I realized today that I have not made an entry since July. Oh, it was not my epiphany rahter I have been getting hate e-mail over the past month. So below is my update:
I swallowed a bug today and not just a nat or a fly, this monster was a voting member of the neo-conservative party. What makes it worse is that I even saw it coming. I was sitting outside a cafe in Amsterdam reading this book about about the Green Zone and just embracing all the pot smoking that was going on aroundme but I was ready to go. You know how you get; you ready to go so you start fussing with stuff and drinking a bit faster.....
Well, I safely placed the book back into my backpack and lifted the beer for one last gulp....at the last second I looked at the contents coming my way and sure enough there was a moth doing the backstroke...anyway, its over now.
During my brief stay in Budapest last week I met this nice American boy that piqued my interest. Both being from Indiana; both being current and/or former government employees; both DC residents; both living in foreign lands; and both "recovering" from the dissolution of long-term relationship had enough in common to hold a conversation. Not only that, he is pretty intelligent, disciplined, determined and confident - all characteristics I admire. After a fun night of drinking, laughing, and chatting with others in the group we decided to meet up a couple days later for some sight-seeing which was a lot of fun as well and it was a good feeling and after a bit of persuading I convinced him to let me visit him in Frankfurt on my way to Amsterdam.
No seedy details to report but in short, it was a fantastic trip. I keep telling myself that it didn't turn out the way I wanted it too, but actually it did. I wasn't looking for love or a hook-up, I was seeking that sort of connection you get from someone you are comfortable with someone you can sit in a room in complete silence and you just get it. We weren't prefect matches by any stretch of the term but we clicked and that was cool.
As I sit in the airport now waiting for my next flight and all the excitement of the visit is beginning to subside, I am replaying the entire experience in my head to try to figure out what I learned about myself from the experience:
Ok, plane is boarding I got to go.
Thank you E!
This is the museum near the center of the city. I didn't actually tour the building I used it more as a guide when I became lost. If your standing on the steps in the front looking down you are looking at the town center and tourist grand central.
I remember when I was planning this Euro trip a good friend mentioned that if I stayed in Germany more than one day then it was too long - well I disagree. So far I have been to Chemnitz, Dresden, Germany, Munich and tomorrow I'll headed to Frankfurt for a few days and I have been nothing short of amazed by this country. It is beautiful!
After a bit of arm twisting Sophie and Anne convinced me to put off Prague for a few days and make a trip up to Berlin before heading to the Czech Republic. I am so glad that she did, it was one of the most amazing cities that I have been too. What was most impressive was that they did not hide from their past; Nazi or Cold War. Instead they put it right out there for everyone to see, discuss, and learn from. I took several pictures, about 200 total, but the ones below are my favorite. I hope you enjoy.
What's your sign? As you can see I'm in the bottom right hand corner; can you figure out where your hate symbol is?
I'm guessing this is some sort of German house alarm system. I'm not sure if the cat has something going on with the dog, but the thing looks suspect.
This is "Checkpoint Charlie" where allied forces and diplomatic personnel were allowed to move freely between East and West Berlin. The link is pretty interesting if your into cold war history.
I met a pretty cool guy here in Budapest over this past weekend and even though I'm old enough and wise enough to know that it was just a vacation boy crush I did enjoy the "what if?" feelings such as: what if we lived closer; what if we met sooner; what if we both wanted kids (that's for you E). And even though I know the answer to all the questions it was fun have those feelings and the nervousness and jitters that come along with hoping that someone thinks your as cool as you think they are.
By complete coincidence I stumbled across Budapest's gay pride parade this past weekend. I have been to several city-wide marches in my day as well as the national events in Washington DC, but nothing prepared me for this one.
The night before I met a group of fellow Americans at a local drinking hole and we discussed meeting up and enjoying the celebration the next day. There was some talk about it not being all that welcome here in Budapest but being from the States we were no stranger to a few protesters - we were in for a big surprise.
As you are leafing through the slide show pay close attention the the number of police officers protecting the marchers as well as the number of protesters - for quick reference; all the people you see dressed in non-police attire are protesters.
Berlin was far more interesting that I could have imagined. In my mind I assumed that most Germans, especially the government, would want to put the its communistic history, the war and the Berlin wall behind them but that wasn't the case.
Ok, tired for an hour now to upload some pics, but the internet here is extremely slow. I will try to upload an album at a cafe later today.
Journey Begins
My journey has begun. Early Saturday morning I flew out of Kuwait to Dubai then onto Frankfurt. Both flights were good and once again Emirates proved they are leaps and bounds above United in customer comfort and service (thank you for letting me sleep).
Lessons Learned
I understand that Americans are a bit ethnocentric and I try to overcome that personally, but I still get surprised by my behavior when something simple or common completely stumps me - see: I'm a moron.
That's it for now. Sophie and Anne are waiting for me. We are in Chemnitz now and we're driving up to Berlin today for Gay Pride.
Since arriving in Baghdad last year I found that I stopped counting hours in a day or even days in a week because neither really matter. Due to the nature of life in the International Zone and our living and work situation we never really stop working and never really stop socializing – there is no line that differentiates the two. As a result, I started counting was the number of R&Rs that I have left in me (read: how long can I take this shit?).
When I came to Baghdad last year it was with the understanding that I would commit a year to this project and to Iraq and at the end of that year I would reevaluate the situation and make a determination as to future. This is the point where I find myself now. As I round the corner of trips out of Iraq, I realize that after this current trip I only have one remaining – then the decision! From the beginning I planned that the last R&R would be spent home in DC in preparation for a possible return to normal life. After Michael and I split last year it was clear that a trip home would be a requirement to settle remaining financial and legal issues. Which all of this brings me to this entry – the Last Shout!
