I promised this update... quite some time ago. Apologies all! As many
of you know, I went on vacation to London, Istanbul and the Black Sea
at the beginning of May. What a sorely needed respite! Just getting
out of the country was interesting in and of itself. My plan was
delayed leaving Sulaimaniya because of a dust storm, which meant that
I missed my connection in Istanbul which means that my luggage got
misplaced in the shuffle and I missed meeting my wonderful traveling
companions at Heathrow. I really felt for the poor woman at the lost
luggage counter as I definitely started weeping (sleep deprivation and
seriously messed travel plans will do that to me). Between her
graciousness, Stephanie's directions and the help of the man who
figured out the Tube for my distraught self I managed to meet up with
Stephanie Fagerstrom and Marlene Cross at our hotel. They took me
under their wings and started one of my best vacations yet! I had
almost forgotten how nice it is to not be stared at all the time as if
I was some kind of oddity. Wonderful stuff. I am neither too tall, too
white or too odd to stick out in London. We cooed over the shiny
sparkelies in the Tower of London and I got totally absorbed in the
National Gallery. I also got to marvel at the green, something I miss
dreadfully about home.
The highlights of Istanbul included a Turkish bath (never been so
clean in my life), basically finishing out my Christmas shopping (ever
prepared, that me) and the "wonderful" comments from men trying to get
us to come into their shops to buy things (I am Charlie and you are my
angles). We ended up writing down most of the awesome shopkeeper
comments simply because they were so ridiculous.
Look, it's the Spice Girls!
I only want to know what country you are from, I don't want to take it.
Buy a beer and get a free boy!
Want to come buy some stuff you don't need?
Our last two days were spent in the town of Agva on the Black Sea. By
this point we were touristed out and the resort we stayed at there was
absolutely wonderful in it's lack of hustle and bustle. We spent hours
playing cards, talking, soaking up the sun and getting a lot of
reading done. When we did go to the Black Sea we got to see dolphins!
My very first wild dolphin experience and my, are they beautiful.
Enough of vacation stories and back to real life. Coming home from
vacation is never easy but I am surviving. I just had another very
interesting run in with the Iraqi medical care system. I notice a
distinctly large "bubble" of swelling in my left wrist and after
dealing with pain and numbness for a few weeks decided I should do
something about it. I consulted my co-workers and the company driver
took me over to my appointment. Let me just say that this is a
remarkably efficient system. I got an appointment the same day I asked
for one. The entire consultation and fix was done in less the 15
minutes. Apparently, I had strained the wrist at some point and some
of the joint fluid escaped and created a bubble. The doctor took out a
very large needle poked it into the joint, pulled out the fluid and
that was that. No painkillers. No armrest (I literally had to hold my
own arm up across my body while he did this). Of course, I did cry
like a little girl (excruciating pain does that) while my driver
fluttered around helplessly. Poor guy. Didn't know quite what to do
with me. He was nice and took me out for ice cream though, ice cream
makes everything better. I will let you know if this works or not.
Hopefully everything is fixed now.
Anyone else have interesting adventures lately?
Vacation pics can be found at the following link or on facebook.
https://picasaweb.google.com/
of you know, I went on vacation to London, Istanbul and the Black Sea
at the beginning of May. What a sorely needed respite! Just getting
out of the country was interesting in and of itself. My plan was
delayed leaving Sulaimaniya because of a dust storm, which meant that
I missed my connection in Istanbul which means that my luggage got
misplaced in the shuffle and I missed meeting my wonderful traveling
companions at Heathrow. I really felt for the poor woman at the lost
luggage counter as I definitely started weeping (sleep deprivation and
seriously messed travel plans will do that to me). Between her
graciousness, Stephanie's directions and the help of the man who
figured out the Tube for my distraught self I managed to meet up with
Stephanie Fagerstrom and Marlene Cross at our hotel. They took me
under their wings and started one of my best vacations yet! I had
almost forgotten how nice it is to not be stared at all the time as if
I was some kind of oddity. Wonderful stuff. I am neither too tall, too
white or too odd to stick out in London. We cooed over the shiny
sparkelies in the Tower of London and I got totally absorbed in the
National Gallery. I also got to marvel at the green, something I miss
dreadfully about home.
The highlights of Istanbul included a Turkish bath (never been so
clean in my life), basically finishing out my Christmas shopping (ever
prepared, that me) and the "wonderful" comments from men trying to get
us to come into their shops to buy things (I am Charlie and you are my
angles). We ended up writing down most of the awesome shopkeeper
comments simply because they were so ridiculous.
Look, it's the Spice Girls!
I only want to know what country you are from, I don't want to take it.
Buy a beer and get a free boy!
Want to come buy some stuff you don't need?
Our last two days were spent in the town of Agva on the Black Sea. By
this point we were touristed out and the resort we stayed at there was
absolutely wonderful in it's lack of hustle and bustle. We spent hours
playing cards, talking, soaking up the sun and getting a lot of
reading done. When we did go to the Black Sea we got to see dolphins!
My very first wild dolphin experience and my, are they beautiful.
Enough of vacation stories and back to real life. Coming home from
vacation is never easy but I am surviving. I just had another very
interesting run in with the Iraqi medical care system. I notice a
distinctly large "bubble" of swelling in my left wrist and after
dealing with pain and numbness for a few weeks decided I should do
something about it. I consulted my co-workers and the company driver
took me over to my appointment. Let me just say that this is a
remarkably efficient system. I got an appointment the same day I asked
for one. The entire consultation and fix was done in less the 15
minutes. Apparently, I had strained the wrist at some point and some
of the joint fluid escaped and created a bubble. The doctor took out a
very large needle poked it into the joint, pulled out the fluid and
that was that. No painkillers. No armrest (I literally had to hold my
own arm up across my body while he did this). Of course, I did cry
like a little girl (excruciating pain does that) while my driver
fluttered around helplessly. Poor guy. Didn't know quite what to do
with me. He was nice and took me out for ice cream though, ice cream
makes everything better. I will let you know if this works or not.
Hopefully everything is fixed now.
Anyone else have interesting adventures lately?
Vacation pics can be found at the following link or on facebook.
https://picasaweb.google.com/
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