Chess anyone?

Heya, I may not have mentioned this before but…I learned how to play chess!! On the way back to Iraq from our leave in Ireland SPC Rzepka taught me how to play. I have to take a minute to explain what a big deal that is. My dad tried to teach me in high school and I didn’t really understand. My good friend Seth tried to teach me a couple years ago and it didn’t stick then either. When Zep taught me how to play he was super patient, repeated the rules for me over and over again, and didn’t seem to mind that I asked about a million questions. Now we play pretty often and it’s a lot of fun. I’ve even gotten to the point where I can beat him occasionally and I keep learning from him. A couple weeks ago we were playing chess outside by the pool and someone snapped this picture, I think it might have been LT Lunato. It looks like this game isn’t going in my favor but I did have a good time losing! Just thought I’d share. Miss you all!

Good times

Wow, it's been a great couple of weeks. I love my new job, I feel really good about it. Working at the Press Desk is actually a good thing for me because I've worked so hard at not taking in any news the last few years that this is a good change...I have to deal with it on a daily basis and I think it's definitely helping me more aware. On top of that my main job is setting up radio interviews with officers here and I really like that as well. I’m embarrassed to say this, but I am just now starting to see what I’m a part of here at the US Embassy in Baghdad. I work in the Communications division and it seems like our job is to sell Iraq’s new government to the world. If the world doesn’t see and hear about the improvements being done here then Iraq doesn’t have a chance. If the American public doesn’t see the good that’s being and how far the Iraqi’s have come then their support will wane even more and, again, Iraq won’t be given a fair chance. And if we can’t get correct and true information to the Iraqi public then they’ll start to believe that they don’t even have a chance. It’s all about spreading information. This country is a little crazy; almost everyone has cell phones and satellite TV but so much of the information that gets passed around is misinformation. It passes from mouth to mouth and grows. And they’re normal people just like Americans in that bad news is more interesting to share than good news. The horror stories spread so much faster than the good stories and it kills me because where I sit I can see that so much of it is untrue. So we work extra hard to ensure that everyone knows all the good stuff that’s happening here and I think it’s really cool to be involved in it.

I want to take a quick sec to thank my Aunt Lisa and Uncle Mike in Missouri and my Aunt Denise, Uncle Greg, and the kids in Pennsylvania for the packages they sent. You all are the best and you have no idea how awesome it is to get a package in the mail that isn’t from drugstore.com! I really do appreciate all of you, for the phone calls, mail, and prayers. I feel so lucky to have such a great family when so many people over here don’t. I love you all.

So you guys wanna hear something weird? I went to Salsa Night the other night and it was just so crazy. We have this great area with a couple of sweet pools, a pool table, some foosball tables, and a wide open area perfect for dancing. I’ve been here about 6 months and this is the first time I’ve been to Salsa night. It was really strange to see so many people dressed in civilian clothes dancing with people in military uniforms, a DJ table where people have to yell to have a conversation, and all around people are just chilling and talking. I had to really concentrate and remind myself we ARE still in Baghdad. It was so unnerving I couldn’t bring myself to dance really, I was just people watching. I might go again, I dunno. The place had a good vibe to it and it was a really nice change of scenery but it was a little too much for me, you know? It felt like I was at any club anywhere else…not Baghdad. You would think that would be a good think but it didn’t seem quite real. Maybe the next time I go it’ll feel more normal, I don’t know. Oh well, guess we’ll see, huh? I’m outta here, got to o to work. I miss you all a ton. Hugs and kisses all around! p.s. I finally went swimming in the palace pool the other day and it was GREAT!! It felt so nice! Ok, now I'm really done.

A little on Ireland and a new job

Hello everyone! Sorry, it’s been so very long since I last posted anything, over a month! Well, since then I visited Ireland for 2 weeks, came back to the desert, and switched jobs. On Ireland-I can’t say enough good stuff about that trip! It was amazing and absolutely breathtaking. I went with SPC Rick Rzepka, from my unit, who will be named Zep for the rest of this entry cause it’s easier. We drove almost the entire island! We started out in Dublin, which ended up being just like any big city. We were happy to be in a city after months in the Green Zone, Baghdad, Iraq. It was so nice just to see people out doing normal, petty things. I had forgotten what it was like to worry about where to eat, what to wear, shopping, and sightseeing. It was really great to just be myself again. I quickly developed an affinity for Jameson’s Irish whiskey (12 year is my favorite) and can now drink and enjoy good whiskey straight up. We also hit a ton of cool pubs in Dublin, even went to the oldest pub in Ireland! We went to an interesting old prison and St. Patrick’s Cathedral. Everything was perfect. We even got snowed on in a city park! Zep’s parents flew in to Dublin a few days later and we rented a car and started driving. Poor Zep, he was in charge of driving and his mom and step dad were in the back. It must have been rough. Between driving a an after driving Humvees the last few months, driving on the wrong side of the road, and all the passengers making noises like we thought we’d be flattened at any second-whew!! I am sooo glad I wasn’t the one driving. I did get to drive but it was a week later after I’d gotten used to watching vehicles coming straight at us because the roads were so narrow. And I wouldn’t be completely honest if I said I did great. I did do great after the first 5 minutes. As soon as I got behind the wheel and pulled onto a road I realized my seatbelt was undone and reached down to fix it. I forgot to keep my eyes on the road and immediately hit a curb (a small one!) and jumped the van (a little!) and Zep just looked at me like I was nuts. But after that I think I did pretty good. Thankfully we were mostly on big highways while I drove, not like the bumpy narrow country roads Zep had to drive. Anyway, drove from Dublin down to Killiney to stay in the Fitzpatrick Castle. It was so cool, the castle had it’s bar in the refurbished dungeon. The village of Killiney was great, quiet, pretty, and tidy. Zep and I parked in a lot across the street from a pub and when we went to leave saw that the van was locked in. Apparently we parked in a church parking lot and the priest was waiting by the gate and chided us, saying that we had taken a spot the elderly use to go to mass. I felt awful! We traveled down the coast, stopping in little town to stay at bed and breakfasts along the way. We heard some great traditional Irish music in very town but the best music was in Dingle and Doolin. They musicians there were soo great! They had the crowd in the palm of their hands.

Ok, folks, I’ve realized a hard lesson. I wrote all of that 3 days ago and I finally understand I can’t save a blog and keep trying to add on to it cause I’ll never post it. So I’m going to go ahead and post this incomplete blog. Sorry, I’ll talk about Ireland more later.

One last thing before I post…I have a new job! Yay!! I work in the Press Desk for a Marine Major and I help answer press queries and will be working with radio interviews. I really like it so far and I can’t believe my good fortune.

Oh, and why didn’t anyone ever tell me, a Marine Corps brat, about the book/movie “The Great Santini?” This was an awesome book, I just can’t believe I’d never heard about it till now! Ok, that is all sportsfans.