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Time to once again open my life up a little in order to share the plethora of wealth I'm about to absorb. I'm going to be back in Iraq through September, so hop on board and check back every couple of days, I'll do my best to update as much as possible. Questions? dtate38@cox.net And check out the site I'm working with: http://www.billroggio.com Support independent journalism!
Tuesday, April 27, 2004
Like I told Heidi: Much of the reason for this blog is to show the rollercoaster one may expect when going through such a drastic change. Yesterday would qualify as a high peak and a deep valley.
After writing my blog, I staggered home and was still sick as could be. I kept taking my medicine and thought about the previous two days. The day before I got a quick, impromptu interview with thee U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan Dr. Khalilzad. The last time I saw anything remotely near him was on the Turkish-Iraqi border last year. He was special envoy for that conflict too. I got pictures of his motorcade speeding by.
Just before wrote by "blog of despair", I did a press conference with the Army and got to meet the very fine Laura Logan. Nice lady from what I can tell, but needs to cover up some in this culture.
My first day or so, I wore a t-shirt and shorts in public. Abdullah took me aside and pretty much told me I need to respect the local customs. After that I went outside and walked a few blocks and realized no one, not a one person wore shorts, VERY few wore short sleeves, and even less wore baseball hats. That's 90% of my daily fashion.
We have this picture of Laura Logan laying in the grass talking to a soldier. She's in shorts and you can see a majority of President's Karzai's bodyguards just staring away. Pretty funny.
Anyway... after making it to the internet cafe, I got home just in time to start a day long deluge. Fourth in a row and worst to date. Absolutely insane event. It was about that timed Ahmad called and said there was a press conference with Karzai.
I was now going through 15 minutes cycles and decided I was taking the day off. I handed the football off to Kamaal and went to my room.
I then realized that I had worked 36 straight days, including a full week's worth in Istanbul, and perhaps since my health was so poor, I needed a few days off. Relatively off that is. I was able to clean and organize my part of the room I share with Ahmad. I finished a ton of work, clearing my mind. Thanks to some good mixed cd's from Chris Crap, I was able to regain my sanity. Just enough to realize
that this day reminds me of another time that my mother sometimes likes to remind me about.
In 1984 at the ripe old age of 16, I went to Hawaii to pick pineapples for six months. I recall calling home, boo-hooing about wanting to come home. In essence I was homesick. I ended up sticking it out and when I look back at it, am so thankful I did because the experience was so valuable.
My boss, Omer told me when he hired me, "...to look at this in the long term." I thought to myself then, "It's going to take some time to get used to". If the company comes through soon with some of the things we need to be successful, I can see looking at the things differently.
Sgt. Frank Magni from Philadelphia. He was the guy that escorted me to Ghazni. The day I first met him, he spent it chewing a cigar, just like Telli Savalis in "Kelly's Hero's". He wore shades and had that "east coast cool guy look". After that day, I never saw him in the same light again. That image disappeard as his true funny guy nature came out. We had a good week. Anyway, Magni just got in country and knows he's here for the long run. He says, "I look at it like a marathon, not a sprint".
Other than finally getting my house in order, I'm trying to get my health back for my upcoming mission. Yesterday as I organized, I found a spiral notebook that I used in Honduras. I looked through it to make sure I wasn't throwing away important notes. As I went to throw it away, I remembered that one of the coolest things to give a kid in a place like this, is a means to write or draw.
So I found a pencil, and in my pajamas, waled out of our iron gated compound onto the dusty street where two taxi guys were arguing over the fender bender. In the crowd was a boy trying to get a better view. As an adult shooed him away, I tapped his shoulder. When he turned around I handed him the book and pencil, which he hesitantly took, looking at it as if he were confused. As I went to go back into the the compound, Ii looked back and waved. The kid still looked confuse, but nodded in approval. I couldn't help wonder if I had just sparked something in him.
With that said, I have woken this morning feeling better, not great, physically. Mentally, was feeling much better in understanding how lucky I am to be here, and that I need to make the best of it to make it worth the while.
After writing my blog, I staggered home and was still sick as could be. I kept taking my medicine and thought about the previous two days. The day before I got a quick, impromptu interview with thee U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan Dr. Khalilzad. The last time I saw anything remotely near him was on the Turkish-Iraqi border last year. He was special envoy for that conflict too. I got pictures of his motorcade speeding by.
Just before wrote by "blog of despair", I did a press conference with the Army and got to meet the very fine Laura Logan. Nice lady from what I can tell, but needs to cover up some in this culture.
My first day or so, I wore a t-shirt and shorts in public. Abdullah took me aside and pretty much told me I need to respect the local customs. After that I went outside and walked a few blocks and realized no one, not a one person wore shorts, VERY few wore short sleeves, and even less wore baseball hats. That's 90% of my daily fashion.
We have this picture of Laura Logan laying in the grass talking to a soldier. She's in shorts and you can see a majority of President's Karzai's bodyguards just staring away. Pretty funny.
Anyway... after making it to the internet cafe, I got home just in time to start a day long deluge. Fourth in a row and worst to date. Absolutely insane event. It was about that timed Ahmad called and said there was a press conference with Karzai.
I was now going through 15 minutes cycles and decided I was taking the day off. I handed the football off to Kamaal and went to my room.
I then realized that I had worked 36 straight days, including a full week's worth in Istanbul, and perhaps since my health was so poor, I needed a few days off. Relatively off that is. I was able to clean and organize my part of the room I share with Ahmad. I finished a ton of work, clearing my mind. Thanks to some good mixed cd's from Chris Crap, I was able to regain my sanity. Just enough to realize
that this day reminds me of another time that my mother sometimes likes to remind me about.
In 1984 at the ripe old age of 16, I went to Hawaii to pick pineapples for six months. I recall calling home, boo-hooing about wanting to come home. In essence I was homesick. I ended up sticking it out and when I look back at it, am so thankful I did because the experience was so valuable.
My boss, Omer told me when he hired me, "...to look at this in the long term." I thought to myself then, "It's going to take some time to get used to". If the company comes through soon with some of the things we need to be successful, I can see looking at the things differently.
Sgt. Frank Magni from Philadelphia. He was the guy that escorted me to Ghazni. The day I first met him, he spent it chewing a cigar, just like Telli Savalis in "Kelly's Hero's". He wore shades and had that "east coast cool guy look". After that day, I never saw him in the same light again. That image disappeard as his true funny guy nature came out. We had a good week. Anyway, Magni just got in country and knows he's here for the long run. He says, "I look at it like a marathon, not a sprint".
Other than finally getting my house in order, I'm trying to get my health back for my upcoming mission. Yesterday as I organized, I found a spiral notebook that I used in Honduras. I looked through it to make sure I wasn't throwing away important notes. As I went to throw it away, I remembered that one of the coolest things to give a kid in a place like this, is a means to write or draw.
So I found a pencil, and in my pajamas, waled out of our iron gated compound onto the dusty street where two taxi guys were arguing over the fender bender. In the crowd was a boy trying to get a better view. As an adult shooed him away, I tapped his shoulder. When he turned around I handed him the book and pencil, which he hesitantly took, looking at it as if he were confused. As I went to go back into the the compound, Ii looked back and waved. The kid still looked confuse, but nodded in approval. I couldn't help wonder if I had just sparked something in him.
With that said, I have woken this morning feeling better, not great, physically. Mentally, was feeling much better in understanding how lucky I am to be here, and that I need to make the best of it to make it worth the while.
