Thanksgiving

Well, I have to tell you - the dining facility (AKA DFAC) went all out for Thanksgiving this year. They put up some decorations a week or so ago and they looked nice, but I was not expecting the additional things they had out there today. It was awesome. There is a rule about no photography in the DFAC, but no one seemed to be paying attention to that today, so I took some pictures too.

There is an Army tradition where on Thanksgiving the Officers serve the food to the Soldiers, but here there are so many officers that they limited it to O-5 / LTC and above. I have to say, it was pretty cool to have MG Jones asking if I wanted gravy on my turkey. I've only had the chance to do this once as a Company Commander, but it's one of my favorite traditions. The picture near the bottom is my immediate supervisor (the one in the hat) just getting off his shift. They had a good time I think.

So I said the place looked great right? Well the food wasn't bad, but it wasn't great either. They had a lot more options than what I chose to put on my plate (I didn't really feel like standing in line). The turkey was okay, the ham was okay, the cornbread stuffing was not so good, and the corn was overcooked. My coworkers made fun of me because I had more dessert on my tray than dinner food (two pieces of pie and some ice cream were added after this picture was taken).
I really can't be held responsible if the desserts are more satisfying than the meal... but it was still a fun time and I enjoyed having dinner with my "deployed family". Hope your Thanksgiving is just as enjoyable!

Group Photo

It's almost the end of the deployment for the III Armored Corps out of Fort Hood, TX (who leave the end of January) so they arranged for all the staff sections to take "yearbook" photos. My staff section is funny- we took the official photo, a photo with our section hats, and then a photo with clown/rudolph noses (which is definitely my favorite). The other pictures were taken throughout the year. I'm not in any of them because I spend most of my time with the aviation guys over in another staff section, but I thought I'd share the pictures anyways. It kind of sucks that everyone is getting ready to leave in January and I'll still have to stay another month, but I know that last month is just going to fly by with all the new guys (out of Fort Bragg) just learning how to do their jobs and figure everything out.

Running

Things here in Iraq are slow these days. I think that's a good thing. But the result is that I have a little more time on my hands for extracurricular activities, of which there are only a few I like doing. Every night I talk to Kurt, take a shower, then either read my Sony E-reader or I watch one of the TV shows Doug copied for me. Sometimes on the weekends I do something special like go to the VBC Cigar Club night or go to an MWR concert. But more often than not I do something completely contrary to cigar smoking - running. I don't particularly like running, but it feels good when it's over and there is a group that I run with that makes it more fun. They do a lot of races over here (at no cost) that are kind of fun and I normally get free t-shirts out of the deal. One of the public affairs officers here took these pictures and sent them to me so I thought I'd share. These were after some 5K races. I haven't seen the pictures that were taken after the half-marathon, but if I can find them I'll post them too.

Birthday

Well, September 16th was my 29th birthday and it kind of sucked (worked from 7am-11pm)... but September 17th was a great day, so I'm going to call that my birthday this year :) I had a briefing in the morning that went very well (very relieved), so I basically took the afternoon off, went to the gym and just did menial tasks. My roommate had made plans for us to go out to the Turkish Restaurant on base for dinner (my "birthday party"). They actually have pretty good pizza and it is just a completely different atmosphere from the dining facility. They even have fake palm trees outside with Christmas lights and a kind of cheezy fountain out on the patio. My aviation co-workers are all old and they wanted to eat early, so we went to eat and my roommate and her friends showed up later with a birthday cake and even some presents. She got me two huge Toblerone chocolate bars and two CDs from the PX (hmm.. I wonder why she got two of everything). I don't typically like sheet cake, but the one she got was actually really good. I'll probably have some of the leftovers with lunch today. My aviation boss thankfully remembered to bring a camera, because I just never remember to bring mine.

Update

Okay, I know you are all probably tired of seeing pictures of Al Faw Palace, but it’s kind of like the movie Groundhog Day here so I really don’t have much else that I can show you. For those I haven’t really talked to, here’s what “Groundhog Day” normally entails:

Wake up at 5am and meet co-workers for a run or gym time. I head to the dining facility (DFAC) at 7:30 for breakfast (usually cereal, but they also make great pancakes). Get to work around 8am for the morning update followed by meetings. Work in one of my cubicles (usually involving Outlook, Excel, or Powerpoint) from 10-12. Back to the DFAC for lunch (the caesar salad and the gyros are my favorite, and I usually get some soft serve after+). If it is a slow day I might go to the gym again after lunch, but normally it is back to work for meetings or computer work until around 5:30-6pm. Then back to the DFAC for dinner (I have whatever looks good for dinner, and then some chocolate cheesecake). Then back to work. I try not to “work” too much after dinner because I’m just not productive, so that’s when I clean up, clear my inbox and make my to-do lists for the next day. I usually go home around 7:30-8pm. I check my emails, talk to Kurt for 30 minutes, take a shower, and get to sleep around 10. And repeat. The days are long, but the weeks go by really fast.

