I had a wonderful trip to Riga, Latvia last weekend. I went with Jenn and Betty, some of my best traveling companions ever. We flew in early Friday morning and had a van waiting to take us to our hostel – Friendly Franks! I never stayed in hostels before this year, and I don’t know why not, because they are awesome! We walked in the door and the lady said, “Welcome to Friendly Franks, would you like a free beer?” Then she gave us maps and told us all about things we could do in the city and all the events the hostel had going on.
Our room was a six person dorm with a bathroom across the hall. The whole place was spotless, and there was no one else in our room, or bathroom. Oh yeah, and did I mention it was 8 euro/per night?
Right away we decided to go to the beach and we split a cab (the same one, actually) with 4 Finnish guys that turned out to be hilarious. We split up upon arrival at the beach (on the Baltic Sea) and ended up running into them again and learning all about Finland. We also learned that they were there on a “stag night” because one of them was getting married. We then learned that this seems to be the most popular reason to come to Riga, and large groups of drunk men in costumes are ubiquitousThe beach was lovely, and we were very surprised as we walked around to discover that Riga seems to closely resemble…wait for it…America! There were old wooden houses that looked like they belonged in New Orleans with giant SUVs parked in front. I never found out what was up with that, but it was sure interesting to see!
After enjoying the pristine white sand and semi-frigid temps, we showered and went out for Traditional Latvian food. We ate buffet style and I have absolutely no idea what I ate, and it was unspectacular, but interesting. All the waitstaff was in traditional dress, which looked very similar to Bavarian style.
We wandered around the old town a lot that night and it was just beautiful. The whole place is a UNESCO world heritage sights and there are lots of cool things to see in a small area, so it’s very manageable. It’s also one of the Art Nouveau centers of the world, so I was constantly looking up and enjoying the architecture.
The next day we toured the town and saw lots more of it, and even climbed (okay, and elevator was the only option) to the top of the spire in the church and got to look out over everything. We also took a boat tour and I went for a run, so I got to see some of the outskirts of town as well. In general, it was beautiful and not at all what I expected. It was clean, modern, and lovely. The people were very friendly and no one made any attempt to rip us off, at all, which all the guidebooks (and hostel employees) warned us of.
We left early on Sunday to come back, and overall had a very fun, inexpensive, easy weekend in Riga!
As I trudged through the Frankfurt Airport this morning, I was forced to hold on to my stretched out jeans with one hand like a Siberian prisoner. Feeling extremely groggy due to not sleeping while my ovaries committed suicide on the plane packed with screaming babies, I reflected on the absolutely amazing things I’ve seen and done in the past three weeks. It all started with a weekend trip to Southern Italy.
Jenn, Bill, Brandon, Matt, Sean and I went to Sorrento on Friday night, then did Pompeii and Capri on Saturday. Sunday we headed to an island called Ischia, which was the highlight of the trip for me. We arrived by ferry to discover our hotel was idyllic and situated right on the beach. After two days of packed itineraries, we were thrilled to put on our suits and relax and swim. The hotel provided kayaks, and we were able to paddle around and see some of the insanely picturesque coastline. That afternoon we decided to check out another beach and it was even more lovely, with pristine white sand. The water was warm and we swam out to a sand dune that was like the most beautiful natural pool I’ve ever had the pleasure to bathe in. You could see right down to the ocean floor even in the deepest parts, and it was completely clear, down to the soft clean sand.
The beach completely cleared out about 6pm, but we stayed and watched the sun go down. It was definitely one of those moments when you just feel so satisfied with where you are and what you are experience that absolutely nothing could be wrong in the world. Bliss…
Sadly, we returned home on Monday, and I did a quick run and repack, then left Tuesday morning for Bahrain. The flight was mostly empty and I was able to sleep, leaving me fairly refreshed after the 6 hour flight. I worked and went to bed early that night in preparation for a big week. I spent my days there doing quality control, and training our Field Rep in marketing. I met with faculty to discuss future plans and ideas, and also met with the various people on the Navy base that assist with making our program a success. In between I also managed to see a bit of Bahrain, which is a very unique place.
