DAY 10 / DEC 08

DAY 10 DEC 8
We were supposed to fly out today, but this morning we were told we would have no flights until tomorrow at the earliest.
I slept in past breakfast and then we walked to the DFAC (thinking it may still be open for a late breakfast or early lunch), but it was for no luck – the DFAC was closed. We continued walking, thinking we could hit the PX and all that stuff that Soldiers do when they have nothing else to do. After getting lost for about a half hour wandering the concrete maze that is LSA Anaconda, we found our way back and settled for taking the “E” bus everywhere we went.
Eventually I broke down, gave up looking for the free DSN phone that was rumored to exist and bought a 550 minute phone card at the AAFES PX and called home. After a much too short 45 minute talk, we took the bus back to the PPC (which, I have no idea what is stands for, but I can only think of it as the Pikes Peak Community).
SSG Castro and I played a couple rounds of pool and split them. The poor table was old and had been donated by some pool dealership in California. You could tell it was old because the felt was worn through to the wood in more than a couple places and their was a sizable lip on the table in at least on solid line across the table. When SSG Castro went to hit a ball, the cue ball hit the lip and jumped up off the table, striking the wall of the rec center (which was only a 15x30 foot plywood building, much like a garage).
The rec center had one pool table, a small collection of free books (mostly romance and the like), free water, and an assortment of table games like monopoly, cards, and taboo). Three Hajis apparently had duty and one of them was in the building at all times. Another amenity of the PPC was another room like the rec center that just played movies 24/7. I didn’t watch any there, but I did poke my head in once, just to see what it was.
After that, we hung out in the barracks area until dinner and caught the bus there. We shopped around the local Haji shops, and saw that most of their stuff is made in India, Pakistan, or China. The stuff looks nice, but its not true Iraqi stuff, just imported crap from somewhere else to sell as Iraqi stuff to ignorant tourist American Soldiers. So, I check the stuff I get to be sure its genuine Iraqi before I go buy it under that assumption. Sometimes I wonder whether the Iraqi people actually make anything, or just resell what everyone else has. Maybe I should buy some oil – at least I know that is actually from here.
We went to bed that night, thinking there was a 0600 coordination meeting to tell us when we could get the hell out of there. Anaconda is alright, as far as a concrete maze city goes, but I just wanted to get where I was going so I could start my time and stop being so “transient.”