To be honest, today was very laid back. The big demonstration (which went way over 20 000 people, according to the ANSO alert (Afghanistan NGO Safety Office)) dispersed without incident, which I guess is good news for everybody. There also seemed to be quite a lot of traffic around for blocked roads, but who am I to question the Afghan polices efficiency? And we still have city power! Talking of which, I managed to wire up one of our new voltage stabilisers successfully – at least I hope so, because that’s what I’m running my laptop on at the moment. Its been going for a couple of hours and coped with a couple of spikes, so I guess my wiring isn’t too bad. Just got to keep my fingers crossed – I’ll hook up the “server” tomorrow.
It was a funny day really, I thought I’d be bored out of my head being stuck in the compound all day, but A**** (one of the Pakistani expats) has two of his brothers staying here over the weekend, and so we had quite a full house, even with the local staff being away. Its heartening to see how quickly I can get used to life without TV (although I still take fairly regular looks at the BBC news website, so I know all the important stuff like Brittany Spears shaving her head) – and how much time just socialising and playing games together can take up. And it’s not like time goes any slower, or the pace seems wildly more relaxed here – it’s just that it feels like a big family, all hanging out. Good stuff, I say.
The other interesting thing is that I’m noticeably losing weight. This can’t be to do with exercise, as I don’t do more than walk from the flat to the office, or, if I’m lucky, from the car to a shop and back; and it’s not to do with the amount of food I’m shovelling down – two substantial meals a day, with eggs for breakfast as well – although I’m not eating huge amounts of meat – I think it probably has more to do with the fact that I’m not drinking my regular couple of glasses of wine with the folks every evening – not something I’ve been doing over here. You’d think it would be impossible to get alcohol over here, but there are a few bars in Kabul – mainly in Hotels, but they exist. In fact, I suppose I should really see one before I go, as the woman I flew over with bet me a drink that we weren’t actually going to get to leave Dubai that day, and a drink (alcoholic) was the price. Though, to be honest, I feel a bit dubious about collecting on it. This is for a few reasons a) Even though it’s totally above board, I feel a little weird about going out for a drink with a woman I only just met when I have a girlfriend back home (which I made very clear, and I’m sure its just about hanging out, but, you know how these things can look), b) Doing something “Western” isn’t very appealing, to be honest – especially if I’m going to be going into town to do it (and a man and a woman hanging out together really is very western), c) I’m getting used to not drinking, and d) The whole idea of going to go somewhere where there will be a concentration of western people doing something profoundly anti-cultural and anti-Islamic strikes me as a fundamentally bad idea. I mean, the phrase “fish in a barrel” springs to mind. Still, She really helped me out with getting over here, we got on well as potential friends – and I’m always up for getting new friends (that’s GETTING, not REPLACING, folks!), and she’s involved in some interesting things that could interest a couple of my friends who are planning to come over later in the year – and it would be plain rude just to blank her, especially after she called me to check I was OK after being picked up. So, what to do? I’m not quite confident enough to get a driver to take me out on my own for a meeting, but that may change over the next week. I do like making dramas out of the most inconsequential things. Give me a genuine emergency any day of the week, thank you!
Oh, and I also know that a hotel bar was raided a couple of days ago by the police, and, although I like experiencing cultural differences, I draw the line at testing prisons.
(Talking of which, M**** and D**** went to the women’s prison in Kabul the other day – and I got to hear about how it operated. The thing that sprang to my mind almost immediately was 18th century descriptions of Newgate debtors prison, where those with families outside could live an almost bearable life, having provisions brought to them, whilst those without lived a pretty miserable existence. And as a majority of women in Kabul prison have been sentenced for murdering their husbands – and I’m sure you could find several mitigating circumstances, given the history of these things – they have no one to support them or their children when they’re in prison, making the experience much, much worse for them)
I’d like to end this post on a slightly less self obsessed note, and say I learnt something profound today, but the closest I got was this morning when Dan gave me a shout from the roof – the weather has been getting better and better, and the clear air gave a breathtaking view of the mountains. I’m not going to show you here as a) too many rooftop shots get boring very quickly and b) I didn’t take my camera up in the morning. I did take it up tonight though, and got a couple of nice long exposure shots of the houses (like birdhouses is how Anthony described them) clinging like little lamps to the hillside. I need to take some time to review if any of them came out well, so no photos for tonight!
Sorry, I couldn't resist it!
