One more month

Well, I think I'm officially at 30 days or so of work days left here in Kabul. Of course it will take me about a week to get back to the U.S., then maybe 2 weeks in North Carolina before I can finally get back to Massachusetts, but at least there's a light at the end of the tunnel. On Sunday, we have our "NATO Medal Parade". We find it quite amusing, as it's a NATO awards formation where they present the NATO medals to those who are leaving within the next month (the one on Sunday includes me!). It's a hodgepodge of nations, different military customs, procedure, etc. And it's all topped off by the playing of the NATO hymn (not sure the proper name) which sounds like a French funeral anthem. Anyway, I'm sure it's one of those 'have to experience it to fully understand it'. Also note that's it's a medal for simply participating in 30+ days of a NATO mission (i.e. nothing special).

Today they had a small Afghan Women's market. They invited maybe 20 small businesses / handcraft stores that are owned/operated by women in Afghanistan. It was a lot of handmade women's clothes, jewelry and other hand crafts. I did my part to support (Kaylem has a gift on the way :) and it was good to see the pride in the local women. Anyway, that's about it from here for now.