Grits and Oatmeal

Like many military and embassy employees worldwide, we get mail privileges. Good thing, too, since we can't just pop over to the Iraqi post office. Today it was like Christmas in August, everything came at once!



Now don't get me wrong -- the cafeteria here is fantastic -- especially the deserts! But there are a couple of dishes our cooks from India and Jordan don't quite get right. They do serve oatmeal, though it's a bit overcooked and soggy. And they do serve grits, but they add (horrors) sugar to it, plus it's so runny it has to be served in a bowl. Their coffee is strong, but somehow not quite the way I like it.



So I pop over for some nice Awal juice boxes and maybe some cheese from the cafeteria, which I carry back to the house. Tomorrow it's steel cut oatmeal!

Youth Job Center Launch

Clear skies and 115 degrees (in the shade). Lovely day for a trip into town to launch a youth employment center. I put on a tie and tucked it into my shirt so that it wouldn't snag on the armored vest velcro. I packed my jacket in a bag to keep the dust off during the transit.



The only serious incident of the day happened right at the beginning. There was a receiving line when we arrived. Some adorable little girls held out baskets of candy, so I took one -- the whole basket... everyone burst out laughing and very politely explained to me that I was to take just one piece of candy. I gave the basket back. All in good fun!

We first toured the youth center classrooms, trailed closely by the local press corps, including a smattering of the American press -- a reporter from the Christian Science Monitor was there. I hung out in the back, so no one paid much attention to me. This particular project I'd tasked to one of my staff, a superbly competent Iraqi, so I let him run the show -- in the next picture he's got his back to the camera and is chatting with the Minister of Trade, who had a question about loans for small businesses.



In the rear garden a huge tent had been erected, complete with air conditioning. The principals and a few key staff sat at a table on stage. A dozen young people sat in the center of the audience, and came up later to receive graduation certificates handed out by the youth center. There were other dignitaries in the audience, and family. The tent was quite full.



A constant stream of waiters distributed water and more sweets. My, they were delicious. It was nice not to be up on the stage. I snacked and took pictures. The coffee man made the rounds, wearing his bandolier (empty of munitions) dispensing slurps of very strong brew, which is a very nice custom indeed.



After the program, there were interviews for local TV. We had a simultaneous translator at the boss's elbow, but much of the conversation was in English. It was a bit raucous with simultaneous interviews right next to each other.



Since our security team made us wear full gear for the 20 minute transit to and from, it was nice to be in a car with superb air conditioning.