Dinner and Balloons

Another letter from Brian:

We were invited to dinner this evening by one of the local nationals that we have a lot of dealings with. He told us a few days ago that his family would make dinner for us, so tonight was the night. It was really good. They grilled lamb and some sort of minced meat kabob and served them along with cucumbers, tomatoes, and freshly made flat bread. The idea is to roll the stuff up in the bread or use the bread to pick up the other items and eat them that way. Afterwards we had Iraqi tea. The host and his family and some of his friends were there, and then about 8 of us Marines and our interpreter. This man has several kids. We brought some balloons for them, which turned out to be a big hit. After dinner the two Marine officers talked politics and business with our host, the other Marines sat there and talked to each other, and I got up from the table and played with all of the kids. I carried the baby around for a while and then had balloon wars with the others for the rest of the time. We chased each other around the courtyard and made a bunch of noise and such. Eventually they all ganged up on me. They actually wore me out pretty well. When we got back in the vehicles to leave our interpreter said, “I don’t know who was having more fun, you or the children.” She said that the caretaker had smiled and told her that his kids were having so much fun. It was a good time. I didn’t want to leave. Hopefully I’ll get back there soon to visit.