Every once and a while we get things that spice-up the day such as Vice President Biden’s visit. It was pretty cool that he came to visit, but it had its downside too. My coworkers had a lot of extra work to do planning his aviation transportation, so the office was a little crazy the week or two prior. And then of course he came in on Sunday which is my only half-day off, so missing that kind of sucked. I did get to see him up close and personal at the DFAC, but I was in the middle of eating my ice cream and I didn’t want it to melt so I didn’t bother to get up and have a picture taken like everyone else. It was funny though seeing our 3-star General having to follow him around like a Private where ever he went and stand there patiently while people took pictures (everybody has a boss right?).

And every once and I while I get to sneak away and do something fun. Uncle Kracker came to visit just before the VP and I took one of my coworkers (an old guy who didn’t know who Uncle Kracker was) with me to see the concert. The posters over on my side of the airfield had the wrong time on them so we got there an hour early, but that meant that we got really good seats (MWR put out a few plastic chairs on the basketball court, everyone else either brought their own or had to stand). The concert was really good, he played a lot of his popular songs and he played a lot of other people’s popular songs as well. I meant to take my camera, but I forgot since I left straight from work. Okay, this next part is a little funny. I’m normally decent with maps and directions and once I have been somewhere I can normally remember my way. Well, after the concert we went to meet some friends on a part of the base I had only been to once, and that time I was in the backseat, and it was dark. Well, we found our way to the restaurant we were going to, but on the way home we missed a turn. We saw the guard shack of to our left as we were going in, but we missed the left turn on the way out and went past that guard shack through the gate instead. There should be some big sign or something that says “leaving Victory base or entering Baghdad” but there isn’t. I had been out that way once before (on a convoy with a General and some gunners) so I recognized pretty quickly that we had done something wrong (plus the signs for Route Irish kind of gave it away). My coworker was a little quicker than I was, I wouldn’t have known what to do next, but as soon as I said something was wrong, he did a U-turn and we were going back through the gate. Not a big deal, we didn’t make it more than a couple hundred feet outside the gate, but it was pretty funny in hindsight. I’m going to take a map with me next time and I’ll pay more attention to the guard shacks.

Okay, my half-day off is almost over so I’ll leave talking about my “new” old job for next time. On a good note – only four weeks until my R&R!

Pictures

FUOPians = people who work in FUture OPerations

The made me stand in the back because I'm taller than most of them :)

The entrance to the Al Faw Palace where I work

A picture from the roof of the palace. It was a little tricky finding our way up there (we found what we think was used as a torture room on the way) but it has a great view.

A picture of the JVB or Joint Vistors Bureau (our local hotel) at night. This the view from the balcony where we relax and unwind at night.

These are the fish that live in the lake that surrounds the palace. I've seen them eat whole bagels, a birthday cake and even a small duckling. Yet, I couldn't catch anything when I went fishing...

Fly Tying

So I'll elaborate on the whole experience of fly-tying later, but I will say that I was lured into this event by the pizza and non-alcoholic St. Pauli's Girl (you just can't get normal pizza at the dining facility). Don't be expecting any fishing stories tomorrow though, I'm sleeping in! This is for decoration only :)

My Fly

and the Flys I got from the instructor
But he says the one that I made is the one he's caught the most fish on... wonder if he was just being nice?

Extracurricular Activities

Living in Baghdad is rough.... I work in FUOPS, or Future Operations, and all the guys there are either Majors or Lieutenant Colonels who have been through the next level of Army schooling that I haven't been to yet and we don't really have a lot in common (why I spend so much time in my "other" office with the aviators). I was here about a month before I actually ran into some other Captains (people with my same rank) who came up to FUOPS to help with a project. We started talking and one of the guys asked what I did for fun around here. Um... I work, video chat with my husband, and watch a little tv or read a book and then go to bed (and repeat). A pretty normal routine I thought, but when I asked him what he did, the list went on and on - salsa night, poker, Uganda night, cigar club, karaoke, etc. My first thought was that this guy must have an easy job (true) and he must not have a family (also true). But the conversation made me realized that I could participate in more of the MWR events around here. The next week I went with him and a bunch of other Captains from his battalion to the Zac Brown Band concert and we all had a good time. While I don't think I'll end up as out-going as that guy is, I have started to do more around here.

