Just finished a nice game of volley (Ashe went easy on me on the tennis courts).
It has been a nice little Friday. Slept in this morning after a late night luau. Got up and went to the pool with two friends. Liberty pool is one of the remaining camps in the IZ. It's the epitome of a private club house pool. This was Saddam's son Uday's pool house. There is a huge tension tent that gathers in three pinnacles covering a small portion of the pool area. There are two kiddie pools. A triple slide so you can have races! A 50 meter lap pool where a diving pool and high dive platform branches off out from under the shade into the sunshine. There is a fourth swimming pool with a 5 meter diving board, great for can openers and watermelons, under the diving board which is in the center of the pool the depth is probably 12 or 14 feet, my ears always pop when I swim to the bottom, and there is a steep incline to a 3 foot shallow end on each side of the pool.
We took the basketballs from Ash's Easter basket and played catch for a while. There is something about catch in the water, whether the pool or the beach, it is always so fun and everyone wants to play. After we were throwing the ball around, another friend joined in and soon the military guys were playing catch off the diving board with a football. (I would've gotten in that game, as I am a pro from Rohrersville, but the guys couldn't throw a football to save their lives and I wanted to save myself the embarrassment)
I went into the office for a few hours. Work was interrupted by IED in the Tigris. After work, I played a little tennis and am now off to watch The Big Lebowski with some friends.
to be continued....
We had organized a Lebowski party and made pitchers of White Russians. About 14 of us gathered in the common area of one of the apartment buildings and hooked up a projector and Bose speakers and threw down. It was a blast and a great start to the evening.
The movie was followed by a party at Mac's Place, the Marine Bar. I like going to the Marine Bar because they have games, pool, Foosball, always a dance floor, and this time: Rock Band. So, of course I tore up the base.
Saturday I went to the Czech Embassy for a Crystal show with the Protocol officer who took my place. It was nice to get out of the compound and see all my diplomatic corp friends, but with the increase in IED, I don't want to go out in the redzone any more than I have to. However I did purchase a nice piece of crystal, which may have been worth the risk! The crystal show is on display in a few more cities in Baghdad and I'll get it sometime next week. If I remember, I'll post a picture. It really is delovely.
