Another weekend in Baghdad

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.

We Nailed It!

The Deputy Chief of Mission, Ambassador Butenis, left post yesterday. At her farewell party, I aided my boss in presenting her with a commissioned portrait of her dogs.

We totally nailed it!!

She was holding back the tears of joy! It was so amazing!!

How did I get this idea? God!

My boss mentioned, we should get the DCM something for her farewell, and I had this brilliant idea to give her a portrait of her dogs in front of the crossed swords. I went to take a picture of Arturo, Stanley and Tilly, and Muslim, a very accomplished artist produced this work!

At the reception, during the Ambassador's farewell remarks there were 3 or 4 jokes about 'her dogs' so the stage was prime for presentation!

Best part was, when she was hysterically excited, my boss said, it was Beth's idea. (which was so nice, because I totally went out on a high note with her)

I was ready to come home last night, big time. Chilling after work, I flipped on the tv. (We have a lot of channels here, and I rarely watch tv, so I find it very frustrating because I don’t know the channels) But, after an episode of Sunset Tan, I wondered what domestic drama I was really missing out on?

I went out to dinner with two girl friends at a new restaurant in the IZ; I had the special. Then met up with a small crew and watched Adam Sandler's Zohan movie (Hysterical movie which solves the crisis of conflict in the Middle East. If only it were so simple as “makin’ silky smooth…”) Suffered through heartburn from the special...though I'll probably go back to the restaurant because there's a new special every night.

I attended the monthly FWP (Federal Women’s Program) Meeting at lunch today. After our business meeting, the FWP coordinator moved about the lunch room asking, “Can I return anyone’s tray? Anyone? Anyone? I live to serve! [and with a smile] Really, I was a waitress in college”

A documentary of Women in the Military was shown, the motto, Ready*Willing*Essential. A female Colonel spoke and reflecting on the advancements women have made she said,

“Women want to serve & they will find a way to serve.”

I shoved back deep tears during this documentary, thinking of the myriad unsung heros and for the 1st time in almost a year I felt proud to serve.

Freedom is not free. It never has been.

This week OIF (Operation Iraqi Freedom) hit especially close to home and my heart has been hurting http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/26/AR2009052600827_pf.html

Sadaam's last standing monument (back & front)

Which is adjacent to the triple C-I (below) The Central Criminal Court of Iraq, where the big terrorism crimes are tried

My, my it's May

So what is new?

For starters, if you are worried about my safety after recent news releases, you will be happy to hear that “As of May 12, 2009 there are no reported cases of H1N1 in the country of Iraq.” So apparently, I’m in the safest place I can be to escape the “pork flu” which my Muslim friends, who abstain from pork, jokingly refer to it.

Security is tightening up and though tensions are on high alert, there is no cause for alarm. I’m safe and sound, happy and healthy and making the most of my last 90 days here.

I extended for the summer, but am planning to come home in August. A lot of my friends have departed, and so I’m making new friends, but all the new names are getting hard to remember!

(me thinking about extending)

This weekend was an especially fun filled weekend of birthday parties, tennis tournaments and farewell BBQs.

Happy Birthday Monica & Ash!

I met the new Ambassador, Hill, last week at a security briefing. (Nothing serious, just reminding us to always travel with a buddy : ) As I was exiting, I passed by right in front of him and the crowd ahead of me stopped. It was one of those awkward moments were you are closer than normal to a person, and you make eye contact and there is nowhere to go.

So I said, “Hello.”
and he replied, “Hello”
and the crowd in front of me hadn’t moved, so I said, “I’m Beth Zentmeyer”
The Ambassador said, “what?!”
And I repeated, “I’m Beth Zentmeyer.”
He extended his hand and said, “Oh, oh, nice to meet you.”

I said, "Nice to meet you too."

And then the crowd started moving so I walked along.

He didn’t really know what to do with himself. Interesting first meeting, haven’t run into him in since.

Happy Memorial Day!

In honor of Memorial Day, we had a ceremony around the flag pole, which is flying at half mass.

The Ambassador was reading a speech, and the new Chief of Staff, realizing he would have to turn the page, walked up onto the flag platform and stood next to him, awkwardly reaching out as if to take the paper from him. The Ambassador was ignoring him, trying to get through the speech, and when it came time to flip the page, the guy reached out to take the top page from the Ambo.

However, the speech was stapled together and so he almost pulled the whole packet of papers out of the Ambassador’s hand, while the Ambassador tried to hold onto the cordless mic in his other hand.

After about 4 pulls between the two of them, the top page ripped off at the same time the microphone ricocheted back onto the Ambassador’s chest, which created a high pitched kick-back squeal of the mic.

