The police presence here is constant, and we found out just how numerous
the police and soldiers are. There are stations at every intersection and
in the middle of most blocks, but these stations just consist of a chair
or maybe a one person guard station. We're used to seeing several
police/soldiers across from our apartment building. The job is obviously
rather boring, and during Ramadan we have watched these fellows have to
stand around all day without food or water. So Nancy and Trish cooked up
a scheme (literally) to make an Iftar meal for our local guys to break
the fast at sundown. They cooked up a rice and noodle mixture, and lentils,
and garnished with some fresh tomatoes and cucumber, and arranged 20 tins
with the hot meal wrapped in foil. We also had fruit drink boxes. We thought
this was enough for most of the guards between here and Curtis' school,
but we barely got half a block. They seemed very happy to be given the modest
meal, and the 20 meals disappeared in no time. It seemed like uniformed guards
were coming out of the hedges, and the security is such a high priority,
maybe they were.