It’s a small island that is actually growing thanks to the magic of land ‘reclamation,’ where they basically create land and then put big glass buildings on top of it. The culture is a mixture of Arabic and European, and you can find just about anything there, from Old Mosques to the Ritz Carlton to a street lined with fast food restaurants dubbed “American Alley.”
I mostly ate on the base, but did have the chance to eat dinner in the Gulf Hotel, which is a 4 star hotel, and a sight to behold with gigantic chandeliers, piano players, Saudi Businessmen, women for hire, and a host of other unusual and expensive things. I ate Thai food that was delicious and even managed to get a White Russian in an outdoor bar for dessert. I ate off base a couple of other times, but nothing too interesting. I did have an amazing fruit/yogurt/ice cream treat in a local café that was lovely, but nothing else to write home about.
After a jammed packed 4 days, I left late on Saturday and flew overnight back to Frankfurt. I had a four hour layover and then hopped my next flight to Washington DC. At 4pm on Sunday I arrived at the University of Maryland University College Inn and Conference center, after having traveled for about 27 hours straight. I unpacked, watched Fletch, and was asleep by 8pm. I had a long run the next morning after waking up bright eyed a little before 6am. I spent most of the day training on a new database we’re going to be implementing, and then ventured out with two other girls who’d also come over from Europe. We had a hilarious time trying to walk to the metro station down roads with no sidewalks, through two foot tall grass. Apparently, people in American think walking is overrated, and prefer to sit in traffic and talk on their cell phones.
We made it to Georgetown and had a great time wandering around and checking out a few shops. We ate a fabulous sushi dinner in a swanky joint called Mate’ and I must admit I was feeling quite chic and international. Plus, it turns out that these two girls were very good company!
The next day we had more meetings and training, and we had a work dinner scheduled for 6pm. Much to my surprise, we were picked up in a big SUV and we all went to Union Station in DC, which is the HUGE train station that’s right across from the capital building. We are in a gorgeous restaurant called B. Smiths, which was upscale modern southern food. We shared fried green tomatoes, fried catfish, clam and corn chowder, cornbread, spinach salad, and a bottle of wine so modern it actually came in a carton. Everything was delicious. The entire experience was almost fairy tale like for me, having been to Union Station once on my 8th grade trip, and now suddenly being a grown up enjoying a decadent meal. I know I should get used to being able to do such things, but somehow I never seem to!
Wednesday was not lost on us, and we went to the local mall after work, did a bit of shopping, then braved a monsoon to eat at a local restaurant called Franklins where I drank a house brew called “Anarchy Beer.” It turned out to be a lot like normal beer, but the place was fun, sort of an urban cracker barrel with a store full of goodies, and of course, delicious food.
Since this is turning into a tale of awesome places to eat in DC, I’ll just skip right ahead to Thursday, when Amanda’s father took us out to dinner in the city. We went to Maggiano’s, which is a very, very cool Italian restaurant. As we walked in, a jazz duo was playing and the bar area was packed with smart businesspeople drinking martinis. We continued on to the restaurant portion, which was enormous, and very beautiful. The place has a very vintage feel, like an Italian Restaurant in New York, complete with red velvet curtains, dim lighting, and lots of black and white pictures. We split spinach salad, gnocchi, spicy angel hair with shrimp, and then finished with tiramisu and coffee. I was having another blissed out moment listening to Frank Sinatra and feeling high on good food and company, and we had a limoncello before heading back to Maryland for the night.
I honestly did not think it could get much better than that, but it did. I checked out of my hotel on Friday, and Jeremy M. came and picked me up! Bless him for doing this, since it was raining and I had no idea where to go. He took me into the city and we ate burgers and fries at Five Guys that gave In N’ Out a run for its money. After that we went to the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History and saw dinosaur bones, mummies, whales, bugs, and the Hope Diamond. After that we weren’t sure what to do, so we thought we’d get some coffee and discuss. As we searched for a café (because I was hoping for one that wasn’t Starbucks, which are basically extinct at this point), we came across the Warner Theater with a big sign showing that PJ Harvey was playing there! I had a total spaz attack in the middle of the sidewalk and Jeremy indulged me and we got tickets. I was SO happy after that and still basking in the joy of anticipation while we at a nice Sushi Dinner in Chinatown with another old friend from Murfreesboro. After dinner I practically glided back to the theater and was very pleasantly entertained for the next two hours. It was only her work that she’s done with John Parish, and I knew about 50% of it, but the show was fantastic. She sang better than ever, and the band looked great in suits and fedoras, backlit to create silhouettes. The effect was very cool, and the sound in the theater was great. I really liked the way the whole thing came together as a performance in a specific style, showcasing her talent, but only a portion of it. She’s a true artist to me in every sense of the word. Needless to say, stumbling upon this show felt like a gift, and like Jeremy so succinctly put it, it only happened since I started eating more bananas since I found out Libras should do that.
