I take a break from our regularly scheduled Christmas recaps to bring you back to Cyprus, the week before Thanksgiving. Every November, at every U.S. embassy around the world, we gather to celebrate the birthday of the U.S. Marine Corps. In spite us both having served overseas before, going to Marine Ball this year was a first for us. (In Guayaquil, we didn’t have a marine detachment and so going to Marine Ball involved a plane ride and overnight in Quito…I don’t like formal balls enough to get on an airplane for one.)
All of the different sections of the Embassy invited many Cypriot and international colleagues to enjoy the ceremony, dinner, and dancing. I really enjoyed the ceremony, though I couldn’t see anything because the room was not configured to optimize peoples’ views in the “cheap seats” (actually, all the seats cost the same amount but they put unimportant people in the back). (All the pictures are small because I’ve uploaded them directly to the blog to protect the privacy of the Marines.)
The crowd favorites were the Royal Scots, whose dress uniforms were kilts, knee socks, and red tuxedo jackets. I have more than a few colleagues who tried to get cell phone photos of them when their backs were turned because they found their outfits were so awesome. These are official photos, but you can see the bagpiper in the back of the photo below if you want to get a sense of the look. It doesn’t do the regalia full justice though, they even had little pouches in the front to hold stuff.
Here is a picture of Sev and I– Sev wore his wedding suit (he doesn’t own a tux, but this is just as sharp). I ordered my dress from Nordstrom (it has pockets!) and had it hemmed by a Turkish Cypriot tailor for $8. I got my hair done for 30 euros across the street from our house, but my hair was so thick the poor woman couldn’t figure out what to do with it. I pulled no fewer than 18 (!!!) huge bobby pins out of my hair later…
The most moving part of the ceremony is the table set for one, right in the middle of the room. It remained empty all night as a remembrance for all the Marines who made the ultimate sacrifice. Every day when I walk past the Marine on post, I am struck by how young they are. One couldn’t legally drink until just recently. It’s hard for me to imagine them in a place like Afghanistan or Iraq, and harder still to imagine them dying there.
