What Is An Expat?

Here are some random pictures from Mosul Airfield.

They’re international!

Couple of views of the airport, from the other side…

Here’s the prison. It probably sucks to be there.

Here are some…bunkers. Ahem. (Riiiight…)

I can’t control my fear of a The Mister Tom Flood…

…but I do my best.

Tommy and I worked together at K2 in Uzbekistan, like many other guys who are in Mosul now. A majority of guys are at the camp across the street from the airfield. I’ve somehow been veered off to the Palace site.

The view from KBR HQ…

The local mosque across from HQ…

Some friends of ours, never mind the bird poop…

Outward Bound

I finally get all the approvals to go. This involves me short-circuiting the process and going straight to the people I need to get things done. Going through the proper HR chain involves about 8 different layers of obfuscation. I get all the pieces collected, and tell travel when I am going. I make this decision on my own, but no one questions me. It’s a relief to get this all in process since not only am I trying to get out of here, I am trying to get out of here on a specific schedule so that I can visit with that special someone on the way out. (more…)

I’m so lazy. I didn’t get anything done, and tomorrow I leave for Tashkent for a few days. Been really busy with wiring and connecting the new Bullpen in our construction project for the trades guys to work out of. So much to do, and so little planned properly. At least my wireless stuff came in so I can get started on that.

Some of the locals complained about getting shot at while working, so we put up a sign.

I was talking to some of the kids from the warehouse the other day. I’ve been messing with them for a long time. It’s my plan to make them think I am totally crazy. I am not sure I have them totally fooled. Then every so often I give them a peek at the real me. Of course, my backup plan is for them to think it’s all an act so then when I do act bizarrely, they don’t think it’s real. I win either way! Whoohoo! Go me!

Oh yeah, anyways. I was talking to Lena and she kept laughing because I speak slowly. Hello, not my native language! I take the extra time to think about my words because I have to think about each thing I need to say, and want to do it correctly. 5 minutes earlier when she was trying to get me to say I hate Commo Jack she’d misunderstood me. She didn’t hear me say “Ya Ne Nenavizhyu Evo” which is “I don’t hate him” and dropped the first “ne”, which is of course the “don’t” part. But even when I lose I win, so I pouted and made her feel bad today like she hurt my feelings. She didn’t, though I did find it strange, to be sure. It didn’t strike me that funny. It was complicated enough saying we worked together and weren’t best buddies but I had nothing against him, and trying to be clear on the meaning. BAH! Foreigners! (Gotta love ’em, that is!) They made me talk too much yesterday — it’s weird when you are trying to explain something to them, but maybe don’t know a word, so you explain the concept and try to use analogies…and 10 minutes later they come back with the word you’ve been asking about all along. “Is the word for soandso thisorthat?” 10 minutes of conversation later, “Oh, you mean thisorthat!” Had I not been actually saying the correct word repeatedly (and correctly) I would understand. I was asking for the noun form of “to act” or “pritvoryayetcya” which I thought would be “an act” or “pritvoryeniye”. The patterns are there to deduce these, but you never know when they will turn out to be exceptions. It’s only a simple 10 minute question. “I know the goddam verb, what’s the corresponding noun!!!! Is it thishereword?” Life’s funny.

See! I DO work! Bona-fide action shots!

This was a day when Mr. Satellite decided to drop. I’m on top of a container, and decided to forgo any practice with my “falling off of things” skill. Oh, and it decided to rain, too.

Ok, I’m talking to the satellite guys on the Iridium, so stop talking to me on the radio for a bit! (more…)

http://weather.yahoo.com/forecast/UZXX0019_f.html

Last night I stopped and looked at the sky as I do on occasion. Just sat and watched little twinkling lights fly around in the sky. Don’t know if you can see it there, but there’s a couple of planets showing up fairly brightly. I’m not sure which ones they are, other than assuming one must be the planet Venus. It’s very bright this time of year. There are quite a few lights out in the camp, but there is still quite the view to be had. It’s not as good as being totally away from civilization and seeing gajillions of stars, but it’s pretty good.

I discovered mountains today! Down south there’s a whole range of ’em! (more…)