01/17/06

It’s been awhile since I posted last. Well, I guess it’s been only a couple of days, but it feels like a long time – so much has happened! I mean, dude, I’m in Iraq.

There’s so much to say, but I don’t know if I have enough words to say it. I mean, how do I begin to describe this place and all the things we’ve seen and done? I don’t know if I should post here where I am. I know it sounds paranoid but to quote someone (I can’t remember who),”just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be cautious.”

Let’s just say that we’re staying in South Beach instead of going to Hollywood. We have a line on a sweet house here for the ladies on the team (rent=$0), so we are looking for a house for the men in the neighborhood. We looked at one today that might work, but until we find one, we’re staying in a hotel. It’s pretty nice, but cold! The electricity in the city’s only one for about 2 hours at a time with maybe, like, 3 hour breaks between. And I think that our in-room heater is sub par. The guys’ room was like an ice box while the girls’ was like a sauna. I slept in my sweatshirt (red-hooded), my gloves and my hat. I took the scarf off, though. I had a very Vanessa-like moment where I worried that the scarf might get caught and I would choke to death in my sleep.

I ventured into the bazaar today, too. It was pretty cool. I bought soap and shampoo, both items that I left in Houston accidentally. So, I came back to the hotel and took a shower (we had electricity and hot water!). I’ve never seen a bathroom like a Middle-Eastern bathroom before, but everything is in the same place – shower, toilet, sink, everything. This one here has a shower curtain, but it separates the toilet from the rest of the room. The shower is right next to the sink and so water gets everywhere.

Before I can go on with this story, I have to say that the toilet is not “American-style.” It’s basically a fancy hole in the ground. See if you can find a picture on the internet. I means it’s still porcelain and all, but way different from what you’re used to.

Anyway, I’m taking a shower and I drop the soap. It’s pretty cold in there and the water’s hot, so steam makes it pretty hard to see. I’m feeling around with my foot and nothing! So I get down closer to the floor to see. Nothing. The bathroom’s not big; I just don’t know where it could be. The floor around the toilet is raised a little bit (maybe three inches) and it occurs to me that the soap may have bounced up on there.

Not only did it bounce up there, but – as you’ve probably guessed already – it bounced right into the toilet. So my first purchase went right down the drain, literally.