The Ambassador continued reading, and the Aid stood there awkwardly throughout the remainder of the speech. When the Ambassador flipped to page three, he tilted his body slightly away from the guy to keep from another pull apart.

I exchanged glances with the friend next to me, but no one else seemed about to burst with laughter like I wanted to at the hysterical scene. This was followed by an intense and respectful moment of silence.

As I said the Lord’s prayer, and prayed protection for all our soldiers fighting, I was filled with more sober emotion standing at the base of the flag pole. Recapping the friends I know who have bravely fought in battle and looking up at the colors flapping in the wind remembered all it took to raise the flag on January 5, 2009.

Sigh.

It is such feeling of accomplishment to see those colors waving in the clear blue sky.

And man! The weather has been mild. Hot. And occasionally dusty, but there has been a pleasant breeze that continues to blow through that we are all holding onto into the evenings, enjoying the last of spring before the sweltering heat arrives.

I have 70 days left in Baghdad, I’m enjoying each moment.

Baghdad from a helicopter

Some pix of Jerash while sightseeing in Jordan. I was most impressed with the size and preservation of the ancient Roman city.Me climbing on the Arch of Hadrian

Did you know this city was built without any cement?! You can put a coin (or a key) under a column and the column will sway in the wind!

Roman Solider Re-enactment

Hip Hip Hooray for Hill!

So, We've got a new Ambassador. And a really bad dust storm, so not sure if he'll arrive today as planned.

A Lot of Thinking

I lost my voice on Wednesday ... started a Z pak and am feeling much better after two additional trips to the health unit. Voice has not totally returned, but I without a voice box, I’m using my blog.
#1. No voice for Beth = torture. Oh man! I have so much to say!!!! I hate not talking. I remember getting so many reminders and demerits at HA for talking…haha! It’s so funny when you realize what torture is to yourself.

#2. Have been thinking a lot about my time in Iraq.

#3. There is a going away – welcome party here every week, if not twice a week. It’s a lonely feeling when people you love leave.

#4. Thinking my end date is close at hand frightens, excites, overwhelms and relaxes me all at once. Then, I get the expected “Will you stay?” and I am overwhelmed, stressed, unhappy, out of control, plans scrapped, back at the drawing board once again. You’d think that after 4 moths of preparation to leave, and the same question still keeping me here I’d learn how to react, but still it is met with a pasted on smile and a no words.

#5. Love is Patient,
love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

I have felt more love away from my family and friends than I have known in a lifetime.

THANK YOU.

Sometimes a card, sometimes an email, sometimes a photograph, sometimes a phone call, often a long phone call listening to me cry/vent/complain about my dream coming true and not knowing what to do with the expectation of what will come next. I’ve not know til now what love is without three words, but I have to say, it is much greatly appreciated with kindness, encouragement, humility, politeness, gentleness and forgiveness. Knowing I have a backbone of loved ones to stand behind me, believe in me and continue to love me regardless of the distance between us means so much to me.

So much I might extend here… hahahaha!!!! LOL! Life is funny, huh?


So what’s new:

First, let me explain Rule of Law.

The office was created as the umbrella to encompass many agencies detailed to Iraq. (I still have not memorized all of them—I’m learning every day) Department of Homeland Security, Department of Energy, Government Accountability Office, International Narcotics and Law Enforcement, ICITAP (Prison Corrections….I haven’t memorized the whole acronym) Department of Justice and the U.S. Marshall’s. All these agencies (plus maybe a few more) report to the Rule of Law Coordinator (my boss) who reports to the Ambassador. Then there is the Justice Attaché (my other boss, #2 in rank) and the 9 Rule of Law Attorneys who are the lead liaisons to the Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Interior, Higher Judicial Court, Criminal Court of Iraq and each track a province in Iraq and work with the local judicial systems throughout Iraq.

Rule of Law’s 3 big goals are training police on the humane treatment of prisoners, providing education to the police force and lawyers as well as protection for judges all while assisting in rebuilding the legal system.

I handle special projects for the Justice Attaché and Rule of Law Coordinator and handle protocol for the office. There are often meetings with the Higher Judicial Council (HJC) and Joint Coordination Committee made up by judicial representatives from many Ministries including the Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Human Rights, Ministry of State and the National Security Agency presided over by the Chief Justice.

Thursday we hosted a meeting of the JCC and I organized a catered Arabic lunch following the meeting. There is plenty to keep me busy, plenty to learn and a plethora of projects to understand. This office also has the best morale in the Embassy. Maybe because many sections are segregated detailees from their respective entity, maybe because they are united in their mission, I don’t know, but I enjoy the people and the atmosphere enormously.

