Summer Training

  Since I don't have anything new to post, and no good comparison for the fictional Average Iraqi, this seems like a good time to talk about the place where I'm spending my engineering summer field training. The place is on the outskirts of Baghdad, right after a sign that says "Baghdad says farewell". No need to say it is very far for that reason, the daily work starts at 8:00 am and ends at 5:00 pm usually, unless we have something urgent to do so we take extra time. Because of the length of the trip, and in order to make it in time, we have to go out very early to catch the time, we usually set off at about 6:15 am, and be there in about 7:30, some of the engineers like to bring their breakfast with them and eat it when they get there in that extra half hour they get there, in order to get a little more sleep at home, I like to eat my breakfast home. At the time we hit the road, only a few cars are on the street, and sometimes we would be the only car on the road, and at that US military are at their peek, we see them around every corner, and when we are the only car on the road, all their weapons would be fixed on us, which makes us really nervous, especially when the patrol is a tank patrol, the bridge of the tank would rotate and follow us down the street, making us sit on the edge of our seats.

  The place is intended to become a rice factory, it is a very big site, with enough place of future expansion. The main part of the factory is going to be a steel structure, not a concrete one like most other building in Iraq, and most of us are seeing a steel structure of this size for the first time, one have to be really careful when he builds something as rare as that, actually none of us has experienced doing steel structures this size, well there has to be first time for everything. The site is in a small village, very small and is almost defined by the main highway. I think the village is living on the many factories spread around the area.

  Since the place is almost in the desert, we always get strong wind there, strong sun, and many dust storms. A few days ago there was a huge dust storm that made the whole place look RED, we took a picture of the whole engineering staff, and it looked like it has been taken in Venus. Neon tubes looked blue to me, and the room was all blue, almost like you were living underwater, it was a very funny day and I came home with dust all over me, and my hair looked yellow. And just yesterday we had to wait for one of the builders to complete his work until we could call it a day and go home, so we had to stay after the normal working hours waiting for him and his crew to finish work, we were 8 engineers of different ages, so we brought a ball, made two teams, and played football until he was finished, and the funny thing is that the guys who didn't play finished the water so that we the guys who played, thirsty after the game, would find no water to drink. It is amazing isn't it, with the war going around us some still can find their way to happiness.