Saturday was the Afghanistan New Year's Day, it's the year 1388. Their calendar started when Mohammad completed his mission trip from Mecca to someplace (I couldn't understand what they were saying and gave up after asking three times). All the Afghanis (except the paving contractor) took off Friday for the religious day and then they took off Saturday for the new year. Many of them also took off Sunday. We could hear horns honking and a little bit of gun fire, they shoot their guns in the air, in celebration of the new year. With binoculars we could also see a large gathering on top of one of the mountains/hills outside the base. I guess it's part of the celebration to climb to the top with your family and have a picnic lunch on New Year's Day.
Sunday was moving day for one of the buildings on base. This type of building is a "B-Hut" and can serve a number of functions, i.e. living quarters or office space. It is similar to a plywood shed and is an intermediate structure between tents and more permanent brick and mortar structure that we are living in which provide more protection. The building was being moved for a new brick and mortar building that is being built on this site. The B-Hut will be relocated and used for another purpose.
The other picture is the line up of trucks waiting to enter the base. The trucks must be parked in the "jingle" yard for a day before they can come on the base. "Jingle" is a pretty common term around here, we have the jingle yard, jingle gate, jingle road, jingle air, jingle on the trucks, etc. "Jingle Bells" will have a whole new meaning for me next Christmas.
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