The next morning, my last, I wanted a big American style breakfast, and Jeremy was more than accommodating, convincing me to eat a warm Krispy Kreme on the way to the diner. MMMMMMmm. I then gorged on waffles, eggs and bacon until I thought I would explode, but I was glad, and it was enough to get me through 3 hours of exploring the Air and Space Museum that’s out by Dulles Airport. In fact, you can go up in a tower and watch all the flights coming and going from Dulles from the museum, and we did that for a bit. The museum was awesome and had a full scale space shuttle, and tons of neat planes, including a stealth blackbird and the Enola Gay. Overall it was spacetastic, and I am very grateful to Jeremy for acting as my own personal DC tour guide and chauffeur – a very fun one at that.
Now it’s time to catch up on sleep and see how long I can drag out my jetlag…
I left Baghdad for a short trip to Al Asad, which appears to be only a short distance North-West as the crow flies. As the military flies, I had to travel all the way down to Kuwait and then back up again, which I was not too excited about. The good news is that I was in a C-17, which I find to be way more comfortable than a C-130 (no leaning back on someone else's back!).
The first leg of the trip was packed, and the entire cargo plane was filled with seats, which I had never seen before. I was relatively close to the front, and this was the view from my seat. Notice the little bubble shaped window up near the flight deck.
After we landed in Kuwait, they announced that anyone traveling to Al Asad should stay on the plane, and of all 1 million passengers, I was the only one. This worked out in my favor because as I waited, one of the crew members asked if I wanted to sit up with them in the flight deck. Of course I said yes, and they were great. I acted all shy and excited, and they asked if I wanted pictures of myself in the Captain's chair. They were really getting into it and took about 10 pics. Here's me and my mustachioed co-pilot.
I got to sit there for take-off and pretty much the entire flight. I wore headphones and could communicate with the crew. They let me wear night vision goggles and the amount of stars I saw was incredible!
They had to do a 'combat landing,' so they asked me to go sit in their little rest area right behind the cockpit. I sheepishly glanced through the porthole at the silly passengers that hide to ride in the cabin. Suckers! For those who don't know, a 'combat landing' is when the plane comes in quite high and then dives suddenly and quickly down to the runway. It's supposed to minimize the amount of time the plane is a target, so to speak. I've been through a couple that have felt dead up like that plane was crashing, but this one was quite mild in comparison.
Plus, while we were taxiing, one of the guys put some cookies in the oven, and as I was getting off the plane, he offered me a warm chocolate chip cookie. Seriously. Life's too good sometimes!
The morning I after I arrived in Baghdad, the world seemed all fresh and new. The sun was shining and everywhere I looked there were palm trees and sidewalks!!! I couldn’t believe it. Stacey arranged a tour for me, and after 2 quick hours in the office, I was whisked away on a special tour of Camp Slayer, with absolutely no idea what to expect.
Our first stop was Uday’s house – Sadaam’s son. It had obviously been quite lovely at one time, but is now a pile of rubble. We got to wander around, climb on things, and take pictures at our leisure. A tour guide told us a few stories, but she was difficult to hear, and someone was translating her words loudly into Arabic for the small group of Iraqi military that were on the tour with us.
The next stop was the Victory over Iran palace. Sadaam built this palace and it was his main residence when in Baghdad. The archway was very ornately decorated, and framed in a ‘smiley face’ over the front door are helmets from Iranian soldiers. We did not get to go inside, as the palace is actually inhabited by US troops lucky enough to be billeted there.
