Greetings From Baghdad

Where to begin?  It’s been a wild ride this past week!  I’ve run through a myriad of emotions and experiences since leaving for my three month stint in Baghdad last weekend.  It’s hard to believe an entire week has already past…

I spent Friday evening and most of Saturday ironing out the kinks in my summer plans.  Well, that and playing Uno on Xbox Live with Pablo and Mocha, two of my online buddies.  I did most of my packing on Saturday, and I made several phone calls.  It wasn’t until I spoke with all of my family and closest friends that it truly hit me.  I finally realized what an amazing adventure I was about to partake in.  After hearing the multiple I’ll miss you’s and be safe’s, I cried.  I’m going to miss being able to call the people I love to share exciting news or even for nothing at all.

Sunday morning, I put the last of my belongings in my bag — things that needed to be packed last minute.  I made a run to the ATM and picked up a chai latte from Starbucks.  I left Tammy a voicemail and called my mom one last time.  After a brief conversation, I rang for a cab.  The driver arrived more quickly than I’d expected.  I bit my lip to hold back the tears as I stroked Elvis and Priscilla one last time.  I climbed in the bright yellow car waiting outside and thought, "The adventure begins."

I met Chris at the airport around noon.  First class from Colorado Springs to Chicago.  Nice.  Business class the rest of the way.  Even nicer.  Each leg of the trip was long, but I never noticed.  The seats reclined fully so I was able to sleep comfortably.  Between Chicago and Frankfurt, we were served a three course dinner with all the wine, cocktails and beer we could manage.  We were also supplied a ‘goody bag’ containing socks, a fragranced eye mask, toothpaste and a toothbrush, moisturizer, and lip balm.  The seats each housed a fairly large TV with a variety of programming and video games.  I played Solitaire and watched ‘The Pursuit of Happyness’.  Good movie.

We didn’t have much time to loll around the Frankfurt airport, but we did steal a moment between flights for a bowl of Haagen Dazs.  Yummy!  Most of the signs were in German, so I was fortunate to have Chris accompanying me, considering he speaks the language.  Next stop — Doha, Qatar.

Upon stepping out of the plane in Doha, it was clearly evident that I was in another country.  There was no jetwing greeting us at the aircraft door.  We each filed down the steps of the jet and onto a waiting bus.  The bumpy ride to the terminal seemed never-ending.  Once we reached the glass double doors, the crowd became mad.  Everyone began running for the row of desks ahead of us.  Ah, passport and visa services.  Chris and I waited our turn, had our passports stamped, and began looking for Rob, the local ISS employee sent to meet us.  As we walked through the airport exit corridor, we were greeted by a mob of locals barricaded by a chest high wall, holding signs, and screaming the names of those they were sent to retrieve.  It took us about an hour to finally catch up to Rob.

The view of the city was spectacular at night.  Colorful neons pierced through the dark like the Vegas skyline.  After dropping our bags off at the $330 a night hotel, we headed to a traditional Persian restaurant and dined on curry and kebabs.  I tried to sleep that night, but I wasn’t able to well.  I had too much adrenaline pumping for my mind to shut itself off.  I turned on the tube and flipped through several Arabic stations before settling on CNN, the only channel broadcast in English.

Neither Chris nor I was scheduled for a flight the next day, so we hopped in a limo (a slightly nicer version of a cab) destined for a new mall.  The daylight view of the city was a stark contrast from the night before.  Every building appeared to be made of clay, and most seemed to be delapidated, crumbling at the edges.  Aside from a few scarce palm trees, there was no vegetation.  You could tell that a few of the hotels had attempted to plant flowers around the perimeter, but most of them were brown and brittle.  Dirt covered everything, and frequent sand storms lifted clouds of dust into a permanent haze above us.  The sky didn’t even appear blue.

It wasn’t until we reached the shopping center that I realized just how much money really exists in this African country.  Qatari men, dressed in traditional Muslim attire, drove around the lot in Mercedes and BMW SUVs.  The shops sold much more high end clothing than I often see stateside, and I can’t tell you how many haute couture shops we passed along the way.  One of my favorite pictures thus far clearly illustrates this.  I snapped a photo just as Chris was walking out of the mall’s Starbucks with our midday chai lattes.

I’ve taken a lot more pictures than this, but unfortunately, our wireless connection in the camp isn’t strong enough to upload photos.  My pretties will have to wait until I return to see the remainder.

