Bombs Over Baghdad

I survived my first week here in lovely Baghdad. The temp has been relatively pleasant, except for the sandstorm. It is one of the very sureal things about being here. The other sureal thing is how relatively quiet and peaceful somethings appear to be. As you can see from the pictures I have posted I work at a very safe Disneyesque setting. I am settled into the fact that I will likely not get to go "outside the wire." I am very bumbed about not being downtown but I am currently figuring out a way to get on a convoy. I know it is an Army and guy thing to want to go confront danger and see who my "customers" are but until then listen to me ramble. Just as I think that this is a non war zone, and as I returned from dinner on Thursday, lost in my own thoughts, I was jolted back to the fact that there is a war going on. No sooner had I started to walk than I heard a thunderous boom followed by the ground trembling and a plume of black smoke rising off in the distance, sillouetted by a mosque. Right as this happened, small arms fire broke out in roughly the same spot as the explosion. At this point I was reminded that I am in a combat zone. It also made me a little more anxious and antsy about about leaving the wire. I still have a lot of time to make that happen.

Today was Haji cleaning day. To some this may sound un PC and even rude but to me it is an extra couple of hours out of my day where I am not at work. Every Saturday and Tuesday, the Haji come to clean our building, which means that we lock all of our material away, which is classified, leave the building for a couple of hours while they clean. Our enlisted soldiers keep a watchful eye on them with their M-16. Ahh, the little things in life that I get to look forward during my never ending weeks.