I've started working out with one of the aviation guys, alternating running and going to the gym, 6 days a week. While I'm not as good a runner as I was at Bragg, I'm doing pretty well considering I hadn't run in the two years prior to coming here. This weekend was particularly busy. On Saturday morning there was a Susan G. Komen 5K that I ran in with the soldiers from the aviation section, Saturday night I participated in the Victory Cigar Club's bi-weekly social and today I actually woke up (it's my only morning off) and went fly-fishing. Now, while I caught my first fish ever (at the age of 14) fly-fishing up in the Sierra Nevadas, apparently that skill is perishable because I just sucked today. I couldn't get the line to go straight for anything. I think I hooked myself twice and got the line tangled a half-dozen times. So no fish, but I did get some weeds. It was still nice to be outside and I enjoyed the company and the relaxing atmosphere. Not sure if I'll try again next Sunday or if I'll just sleep in... we'll see. The VBC Cigar club event was really fun too. It was out on a patio right up against one of the lakes and they had tables and chairs and lights around the palm trees, a band, and some BBQ. They have a box of free cigars for non-members and a box of really nice cigars for members. I'm not much of a cigar smoker (I hate how the smell lingers) but I don't mind having one to be social. I think I'll sign up to be a member next time just because I think Kurt will like the cool polo-shirt that comes with it. It was a popular event so there were plenty of people there that I enjoy talking to (I usually hate events where I have to make uncomfortable small talk). Unfortunately I don't really carry a camera around with me and when I do, it feels strange, so I don't take many pictures. I have one from after the race and one of the area we were fishing at (just outside the Palace). I didn't have my camera for the cigar club event, but I'll take it with me next time.

And because I know I'm going to forget tomorrow - Happy Birthday Mari!! Do you want me to bring you back something - a camel maybe?

My CHU

The trailers we live in here are called CHUs which stands for Community Housing Units, I think. They are pretty similar to what we lived in at Balad, but my room is much smaller this time. I'm not complaining though, Amy (a friend from USC) reminds me that I could be in Afghanistan living a 15 person tent with 19 people. No thanks, I'm happy here. My half of the room is pretty simple - a bed, nightstand, wall-locker, plastic drawers, and a tuff bin that my roommate emptied out and is letting me use for storage (it's pretty empty right now). My roommate has a small fridge and a TV that she shares with me. She is an intelligence analyst, also 28 years old with two kids and a husband in the military, so we get along very well. Every Sunday I swiffer and dust, and change my linens, so here are pictures of my newly cleaned room :)

That's a cup of Starbuck Via coffee on the nightstand - my Sunday treat (thanks mom!)

Febreeze and wall-hooks make my uniforms wearable for about 3 days (at least until it gets really hot, then I'll just need to buy more uniforms)

I like getting pictures and cards!

The contractors wash and fold my laundry, but I just end up throwing it all in my messy wall-locker (some things don't change)

Work is going great. The work is just okay, but I really like the people I work with - they are really funny and we laugh a lot. In good humor they gave me a ton of crap (Doug would even have been impressed) when I misplaced my wedding band (I think I took it off when I was washing my hands, not something I normally do, and forgot about it) and had to buy this gem to replace it. The gold may be real, the diamond definitely isn't. I wanted just a band, but of course, no such luck. Micaela will have fun with it once I get a new one this summer.

The Palace

These are my favorite parts of Al Faw Palace - the bathroom and the balcony.

The bathroom is crazy. You walk into this big square room with 12 sinks, 3 on each wall. There are two doors which lead to hallways which have 6 sinks each. Each hallway has 6 doors which lead to toilet rooms. Inside the toilet rooms are a toilet, a bidet (we use them to store toilet paper, and ANOTHER sink. Thats 12 toilets and 36 sinks - in ONE bathroom!

My other favorite part of the palace is the balcony. There are not too many places to access the balcony, so not many people get to go out there. Fortunately there is a door in the Air Ops office where I sometimes work. It's a huge balcony with large pillars and the buildings around the lake he made are pretty (even though they are run-down). It's quiet and pretty and the birds are always chirpping... just nice. The room my real office is in would be nice too (I heard it used to be Saddam's bedroom) but we put up a bunch of cubicles in there, so it takes away a little :)

The last pictures are ones I found on the internet, but they do the trick. The main room or rotunda has a really pretty chandalier and I have to go up the spiral staircases to the third/top floor to get to my offices (my legs get tired, but it's good for me). The big chair was a gift from Yasar Arafat to Hussein, but that's all I know, I should read the sign next to it sometime.

While I was looking for pictures on the internet I found this! -

There's a pool here! But don't get too excited, we work 7 days a week here at the palace :( and I think I'm the only one who leaves by 6pm, the rest of them stay till the wee hours. I'm sure I'll find one day to sneak away though and scout out the pool (if it does in fact exist).