Afghan adventures

I am now sitting in my little apartment in Adams Morgan, listening to the spring birds chirping merrily away. Two days ago I was listening to the spring birds chirping as well, but from the country director's lovely little compound in Kabul, Afghanistan. The birds chirp merrily there, too.

What a week! It was the first country visit I've made with a team before, so the entire show didn't depend on me, but rather our Vice President for Finance and Administration. This made the trip infinitely less stressful than other experiences, which gave me an opportunity to really open my eyes and take a look around. A look around from a convoy, admittedly, but a look nonetheless. They take security very seriously in Kabul!

If you're an expat in Afghanistan, you're kind of limited as to what you can do. It also depends on your organization: USG employees do not move from the American compound and live in what other expats liken to "pod living". My dear friend Amanda also says it's "shag fest", since there's nothing else to really do. (Sounds like our experience with rice mill workers in Bangladesh -- there's nothing to do but work and have sex, so the incidence of STDs in the rice areas is quite high, with local NGOs focusing on STD prevention!) For those lucky enough to be based in the town, there's eating out and eating out. We went out multiple times: French, German, Korean, Italian, and Pakistani were our cuisines of choice. And of course Afghan -- we went to a buffet at the InterContinental on Tuesday evening with our senior staff. Yummy, with a huge focus on meat. "Meat!" grinned my colleague Hashmet as the barbecue man came towards us with a massive skewer. "I love meat!"

When we did go out, it was by convoy. Admittedly, a convoy of two cars, both unarmed, but a convoy nonetheless. I think had they been armed I would have refused to go anywhere as the possibility of something going very wrong would have increased exponentially. We had a few little mishaps with cars being separated momentarily, but all went well. No western women were kidnapped during the week I was there, and that's been the standing threat since Clementina Cantoni from CARE International was kidnapped (and released unharmed!) in May 2005. And let that record continue, please.

I must take a nap. More anon.