genocidemd

Countdown

2005-05-10T02:11:59Z

Ok, its official...my ass is on a plane to Amsterdam then Dubai on Wednesday. My parents just told me. How considerate. Having a get-together at Allen's tomorrow night. I want to be plenty hung-over for this trip.

I will hit you in the happiest place on earth...

2005-05-05T11:15:31Z

Today has been fun... of course 'today' for me consists of three days in tandum being that this is the third sunrise I've seen without sleeping for more than about 20 minutes.

Heres a true statement I learned today... If Disney=free, then Disney=fun.

I LOVE ASHANTI!!!

FLAWLESS VICTORY!

2005-05-02T21:55:22Z

Okay...well, not quite. But at least I'm done with finals. And unlike a bunch of you poor bastards, I don't have to go back to classes in 2 weeks.

Anyway, I'm posting in this thing to let you know that its that time of year again... yes, I'm going back to the Middle East, this time with no command sponsorship and against State Department recommendations.

National Lampoon's Megan's Summer Vacation 2: This Time Its Personal.
... If you want to know what 1 was about, check my old posts.

I'll be using this journal to keep all of you who give a damn updated on my goings on while I'm out of town.

Evacuation

2004-07-10T15:08:11Z

Well we're finally being evacuated... in about 20 minutes actually. I wish I could tell you guys everything but due to time and the fact that I haven't been de-briefed yet I can't. Ugh, I'm not looking foreward to this...or with dealing with the press when we get to the processing station in the states. Never thought I'd actually be labeled a refugee lol... and I'm just here on vacation! My mom is taking it pretty hard though, they're taking her away from her husband and her home and all. I'll go back to school and such in a few weeks, but she'll still have to be an 'evacuee'. Well, gotta go catch a plane. Will write more when I'm stateside.
Ma-a Salama Bahrain.....

Damn...

2004-07-03T11:32:44Z

A few days ago a rumor broke that there was a serious threat in Bahrain and that all military dependants (family members) were going to have to leave the island. Today we found out that the joint-chiefs have decided. All non-military dependants are ordered to evacuate the island, its looking like the deadline will be Sept. 1st but it might be pushed way up depending on intelligence I guess. Word over here is that there has been a direct and serious threat made not only to Western interests here in Bahrain (we have known for some time that there was an cell here) but to women and children related to US military personell. But again, its still all rumor.

http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/07/02/bahrain.terror/index.html

Thats the news article about it all on the Communist News Network... the State Department has also issued an immediate travel advisory/warning saying that all Americans should leave the island of Bahrain post haste. Anyway, just thought I'd keep you all updated. CNN hasn't said much else... they're waiting for one of us to get our heads lobbed off on Al Jazeera before they give a damn. I've been watching Arabic news as well to see if theres any more info. Nothing yet, but there should be a military briefing later today on base. I'll keep all ya'll updated.
Ma-a Salama...

Ok ok ok

2004-06-10T21:29:15Z

I know, its been a long time since I posted. I just got net access at my place and all. Things have been pretty intense around here. They finally alleviated our house arrest status (thank heavens) so we can actually do things now, goodie. I got rather disturbing news that sent everyone into shock... my great uncle died on Memorial day. The worst of it was, because we were at Charlie and couldn't check our e-mail, we didn't find out about it until it was all over. Wake, funeral, memorial, everything. It was several days until we heard. I come from a true southern family, we are all very close, so this was quite the blow. His passing was quite sudden, brain aneurysm they believe. Allen and I are visiting up there (my grandparents and some of my grandmothers siblings have retired to a cove in Oklahoma) but I expected it to be more fun and less depressing. C'est la vie. I guess it just leaves me jarred by mortality... life sucks, but when you're an atheist death is terrifying. Other than that I've simply been trying to help my parents get their house organized. In a house this big its hard to get everything just right and very easy to lose things. I went to the tailor the other day and had a saree made (indian dress, google it) but thats about the most exciting event of late. I should be back in the states second week of July. I'll be coming in to Orlando, staying for a few days and then going to Oklahoma for a few weeks. End of July I'll be back in Orlando for a bit before Allen and I drive up to Washington DC to visit his parents and then to Ohio to visit his grandparents, and then back down to Orlando with a week or two to spare before school. Chief, Matt, Dan... hopefully I can get with you guys when I get back and we can have dinner or something. I don't know if I'll make Chief's graduation, but dammit I'll try...and even if I can't I should still be able to have dinner with ya (presuming you have time for lil ol me.) Will update ya'll with exact dates when I get them and new events as they unfold. Later.

