A day in paradise...

I have had a lot of people ask me lately, "What do you actually do over there?" Great question. I'm not sure...

So here is what a typical day looks like in beautiful Iraq:

I wake up at 6:00 every morning (okay, who are we kidding, 6:30 or 6:45), run across to the latrines and take a quick shower. No one is EVER in the bathroom when I am, which is nice, but I sometimes wonder when other girls take showers... Of course, I am pretty sure there are only about 20 or so girls actually here. I rush back to my room, throw on my uniform of jeans and a polo, and brush my teeth with bottled water (yes, bottled water... I am trying to convince myself it's fun... like camping...). I have about a third of a mile walk to work, which isn't bad in the morning when it is only about 90 or so degrees.

I make it to work a few minutes before seven, spend about thirty seconds with Josh and then get to work. Oh, and I haven't yet seen the DFAC in the morning, so breakfast is just a bowl of cereal that I pick up the night before at dinner. At work we input inventory into a computer when troops return items because they are going home. This is all part of the drawdown that is supposed to be done by the end of next year.

Now here is the funny think about work. I am at work between 7am and 7pm everyday, and I think I am actively busy to work things for about... 2 or so hours of that. So in the morning I input information in the computer for about a half hour, and then sporadically throughout the day something may come up. So most of my time is spent browsing the internet and watching the big screen TV in the front of the office. Emeril Live is on everyday at 3pm, and every knows that we are going to be watching, and have stopped complaining.

I have between 1 1/2 and 2 hours for lunch, so I usually walk back to my CHU and take a nap. The walk back to work again is not pleasant as the temperature is usually well into the 110's or above. I work/watch TV/surf internet until about 5:30, and if I am lucky enough to snatch up a vehicle I pick Josh up and go get dinner. The vehicles are a tricky thing because we only have two trucks that we have to share between the 20 or so of us in the office, so you have to be quick about getting one when it is available.

After eating dinner with Josh at our desks, I head back to the CHU around 7pm. Since I am a girl, I am not allowed out of the room alone past dark, around 7:45, so I get to spend my evening inside. I usually do yoga, watch a movie, and get on Skype. I am asleep by 10pm and start it all again the next morning.

Now Fridays... Fridays are different. They are the best day of the week by one thousand percent. Not only is every Friday payday, it is also our one golden, wonderful day off. 36 hours of amazing-ness of which I usually spend 24 sleeping. Josh and I have started a tradition on Fridays. He tries his best to stay up until lunch time (when he is usually fast asleep because he works night shift), and we make the couple mile trek over to the other side of base and go for lunch. There is one restaurant in all of Marez, called Falafel. It is a Turkish restaurant that serves what I think is Mediterranean food. They have shawarma, lamb meatballs, hummus (and AH-mazing Iraqi bread), and the best part -- REAL silverware and plates. Last week, when we went for the first time, was the first time I have not eaten off styrofoam in two months. I would pay for that alone. Also, this restaurant is cheap: Josh and I got soup, salad, bread, hummus, chicken, beef, and sodas for 15 dollars. So this has quickly become our weekly date.

So that is what I do here... work about 75 hours a week... and sleep the rest.

No pictures today. I have to recharge the camera and get busy. Anything you guys want pictures of?

Mosul, Iraq

Has it really been one month since my last post? Since this doesn't bode well for my book deal (haha), I suppose it is time for an update.

I will start from my last post, because I promised you all pictures. Like I said before, we flew out of Georgia into Bangor, Maine then on to Germany. We got fed just about every ten minutes it seems, but the food barely ranked above an MRE.

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However, there are not too many ways you can ruin a Little Debbie snack, so I didn't complain. Also, on this flight, the attendants walked around offering hot/cold towels every ten or so minutes. Had I known what military-ran flights awaited me, I would have enjoyed this more.

We landed in Leipzig, Germany a short 6 or so hours later.  They cleared out a section of the airport for us to relax in, use computers, and make phone calls (if you could figure out the stupid German pay phones...we could not).

The airport at Germany. There were two giftshops for us to go into. One was like a 7-11 in that they had a whole section with hot dogs and fountain drinks. Although we were not hungry in the least bit, we couldn't resist this local "treat"....

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Alright, so it actually wasn't good at all, but it was only one and half dollars, and we got a drink... And this picture. So... money well spent.

Josh kept saying, "smile for real, smile for real". And I kept replying, "I'm pretty sure I am!" I guess I wasn't. Oh well, how happy are you supposed to be after 24 hours of no sleep and a transatlantic flight?

We landed in Kuwait four hours later, and although we then had to take a convoy from the airport to the Air Base, Ali Al Salem. I was most nervous for any convoys, but honestly I was so tired that I didn't even register that it might be dangerous. Alas, we arrived at Ali completely safe.

Like I said in my previous post, once we got to Ali it was late, but we weren't tired, so we just walked around. (Also they don't give you bedsheets, and sleeping on a plastic mattress in 120 degree heat proves to be one of the hardest things I have tried to do.) This is a view of the McDonalds at the fast food court.

And of course, you can't not take a picture with Ronald, especially if you find him in Kuwait.

Ali was pretty disgusting, so Josh and I couldn't wait to get on our flight out. We waited two nights in Kuwait, and finally got manifested on a flight to Balad, Iraq. I was very excited to leave Kuwait, but then again I was pretty naive, because I had never been on a military flight before.

This is the morning of our flight out at Ali al Salem. Yes, we had to wear our vests on our flight, which only added (50 pounds) to the 120+ degree heat. We all loaded onto a cargo plane, and proceeded to sit for over an hour. This was miserable. We were strapped in, with our vests on, in a tiny metal tube sitting in the sun, with absolutely NO circulating air. After a 45 minute plane ride, we arrived in Balad, and thankfully, got off the plane. That was my favorite part of the day.

Balad was... wonderful. I really enjoyed it there. It is a rather big base, with two DFAC's, two shopping centers, paved roads... and I got a wet CHU (a housing unit with plumbing!) my first day there.

My room was the "Cadillac" of military housing, and really, exactly like a college dorm, so I didn't have anything to complain about. Josh, however, stayed in a room exactly like you would expect...

He shared a room with 20 other people, and got one itty bitty locker to put his stuff in. All I can say it.... it's good to be a girl on a military base... haha.

Balad isn't near as hot as Kuwait, but still extremely uncomfortable, so Josh and I once again did our site seeing after sundown.

This was at sunset, about six thirty at night. You can barely see the sun most of the time because of all of the sand in the air. The sky is barely ever blue, and because of the sand, eveything has a yellow-y/orangey hue to it.

Since most of the military bases in Iraq were overtaken from the Iraqi Army, a lot of the structures were built under Saddam's regime. This is Josh and I standing in front of a bunker. There are a lot of these on base, and although they are not being used, they are all left standing.

This is the food court at Balad. It has a Pizza Hut, Cinnabon, Taco Bell, Burger King, KFC, Popeye's... more than the Rivertown Mall. Josh and I ate here one night, but only because we got out of work too late to go to the DFAC. It is very overpriced- we paid 15 dollars for a 10 inch pepperoni pizza. And with weekly surf and turf night (yes, real steaks and lobster tails!!!) at the DFAC, I don't know why you would ever want fast food.

Josh in my room in Balad.

This is the outside of the CHU's that I stayed in. Yes, it is just two shipping containers stacked on top of each other.

Now we are in Mosul, Iraq. Although we don't have paved roads, the weather is on average 20 degrees cooler than Balad. This is where we'll call home for the next year. More to come...

Keep praying.