Chris was booked on a military flight Wednesday afternoon to head to Afghanistan.  Around noon, we made our way to Al Udeid, the local Qatari/American Army base.  After seeing him off, Rob and I debated about what I should do the rest of the day.  We knew I was to fly out on Thursday, but we wouldn’t know what time until after 8:30pm that night.  Since he had to go back into the office, we unloaded my things and dropped them off in a short-term transient tent.  This would be my new home for an undetermined length of time.

I spent the next several hours reading a fantastic novel recommended by my brother, ‘Altered Carbon’.  The tent was not air conditioned, and considering the temp reached 107 that day, it was entirely to hot to stay inside.  I sat in the cooler breeze outside of the PAX terminal until dark.  After grabbing a soda and a cup of yogurt from the grab ‘n go, I once again checked on my flight.  I was space blocked for a 7am showtime, but I finagled my way onto a near empty 12:55am flight.  I dozed in the transient tent for a couple of hours before dragging my bags and newly aquired kevlar back to the gate.

I waited another good hour and a half before we finally boarded the plane.  I felt like I was on some secret, covert mission as I marched with the soldiers wearing my thirty-five pound vest and helmet.  We trudged down the tarmac in pitch dark and loaded onto a bus that carried us the rest of the way to the aircraft.  The driver passed out earplugs and spilled emergency instructions into my already crowded head.  I climbed the ramp into the tail end of the C-130, and buckled myself into one of the flimsy, netted seats.

It was obvious that the carrier travels much faster than the typical, commercial flight.  The takeoff shifted me violently in my seat.  I

thanked my lucky stars for the earplugs, and tried to doze off.  Not possible.  The plane ascended quickly, and my ears stopped up every couple of seconds.  The flight was bumpy, and I continually had to readjust my backpack between my feet.  We were all told to sit straight up as the plane began to descend two hours later.  At one point, the plane tipped so far and quickly to one side that I felt like all my internal organs were sinking into my stomach.  My brother said he was surprised the pilot didn’t alert us to the maneuvers before landing.  Apparently, they were to evade RPGs and Stingers.  Nice.

I finally arrived in Baghdad around 9am Thursday morning.  I checked into the camp, and called the office to have someone pick me up at BIA.  One of my new coworkers and a pretty, blonde girl that works in another contracting office met me at the airport.  Both in khakis and driving a mud-splattered SUV down bumpy dirt roads, I suddenly felt like I was starring in a desert safari movie.

We first stopped by the ‘office’ — a large, aluminum trailer, resembling a Jimmy Goad building, stuffed to the brim with computers and server equipment.  I was given a desk, along with four of my own machines to work with, and I sat down to check my emails and MySpace messages.  I get unreasonably paranoid when I haven’t been online in a few days.  Afterwards, we grabbed some lunch at the chow hall, and I stopped by billetting to put my name in for a trailer and pick up some linens.  We went by Al Faw Palace to meet up with another coworker, and I got my first glimpse at the amount of money poured into this place by Saddam Hussein.  The palace was immaculate.  Finally, and considering that I had, at this point, not slept in about 36 hours, I was dropped off at my tent.

I spread out my linens on my mattress-topped cot, and gathered some fresh clothes and a towel for the shower.  After getting cleaned up, I resumed the pages of my sci-fi novel before pulling down my eye mask and completely crashing.  I woke up off and on throughout the afternoon and night, mostly because of the quiet chatter of my tent mates.  However, a burst of gunfire, a bomb blast, or a helicopter flying overhead also stirred me a few times.  It was a little unsettling at first, but now I sleep right through it.

Camp Victory is absolutely massive.  I’ve yet to learn my way around, but I do know how to at least get ‘home’ from the ‘office’.  I’m pretty sure I can navigate to the chow hall, as well.  In a couple of days, a coworker is leaving to go back to the states.  Fortunately, I’ll be getting his trailer, and I’ll have it all to myself.  Air conditioned and complete with a TV connected to AFN.  Yes, I’ve missed my wrestling.

Work is awesome here, too.  I may be working 12 hours a day, but it sure doesn’t feel like it.  I’m a lot more productive in this environment, but I’m not really sure why.  I become absorbed in my code, and before I know it, it’s 8pm.  There are some things to do around the camp during free time (swimming, karaoke, rec hall), but I haven’t had much of it.  By the time I get off work and get a shower, I’m ready to sleep.  I wake up and repeat the process.  We have a rather large and well-supplied gym, and I’ll start going once I get moved.  My internal clock should be set fairly normal by that time.  Jet lag’s a bitch.

Speaking of sleep, I need some now.  I think I’m going to walk home tonight, and that should take me about 20 minutes — assuming I don’t get lost.  Take care!

Cheers,
Felina