Posts
6 hours ago
Wednesday, May 31, 2006
the HEAT has come...
"Welcome summer. You wish us well. But in Iraq, it feels like hell." The temperature is now boasting between 40 and 50 C everyday. A few days ago it was 41 at 8.30 AM. Today, as yesterday, we had a nice power outage. That means no air conditioning in 46C heat. It means feeling your trailer heat up like an oven, only you're inside of it. Imagine this: you're standing in front of your oven and you feel that blast of hot air on your front. Now, take your hair dryer and blast that on your back (yes and keep it there until it burns). That is what it feels like to be stuck in Iraq during summer. I didn't plan on being here for summer round 2, but here I am. Val is on round 3. I think the heat has done something to our minds and that's why we're still here. Back to the power outage. We would not be out of fuel sent to the base to run the generators if certain Iraqis weren't lining their pockets by selling the fuel to who-knows-who. So it's irritating knowing that these power outages are completely and 100% avoidable. However, by turning authority and control over to the IA, that's what happens. Power and corruption, with us in the middle of it. We never ran out of fuel when it was maintained by the US Military. We can't even get fuel for our own generator in our compound that's how short the supply is. Let's hope the re-fuel convoy doesn't get hit on its way up here and some fuel gets to stay on base to run the generators before it's sold out right out from under our noses.
laughter is the best medicine...
This came from an email and made me laugh. Had to pass it on... AND THE NUMBER 1 THOUGHT FOR 2006: We know exactly where one cow with mad-cow-disease is located among the millions and millions of cows in America but we haven't got a clue as to where thousands of illegal immigrants and terrorists are located. Maybe we should put the Department of Agriculture in charge of national security.
TWISTER
Watched a twister the other day. It came in from the desert (surprise) to the North. It was not as tall as the one in the movie of the same name, but was at least 3 times the height of a 3 story building. I'd guess 200 feet high, but you know me and numbers - we don't have a very good friendship. I'm not into exagerating like amateur fisherman: "the fish I caught was this long!" but I am just not good at estimating. So I asked my PSD how high he figured it had been. He said about 300 feet. It was the typical twister: bigger at the bottom and narrow at the top. It had a frenzy about it and was closing in on an IA pod of barracks. We decided to drive out to get closer to it. It maintained its Eastward journey and we drove towards it as fast as we could (I was driving for a change!). However, the twister decided not to come into the base and wreak some havoc and excitement but stayed on the range. By the time we got out there, the twist had dissipated into strong wind. We watched the strong gusts blow up the debris and garbage but it wasn't quite the same as chasing a twister anymore so I turned around and drove back to the office.
annoying flies
I am gaining sadistic pleasure in watching the fly struggle to stay afloat in my leftover coffee cup. These are a breed of flies that are the most annoying I've ever encountered. They aren't the type of North American houseflies that fly by your head on the way to the wall where they like to hang out. No. These flies do not hang out on walls. They like to fly into your face, or into your hair. They like eyes and mouths. They aim directly for you. I call them "dive bombers." I hate them. They are also difficult to kill. If you're lucky enough to have a fly swatter, they seem to feel the vibe in the air change as soon as you are annoyed enough to reach for your swatter because they will leave you alone just then. But when they return and you get them with your fly swatter, they do not die. They lay there, merely stunned. You have to hit them again to kill them, or in the case of the-coffee-and-the-fly, they will just keep struggling to swim and I don't see the point of putting them out of their misery because there is some satisfaction in seeing them struggling because of me, when they have brought such annoyance to my daily life. Our Security Manager calls them the Iraqi Air Force.
Tuesday, May 30, 2006
Market Day
Before leaving the house she adjusts her veil.
Danger lurks at every corner,
near every car,
in every dead animal lying on the side of the road.
Carefully, she picks her route through the dusty, garbage littered streets.
The men with uniforms and guns can not be trusted;
they may not be who they look like they are,
they may not be there to keep the peace.
She sticks to the edge of crowds,
buying from vendors that are not teeming with people.
She does not want to become another statistic,
another nameless count in the death toll of her country.
Danger lurks at every corner,
near every car,
in every dead animal lying on the side of the road.
Carefully, she picks her route through the dusty, garbage littered streets.
The men with uniforms and guns can not be trusted;
they may not be who they look like they are,
they may not be there to keep the peace.
She sticks to the edge of crowds,
buying from vendors that are not teeming with people.
She does not want to become another statistic,
another nameless count in the death toll of her country.
Wednesday, May 10, 2006
"you know you're getting better when..."
- you email your friends on diets telling them you've found a great way to lose weight - up to 5lbs/day!
