in our rented apartment.)  Having just survived about 24 hours of travel and progressively smaller and older Aeroflot aircraft we didn’t have the camera out to capture the brilliant orange skyline or the Air Base, which is more [see entire entry...]

Well, here we are, jet lagged but basically content. Time for first impressions before we keel over from exhaustion.
(Katya Kumkova-Wolpert)

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[see entire entry...]

All right. Confirmed:
a. every member of our team is, in fact, in Korea
b. two people in the airport asked me if I were in the military. I somehow feel honored by the idea that anyone would have seen me in the airport, dragging around five bags with a lost and confused look on my face, and thought that I might have anything to do with our national defense. Perhaps I looked tougher than I realized
c. [see entire entry...]

I may speak a bit too soon, since I’m technically the only one of us in our guesthouse right now, but it appears that the News 21 Korea team is, in fact, going to make it to Seoul. Yes, after a 14-hour flight from NYC, during which I befriended a Taiwanese photographer AND watched Singin’ in the Rain (amongst other worthwhile activities) I am here, having just done my laundry and attempted to unpack (a [see entire entry...]

Katya Kumkova-Wolpert
I doubt that American diplomats travel by Aeroflot, but if they did, we might arrive in Bishkek on the same plane. The Kyrgyz news agency AkiPress is reporting that the negotiations over the Manas airbase are scheduled to resume on June 7, the day that Patrick and I touch down at Manas. (The joke here is that Manas is both the name of the international airport AND the location of the Peter Ganci [see entire entry...]