The last three days in Kabul

I arrived on Friday, and have been busy at work trying to get an internet connection so I can skype with my family.  Sadly, I haven't been able to until now.  Here's some info on how I've spent my last few days, in case you're interested.  (If you're not, then why are you here?)

We arrived at 650 am on Friday morning.  Waiting for my luggage is something I always hate, but in Afghanistan it has the added scare of "What happens if it gets lost?  I can't find a place to buy stuff here!"  Luckily for me it got there.  They just waited until almost all of it had been offloaded to put mine on.  Which meant that we had to wait for 20 minutes to go back through customs and security.  When we arrived at the Embassy, we immediately went to work.  (This isn't easy to do when you've gotten some bad jet-lag.)  However, we started getting some real work done, and were ahead of schedule by a day when we knocked off for the night.  (We actually lasted until 930 pm before going to sleep, a Herculean task that I am very proud of right now.)

Oh, did I mention I'm sleeping in a trailer with 3 other guys?  Oh, and that I get the top bunk.  Fun times had by all.  As I pointed out earlier, I haven't slept on the top bunk since I roomed with my little brother.  (As a 34 year old man, it is truly incomprehensible that I have to climb up to the top, but I do.)  Anyways, needing to use the bathroom in the middle of the night ended my sleep, as I didn't want to try climbing back up in the dark.  (My father suggested I use a chamber pot.  I hope he likes the home when he gets older.)

Anyways, we also visited the two bazaars that occur on Friday and Saturday here in Kabul.  I got my kids some nice gifts to hopefully make up for leaving them, and of course I got chocolate for my wife when I was in Dubai.

Answers to questions some might have about the Embassy here in Kabul: 1) Yes, the food stinks, and it's all you have.  You can occassionally go out to dinner, but I think I'll save that for some other time.  2) It's true that the bar here is called the Duck and Cover, and the emblem is a duck wearing a helmet.  It was established in 1389.  3) The original embassy building was built in the 1940s, and abandoned in 1989.  When it re-opened in 2001, it still had the photos of George Bush 41 and Dan Quayle on the walls, and the cafeteria still had prices from 1989.  From the time the US left in 1989 and re-opened in 2001, there were a group of brave Afghans that, with grave personal danger to themselves, looked after the Embassy and helped maintain the grounds for when we returned.  I always think of them when I walk into that building. 

Dubai on the way back to Kabul

Hello kind reader.  I've returned back to my blog, since I am headed back to Kabul.  It's been a bit crazy as I didn't have much time to get ready for this trip.  (At least on my last one I was ready about a month before.  This time it's been about 2 weeks since I found out I was headed here.)  Thanks to my mom for flying up again to help with the kids, and thanks to Jane for being such an awesome woman.  (Many people ask me what I did to deserve her, but honestly I have no idea.  I do have chocolate for her though....)

 Dubai is where I'm at right now, and it's pretty cool.  (But 7 hours in the airport is a little too long.)  This time there will be no traveling out to the field in Afghanistan.  I'll be in Kabul from Friday until the 13th.  Then, I head back home where I belong.  Hopefully I'll get to see some friends, get some good work done, and keep my head down.  Thanks to all my friends that wished me well.  It means alot to me. Again I'm struck by the insanity of flying into a war zone on a commercial airplane, but it's the only way to go.  I'll update this blog the time I'm here, so feel free to follow along.  If you have any questions on Kabul, or life at the Embassy, let me know and I'll try to answer for you.