Bittersweet

"Bittersweet" because we're saying goodbye again - this time to one of my favorite people here. Steve is a Marine (through and through!) who has been working on the Afghan National Army (ANA) side of the house. He leaves us to head back to the civilian world, but hopefully our paths will cross again in his Reserve role.

At least Steve picked a great day to leave. Today we were able to observe the graduation of the first-ever Legal Officer Course for the ANA. I know our counterparts have put a lot of time and effort into making this course a reality, so we wanted to go to show our support. The ceremony was a success, complete with simultaneous translation for those of us who are Dari-impaired. I have a lot of respect for our translators. Imagine listening to a speech and repeating it to your friend who can't hear it - but the speaker doesn't stop for you to repeat it. You have to remember what the speaker said and repeat it while continuing to listen to whatever the speaker is saying next. Now throw translating that into another language at the same time, and you'll see why I'm so impressed. Anyway, I digress - here is a picture of a few of the graduates:


A couple more nature pics to finish off this post. I'm told the tree below is actually a peach tree, but I still think it looks like a dogwood. :) The petals are starting to litter our sidewalk outside of our office - not a bad thing at all!



And yes, I'm leaving you with a picture of a weed. I knew dandelions were hardy - but I have to give this one credit for managing to grow in all of that concrete and stone! :)