Sunset in Iraq

So I get back to D.C. after my Watervale adventures and I basically had 48 hours to pull my act together and be back at the airport for a journey that is taking me away from home for a full MONTH! In addition to the usual stuff of cleaning the apartment, figuring out what to pack for that amount of time away in countries with vastly different weather temperatures at the moment, and tying up as many loose ends at work as possible, I also found time to squeeze in the following:

1) Play tennis outside with a friend. This was important because by the time I get back in November our games will need to moved indoors due to cold weather. In addition, we had missed our last two sessions for various (rain, drinking, laziness, etc.) reasons so this was seriously do-or-die time!

2) Stress about my ceiling. After tennis I discover a leak in my ceiling. Needless to say, leaks are the very last thing you want to deal with when a) you are leaving the country within mere hours and b) you have a friend and her child house-sitting for the entire time you are gone! My landlady (who is super awesome) was totally on top of it but what was suppose to be a small leak has, in my absence, turned into "replace the entire ceiling in both the living room and the kitchen" (please read: displacement of my friend and her child!)!

3) Catching up with a friend. Finally there was the need to catch with a friend. We literally continuously miss each other with him in one country for almost 6 weeks and me on the verge of a 4 week excursion and only hours of both of us being in the same city at the same time. A bottle of wine great music and even better conversation was just what the doctor ordered!

Hours later, I left my home and began a 16+ hour journey back to Iraq where I'm currently posting.

Tune back in later during the week to find out where I'm heading after my stay here in Iraq.

{Photo: Brandie for Out & About Africa}