Adjacent to the “Victory over Iran,” stands the “Victory over America” palace. Sadaam had not quite finished building this beauty when we decided to drop a couple of enormous bombs on it. Wrong name, perhaps?
The tour was quite interesting, and culminated with a treacherous hike up many unfinished staircases leading to a rooftop view overlooking the camp and city. The panorama was stunning, and my quick video only covers about a quarter of it, due to MEMORY CARD FULL ☹
All the palaces are completely surrounded by water, for which Sadaam apparently used 8 of the city’s 9 water pumps, leaving his people in desperate want. The water is spotted with little houses where his friends and relatives lived, or that were used for pleasure. Sadaam’s brothel is right next door to his palace, and a brothel for his friends is a stone’s throw across the lake. According to our tour guide, they believed there was ‘no sin on water.’
After viewing the impressive wreckage, we made a quick photo stop and the very last mural of Sadaam in Iraq, and then went to the Baath party house, which was bombed after George Bush gave his 24 hour to evacuate ultimatum. Apparently we almost got Sadaam there, but missed him by less than an hour. Instead, the remains of 250 people were found in the rubble of the theater room, and “Pretty Woman” was found inside of the projector.
Most of the building was rubble, but it’s loveliness could easily be imagined. The pool room was still intact, although the pool was apparently never filled. An old, dried blood stain suggested an alternate and more sinister purpose.
Overall, the tour was very interesting, and completely surreal. I just kept thinking, “how did I end up here!?” and feeling very, very grateful to be me!
I was not sad about leaving COB Speicher. The fine, sooty, death dust and vast expanses of grey had become mind numbing. It was always freezing, and I was exhausted from the non-stop work. I was even happier when I discovered that traveling to Baghdad in a helicopter was a possibility.
Just as I sat down to relax, they announced the flight and told everyone to go outside for rollcall. Time was approximately 1800 hours. The called off our names and lined us up in order by destination. I’d guess there were 30 people or so. We then marched, single file onto the tarmac and were given no further instructions. Dwarfed by the Chinook in front of me, I started to get excited! As the crew members worked diligently to prepare the craft, I watched giddily, feeling those glorious jitters you can only get before a once in a lifetime opportunity comes along. While we started to load our gear up, I asked (well, screamed loudly over the engines) one of the crew to take my picture, which he was happy to do. My smiling face looks so naïve to me now, as I stand in front of that giant metal whale, about to get swallowed up and carried away in the sky.
We boarded the Chinook around 1900 and sat for 15 minutes or so before takeoff. I was seated on the edge of a red cargo net, attached on the side by only the ends. I hardly noticed the subtle lean that the slope of the net was causing me to affect. There was a small, round window right behind me, and I tried to look out as we took off. I couldn’t see anything, and I figured out why after a minute or two. We weren’t moving; just hovering above the flightline.
It’s important to remember that it was January, and it was freezing. Of all the advice I could have been given, the fact that the Chinook does not ever close its doors might have been the most humane. The chill I’d felt while waiting to board intensified and took hold like a lake slowly freezing over. The guy on my left, a British security contractor, was not even wearing a jacket, and made no effort to cover his hands. He sat with them calmly in his lap, and showed no signs of discomfort whatsoever. All the soldiers I could see were wearing all their warmest gear, to include gloves, hats, and neck gaiters pulled up over their faces. I was wearing a t-shirt and winter jacket, covered with my helmet and flak vest. Since I couldn’t get my hands under me with our sardine-like arrangement, I shoved my hands so far into coat that I think pretty sure my arms shrank, just a little.
But then we started to move! The Chinook made graceful, smooth movements as we cut through the crisp night air. Thanks to yoga, I was able to look out the window and take in the twinkling lights of the city below, topped off an expanse of stars so glorious, I completely forgot I was cold. I gazed out at the lights, interspersed with inky blackness, and considered my location. I thought about my place in this world and watched the earth move below me, focusing on the lights. Some were yellow, some white, some a soft orange. Some flickered, some moved, some disappeared just as you looked at them. POP POP POP POP POP! POP POP POP POP POP! The roaring sound of gunfire pulled me from my reverie. What was happening? I tried to make out what was going on, but no one moved, and it was too loud to speak, so I just let the excitement of gunpower take my fantasies to a whole new level. The whole experience of being huddled together with strangers on a mysterious mission in the pitch black interior of a ‘catfish’ seemed so romantic to me. We banked suddenly, and the cold air rushed back in. We were on the ground and people were exiting the back of the craft.
