Rug Auction

The commercials had been on for a month. It was finally time for the rug auction held at Kadena's officer's club. It was nice to get let out early on a Friday. Everyone from AFN was there to help. The auction was planning to sell 110 hand knotted Persian and eastern rugs. They sold rugs of sizes - size carpets, scatter rugs, kelims and runners.

The ladies of the station worked the front desk. They got peoples information and registered people for the door prize. It was my job to hand out the numbers they used to bid with and to tell them to register for a chance to win a door prize - a free rug.

Gunny was doing what Gunny always does - takes care of business and made sure things ran smoothly. The suit he wore made him look like a politician. He only has a few years left in the Corps... you never know?

This was the first auction I had ever been to. The auctioneer was an Australian man named Nick. Nick and I had a conversation before the auction about traveling to Australia. I'm planning a trip to Australia for sometime next year. He told me check out a discount airline that recently starting flying out of Tokyo called JetStar - an offshoot of the airline Qantas. He and Sgt. Hunter both agreed Brisbane is the place to go. Nick also said to visit Queensland and the Gold Coast if I had the chance. Nick gave me his busness card and said if I needed any help just to ask. I appreciated it. I've been researching for a trip. It's all apart of my plan to see all 7 continents by the time I'm 25.

The auction itself was pretty interesting. It was fun to see how high the bids would go. It was like watching eBay live. Ha!

The men of the station worked the rugs. They had another group of Marines helping out. They brought the rugs to us and it was our job to fold them and organize them for an easy pick up at the end of the auction.

It was hard work but I did have fun. I don't mind dressing up anymore. I'm angry that the short part of my tie is showing. I learned later in the night that if you can't get it through the loop on the back of the tie that you can tuck it between the buttons. Of course, Malta refuses to take a normal picture...