Today has been full of headaches – especially in the morning. It took three hours to try and fix a CD drive in one of the older computers – complicated by the fact that I spent about an hour trying to get it back on the net – and then I had to download some propriety utility which was written in some really poorly translated japlish; all for a CD drive – and the company only ever seemed to have made two. Talk about overkill. I was not particularly pleased. And then, in the middle of this, people kept asking me to do more and more jobs that were niggly – like fixing a couple of printers, taking a look at a misbehaving memory stick, sorting out online storage for files that could be downloaded from a blog, fixing a broken dictionary, copying a copy-protected typing tutor – and I still have a stack of things to do – creating a small network, arranging simple automatic scheduled backups, trying to stabilise the network infrastructure, sorting out a wireless access point, and doing a complete hardware and software inventory, as well as trying to do a little techie training for one of the more savvy guys here. I have to admit I had a bit of a sense of humour failure. But I suppose I should look at it on the flipside – what I’m doing obviously fills a need they have here, and people are appreciating what I can do, and how it can make their lives easier.
Anyway, I got the chance to unwind a bit after lunch – D**** invited me out, and I almost turned down the opportunity because I was feeling that I was running out of time fast – D**** then reminded me that he was the boss, so if he was inviting me out, then I could put a pause on the work – which was good to be told! What I really appreciated today was working in an office full of techies back home – if there’s something you can’t work out, then you just ask someone else – and the stuff gets shared around, or at least you get a break to think about a solution - and the problem is being looked at by someone else at the same time. At the very least you can bounce problems off each other, whereas here I’m on my own. Still, it’s what I signed up for, and I suppose a little harsh reality is good from time to time.
It didn’t help that the office was getting darker and darker as I was sitting in it – not from the effects of the weather, but because of the 4000 schoolbags that were being piled up outside – these are going to get delivered to seven schools somewhere in the **** region sometime over the next couple of weeks – obviously I can’t be more specific for security reasons, but I can show you the big pile of boxes containing the bags:
Anyway, I got to go grocery shopping after lunch, and I was in the mood for comfort food – so I went and spent my dollars on crunchy nut cereal, Marmalade, chocolate, biscuits, some delicious Afghan cookies, and honey flavoured cream in a can. I don’t intend to eat that, just take it home as a trophy, if they’ll let me through customs. The banana flavoured cream didn’t appeal, even though it seemed a tad more bizarre. (I still think my best travel food score was my can of “semtex” energy drink from Slovakia; which my brother annoyingly drank a while back). So yes, my prediction of appreciating foods from home (at least not from Afghanistan anyway) growing with time was certainly accurate.
The Kamiri supermarket, home from home
Welcome to the Kabul intercontinental! No guns!
On the way back, D**** and M**** took me to the Kabul Intercontinental Hotel – we went through three barriers and had (one side) of our car checked for bombs – though having five in the car (me, M****, D****, our driver (whose name I still haven’t quite got) and Anthony) would have made us pretty inefficient suicide bombers. Inside, the hotel seemed very empty – though the “bookseller of Kabul”s (the real character from the book) franchise was open, although with no-one to be seen. Some of the prices seemed frighteningly expensive, but I’m getting used to paying Kabul prices. We were surprised to see the shop open at all, because the last we knew, the guy was in a stalemate standoff with the hotel. There were more empty shops than open ones in the lobby, and the whole affair looked a little sad. There was a nice little Jewellery one open though, where I picked up a couple of things.
The bookseller of Kabul – one of his outlets
After we’d had tea, I got a few more pictures to add to the ones I’d taken before we went in:
Fancy a dip? This gets filled occasionally, allegedly.
Looking towards the HOPE compound, which is the other side of the mountain past the bread factory (the yellow building that looks like a brewery - the tall one)
Taking in the view
This used to be a vineyard, given recent political events here, I’m surprised it's lasted so long.
After my refreshment, the afternoon went much better – although I had my fair share of frustration as P**** and I tried to unlock the secrets of how an old A3 printer worked – or didn’t, as the case was. P**** was far more motivated than me, because he could really use it for his site plans, at the moment he’s restricted to using A4 print-outs, not good by any means. We managed to get some printing going, but the sheet feeder doesn’t work, and neither does the manual feed. We both ended up filthy, and a little frustrated, and so the evening events were a welcome relief!
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