A Birthday, a Going Away and a Cloudy Day

The past few days sure have been a whirlwind of excitment!

Saturday was the 63rd Birthday of the United States Air Force. I knew it was going to be Great Air Force Day when I woke up and there were clouds in the sky. Not dust, not smoke, not haze, not smog. Oh, and not just a blinding sun, beating down, with no relief.
















Clouds.















Ahhh, clouds.

I want you to know that each picture takes about 10 minutes to upload over here. That's how happy I was to see clouds (for the first time in about 4 months) - it was worth waiting for three pictures!

The day continued with a celebration of all things Air Force. Ok, that's a little bit of a stretch. I'm surrounding by Army, so it was less of a "celebration" and more of a shrug of the shoulders (let's not forget, when it was the Army's birthday they had cake and birthday plates, and even allowed the soldiers to have 2 beers in celebration). And it was less "all things Air Force" and more - well, cake.

I've been trying to eat healthy lately, and generally avoid dessert, but I bend the rules a little bit for a birthday. I know that looks like a shout-out to my mom, but that's actually my slice of AF heaven.

To tell the truth, it hasn't been that hard avoiding dessert - they've been serving leftover Army Birthday cake for about 3 months now...
And to throw this in real quick - pictures from the Army JAG Corps Birthday celebration from July:

The Cake (with Iraqi icing decoration)

The Obligatory Chair Picture

On Saturday night, we also said goodbye to a JAG friend. She arrived a couple of months prior to us, so she gets to leave a couple of months prior (I hope everyone followed that logic). We found a bowling alley on base and went out for bowling and pizza. Wouldn't you know it, bowling was so much fun that we only got a few shots...

Strike that (get it - that's an attorney AND bowling joke), we only got one picture - it's hard when the lights are crazy. But look at that form - and look at the AF logo glow. Can't miss us in the dark!

But an even more important event has occurred (is occurring?) - today, Anna turns... Well, it's not like she's old, but I don't know if I'm supposed to say just how old. Let's just say, I saw a card that said it's the 'new 30'. But that card might have been a little messed up. Anyway, today is Anna's birthday and I'm obviously unable to be there. So instead of sending a bunch of lame presents (oh, wait, did that) or lame ecards (check) or a dumb Facebook wall post (uh, yeah) I offer a simple thought:

Yeah, we got a little carried away with the markers...

BSI and GSI

Scouting. I remember it fondly. I remember working for the badges. I remember being impressed with how much my dad (usually Troop Leader, always heavily involved) knew about everything in the world. I remember the camping trips, the campfires, and just enjoying the outdoors. I remember the organization and how everything just flowed smoothly.


Well, for the past few months I've been able to volunteer for a Scouting program here in Iraq. It's for boys and girls ages: very small to pretty tall (I'm not good with guessing ages of kids of any ethnicity). A few years ago a soldier thought it would be a good idea to create a Scouting program for the kids here - we're currently working on turning it over to the Iraqis, but as with everything (including the gov't that's still being set-up), the turn over is slow.


And it's NOTHING like what I experienced growing up. But it's Iraq, and things are simply different here. I think it's a great opportunity for the kids to get away from it all. It's not easy living here for 6 months, I can't imagine what it would be like to grow up in a third world country. So, we give them an outlet.

The night begins by getting the kids to flagpoles. This generally includes a lot of whistle blowing and yelling "Yella!" to the kids (that's Arabic for "hurry!"). Since I have a dedicated terp, I've been able to take my game to the next level. I'm often found telling the kids "Im-she" which technically means "walk" but I think roughly translates to "get your butt in gear." I'm so native.


Once rounded up, the children are in charge of raising the center flag and then they repeat/scream their national anthem/saying (is it an "anthem" if they don't sing it?). We clap for them and then follow with our National Anthem. They clap for us and then run off.

The kids are usually split up by gender and then by age group. But that usually only lasts for about a half an hour - after that all sense of organization disappears and it's just time for the kids to have fun. Before that chaos, some groups will head off to play sports (Basketball, Volleyball, Soccer, etc.), others will head to the Chess Tent (to, well, learn and play Chess), while others will go to the tents to do a project/learn something. Sensitive to the local customs, I usually end up helping the young boys. And each week I regret that decision. They're fun, but very... energetic. We start off with a project and then the volunteers spend the next 18 hours (ok, it's only 25 minutes, but with all those kids it sure feels like a long time) trying to keep the kids focused.

For example:

Here are some kids working hard:

While this kid tries to hit me in the head with a frisbee:

We're currently learning about planets. Last week we inflated plastic planets and the rotated and revolved around the sun. Teaching the kids about the planets is hard when you speak the language, but it's extremely difficult when you don't speak their language. Oh, and when the terp isn't nearby. I guess my "hurry" and "walk" knowledge only gets me so far. I'm not a native.

But the kids liked rotating and they liked revolving, so that was good enough for me. You can see how excited they were:

Ok, that's not fair. He actually was really excited, and enjoyed the exercise, he was being told to give his moon back. Oddly enough, he didn't want Venus (is that what I'm holding?), just wanted the moon.

Other than the planet fun we've been having, we've also made masks:

Had handstand contests:

Did jump rope push-ups:

Ok, the kids just did regular jump rope...
And (thankfully) just chilled.

I'm not sure if this all "works" but it sure is a lot of work. And enjoyed by all.