So, I awoke this afternoon to discover the camp in a state of unrest as our junior workers (primarily local employees) were apparently on strike...they had blockaded the camp and were allowing no vehicular traffic in or out of camp. Some of the guys who were scheduled to crew change today missed their flights, and it was generally a bit tense around the camp. The strike was completely peaceful...there were no weapons or anything, but still, the Senior Staff and Security Staff are outnumbered over three to one by junior staff. So, our production has been off two days in a row due to civil unrest now inside our camp as well as outside of it...good times over here everyone...good times indeed. I haven't yet heard if or when the strike will come to an end or what the terms of the cessation will be.
In other news, I ran much longer than normal today and feel really great, though due to the strike there were far more junior staff in camp during my run than are usually around. It seems that in Iraq it is a real laugh to make fun of overweight people trying to get in shape...you run and the guys jog next to you laughing and holding their bellies. They point...they stare...they laugh...they say things to you in Arabic with huge smiles, so I am guessing they are just taking a good-natured piss with me, but who can know for sure. But yeah...they laugh at fat people in Iraq, I have first hand experience with it...before you think that I am drawing a generalization off a single experience, this happens almost whenever I run through Junior Camp, there were just more guys pointing and laughing and holding their bellies today. That's all right though...I will be laughing when I am running through their camp come August, sans my gut...it is fuel for my fire. I can tell you that nothing motivates weight loss like being made fun of in a foreign country...it sucks to be exactly the stereotype that they have of the fat, white, rich American, or that is the stereotype that my Libyan friends tell me dominates.
So, it was an eventful day out here...two days in a row! This is the type of drama that I was expecting when I signed on for this tour in Iraq. I had started to think that there was no excitement left in the world...I mean you come all the way to Iraq to live on the edge of safety and risk and discover a country as tame and quiet as anywhere else I have ever been...it was a little discouraging. I am mostly joking...I did come here with the intention of experiencing something somewhat raw, but I was not coming with the intention of placing myself in harm's way - I can't tell you how much I researched and considered and weighed the risks versus the rewards before agreeing to accept this post here.
Erin and I have been talking a bit today about budgeting...I am trying to work on paying down my debts, but I guess I have neglected building a new budget which accounts for my new expenses versus revenue. I think that tonight I will try to take a little time while I am on shift to get a current budget written and ready to go. I leave for home in just about a week (can you believe I have already been out here more than a month), so the timing is just right!
Speaking of home...I never thought that I would say this, but even Houston is shining like a star for me right now. I am so excited to get home. There is so much that I want to do...restaurants to eat at that I have missed...my weekly pilgrimage to Houston Dairymaids with friends...evening drinks at the Arms...and of course morning games with the kids! I tell you folks, it is the little things that make life worth living, and the real trick to life is figuring out how to get yourself in a place where the little things are easier to appreciate. I haven't figured it out yet, as anyone who has read my blog before knows...I am an absolute mess generally speaking. I don't feel like I know up from down half of the time, but still I work on it, work on myself, and try to make sense out of what seems more and more to be a senseless world.
Well, I guess that will do it for today...keep it classy, World!
In other news, I ran much longer than normal today and feel really great, though due to the strike there were far more junior staff in camp during my run than are usually around. It seems that in Iraq it is a real laugh to make fun of overweight people trying to get in shape...you run and the guys jog next to you laughing and holding their bellies. They point...they stare...they laugh...they say things to you in Arabic with huge smiles, so I am guessing they are just taking a good-natured piss with me, but who can know for sure. But yeah...they laugh at fat people in Iraq, I have first hand experience with it...before you think that I am drawing a generalization off a single experience, this happens almost whenever I run through Junior Camp, there were just more guys pointing and laughing and holding their bellies today. That's all right though...I will be laughing when I am running through their camp come August, sans my gut...it is fuel for my fire. I can tell you that nothing motivates weight loss like being made fun of in a foreign country...it sucks to be exactly the stereotype that they have of the fat, white, rich American, or that is the stereotype that my Libyan friends tell me dominates.
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| You might be laughing now, but just wait! |
So, it was an eventful day out here...two days in a row! This is the type of drama that I was expecting when I signed on for this tour in Iraq. I had started to think that there was no excitement left in the world...I mean you come all the way to Iraq to live on the edge of safety and risk and discover a country as tame and quiet as anywhere else I have ever been...it was a little discouraging. I am mostly joking...I did come here with the intention of experiencing something somewhat raw, but I was not coming with the intention of placing myself in harm's way - I can't tell you how much I researched and considered and weighed the risks versus the rewards before agreeing to accept this post here.
Erin and I have been talking a bit today about budgeting...I am trying to work on paying down my debts, but I guess I have neglected building a new budget which accounts for my new expenses versus revenue. I think that tonight I will try to take a little time while I am on shift to get a current budget written and ready to go. I leave for home in just about a week (can you believe I have already been out here more than a month), so the timing is just right!
Speaking of home...I never thought that I would say this, but even Houston is shining like a star for me right now. I am so excited to get home. There is so much that I want to do...restaurants to eat at that I have missed...my weekly pilgrimage to Houston Dairymaids with friends...evening drinks at the Arms...and of course morning games with the kids! I tell you folks, it is the little things that make life worth living, and the real trick to life is figuring out how to get yourself in a place where the little things are easier to appreciate. I haven't figured it out yet, as anyone who has read my blog before knows...I am an absolute mess generally speaking. I don't feel like I know up from down half of the time, but still I work on it, work on myself, and try to make sense out of what seems more and more to be a senseless world.
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