A Sight I haven't Seen

Tomb of the Unknown Solider

Before Ash left we wanted to check out one of the monuments in Baghdad. This monument, dedicated to soldiers who have died without their remains being identified, is located adjacent to the Crossed Swords in the IZ.


From the sky this part is supposed to look like a helmet.



So Ashley is gone. But,surrounding his departure were countless festivities which the pictures below highlight.

T made one last dinner which was home made pizza. We got a projector and had a slide show of her Tokyo trip and then watched a movie on the big screen.
Hey, Mario, I'm makin 'apizza pie





Ash had gotten us kites to fly for some fun and we were down to the day before his departure and praying for some wind the next day so we could fly our kites before he left. I made sure to mention that our prayer had to be specific for a little wind, because if it was a windy day, there would most likely be a dust storm.

The next day, there was a perfect breeze and we flew our kites at lunch. Which was very fun! All these people were passing, ooo-ing and aaah-ing at our kites. It's an great activity you kind of forget about. We few them for about 20 minutes before my Barbie kite crashed and broke apart.

Here's Barbie flying!


So it was a great day for flying kites! But then the wind did not stop and the worst dust storm Baghdad has seen in 40 years blew in. By the evening when you walked outside you were covered with a film of dust, even on your eyelashes!!!!

This picture is the hallway of the 4th floor of an apartment building! The dust had drifted up to the penthouse suites.

The next morning it looked like snow. There was an inch of dust covering everything outside. This picture is the hallway outside my door, on the 4th floor, so just imagine what it looked like on the first floor!

The last 2 weeks have been a bit slow at work. One morning I spent making a tooth.



Our Chief of Staff had emergency dental work done at a military FOB, and to welcome her back, my boss wanted to do something special. I said, what about a card, and was immediately tasked to come up with something creative. I laughed out loud as I cut this tooth out of cardboard, that our whole office signed, thinking what a great job I have.