Last night I got the word that I would be leaving this morning for Kuwait! I have been waiting for this to happen for what seems like centuries. Of course this is just because I get anxious when there is an impending situation, be good or bad. I do hope this ends up being the former and not the latter!
After getting the news, I promptly decided that I needed to do my laundry. I managed to get that done and then packed... not at all very exciting, but it seems so much different when you getting ready to head over for a new job. I had a difficult time sleeping last night and today is going to be quite a long one. I only partially know what to expect, but at least there are two others who will be traveling with me.
I already ate breakfast, packed the remainder of my things, and now I am sitting and thinking,. I really don't have to go to roll call today, I don't think, but I will go anyway because it will give me something to do and another chance to say hello and goodbye to the people I have met here. This whole situation has been quite interesting and entertaining. Unfortunately, most of the people I met will be going to Afghanistan, so the chances of ever seeing them again are remote. The two that are going to Iraq with me may not be stationed anywhere near me. I just found out there are 7 teaching locations, and they really don't know which one I will be placed at. So much for knowing that I am going to Baghdad! At least I will spend the first week or so there in order to process all the paperwork and such that needs to be processed.
Yesterday was an extremely full day! After the morning role call and announcements we went straight into first aid training. This training started out the same as previous trainings I have had so long ago, but it didn't stay that way. This was training to the standards of the Department of Defense (DoD) not the American Red Cross, and there are a few differences which I don't think I will get into here.
We started of learning things like rescue breathing, treating for shock, the Heimlich maneuver, etc. Then we took a much needed break. Then we went into some combat field first aid. We went over tourniquets and marking the victims to inform others of tourniquet use; treating sucking chest wounds, open abdomen wounds, and severed limbs (this is where the tourniquets came in). Finally we had a two minute drill in which a disaster was simulated and we had to provide first aid for around 8 victims. My group lost two: one we didn't find, the other we couldn't get to as there was a suicide bomber blocking our path. The darkness made it a little difficult to work; I should definitely remember to get a flashlight and always carry it with me!
After the 4.5 hours of first aid training, we went over other information we would need. This included recognizing improvised explosive devices (IEDs), gaining a basic understanding of the Universal Code of Military Justice and how it will apply to us as contractors, a brief overview of the Laws of War, a briefing on sexual assault, and information on what to do if you get separated from your group for any reason. Becoming isolated in an area that isn't exactly the most friendly is not an easy thing to handle.
After this training we went to dinner, had a short break and then it was back to another daily briefing. I got to watch 3 or 4 people that arrived the same day I did get their paperwork to be deployed. I must say I was kind of jealous! I am anxious to get out of here as soon as possible now as most, if not all, of the training I was to receive here is done. I will have a day or two of processing when I arrive in Iraq, but at least I will finally be in country.
Most of the people are going to Afghanistan, so they are getting antimalaria pills; I am off to Iraq and won't need them; for this I am overjoyed! The rest of the day is pretty much mine to do with as I please. I will probably spend it answering questions from a reporter from Aljazeera - English about my previous job. I will also take a "short" tutorial from someone. Maybe I will sleep a little as well. If I am lucky, this evening I will be able to get going to the laundromat so I will have only clean clothes to take with me to Iraq (as long as I leave on Thursday as was the previous plan but has yet to be confirmed). Here's to hoping!!
I arrived at the airport yesterday around 10:50am. Right after landing I received a call from the hotel confirming that I had arrived and that I had received the information as to where to meet the van to be taken to the hotel. I managed to make it to the spot in a very short time and was told by the person meeting us there that the van would arrive in about 10 minutes. Within this time frame, the van arrived. Unfortunately we had to wait for more people, so we didn't actually leave until almost 1pm!