I was trapped in a seat near the cockpit, and since no one around me got up, I realized this was not my stop and waited patiently. The wind blew hard in my face, and I kept my squinty visage pointed to the right and waited for our next ascent. It took a while, and I noticed that my right foot was going numb from leaning over. My back and butt were starting to ache, and the chill seemed to be going deeper and deeper. Our next leg of the trip passed by quickly as I didn’t realize how much longer I would have to endure it. I dozed and was ready for it to end.
But it didn’t. We landed two more times, and then flew for a long time. I was seriously uncomfortable at this point, and my bladder was reaching full capacity. During this seemingly infinite flight, and the darkness of the craft played tricks on my eyes and mind. I imagined that the shifting shapes of the people across from me, with only the whites of their eyes exposed, were villains from Star Wars. The mood seemed sinister. I shifted uncomfortably, but was unable to bring any relief to my foot or back. Then, after another sudden bank, we touched down and everyone was herded off and into an empty field with no information about what we were doing. We stood where they’d indicated with flashlights, and the wind from the propellers was so strong that the steely-eyed killer next to me even got out his jacket and put it on. I stretched, looked at the stars, and tried to think about anything besides my bladder or how freaking cold I was. At some point it became clear to me that we were refueling, and that this trip was not over.
The last two stops were miserable. All optimism crushed, I decided that helicopters were frozen skybusses from hell and that I never wanted to take one again. After 4 ½ hours, I arrived at Camp Victory disoriented, frozen, and having to pee worse than I’ve ever had to in my life. But with another box checked off of that great TO DO list of my life.
It's been an exciting couple of weeks. Our time on COB Speicher was a total success, and the Psych class finished with 39 students. They were so eager, and earnest, and leaving was pretty difficult.
As lovely as they were, the camp was starting to wear on me. It was a lot of work, with little down time, save for a few exceptions. The best one came in the form of my pilot friends, CJ and Raleigh, who I met in Tai Chi class. They came by at lunch time on a Friday, then asked what I had planned for the day. Of course the answer was "WORK," but they had other ideas and I went off with them for a tour of the air traffic control tower. It's an old Iraqi building with odd square architecture and very low ceilings. The military folks there explained to us how they track the planes and manage the airspace. Some of it was over my head, but it was still really interesting. And of course, the view from the top was amazing.
After that they took me to the hangar and showed me the planes they fly - C-12s. They are civilians and they fly around all day looking for IEDs. So far they've found lots and probably saved many lives. I got to sit in the pilot seat and push buttons, even though the plane was not turned on.
Fully tapping into the resource of our tai chi class, we went to see a guy who is a tai chi master, and also happens to run the helicopter simulator machines. He also has the word BEER tattooed huge on his right forearm. Our timing was right on, and he let us use the simulator to play around. It's basically an exact replica of the inside of an apache, surrounded by giant screens. The chair moves to simulate the feeling of flying, and the huge screens mimic a real windshield. There are two machines so that one person can be the pilot and the other is the copilot and gunner. It was great fun, but boy do I suck at flying helicopters. I actually made the thing do a backflip on accident and I crashed twice. I did get it going for a while, but they all agreed that I should keep my hands off the controls of all flying objects. I got to fly in there for an hour at least, and it felt like I was only in there for a few seconds. Definitely one of the coolest things I've ever done!
While I'm busy telling my mundane tale...the Washington Post makes what we are doing sound much more interesting. Check out this article about our program in Baghdad!
