Apology

I'm so sorry. It has been over a week and I haven't updated.

I started a two-week break from Iraq on June 24 and I've tried to keep my mind off the country I now call home. But here in Beirut there are reminders everywhere. So many here fear that Lebanon could soon fall into a Sunni/Shiite war. An extended family member of mine tried to buy a plot of land. The Sunni man wouldn't sell to a Shiite buyer. Young men now gather in their neighborhoods at night watching for suspicious activity after a spate of recent car bombs. I can't get a pizza delivered after 10 p.m. because motor bikes (delivery method of choice) are banned from the roads late at night. There were a few incidents of men on motor bikes throwing grenades at police stations.

Of course this is not Iraq; people are partying at night, girls in halter tops and shorts sip on Starbucks lattes and lay out in bikinis on the beach.

For the first time in two months I can walk down the dark streets safely and speak English without flinching. I wish I could bring the Iraqi staff out on these breaks with me. They are time to recover and reenergize before returning to Iraq.

Our Iraqi staff don't have that time. Every morning they show up at 9 a.m. ready to work and before dusk they go home. Instead of rest they are greeted by traffic jams, hours-long fuel lines, unbroken heat and fear of whatever violence might come next.

In Beirut all I can think about is Baghdad. I will return on July 14 and begin regular blogs again.

Comments

[Marty]

We can all wait until July 14th.
Enjoy your vacation.

[Marty]

We can all wait until July 14th.
Enjoy your vacation.

[sean]

I hope you had a good time in fair Beirut. I'm afraid that "the situation," as we've come to call it, is making this summer feel less like a vacation and more like the calm before the storm...