Classified...

2004-05-26T11:03:55Z

Ugh, theres so much to tell but so little I can say! We've moved into a house finally (of course I won't be living there for more than a couple of months, but hey...) Its quite nice. Four stories, four bedrooms, five bathrooms, two kitchens, two living rooms, a dining room, servants quarters, and a great hall. Oh...and a pool :P Its great, going to be hell to decorate though since its so big. Of course, my mom wants my help with that. Yay. I'm kidding... actually it should be fun. Our threat condition has gone up here, we're at Charlie for those of you who know what that means. We can't go outside anywhere but the base (no shopping, no restaurants, no ANYTHING). Its quite confinining and a bit scary, but theres reason for it. They don't drill here. My parents have given me the option, if I'm scared, to go back to the states. I've declined for now. I'm not the kind of girl to run away like that I guess... or I'm a glutton for punishment. Either way, nothing can be worse than the 26 hour flight back home :S We also went to CBR class today, Chemical Biological Readiness... we were issued our protective gear (which consists of a plastic bag to put over your head and a toe tag for us civillians) and all that stuff. Fun fun fun. Well thats about it... we really need to do some shopping for the house, but being that we can't we're just kind of sitting around in a big ol' mess. We should be getting our ADSL hooked up here in the next few days so I can actually post regularly and talk to some of you guys online... for now i've been using the base computer when I can get on it. We have to go food shopping since we can't eat out... which is really annoying because theres a ship in port and all the sailors have bought out EVERYTHING. I had to wrestle a guy for blueberry pop-tarts the other day. Its brutal. Well, I guess thats about it. Will yak more later.
Ma-a Salama

Black flag day

2004-05-12T07:53:14Z

Well today is the first day we've seen the black flag up. It was 103 degrees at 9:30am this morning and climbing... its gonna be a hot hot hot day. Got my green card today allowing me to be in the country legally and all that stuff. Yesterday my mother and I went to the Seef Mall. Didn't buy anything, but it was an interesting experience. This evening I think we're going to the Souk (the market) and maybe looking for a house. The security here still boggles me, its kindof frightening. Not nearly as scary as being out on town sometimes though. As a woman, I'm petrified sometimes when the Saudi men walk by. You can tell its them two ways: one, by their red checkered head coverings (its like Irish and Scottish tartan... they all have different patterns and colors etc.) and two, by the way they look at us women. They see American women generally as heathen infedel sluts. Its a little intimidating, I find myself looking at the ground and walking behind my dad alot, and you guys know me... I'm not exactly shy :P Like I said, this place is great to visit but I don't really want to live here. I'm having fun and I'm anxious to decorate the house and do some shopping but I also can't wait to get back to Orlando. Its a tough call. I should be back in the states in late July. Just in time to go to Oklahoma, DC and Ohio before school starts again. Ugh... this is going to be a very busy summer. I found out today that theres an art gallery here open to all nationalities that displays work of teenagers under 19. I'm thinking about submitting some work before my birthday. I think I'm going to go back to the hotel and go swimming now though... its climbed another 6 or 7 degrees at least since 9:30 and its not even the hot period yet. Everything has to close down from about 1-4 just like in Italy, only here its about 20-40 degrees hotter lol. Have fun ya'll and e-mail me.