Because this is potentially my last trip I wanted it to be significant and I wanted it to be Europe. Since I could not think of just one place to go or one thing to see I decided to repeat the South Africa model and rent a car and just drive. I am in Kuwait now and by 1:00 pm tomorrow I will begin my journey in Frankfurt Germany and 20 days later I will end up in Amsterdam where I will begin making my way back to Baghdad. The map below illustrates those cities or countries that I want to visit along the way. Some cities I may spend a day or two in while others may simply be a drive through.
I did it, I went under the knife - well, a series of three machines at least. This past week while in Montreal I had Lasik Vision Correction done at The Montreal Eye Clinic or La Clinique De L'ceil De Montreal. Mostly because I hate wearing glasses and I am horrible about removing my contact lenses as scheduled, I have wanted to have this done for years. The day I went in was on a complete whim. I wouldn't recommend this to everyone or anyone for that matter but I just walked to the concierge (Chantale) and asked her for a recommendation. So, within 48 hours I was sitting in a chair about to get my eyes corrected.
It was honestly a cinch and with the exception of getting braces the best decision I've made. I highly recommend it to anyone even considering it.
Today will go down as one of the most adventurous days of my life. I'm not sure why I did it (actually, I probably do) but early this afternoon I climbed the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Now for those reading this that reside in the United States that may mean that you took an elevator to the lookout deck or perhaps walked up a little latter for a better view. Well in Sydney for a mere pittance, you can actually "climb" the bridge. It was by far the neatest experience of my life....yes, my life. Unfortunately we couldn't take cameras, but they did snap a few. I''ll post them once I get them scanned. In the mean time, check out the website...its crazy fun.
To all of my faithful readers, I have safely made it to Sydney Australia and my first reaction is: this place is beautiful. Not only beautiful, but remarkably clean. I was chatting with a native (in a pub of course) and he indicated that it was a result of the 2000 Olympics - I say DC should win the bid for the next games!
So far I have taken it pretty easy here. The time difference from the states (DC) is 15 hours and 8 for Baghdad so I am completely jet-lagged. I am wide awake at 4 am and dead asleep at 4 pm; which in the bigger picture is no big deal. As a matter of fact it has made for some interesting adventures. As the title would indicate, I have seen the Opera House, the Sydney Harbour Bridge, the AMAZING Botanic Garden and 2 over doses - all in 24 hours. Ya see, I'm staying in Kings Cross which I did not know WAS the equivalent of Skid Row in LA. It is a lot different now, so they say, but still rather sketchy. The bars go here til 5 am and if you walk around long enough you can see a couple needle pushes, pills popped, and CPR. Fortunately there were no casualties, but it was a bizarre experience nonetheless.
Plenty of pictures to come...
Picture this: Steph and I am completely blowing off work this one afternoon last week and we decide to head to the Green Bean inside the old US Embassy Compound inside the International Zone. As a notable point for those unfamiliar with the compound the US Embassy is currently being housed in Saddam's Presidential Palace while a new one is being constructed. So we are just walking into the compound and we come across this guy with a bunch of rifles strapped over both shoulders. Being in a light-hearted mood we start joking loud enough so that he can hear "hey, did you just get fired today" then I'd respond (as him), "leave me alone, I'm in a hurry to get to the clock tower" - well, we thought it was funny. But appreciates the humor and stops to chat for a minute. It turns out that the guys that he is carrying are "props" owned by the US State Department and are used for training and education purposes. He goes on to inform us that one of the guns he is carrying was once owned by Uday Hussein.
First reaction: How fricking cool is this. I'm holding one of Uday Hussein's guns. Just the historical aspect alone is significant - let alone I'm about about to walk into his dad's house.
Second reaction: Holy crap, how many people did he murder with this thing?
Oh yeah, I couldn't resist. I bought the sword.
Its early Tuesday here in Baghdad and I'm waiting for a co-worker to get ready to go. I got a semi-frantic call last last night asking if I could come in the office early to make some changes to a training brief that is set to go live at 10:00 am. I said sure of course and popped up early only to find that the poor soul that made the request stayed up too late working on other things and overslept - I can tell this is going to be a long day.
It took a few days (a week to be exact) but I finally feel like I have my groove back. I am back to hectic days and sleepless night; which actually feels familiar. Following the pictures of Cape Town I started to develop a slide presentation for Bangkok and realized it wasn't worth it. I can sum it up for anyone that is interested: Filthy. however, for my own entertainment and hopefully your enjoyment, I had the following pictures taken of me.
Well, I am on my way back to Iraq for another six weeks and as crazy as it might sound, I'm actually missing the place a little bit. What I miss are the people, the work, and the ability to plunge my head in the sand and forget the world around me. That said, this has been an amazing trip. The short story is that I went to Cape Town South Africa for a week and then onto Bangkok Thailand for another week. Well, the long story is that I decided early on to make an adventure out of it. Being that I have never traveled alone before I was nervous and then add to that the fact that I was going without Michael which was very sad at times. Knowing these two factors could doom my trip, I decided to jam in absolutly anything and everything that I possibly could; within my budget of course. I also made a lot of friends, which I'll highlight later, that gave me great advice on what to do and what to avoid. For now I am going to start with pictures of South Africa. These are not just of Cape Town but also Franshhoek and Stellenbosch, both in the winelands. Because I did so much I will have to put this up in phases. The pictures below were tken in South Africa.
Just wrapping up the first leg of my vacation and hard as I try, I can't stop thinking how much Michael would have enjoyed this trip.
I have not updated in nearly a month - wow. I know that it is not a really good excuse, but honestly I just wanted to be left alone. Getting past the idea of being without Michael has been very difficult. Even after a pretty honest and emotional visit to DC last week I am still gripping on to any and every shred of hope. I know, I can own it - I'm pathetic!
