Leave time has been great. I can't say enough how great it is to spend time with family and friends. I think this is the first time I've been able to spend an entire 30 days at home between assignments. The only down side has been figuring out what to do with so much time. Everyone keeps telling me that doing nothing is the point... and I get that... but it WAS a bit challenging to go from running 100mph to idle overnight. But, as I said it has been fun. The trip to Disney World was terrific, aside from me coming down with a cold about the third day. Seeing the nephews' reaction to that place was, well... magical. I'm really glad we did that as a family. Christmas and New Years were also great. I had the rare opportunity to see my sister and brother-in-law out on a real date, something I'll always cherish.

Let's see what else... I've been able to catch up with two old friends. One gal I haven't seen in over 13 years named Jennifer and my old buddy Josh who I haven't seen in about five. Interestingly, Josh is a local morning talk show personality and as I write this I have just arrived back home from being on the morning show with him. It was a great experience to see how a morning radio show runs and I was even invited to talk a little bit about the Army and my experiences. Everyone seems intrigued at what I am doing, which is funny because I just consider it all to be very normal stuff. In reality I know that what I've done and what I will be doing are very much NOT usual things, and I am very lucky to be given such great opportunities. I just try to keep a very humble attitude about it.

Oh... I've FINALLY been approved to retake the DLPT, which I will do this week. I have been putting time into keeping up on my language skills, and I hope it has been enough. I really want to show up for ICT having met the standards of the previous course. I know my language skills are more than sufficient out on the street... it's just the satisfaction of having the paper to prove it that is eating at me.

Here's a couple of photos from the last few weeks:

Disney sure knows how to spruce things up for the holidays!

In full New Years party regalia... no further comment needed I think.