Kombucha and Denver, CO

Damn Firefighters!

It's the begining of my last partial day in the US of A, and I wake up with a wine headache. At 6:40 in the morning. I stopped drinking coffee a couple days ago, and I now marvel at how I can wake up and be all spry yet blurry and then my body naturally wakes up without me telling it to.
I am in the surreal strip mall land of Denver, about to embark on a half day of training at Ratheon (we had one yeterday too) and then REALLY embark on a 19 hour plane trip. Do I have Valium or even Tylenol PM? No. I only have Valarian, because apparently I'm a hippie.
Everyone is getting close, like they do when thrown into weird situations, or in our case, weird chalet hotels, together. I have met a bunch of folks, and really like all of them. Most people are first-year ice people like me, and we all share the same clueless enthusiasm. The veterans are not old and codgery really, I met a lady who had spent 11 summers at Pole (the South one), and she was very upbeat and we talked about tattoos and ate yogurt pretzels together. The only codgery one is the young guy, who is just all about BEING codgery and pulling rank about wintering at McMurdo (that means "staying the winter" which means "no daylight").
I hung out with firefighters last night, along with a couple others....we went to some kind of bar/restaurant that had butcher-paper on the tables and I drew two guys on the table, and they ended up taking their spur-of-the-moment pictures with them, apparently to put on their wall in Antarctica?! It's amazing what a little portrait can do. Most people never have their portrait drawn. Hooray for art!
Do you want to know what I am about to do today?
1. Finish training, which means sitting in a room that has recycled air, and coughing and watching safety videos
2. Fly to LA (2 hours)
3. Fly to Sydney, Australia(14.5 hours- I have two friends on the flight,....hopefully we are seated next to each other)
4. Fly to Christchurch, NZ (3 hours)

Send me your best wishes for ease through airport security and safe travels. I will have to take off my shoes and declare stuff numerous times, no doubt.
I'm going to go take advantage of the "free continental breakfast" now, which at the chalet is actually more than a hard baguet and a bunch of cereal. Bon appetit!
I'll talk to you again from THE FUTURE (we cross the international date line) and also Spring (the seasons are switched)!
Much love,
Kai