- you turn the a/c back on
- you are interested in watching tv or reading again
- you can stay awake through an entire a movie
- you lay down for a nap because you're tired but can't sleep
- you take a shower
- you eat a bite of chocolate
- you turn the a/c back on
- you are interested in watching tv or reading again
- you can stay awake through an entire a movie
- you lay down for a nap because you're tired but can't sleep
- you take a shower
- you eat a bite of chocolate
"you know you've caught a nasty local bug when..."
- Immodium does not work
- it's 38C outside but you turn off the a/c in your room and huddle under two quilts and continue to shiver with cold
- your neighbour who's also sick goes outside wrapped in a blanket to drink hot tea, while still shivering in 38C temperature
- you're curled up in a ball in your bed because of the stomach cramps wondering if you're dying
- you don't even remember that you have Egyptian anti-diarrhea pills until halfway thru day 2
- you wake up soaked in sweat halfway through the night but your husband is fine (and you're not menopausal)
- you run out of toilet paper
- you sleep all day, through the night, most of the next day and through that night yet still feel tired on the third day
- you accept pills from people saying they will help, not knowing what they are
- you find yourself wishing your mom could take care of you
- it's 38C outside but you turn off the a/c in your room and huddle under two quilts and continue to shiver with cold
- your neighbour who's also sick goes outside wrapped in a blanket to drink hot tea, while still shivering in 38C temperature
- you're curled up in a ball in your bed because of the stomach cramps wondering if you're dying
- you don't even remember that you have Egyptian anti-diarrhea pills until halfway thru day 2
- you wake up soaked in sweat halfway through the night but your husband is fine (and you're not menopausal)
- you run out of toilet paper
- you sleep all day, through the night, most of the next day and through that night yet still feel tired on the third day
- you accept pills from people saying they will help, not knowing what they are
- you find yourself wishing your mom could take care of you
Tuesday, May 09, 2006
A Publication in May
Check out my recent publication on the Creativity Portal. My article: Mad Genius was published there. Follow the link to the website to read it! http://www.creativity-portal.com/bc/other/mad-genius.html
Tuesday, May 02, 2006
Monday, May 01, 2006
Injustice in yet another part of the world
Dishing out lunch
Waiting for lunch
Eating lunch
// Why is it always the small guy that gets screwed in business? The head of the company gets richer while the one doing the actual work barely makes enough to survive. I know this is life and that it is not fair, but it is still outrageous. //
One company in Iraq, making millions, feeds its daily workers rice and a watered down soup of tomato sauce and minimal veggies. Meat is a rarity. This is similar to what poor people eat daily, however this company can afford to feed its workers better, including meat everyday, but chooses not to so that the top dogs can make a bigger profit. //
The company has taken too long to complete its project, knowing full well when they signed the contract prior to construction that liquidated damages would be charged. Their excuses are typical: Islamic holidays (there are over 40 in a year and this means that each holiday is at least 3 days of no work – usually extended to a full week), road closures, border delays for equipment, etc. //
Now that the company is realizing that they are being back charged for the liquidated damages as well as for labor we are providing because they are too slow in finishing the work contracted out to them, they have decided to cut costs by cutting the wages of their daily workers. The unskilled men make the equivalent of about $6.80 USD/day. This wages is being cut down to $4/day. Although $6.80/day sounds like a minimum hourly wage back home for a job requiring no skills, it is a decent wage for Iraq (my company pays our day laborers double which is a great wage and we have no trouble finding workers). //
Today we have a strike. Almost 30 workers are at the gate refusing to work for this company. This becomes our problem because not only could it turn into a security risk, but it means that the company in question will be even slower in completing their construction. //
This is not the first time we have had to deal with labor disputes. Other times it has been a scam of not paying the worker his wages. Workers have been promised their wages after a week to ten days. On payday, they are told that they are no longer required, their base badge is thrown away and they have no way to obtain their wages. This is a typical occurrence in Iraq. It has nothing to do with the Coalition; it is Iraqis screwing Iraqis. //
The role of the Coalition companies is to hire Iraqi subcontractors who in turn hire Iraqi laborers. We do not discuss wages. There is no minimum wage in Iraq. The only time we are forced to get involved in wage disputes is when we learn there are workers not being paid for work they have done. //
I was on a jobsite one day at lunch time. A truck drove up to site with two big pots: one full of white rice, the other full of a tomato soup with a few onions. Today this soup contained small portions of meat. Men formed groups of three to six. What we would call a serving platter was filled with carefully measured spoonfuls of rice. A few spoonfuls of the soup was spread over the rice, more for flavor than anything else. The men sat on the dusty ground and ate with their hands, both of which are typical here. //
The workers were proud of their food, inviting me to join. Through a translator, they pointed out that they had meat in their food. The translator told me that the fact that they told me they were eating meat meant that they do not eat meat very often. The company can afford to feed them meat everyday. The US government, and therefore American taxpayers, is compensating this company well for the work they are doing in Iraq. Some would say too well. //
