Back to the beginning

As I am gone the next couple of days (Hellaciously lot of driving over the next 5 days: 1600+ miles just so my 18 y/o can see the rest of the family) I wanted to post the very first posts to this blog a year ago. Back when life was just a little more innocent for me, and way before finding out what big bombs could do to a girl:-D

August 3, 2004

Swimming, eating, and getting hit on
Being a female in Iraq is not really that fun, but occasionally there are funny points to it. Example: Myself and 2 other girls were sitting at dinner tonight, when we were engaged in conversation by 3 Brits sitting next to us. Forgive me, it was 2 Brits and a Scotsman. Either way, the conversation devolved rapidly, and soo we were all laughing at such things as why the US has the World Series (Baseball for those dorks out there), yet we are the only ones who play, or why we have Iced tea. To them, that is babaric. It simply isn't done. As we left, one of my compatriots and I were discussing the gentlemen. (I said "Goodnight Gentlemen" to which one responded "oh I am not that", so I asked him if he was an "arsehole" instead!) Anyway, she seemed rather insistent that they were hitting on me specifically, to which I pointed out that while they were doing considerable flirting, it was directed at us as a whole. It did make for an enjoyable dinner though, much different than my usual meals alone with my food and my bood.Back to the first subject in my title. I went swimming today for the first time in a long time. The pool is a small one that sits by one of the lakes on post, and is 6ft deep, all the way across. Me being 5'4", this was a slight issue. I treaded (I have no idea what word to use here) water for quite sometime, dunking people right and left, and when my back was turned, being dunked myself. Of course, now I am going to hell, as one of the persons dunked was the Chaplain. Hey, he started it by threatening to pull me in:-D While hanging out on the side looking around, I talked to one of the ISG civilians that was also there about the camp. There was an old Baath party building across the lake from where we were, and according to tale, there are still dead bodies in the theatre that was bombed last year during the war. The camp is an interesting mish mash of interesting architecture. While some of the buildings are very plain, and functional, such as the buildings I work and live in, others are beautiful. I think I am off to bed now. I am going to AG in the morning to provide administration support. Yay. (Yes, that was sarcasm:-)
posted by SGT Lizzie at 12:20 0 comments

Killing time
Somedays I have to wonder about people around here. I say things, I email things, but yet they don't listen. I am under the wire from above, and can't do anything because I haven't the information that I need! Then, from below, I have to deal with people who somehow think that I am 3, not 23. And of course as a result of that assumption, they then feel the need to question every move I make. The last time I checked, I had earned the rank on my collar by being competant at what I do. Granted, this is not what I was trained to do, but I work hard and learn what I can. If I do not know something, I ask. It's as easy as that, I am not about to jump off of a cliff without first making sure that there is something to slow my fall.
posted by SGT Lizzie at 06:35 0 comments

The Beginning
Since this will actually be read by other people than myself, I am not sure how to proceed. Mummy kept my diary online, and I think I will do the same, save for certain parts of course. You guys can't know everything about me:-DIt is August 3rd and I am sitting in my new offices in Camp Deutsch, located in Camp Slayer, near BIAP in Iraq. Confusing enough? I know. This place isn't that awful, at least we don't have to wear gear walking all over the place, and I now have a bike to ride to chow and such. We even have a swimming pool on post that we can go to. Not that I will frequent it, it is still quite sunny out and I have no intention of burning. The building I work in smells of cat pee unfortunatly, but it has become the running joke, and to be quite honest, most of us who work here become accustomed to it during the day. The place where I live is quite crowded and infested with ants, but so long as we are careful with food we don't have a problem. As we have no showers nearby, we have to ride about 3/4 of a mile away to shower trailers. Hopefully soon we will have our own. This place gets more and more frustrating though. I quit smoking finally, and I am thinking I should have waited! I have around 4 more months left here, and I am still steadily going insane.