A beer and a bratwurst

Two weeks in Portugal included museums, live music, sailing, swimming, surfing, relaxing, bonding with my mom and of course EATING!! What better way to end such a great vacation than a layover in Frankfurt from 11:15pm until 11:15am. I slept in spurts on wooden benches and across lines of chairs but didn't manage more than 4 hours of sleep. Plenty of wandering and a little reading filled the time. With no more than an hour left in Frankfurt, I sat down for a beer and a bratwurst (the official weigh in comes tomorrow morning). I asked the gentleman next to me if he knew the price of a beer and we got to chatting.

He asked where I was headed and I told him that I was returning to Peace Corps service in Ghana. He admitted that he was going about as far from Peace Corps service as one can imagine. He was heading to Baghdad as a consultant. We talked about the status of the war(s) in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as other issues. He told me about the satellite intelligence regarding WMD's and how his friends could see trucks leaving Iraq towards Syria as US trucks approached. He talked about how the fighting in Afghanistan remains more intense than the fighting in Iraq due to the terrain. Since US forces can't use tanks and armored vehicles in the mountainous terrain, more Al Qaeda choose to fight there, where they can actually get at the Americans.

The burly Army soldier was very open and honest about his experience and his views on the situation. He is headed to Baghdad for 3 more months as a consultant but told me how he kept dreaming of just calling and saying he wouldn't go.

Though this topic is neither related to Ghana nor Portugal, I thought it was touching enough to share. After 12 hours of mindless wandering, I came upon another wandering American in the same physical place but in a polar opposite position in his life.

Safely in Ghana,
Love to all
Ira