I have been here in the field camp outside Basra for a few days now, so I suppose I can now speak to life here just a bit...firstly, they never tell you everything that you would want to know before coming here. Like, who knew that I NEEDED to bring a padlock? I am glad that I brought good boots and raingear and a down jacket, because it is COLD and RAINY in Iraq at this time of the year...again, good thing I read the materials and did some independent research - the assumption is that Iraq is warm and sunny year around, much like the Emirates. Not so, good people of the West...Iraq is cold, it is rainy, it can be miserable.
There are many dogs here in camp...I don't know why or where they came from. It seems strange; could they smell a hint of civilization for miles across the desert and marsh (that's right, Iraq has marshes) and just sort of migrated here? Also, they bark ALL NIGHT...I don't know why they bark, but it is incessant. It sounds almost like dog-fighting on the junior side of the camp. A little more about animals...did you know that Iraq has wolves? Brown bears? Hyenas? Leopards, Lions, Red Foxes, Deer, Antilope? Most people think of Iraq and think of an empty, war-torn desert with nothing but camel spiders and scorpions, but in fact Iraq has an amazing variety of animals. There is even some evidence and eye-witness accounts of crocodiles swimming in the Euphrates. So, it appears that the fertile crescent is still pretty fertile from a biodiversity point of view, at least in terms of fauna.
I took a shower this morning...FREEZING! I plan on trying to take as few of those as possible...problem is that I am trying to work out twice a day while I am here, so I expect I will fail in the don't take freezing showers department, that or perhaps I will be deported for being overly smelly. Our sleep trailers (see the pictures) don't have toilets or showers in them, which is a HUGE difference to life on a seismic vessel where everyone has their own WC and shower. Seems like not a big deal, except when you wake up in the middle of the night and have to take a leak...now you have to get up, get dressed (warmly, no less), and walk across camp to the toilet trailers...by the time you get back it is sort of difficult to get back to sleep. Also, I can't wait to have to do that in the rain! Perhaps I need to start keeping an empty water bottle in my room...
Well, while I still have many hours of work remaining for the day, I suppose that is enough for now...if I get inspired perhaps I will post again later.
There are many dogs here in camp...I don't know why or where they came from. It seems strange; could they smell a hint of civilization for miles across the desert and marsh (that's right, Iraq has marshes) and just sort of migrated here? Also, they bark ALL NIGHT...I don't know why they bark, but it is incessant. It sounds almost like dog-fighting on the junior side of the camp. A little more about animals...did you know that Iraq has wolves? Brown bears? Hyenas? Leopards, Lions, Red Foxes, Deer, Antilope? Most people think of Iraq and think of an empty, war-torn desert with nothing but camel spiders and scorpions, but in fact Iraq has an amazing variety of animals. There is even some evidence and eye-witness accounts of crocodiles swimming in the Euphrates. So, it appears that the fertile crescent is still pretty fertile from a biodiversity point of view, at least in terms of fauna.
I took a shower this morning...FREEZING! I plan on trying to take as few of those as possible...problem is that I am trying to work out twice a day while I am here, so I expect I will fail in the don't take freezing showers department, that or perhaps I will be deported for being overly smelly. Our sleep trailers (see the pictures) don't have toilets or showers in them, which is a HUGE difference to life on a seismic vessel where everyone has their own WC and shower. Seems like not a big deal, except when you wake up in the middle of the night and have to take a leak...now you have to get up, get dressed (warmly, no less), and walk across camp to the toilet trailers...by the time you get back it is sort of difficult to get back to sleep. Also, I can't wait to have to do that in the rain! Perhaps I need to start keeping an empty water bottle in my room...
No comments:
Post a Comment