I wonder what Iraq will be like in 2008

Well, here I am back in Baghdad almost exactly one year after the first time I was here. My first night here I remember hearing alarms in the middle of the night. Let’s hope tonight isn’t a repeat of that. I’m in a 12-person tent like last year...not the same tent as last year, but pretty much. It’s in the same tent city. The plywood floor tent contains the expected dusty mattresses on top of the cots. I can hear the loud roaring of the generator sitting right next to the tent. It’s not that bad. At least we have heating and air conditioning units inside. We have electricity. We have mattresses on the cots...cots are not that comfortable to sleep on without the mattress. There is wireless connectivity. Think about that one...there is a wireless box hanging from a zip tie at the top of the ceiling of the tent and you are reading this because I wrote it from my cot in my tent. Technology is crazy and apparently cheaper than porcelain thrones...read more below.
The bathrooms are in a different location, though. I went and checked out the shower trailer and it looked pretty nice. It actually looked kind of new, which I figured from the gleaming stainless steel sinks and the bright white shower curtains on the stalls. The rules of engagement (3-5 minute military showers to conserve water) still apply. The toilets...well, that situation is also the same as last year. We have port-a-potties or port-a-johns or port-a-lets. Whatever nomenclature you prefer, that’s what we have sitting in a row right in front of the shower trailers. I decided I couldn’t avoid it so I went ahead and tried it out. It was just like I remember: open the plastic door, close the latch, fumble through the pitch black to turn on the flashlight, don’t dare touch anything with bare skin, complete, exit, then pump the hand sanitizer dispenser a good 3 pumps to completely kill anything that may have come in contact with your hands.
I have just one roommate in the tent. This is her first time here and she is a bit surprised at how much she will have to “rough it” while here. I kind of felt bad because I get to leave in a few days and she will be here for at least a few weeks. I’ve been giving her advice and pointers all evening. This kind of environment encourages you to share all your lessons learned, your recommendations and tips to make it easier to get through. For instance, I made sure to tell her not to shower without flip flops; to use a blow dryer instead of letting hair air dry to avoid dusty, crunchy hair; to wear boots instead of sneakers, to wear your clothes as much as you can without washing so you don't have to wait for the 3-day laundry turnaround, etc. Now that I read that last bit back about the clothes wearing I realize I must turn into a different being over here because I would never do that back home. Strange, I know, but some of you reading know what I mean.
We went to midnight chow and sampled the variety of foods they serve at that hour of the night. They don’t have the full hot line or the stir fry, but they did have hamburgers, ravioli, mac and cheese, collards, along with the full salad bar, breakfast foods, and dessert bar. It's actually a really weird combination of food. This is clearly evidenced by the chocolate pudding sitting about 1 inch away from the nacho cheese sauce in the salad bar. It’s so easy to gain weight here: it’s all you can eat for 4 meal periods per day. For some reason, the fact that you’re in Iraq somehow makes it almost like you deserve to have dessert every day...even for more than one meal...simple pleasures and comforts of home, I guess.
We’ll see what tomorrow brings. I know it brings only 4.75 hours of sleep if I fall asleep in the next 2 minutes. Hopefully tomorrow will also bring a large double latte from the Green Bean here. (For those of you who are not familiar...the Green Bean can provide sanity and happiness over here. In it's liquid form, sanity and happiness are called lattes, I think.)