I mentioned a few days ago that I’ve been moved to another base temporarily. I love this place. I would be very happy if I stayed at this base until it was time to go home. It is a very small base, but that is part of the charm for me.
I live in small building with four rooms and an enclosed patio. I have my own room with a bed and mattress. I spend much of my time in the patio on the computer. We have a fridge, power, and even hot showers. Our friends run the dining facility, so we can get extra sodas and cereal and milk to keep at the house.
Outside, there is an open patio where our two puppies live, and there are two fire pits. We have a very small maintenance shop where fleabag, our adult dog lives, and the kitten lives underneath it. The puppies are very cute and playful. They are still young and about the size of a large cat. Fleabag is a young but fully grown mutt. He looks like he’s at least part German Shepherd. The kitten is a small and should not have been left alone. I don’t know what happened to his mother and littermates. He reminds me a lot of my cat Simba when was a kitten. A few days ago, SGT L decided to give the kitten a bath. The poor thing turned into a pathetic looking ball of claws and wet fur. When we were done, it escaped and ran off into the dirt, so we had to chase it down and rinse the dirt and dry it this time. It was not very happy about getting a bath and we weren’t sure that it would come back. It took some time, but later that night he came around again. It’s nice to sit back in a chair and hold a soft, clean purring kitten. Yesterday someone told us that one of his buddies had tried to steal our kitten, but it jumped out the window of the truck and came back to us.
Now about the nightlife here. Every base in the area has several shops that are run by local civilians. This one is no exception. One of the shops serves chai and has a TV and a few couches and chairs. It’s like the local equivalent of a Starbucks, but the tea is free and endless. They sell lots of other things like movies, cell phones and local drinks and chocolate. I’ve always liked tea, but I especially enjoy Iraqi chai. Iraqis drink chai like Americans drink coffee. At night I enjoy going to drink tea and talk to the Iraqis and Americans that hang our in the tea shop. I’ve had lots of chai, some enjoyable conversations and learned about Iraqi culture and some Arabic. I have noticed that most Iraqis I’ve come into contact with are very friendly and hospitable.
A few days ago I spent some time talking to a young Iraqi man in the tea shop and we have been trying to learn each others languages. He speaks much more English than I speak Arabic though. I met him tonight and found out he has his own shop and cooks Iraqi food. I was excited to learn that I because I love to try new things and have always enjoyed middle eastern food. So despite having eaten dinner and hour earlier, I had him cook me some Iraqi food. I made me some falafel fried in sunflower oil, with cucumbers, tomatoes and a special sauce served in a piece of flatbread. (samoon) It was delicious, and the best food I’ve had since the last time I saw my wife. He was even kind enough to give it me for free always with some extra samoon and hubs (two different kinds of flatbread) that I had requested two days earlier. I wanted to keep a good thing going, so I returned later with a gift of a few of the Reese’s that I had been sent in a care package. It was a cold night, so I stopped for some chai on the way home. It was a good night.
8 comments:
What's that gray spiny thing curled up next to the fluffy puppy? Is that flea bag on the mattress? What are you calling the scraggly kitten? I'm glad you've enjoyed some good food from a new friend.
I don't know what you mean by the grey spiny thing, but that's a pillow and a rag next to the puppy. That is fleabag on the mattress. So named because he always walks up to us scratching himself. We call it cat.
What do you mean you call the cat, "cat", can't you come up with a better name than that? Grandma and Grandpa never name their cats either. The other day I named one of them Lucy. They had always called it "the black and white cat" before.
Katie
I really thought there was an animal next to the puppy too. It's a cute puppy. Does the kitten look better when he is dry? I thought it was an ugly dog at first. Whose bed is fleabag on? Should we send flea collars? Mom
What color is that pillow? Brown, gray? Spiny Jackal?
I want your fluffy puppy!! He's so adorable I love him. the baby kitty's cute too you should call him George. I bet thats what George would have looked like as a kitten, he's so mangy! I miss you bro.
<3 Mary
You cannot have my puppy. But if I could, I would give him to you. Can you think of a more descriptive and easy to pronounce name than cat? I cannot. The black and white cat would also fit ours, but cat is just easier. The kitten does look better when he is dry. He's still around. He has spent the last hours sleeping on my bed. I still don't see the whole spiny jackal thing. It's a brown pillow made for airplanes. One of those ones that goes around the neck.
The kitten is so cute for sure and the any dog has that unconditional love for those who will be kind to it.
When I left for WA, I was feeding three cats that live in the woods that surround our house. Big Gray, Baby Gray and Treasure (B & W). Dad kept up with them...sort of and on returning home, I now have an additional orange cat. Your kitten needs a name.
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