The hotel is quite nice. I have a large room on the 7th floor with a king size bed and large flat screen tv to myself. While the view overlooks the parking lot, it isn't really all that bad. We had to meet as a group around 3pm. We had a briefing and was told what to expect for the following 3 to 4 days (hopefully it won't be any longer). They explained how we were to use the restaurant and would be able to order anything and it would be covered up to :Breakfast: $10; Lunch: $12; Dinner $22. The food was good, and I didn't have to pay for it (thankfully!!).
After all of the briefings and dinner, we had to finish the online training that we didn't accomplish before arrival. This lasted until around 10pm.; I went to bed shortly after this as I had to wake up around 4:30 the following morning.
Waking up was easy. Went downstairs to have blood drawn, urinalysis, and 2 more vaccinations. This is spread out over 3 hours. Then we have to wait until 11am to eat. Afterward, there will be another briefing or two, and then physicals (though I haven't quite figured out what this will consist of). I had a vision test, a hearing test, and all of that already this morning; what is next?
This may not be all that exciting, but I thought I would let you know what was happening thus far. Hopefully things will get more interesting for you as time goes on.
These past few days have been very busy, hence the non-updates that have been happening. (Can something that doesn't exist happen?) I have spent the last week trying to figure out how to accomplish all the paperwork, medical type visits, and other such stuff to make sure that my week long trip to Texas would come about. Generally I don't worry about such things, but in this case no Texas, no job!
Now that I have completed all the medical and dental visits, filled out/in all the paperwork, and done all the online trainings, it has been confirmed that I have a space in Texas. I leave on Sunday. Hopefully it will be no more than a week, and then I will be off on my new assignment: teaching English in Baghdad!
I am quite excited about this possibility, though I suppose a little nervous as well. Hopefully I will be able to post from Baghdad, but my new employer and local may make that difficult. I may have to be a little more secretive than I like, but I guess I can do that: it fits my personality much more than I would like to admit sometimes.
Here's to hoping for the best! I will attempt to update you on all the things that I have to go through to get there and what happens when I arrive. Hopefully it won't prove to be too boring for you.
This post is going to be a little out of chronological order from those which will hopefully be completed later, but the urge to write about this now has grabbed me, and I am trying to never deny that urge. If I do, I just set myself up to fall back into the trap of not writing at all! The horrors that could come from that are unspeakable!!! (and yes, I believe all the '!s' are necessary.)
I landed at Gatwick airport ready to go check into a hotel that I was told was prepared for my arrival. I found the tickets for the Gatwick Express, bought an open-ended return ticket for 30.80 GBP. A rather expensive purchase, but London is that way. I really need to go check out something talking about London on the cheap! Anyway, I got on the train and made my way downtown to Victoria Station and then switched to a bus that took forever to find! It couldn't be one that left from the main location of nearly all the other buses; no, it had to be located around the corner in what would seem to be a ploy to confuse those of us who can't seem to read the maps they provide. I, for some reason, am overly directionally challenged when it comes to finding places in a reasonable amount of time, but I do eventually get to most places.
I say most because while I did manage to get on the bus and down to the stop I was told to get off at, I never did make it to the hotel! I called the hotel, and they told me they would send a shuttle to pick me up. I waited for about half an hour, and the shuttle never showed! Then I called again, and they told me they had no listing for me, and had no idea I was coming. When I gave them the phone number my phone told me I had, they asked if I had a mobile phone. They wouldn't accept that the number I gave them could possibly be the one! So, the shuttle never arrived, I never heard back from them, and my evening in Gatwick appeared to be ruined. I returned to the airport (effectively wasting money as one can get a one day return ticket for cheaper than an anytime return ticket, though I needn't have bought a ticket at all!)
At the airport I was cold, hungry, and tired. I have not been feeling the best lately, and I was ANGRY at the hotel. I wanted to just yell and scream at them. However, I decided to try to get online and spend my time in a relaxed fashion. I found a counter with stools and outlets; the dream of a person spending a large amount of time there! The internet I had found previously was not available, so I paid the 10 GBP for 24 hours of access. I figured it was 7pm and I couldn't check in until 8am, so it was worth it!
