I leave Iraq TODAY.... that is, if I can find a ride to BIAP.

Just wanted everyone to know...

I'll continue this when I get home (hopefully in less than a week), but it will just go back to normal everyday life.
Thank you, everyone, for supporting me while I was here...

~ amber

The General finally released the group I came over here with... we're free to go home. (We were calling ourselves "detainees" for the past month.) Yet there's a catch -- the plane home doesn't leave Kuwait until sometime after the 1st of March (probably after the 3rd). I thought of leaving, and waiting in Kuwait where I don't have to work and will be able to relax, but then I thought about the lack of privacy in the transient bays, the cots, the noise, the boredom... so I'm staying here until Monday, as planned. Some people here think I'm crazy, but it makes sense to me. I have my own room and a bed here, plus the friends I've worked with the past six months.

So... Monday I catch that C-130 and head to Camp Doha, Kuwait. It will be so strange leaving this place. I practically live here. However much I want to leave, it's my most recent home.

~ Amber

guess what i get to do today?? out-process!!! it's SO exciting. i get to drive around and visit all the little places, like the armory and supply, to check out. i leave Baghdad next Monday and i can hardly wait! i don't know yet when i'll get home b/c it could take three to nine days getting there, but it doesn't matter. as long as i get to return to the real world, it doesn't matter if it takes a week getting there.

it's warming up here already. the past few days have been gorgeously warm, albeit a little cloudy. today looks bright and shiny, though.

~ amber

today i went to the "rug shop" over at North Victory and bought three Persian rugs... one from Qom, one from Naim, and one from Tabriz. they're gorgeous. the Qom one (all silk) is the smallest and has a hunting scene on it -- very...well, Persian-looking. the Naim one is blue and white, with a more geometric design, and has the family signature woven into the top. the one from Tabriz is darker, with intricate browns, golds, and a bit of blue and green around the border. i am very please. first personal mission: complete.

i am slowly getting in the mind-set that i'm actually leaving soon. oh, that reminds me. how often does THIS ever happen to anyone? -- i was walking past the fax machine, and it was blinking saying it needed more paper. usually i'd ignore it and walk on, but i was feeling nice, so i actually stopped to feed it. interest piqued, i waited to see what was printing out (we rarely get faxes). to my utter surprise, it was for me (my ammended orders for being extended). it was so random.

found a four-leaf clover yesterday.... i'd begun to wonder if i'd ever find on here. [ok for those of you who don't know, i have this strange knack for finding them.] anyway, now i've gotten my four-leaf clover and my Persian rugs, i can leave.

last night i went to a bonfire... i almost felt i was anywhere but here.

this morning i separated out the things i want to ship home from the things i have to bring back with me to drop off at either Kuwait or El Paso on my way home. it took a while, and then i packed up one of my duffels with stuff for my TX drop-off...one bag is now ready to go. it was nice sitting in my room with the morning light streaming in, lazily rummaging through my things. i'm sending home my DVDs, CDs, extra clothes and boots, books, and other various things. my goal is to have only the bare minimum to carry back so i have less of a weight on my shoulders.

i'm listening to Keane right now, on my iPod. it's nice to have distractions like this, a way to separate my mind from reality whenever i wish. how did the soldiers in WWI, for example, fight off boredom, monotony, and depression?