We work in the “school house”. Which was created when we designed the billion dollar Embassy to enable Foreign Service Officers to come to post with their families…later realizing it’s a bit sick and too soon to bring families to a hardship post, so due to limited space in the other two office buildings, we are in the school house. It’s a big bull pen, similar to a telemarketer calling center.

So that’s a nut shell of my new job.

Easter was a good celebration. My mom sent Easter baskets to T, Ash and I. We put them together and hid each others baskets around the apartment. It was really fun. We cooked all day and hosted 16 of our closest friends for dinner. Our friend got a leg of lamb and turkey from the red zone, which served as the main courses plus mashed potatoes, carrots, corn, green bean casserole, hummus, shrimp cocktails, stuffing, byriani rice and home made apple pie (by yours truly!) plenty of wine to go around and no incomings made the day memorable and fulfilling.

Tensions were high, as last year, Easter marked the day the insurgents bombed the heck out of the Americans and everyone lived in the Palace and would not leave hardened structure. Which premised the troop surge later in June.

This year, though we woke up to a gray sky filled with lightning, there were no attacks on the Green Zone. Praise God!

Some other fun parties of late have been at the UK Embassy, there was a skool kids party, where we all donned ties and uniforms.

I just got back from the Italian Embassy pizza party…which is always a good dinner, and going away party for my former assistant swimming instructor in the fall and another friend and am ready to rest my throat, pop my last dose of the Z Pak, and wake up ready to take on a new week.

For the past month I've...

OKAY, for a while life was proceeding as usual and there wasn't much to fill you in on, which was a bit depressing. But two weeks ago this changed.

I have a new job!!!!!!!!!

I transferred to the Rule of Law office to work for the Justice Attaché. The Rule of Law Coordinator offered me a position I could not pass up, so within a few days my contract was switched and I’m in a new office building working with WONDERFUL people and learning so much everyday! Baghdad is new again, and my happiness level skyrocketed. This of course means my address has changed again

Unit 2031 Box 31

APO AE 09870-2031

My morale was low as of late. Lots of dust storms, lots of work, lots of question marks waiting for confirmation of the new Ambassador, stress, dust, no sign of getting to come home da da da … so to energize life a bit we’ve been having themed parties. First was Shorties and Forties. You see the pictures below prove how classy we can be in Baghdad.

This started out as an Edward 40-hands party, where you ingeniously duct tape a 40 to your hand for fun.

We added shorts to the theme and the party got good.

Living and working in a maximum security compound brings out the collegian in all of us, coupled with the “world cup” we have going on here—the Peruvian guards have put together a soccer league—going to watch a futbol game feels just like intramural.

(Yes, all those spots are dust. It is really miserable. And on a side note, the funniest thing to me is that they've brought in more:I mean, if there is one thing we do NOT need)It's so funny! Everyday we need more because it just blows away.

Now, I have been keeping up my schmoozing with the diplomats. Best parties of late have been reeling with the British General. Reeling is Scottish dancing, that’s similar to square dancing, but with LOTS of spinning around. I've been 4 times, so I'm getting pretty good--hello summer wedding receptions!

The General’s political advisor has become a good friend and tonight is going to be his 5th farewell party. This is David sandwiched between the UK Ambassador, B, me and T.The most intimate party was at the British Ambassadors residence. We had a delicious lamb dinner and played games.(Playing la-di-da at Ambassador Prentice's house. You pass cans of soda in a rhythm to the tune of la-di-da, which gets chanted faster and faster. If you knock a can over you are eliminated.

I won : )

We kicked off spring by putting on a Prom. The theme was “A Serenade to Spring” held on March 21, the first day of spring in "Larry's secret garden" which is my new bosses apartment--he is on R&R. It was Sadie Hawkins style, in the end about 40 friends arrived in their Baghdad Best to a very decorated apartment turned into a "garden". Our Chariot

Yes, Prom was complete with a King and Queen.

Prom King & Queen: Damien and Jessica

There were 5 foreign diplomats in attendance—so I guess you can take the girl out of Protocol, but you can’t take the Protocol out of the girl.

My mom mailed me about 20 feet of grapevine that I constructed an arbor out of which made for our photo spot.

This is me and Ashley, in our best "prom photo" pose.

Mariana, Me and my roommate Thérèse

We brought in fresh flowers from the red zone. And strung up gossamer and colored lights around the room.

We borrowed the disco ball from the Embassy for slow dancing to the best of the 80s, like Bryan Adams, Everything I do I do it for you. We were dancing all night!

The commemorative t-shirts are on the way.