I made it through the night with a brief period of attempting to sleep. I bought some digestive biscuits (cookies if you will) and a bottle of chocolate milk for breakfast, finished them, and went through security. Then it was a Gingerbread Latte and more internet (Costa Coffee isn't all that bad). I was flying Iceland Express and check in was at 7:50am which turned out to be 8:10am, but these things happen, even in England!
When I checked in, they were having problems inputting my information into the computer. They needed an address for me from the US, or they wouldn't let me travel (I thought I provided this on the website, but apparently not). I gave it to them, but something just wouldn't work. They finally called their supervisor who did it for me, but they only the boarding pass to Reijkiavek would print; the onward boarding pass would not, so I would have to pick it up in Iceland!
The flight was decent. They do not provide meals and such, but you can buy food online if you so choose. I chose not to. We landed in Iceland 2 and a half hours later. Those of us who were not given onward boarding passes were told to go to the customer service desk at gate 11. This happened to be on the other side of passport control, so I got another stamp from Iceland.
"How long you going to be in Iceland?" the border guard queried. My response, with as much of the incredulousness removed from it as possible, came quickly. "Maybe 10 minutes!" He looked at me somewhat dumbfounded and then replied, "Well, I hope you enjoy your stay." I thanked him and walked on my way.
I found the service desk where a nice woman, whom I later learned was from Denmark, was attempting to get her boarding pass to Newark as well. The worker was having a difficult time with the computer. She said that it wasn't printing, and we would have to go to the service desk at gate 27; it would open at 3pm (approximately 1o minutes). This is on the other side of passport control, so we went and stood to wait for passport control to open. The guy was standing there and said he couldn't open until security was there. Half an hour later we were on our way through passport control (and no security)! I was asked for my boarding pass as I was about to head down the stairs, but I informed them I was told I needed to go to the service desk at gate 27 to get it, and they let me through (I still can't figure out why they didn't just have us go there in the first place).
I got my boarding pass without a problem and went to explore the airport a little and sit down. I talked a little with Seena (need to look up the spelling), the unemployed international human rights lawyer from Denmark on her way to the US for vacation, before going and getting back on my computer. Then we boarded the nearly empty plane and headed off for the comforts of America!
I had decided that in my condition of not quite complete healthiness that I would not stay at the airport. I booked a room at the Howard Johnson instead. This was rather exciting for me, and I was pondering how to find the shuttle pick up place while waiting for my luggage to arrive. Finally all the bags seemed to have been off loaded with one conspicuously missing: MINE!
As I stood there looking at the last 6 or 7 bags going around the carousel, a man approached and asked if I had flown Iceland Express. I told him I had and gave him my name when he asked for it. "Ahh, I don't think your bag made it. I was just going to page you." I am not sure how they knew or what may have happened to delay it, but I found it a little odd for him to say that. I was also reminded of this little issue when I exited customs:
"Do you have all your bags with you?" "No, I don't." "I am sorry about your bags not arriving." "Thanks. It happens."
If it seems that I was playing this minor inconvenience a little too cool, perhaps I was. Things like this don't always bother me, and I had packed a change of clothes in my carry-on, and they said they were going to ship me my bag on Monday, so it really is only a minor inconvenience. Then I started to think about it a bit more: I fly out of Newark for Saginaw, MI (via Chicago) on Saturday the 5th (the following day). I had previously thought how I didn't want to pay the $25 checked luggage fee, and now I wasn't going to have to! It seems to me that the minor inconvenience of having my luggage delayed resulted in my saving $25 on luggage fees! How is that for fortunate. I should be thanking Iceland Air for their timely decision on making it my luggage to delay.
I found the hotel shuttle pick up with little difficulty (P4), but had to wait almost an hour for the shuttle to arrive. I checked in with no difficulty and ate at the restaurant that is downstairs. It was reasonably priced, which seems unusual for a hotel restaurant, and the food was good. I then went, watched Monk, and went to bed! I was very tired from my long journey, and now this long posting!!