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/04/AR2009010401459.html
Life's fairly boring here. I wake up every day at 0600 dying for the loo. I make an effort to never get up during the night since it's a long, scary walk in the dark and cold. I get dressed as fast as I can, hopping around like a maniac, then quickly walk the full five minutes to the bathroom. Then I walk another 5 minutes to the gym to do a workout for an hour. Afterward, I shower, get dressed, and walk over the the chow hall. I grab some cereal and take it to the office. I settle into my chair and check my email while I eat cereal around 0800. I help students that come in (there are lots - and I'm basically the only person here) and work on emails, paperwork, and other things until lunch. I walk over to the dfac (dining facility) around 12, usually with Dr. Berg, and sit and eat for a while. I'm trying to just eat healthy, which is a major challenge since there is SO MUCH food. It's all you can eat and they have about 10 different hot lines with all kinds of yummy fried foods, etc. They also have a dessert bar with the best cookies in the world, and 5 kinds of baskin robbins ice cream, scooped out by a very generous young man. I've been trying to frequent the salad bar, but it always looks so sad compared to hot food.
After eating too much, I say hi to Robot then head back to the office for the afternoon. More often then not, students are waiting when I return, and the afternoons are busy trying to help them. Dr. Berg's class starts at 1830, and things usually die down after that. I then surf the internet or watch TV (there is one with Armed Forces Network - AFN - inside the office, usually turned to football for the guys). Then I walk 5 mins to the bathroom, making my last stop, walk five more mininutes back to my room, read for 30 mins, and go to sleep.
Thrilling, I know. But it is productive, and it's a bit restful to not have anything to do besides work and sleep. I don't have to drive, run errands, cook, clean, and can't go anywhere, so it's just simple.
I have found a couple fun things to do in the form of classes. I've been to two tai chi classes and two spin classes. I really enjoyed the tai chi and the people in the class were really friendly. I always wanted to try tai chi, and I like it a lot more now that I found out it mean "supreme ultimate fist." Turns out some of the guys from tai chai were also in my spin class, and they also do yoga. Yoga is on the other side of camp (this base has an 16 mile perimeter) and they said they would give me a ride! So I've got a very full week of evening workout classes scheduled for this week.
I'd planned to travel around from site to site while I was here, but the need is so strong here, it looks like I'll stay for a few more days at least, which is just fine with me. I'm off to go get 10 hours of sleep! G'night!
I'm officially cool. And there are videos of me tearing it up out at the range, but I don't know when I'll have good enough internet to load them. For now, use your imagination...
I survived Christmas. I’m disappointed because I can’t get online and I was very much hoping I could skype with my family today. The internet stopped working in the office at some point today, and no one’s been able to fix it. I discovered a wireless internet service (called SniperHill of all morbid things) and paid $10 for it so that I could use my computer, but shortly after doing that, I lost all wireless bars and haven’t been able to get them back. I’ve carried my laptop all over base trying to find a place where it works, and so far not had any luck. I am now in my room and I keep trying to connect over and over again. I even tried holding my laptop up to the giant hole in hopes that the wireless signal might come through like Santa Claus. No luck. L Today was fairly uneventful. I slept in till nine and then went to work. We had a decent amount of visitors as many told us this had been their first day off of work – ever. Dr. Berg, Danny and I ate a huge lunch at the dining facility (D-FAC), and it was great. They really went over the top and there was a ridiculous amount of food, as well as food sculptures, ice sculptures, and people in costumes. I got a picture with Rudolf, and could feel him giving me the eye for a while after that. Creeepy.
I ate ham and turkey and stuffing with yams, green beans, corn on the cob, deviled eggs, etc. Just when I thought I might explode, I ate cookies and an ice cream Sunday for dessert. Yum. I have to say, this is the best dfac I’ve ever been to, and I can see that it’s going to challenge some of my new year’s resolutions. I mean, seriously, they have four kinds of crepes every day for breakfast. It’s over the top. Your tax dollars are at work here! After lunch we worked but it was relatively slow. I played Trivial Pursuit with Danny and he won, but not by much. I made up for it after dinner by neatly beating him at four games of ping-pong. Then I went to the coffee shop to see if I could get online and had no luck. Now I’m in my room getting ready to go to bed, and sadly typing this into Microsoft Word. But I’m healthy, and happy, and looking forward to future years of celebrating the holidays with all those I love. You are in my heart! Merry Christmas .
