Out & About in Iraq!

A lot of people say they “Hate this place” and they “Can’t wait to get the hell out of here.” I, on the other hand- love the country and it’s culture! Everyday here I find something fascinatingly beautiful!  I am a big time wonder-er- and heres a couple of my favs!

I think these concrete pyramids are called “Yugos.” I tried to figure out a little more about them… but all  i came up with was, “The Yugo. The bunkers Saddam had built to protect the military elites on base. These areas are usually off limits for military personnel, but some of them have been modified to serve as office space.” These things are all over the place on COB Speicher!

“Off Limits” huh?

There is Tennis court and the bombed-out swimming pool’s diving board  in this one. Its behind our office building.

Rainbow!? (in front of my old LSA (Living area))

 

I’ll have to get some better pictures of this one! To the right of this picture is a soccer stadium.

Anyway- more pictures to come!

Randoms

While in Baghdad we played Gator Ball (a mix between soccer and basketball) and smoked Hookah!

I played in my boots…NEVER AGAIN will I make that mistake! I could barely walk the next day!

Some friends from AIT!

I’ve posted this picture before.. but its my fav and it looks cool in B&W!

Compare and Contrast!

I think this is one of the worst sand storms we’ve had this whole year! YUK!

I was trying to get the exact picture I took before… but there was a guy sleeping and I didn’t want to be a creeper!

In a couple weeks I’ll be going up to Warhorse and back to Baghdad! More Pictures to come!

Victory!!

This week I traveled to Camp Victory/Liberty on business! After I did what I needed to do (that took all of 5mins)- I got to hangout with my best friiieeend in the whole wide woooorld! It just so happened she does the same type of job I do-but in a different place and was deployed to Iraq while I was! Luck! Anyways- I was able to hangout in Victory for the weekend and stay away from any type of work!

Victory was awesome! There was water, trees, old palaces and birds! I was in aw the whole time! We went to some Mediterranean restaurant and smoked hookah both nights I was there and I got to go shopping! (shopping-the MOST important thing to do when in Iraq!) I got some goodies for my peeps back home, toured their BIG PX, and ate Burger King!

I know- sounds funny that I am SO excited about these things… but its been almost a year since I’ve been somewhere where there are more then 2 choices of products! O-o! I was also able to play my first ‘sport’ related activity there too! I learned to play Gatorball, its like a combo of soccer and basketball played on a soccer field. It was SUPER fun! [We haven't been able to play sports this whole deployment...during the first week of our Pre-mob someone messed-up their knee so bad they couldn't deploy!] So pretty much- playing a contact sport for the first time in a year was a BLAST!

Here are some shots I snapped! Across the pond is one of Saddam’s many palaces!

Babysitting trip to the Green Zone!

This week I was voluntold out to take one of my peers to the Green Zone (now called the International Zone) to get their passport! I was actually excited to go to Baghdad to go a little sight seeing and get out the office- but had I known I would have to practically figure out everything myself (for someone else)- I might have chosen to stay home! You would think someone who needed their passport to go on R&R would have been gone-ho about this- and would participate in trying to find out where and when they needed to be to get the passport… but this guy wasn’t!

So- long story short, my ‘peer’ didn’t say one word to me (for 3 days) as I ran around to find out how to get to the embassy, get his passport, find a place to stay, and get transportation! When our little ‘trip’ was over- I asked him why he was so short and he said, “Our SGT said you were in-charge and I had to do everything you said. I really just don’t like being told I have to be babysat, especially by someone the same rank.” I, of course, laughed…I mean really? I guess someone’s feelings got hurt because they realized no one thinks they can do things by themselves!

Anyway! I definitely made the best of my little trip and snapped some pictures!

Hold on NZ- Its Christmas time!

I decorated today! Its a little late to get the decorations up… but they are FABULOUS!

I put white lights up first… but didn’t plug them into a converter…. so they burnt out

At least the colored lights turned out pretty nice!

I also decorated the door to my CHU… I think the bullet hole stickers are a nice touch!

I wasn’t the only one around my living area to decorate!

This CHU was totally decked out!

And someone made this sweet Reindeer!

MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM IRAQ!

Last Day in New Zealand! :(

I spent my last day in New Zealand visiting Hamner Springs, I hit up the Sulfur Pools and went 4-wheeling!

I got yelled at for putting my head under the water… supposedly you are not suppose to do that when you are swimming in a sulfur pool! oops..

I don’t know why I choose to go 4-wheeling- but it turned out to be really fun!! (It was my first time actually driving one!)

Okay- so I didn’t think I would be getting this dirty… thank god they gave us boots to wear!

Although the boots held A LOT of water!

Soaked. Good thing I didn’t bring a change of clothes or anything warm!

(So I just HAD TO buy a cool shirt!)

Im waiting for the bus to take me back to Christchurch so I can jump on a plane and go home! boo!

13th day in NZ!

Today I hopped onto a bus that took me across country! And it only took 5 hours! I had to go from Queenstown to Christchurch in order to catch my plane ride back to boring Iraq! uh! I hate responsibilities!!

Our first stop was a town with a huge ass fish sculture… I dont know what it is, but when I was in australia- we saw a bunch of random sculptures similar to this one. Strange.

The bus ride kinda sucked, I was up all night with some friends enjoying my last night in Queenstown! But we made the best of it- and I had to pay for it and sit in a bus all day! Luckily I was able to take a shower and wear PJs on the bus!

When I got to Christchurch there were a ton of sweet buildings, lots of shops, and also a x-mas parade going on… but it was also a little odd… it seemed like it was a mix of halloween, disney, asian arts, and x-mas!

Really? A dude dressed up like a dolphin walking in a x-mas parade? lol.

Anyway- the rest of the day I spent shopping, buying random things and making last minute arrangements to go 4-wheeling and visit the sulfur pools in Hamner Springs!

Weird.

Milford Sound

Today I went to Milford Sound! It was wonderful! (How many times have I said this already about New Zealand?) Anyway- this place is a MUST SEE! We took a bus down through the canyons and into the sound and hopped onto a cruise boat, had a great lunch, and floated through the sound!

I have been horrible about posting-so I just threw a billion pictures on this post… Im trying my best to finish these NZ posts up… it can be really time consuming!

Day 11- McCrackin’s Rest!

Today I am coming home from BEAUTIFUL Stewart Island and heading up to Te Anau!

This dude sands down clam shells and makes jewelry!

We also stopped to play with the puppies!

I want….. this ONE!

I am getting so lazy and behind on posting pictures of NZ…. so heres some little pics to click on!

o yea! The other ‘part’ of the chain that holds little Stewart Island is in this hodge podge of pics too!

Day 10- Hiking around the Island!

Stewart Island!

This place is honestly the prettiest place on Earth! It was kinda windy (as you can tell by the water) but it was the perfect little place to stop for two days and go hiking! I probably walked over 10+ miles up, down, and around the Island- but every little nook and cranny here was BEAUTIFUL!

Camera timer + cool tripod thingy = pretending someone else was taking the pic!

(I was in the rainforest…NO ONE was around)