See Julie Travel. Travel Julie Travel.

Thought I should update my blog since I haven't posted anything in the past month - with good reason though...in the past 30 days I have traveled from Baghdad to Jordan to Frankfurt to DC to NY (and all of that was within three days!) then had two back to back job interviews in NY - then off to Chicago and drive to an interview in Detroit then off to Seattle for another interview then back to DC for an interview then back to NY for a second round interview - then to Germany for Christmas and Jordan for New Years then back to Baghdad (and the 500 mile trip from Amman to the embassy in Baghdad may have been the longest part! Took 17 hours to go that 500 miles!!)























The job interviews were stressful, combined with the travel (and the weather didn't help on that front). However, in between all that madness I was able to see old friends in New York and Seattle (two were old friends from South Africa whom I hadn't seen in over 10 years!) and to relax a bit - but it's not an experience I'd like to repeat.

The jobs I'm interviewing for are Assistant U.S. Attorney positions - that means I'd be a federal prosecutor. I would most likely be working in a general crimes unit prosecuting low level drug crimes and crimes of violence to start out with. I got interviews in both the Eastern and Southern Districts of NY - which are two of the most competitive districts in the U.S....but I've already gotten my rejection letter from the Southern District and, even though I got a call back for a second round in the Eastern District, I'm expecting the rejection letter from them shortly. The interviews were all different - ranging from 30 minutes to 8 hours. Everyone tells me I'm really lucky to get these interviews because the jobs are so competitive but interviews don't mean much if they don't lead to a job (and they take a lot of time and money)...but I know it is a good sign I'm even being considered. The Eastern District of New York's interviews consisted completely of one hypothetical question...

Imagine you were a prosecutor in a case where a burglar thought he was Icarus and attempted to fly over a wall guarding a bank but his flight was unsuccessful and he crashed into an electrical pole (shorting out the electricity to the neighborhood) and the sparks caught his wings on fire. As the singed feathers floated to the ground they started a fire that spread to the church next door where an asthmatic nun was sleeping - she went into spasms after inhaling the smoke and clenched her pelvic muscles so hard she broke her hymen. Would the failed flyer be charged with sexual assault on the chaste sister? Could he be held liable for the pate that spoiled while the electricity was out?

Ok, that wasn't the real question but it was just about as ridiculous. I'm sure asking me these types of questions will give them a good idea if I can prosecute murderers and the like.

Anyways....it was a whirlwind trip but I felt like I got better at interviewing with each one (either that or I was just too tired to give a rat's ass). Seattle looks hopeful...maybe DC...but if I get out of Iraq with no job lined up I'm ok with that too...guess I'll just have to travel :) I actually saw a posting yesterday for a prosecutor for international human rights crimes...now that would be my dream job....but the ad doesn't close for about a month which means it will be several months before they even start interviewing and who knows if i'd even get an interview.

So I'm back here in Baghdad. Funny thing happened...well, actually not so funny...my boss asked me to go back to my old base in Karbala. Remember...the job I loved...the job I didn't want to leave...the job I was forced to leave and told I would never in a million years go back to. Turns out there is a severe shortage of DOJ lawyers over here...there has been a freeze on hiring contractors and if you remember from my experience it takes FOREVER to hire someone through DOJ...so they are absolutely desperate for lawyers. The bittersweet part of this is that if I would have been allowed to stay at that base I never would have started looking for a job back in the states - I would have gladly extended here in Iraq. After talking to folks here at the embassy turns out that my being transferred from that base had very little to do with the sexual harassment I experienced and all to do with the politics of which base was higher priority. I can't say that I'm not tempted to go back - I loved that job and still have many friends at that base...but at this point I have resumes out, have started interviewing, and if I got a job offer or asked to come in for an interview obviously being in Iraq would be a slight impediment. The one reason I have to want to go back to my old job is that it would be nice to leave Iraq on a positive note...the whole experience of being pulled off that base and the experience at my new base has left a taint on this whole year...and I'd like to be able to look back on this time and reflect fondly...but honestly I just don't think my heart is in it. This experience has taken its toll on me - not in the ways I expected - not because of the danger or the culture or anything I could have foreseen.