Well, it's been a while, I know but, I've been busy getting this camp together. Really, not much happens here but, in this country, nothing is a good thing!!!! I love getting e-mails. It's good to know that people are thinking of me and I love to send pictures. Speaking of which, I've tried to put pics on this site using the Hello program but, when I go to transfer the pics, I get an error message. I must fix that in my computer.
Okay, anyway. The first thing I must write about is the weather this morning. Every day here has been cool and comfortable but dry with no clouds in sight. This morning however, I walked outside and behold.......rain!!!!! I didn't get to really feel the rain, but, the sky was full of clouds and the rain that had occured here seems to have flattened out the bumpy terrain here in camp. A sort of a.....cleaning effect. Very nice!! I have taken pictures of the clouds because I don't know when I'll see them again!!
I have all but stopped taking Advil everyday. For the first 5 or 6 days, I was dizzy all the time and disoriented. My head ached and my throat hurt. This morning, I feel as if I were born in this country. Last night, I dreamed here for the first time. It is a good sign dreaming. It means deep sleep and to me that is a sign that my body and mind are settling in.
We have had two pretty good sand/dust storms here in the last week. The first lasted 2 days and had the whole camp pretty down for a while. I wore my goggles and a rag to do even the most menial of tasks and our kitchen staff had to keep all doors closed. They did not like that. The second occurred just after dinner the other night. When we went in the tent for dinner, clear skies and decent. When we came out, it looked as though a thin haze of water vapor stood in the air. Eerie looking....ominous.... This dust/dirt was of a different sort compared to the first. The first storm produced large dust particles that were almost painful when they hit your face. The second was very, very fine. You could feel the dust entering your nose and mouth and lungs. Immediatly, you would begin to have coughing fits from it. That lasted through the night and brought with it, strong winds that blew debris everywhere. In the morning, it was nice again and we all cleaned up.
I'm beginning to really get to know the Iraqi guys in camp now. When I take my camera out into the camp, you would think I was throwing gold coins to them!!! A lightbulb went off in my head and I took very careful, thoughtful pictures of each of them. They were so appreciative!!! Oh, they loved looking at the pictures!! That is when they began to let me get closer to them and I was glad.
I have spent the past two evenings sitting in our kitchen surrounded by my new Iraqi friends......laughing....sharing Chigaras.....trading stories.....very good times.
I never considered it before because I am so curious to know how they lived and worked and things that they too want to know about my life. We talk about which people live in the city and the country. They tell me about the war with Iran and how many people fought. They tell me about the Saddam days and what daily life was like under his rule. Oh... that reminds me of a common misnomer that I think many American have about Iraqi people. I must explain this correctly though so as to not offend. The people I have met here are not proud of Saddam but, they are proud of the time that he ruled Iraq. Iraq was a great country some time ago and they are proud of that fact. The relationship between the leader and the country are seperate.
I must go now. I'm going to try to write more this evening because there have been some neat events in the missed time. Be safe everyone....
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