And the Navy dropped the ball...

2004-05-10T09:18:39Z

Well today would have been a really fun day. I was supposed to go shopping at the Seef Mall here and then go house hunting this afternoon. The Seef mall is the really upscale Westernized mall here in Bahrain, think Rodeo Drive with air conditioning. But nooooooooooooooooooooo. I get a call just as I'm going out the door with my mom from my dad, aparrently somewhere along the lines in Naples they dropped the ball on my dependant orders and thus I am illegally in this country sorta. Without command sponsorship I lose all student benefits etc etc etc. Grr... so now I have to go through an overseas screening and all that rot here. So annoying. My mom is pissed also because she had to get like 13 shots before she left. They said that they were required to be here... the hospital here says no they aren't. Mom had a reaction to the shots too because they gave her two after another that reacted with eachother and she couldn't use her arm for days and her shoulder was swollen like hell. YAY NAVY DOCTORS!! Its so hot here. They have these flags up all over the base, the color tells you how hot it is. It goes, from coolest to hottest, white green yellow red black. Today we're still only on yellow and I'm dieing. This place is so funny, in the bathrooms they have little color charts with varying degrees of yellow. You're supposed to check your urine and compare it to the chart to see how dehydrated you are and how much water you should be drinking lol! Need;ess to say I got a kick out of those. Well, hopefully we will get to go house hunting this afternoon still and go to the mall tomorrow. I need to get a hair cut... for those of you who don't know I chopped all my hair off last week, its about collar length and red again (YAY!). I think I want it a little shorter, I don't really like this cut. I'll post pictures when I can. Also, I'm going to the Grand Mosque soon I think so I'll have to post pictures of me in my abaya and tedora. They love t-n-a here.... toes and ankles. Scandalous, really. It takes some getting used to, can't gesture with your left hand, can't show someone the bottom of your shoes, have to wash your feet all the time because its part of their tradition yadda yadda yadda. Well I'm going to go, hopefully I'll have something more interesting to say next time.
Ma-a Salama,
Meg

Ciao Napoli, As-salamu Alaykum Bahrain!

2004-05-09T07:50:50Z

My second full day in Bahrain... for those of you who don't know, Bahrain is an island nation ruled by a King and royal family as well as a parliamentary democracy 15 miles east of Saudi Arabia and about 20 miles south of Iraq. When you first get here you're introduced to the situation over here fairly quickly... we were coralled into a cement containment area flanked by men and women with big guns. Thats a constant around here... guns. Bahrain was originally built as the play area for the Saudis. The Islamic faith (and the theocracy of Saudi) is of course extremely restrictive. The Muslims in this area believe that Allah cannot see their actions in Bahrain for whatever reason so its ok to come here and drink, whore, and generally run amuck. Good for them, bad for us come Wed night (thursday and friday are their weekends down here since friday is their holy day.) The Bahrainis however, they're a different story. They are what we wish the entire middle east could evolve into. Peaceful, respectful, friendly, non-fundamentalist, though still adhering to their faith (as I'm sure most of you know true Islam is a wonderfully tolerant religion.) Most of the workers here are Pakistani or Indian so theres no problem there. All in all this seems like a wonderful place. You're treated like a queen by the Indians and Pakistanis, theres free speech and equal rights (sorta) for women (at least outside the home) and the shopping etc is amazing. I suppose the only complaint could be the heat, which gets upwards of 150 degrees at times. Still, its dangerous. I went through the force protection briefing today... mines are an issue, so is the occassional possibility of a drunk Saudi opening fire in a club full of Americans or something insane like that. You have to check your car for bombs every morning etc etc etc. Oh, and of course, get used to people walking around and sitting next to you on the base with M-16s at the food court and shit. I'll admit I'm glad I'm not living here, but it'll be a nice place to visit every now and then. Well, thats all the explanatory shit, I'll update later as things actually happen.

Ma-a Salama