While the workers face the typical hazardous conditions of working in Iraq: dangerous roads and villages due to insurgents, IEDs along roads used to get to work or market, threats from insurgents against themselves and their families for working with the “enemy”, kidnappings of family members, bribes for protection, etc., the owner of this company lives in Jordan, safely out of harm’s way. He is reaping the profit of work in his homeland of Iraq with the additional benefit of living life safely in a peaceful land. The men doing the work for him are literally putting their lives at risk to make money to support their families. Unemployment is high in Iraq. Many workers live in the man camps on base as it is safer than driving back and forth to work everyday. //
I was asked by one of our Iraqi engineers to tell my family and friends about these problems. He asked me to show the pictures I took of the meal I witnessed to people back home to allow people in other parts of the world to see the way some people live and what they have to deal with everyday. It is no wonder that unions have formed in the Western world, to protect against big companies and their mistreatment of laborers like this. //
One company in Iraq, making millions, feeds its daily workers rice and a watered down soup of tomato sauce and minimal veggies. Meat is a rarity. This is similar to what poor people eat daily, however this company can afford to feed its workers better, including meat everyday, but chooses not to so that the top dogs can make a bigger profit. //
The company has taken too long to complete its project, knowing full well when they signed the contract prior to construction that liquidated damages would be charged. Their excuses are typical: Islamic holidays (there are over 40 in a year and this means that each holiday is at least 3 days of no work – usually extended to a full week), road closures, border delays for equipment, etc. //
Now that the company is realizing that they are being back charged for the liquidated damages as well as for labor we are providing because they are too slow in finishing the work contracted out to them, they have decided to cut costs by cutting the wages of their daily workers. The unskilled men make the equivalent of about $6.80 USD/day. This wages is being cut down to $4/day. Although $6.80/day sounds like a minimum hourly wage back home for a job requiring no skills, it is a decent wage for Iraq (my company pays our day laborers double which is a great wage and we have no trouble finding workers). //
Today we have a strike. Almost 30 workers are at the gate refusing to work for this company. This becomes our problem because not only could it turn into a security risk, but it means that the company in question will be even slower in completing their construction. //
This is not the first time we have had to deal with labor disputes. Other times it has been a scam of not paying the worker his wages. Workers have been promised their wages after a week to ten days. On payday, they are told that they are no longer required, their base badge is thrown away and they have no way to obtain their wages. This is a typical occurrence in Iraq. It has nothing to do with the Coalition; it is Iraqis screwing Iraqis. //
The role of the Coalition companies is to hire Iraqi subcontractors who in turn hire Iraqi laborers. We do not discuss wages. There is no minimum wage in Iraq. The only time we are forced to get involved in wage disputes is when we learn there are workers not being paid for work they have done. //
I was on a jobsite one day at lunch time. A truck drove up to site with two big pots: one full of white rice, the other full of a tomato soup with a few onions. Today this soup contained small portions of meat. Men formed groups of three to six. What we would call a serving platter was filled with carefully measured spoonfuls of rice. A few spoonfuls of the soup was spread over the rice, more for flavor than anything else. The men sat on the dusty ground and ate with their hands, both of which are typical here. //
The workers were proud of their food, inviting me to join. Through a translator, they pointed out that they had meat in their food. The translator told me that the fact that they told me they were eating meat meant that they do not eat meat very often. The company can afford to feed them meat everyday. The US government, and therefore American taxpayers, is compensating this company well for the work they are doing in Iraq. Some would say too well. //
While the workers face the typical hazardous conditions of working in Iraq: dangerous roads and villages due to insurgents, IEDs along roads used to get to work or market, threats from insurgents against themselves and their families for working with the “enemy”, kidnappings of family members, bribes for protection, etc., the owner of this company lives in Jordan, safely out of harm’s way. He is reaping the profit of work in his homeland of Iraq with the additional benefit of living life safely in a peaceful land. The men doing the work for him are literally putting their lives at risk to make money to support their families. Unemployment is high in Iraq. Many workers live in the man camps on base as it is safer than driving back and forth to work everyday. //
I was asked by one of our Iraqi engineers to tell my family and friends about these problems. He asked me to show the pictures I took of the meal I witnessed to people back home to allow people in other parts of the world to see the way some people live and what they have to deal with everyday. It is no wonder that unions have formed in the Western world, to protect against big companies and their mistreatment of laborers like this. //
View from a window
This was the view from our hotel in Paris - how spectacular is that! Sixth floor wonder. The Eiffel Tower lights up on the hour for ten minutes every hour after dark and sparkles and shimmers making Paris feel magical.
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