Pictures

The List

As promised:

-Iraqi soldiers crashing motorcycles while showing off for us

-Kids trying to climb our walls, falling off, and then we have to treat them

-Drinking chai brewed over a fire in a wheel barrow on the side of the road in the middle of the night with retired terrorists

-vehicle hulls on the roofs of buildings

-leading a 60 man patrol of which half are Iraqi and one is a US general

-"celebratory" gun fire

-eating rice with your hands off a platter with 8 other guys and only washing your hands when you're finished eating

-eating sheep butt (they love it here but it's pretty fatty and slimy)

-soccer games with kids while wearing full kit

-kid dropping baby to pick up candy (baby was ok)

-man trading baby to US soldier for a broken watch (we made him trade back)

-people standing at the ramp when we dismount to offer us chai (almost gets them shot, but a nice gesture all the same)

-stopping "weapons smuggling ambulances" only to find a guy with a ruptured appendix and a guy whose brother accidentally stabbed him

-Iraqi soldier playing with electrical wires while standing in a puddle (didn't end well)

-using police techniques I learned from watching The Wire and finding that this is better than what the Iraqi police do (they need to watch American cop shows)

-"before one year ago there was much Al Qaeda but now thanks to coalition forces we have good security"

-stepping into sewage trenches 

-people falling (not that unusual but always hilarious, especially at night and especially when they fall into a canal)

Some of this is pretty cryptic, but I can't really explain it all at this time.  Once we leave I'll be able to elaborate on some of the stories.  There's other stuff that I can't remember right now, so it will get added later.  Iraqis generally love us, but they're pretty baffling at times.

"This anger management course lasts 10 weeks.  I plan to be done in 5.  How?  Name repetition, personality mirroring, and never breaking a handshake."

-Andy Bernard