Paroled!!

I just arrived in Dubai and I feel like I just got out of jail. Don't get me wrong, the experience in Kabul was definitely life-changing and once-in-a-lifetime, but when I got off the plane and felt 70 degree weather, and air-conditioned airport, I felt as giddy as I did the first time I went to the Rose Bowl or seeing the Sistine Chapel or meeting my lady.

Even sweeter, as I exited the airport after a long passport line, a dude was there waiting with a sign with my name. SWEET! I never had the upper echelon treatment before, so this next 24 hours will be money. (note: I would move to Kabul for a year if that meant I would never have to wait in line ever again. Waiting in line is my biggest pet peeve in life by far. That, washing dishes, Denise Richards and Cristiano Ronaldo.)

Now I'm going to hit the pool to disinfect in some chlorine and then hit the town to purchase a hookah. I may break down and have a Big Mac. I think I deserve it.

Good times!

Insomniac

Dealing with a bit of insomnia right now going into my final work day. At least the power has stayed on, so I’ve been able to pass the time by watching the final round of the Buick Invitational. I must have insomnia if I’m watching a meaningless golf tournament. It was either that or some movie starring Martin Lawrence and Tim Robbins (who knew such a flick existed). Coincidentally, I saw parts of this movie early in the trip while still working on jet lag.

Tiger Woods is starting to take over and the rookies atop the leader board are choking which is keeping me interested. I started thinking about golf announcers and if they ever get sick of coming up with superlatives and praise when talking about Tiger. They sure don’t act like it. I think Jim Nantz just offered his body to Tiger.

My final work day should be a quiet one. Today is Ashora, a Shiite day of atonement and mourning, and is a national holiday. What little I know about this holiday is that it is a day of mourning for a couple of Mohammed’s prophets. At least, that what I have been told. Not too versed on the background of this holiday, so I’ll just leave it at that. I guess if you’re interested, you could hit wikipedia.

Apparently, Shiites celebrate this day by flagellating themselves on the back with some steel rods. This has also historically been a day when there is potential for some revolts and the international community has been put on lockdown. Again, the folks staying at the hotel aren’t thinking twice about it. Everybody said they will just work from the hotel. I think I have been here long enough too, as I am not worried about it at all either. The office is only a couple of blocks away and is in a fairly quiet area, so it should be fine. Plus I need to get online to post this entry, check work email, meet my boss for lunch etc.

I am intrigued by the whole Ashora thing and am curious to see how the local Shiites “celebrate” this day. An Afghan guy here said it wouldn’t be a problem if I were to watch, saying I could blend in pretty easily, but just don’t open my mouth or take any pictures. I may feel comfortable here, but I’ll probably just stay in the office and watch any coverage they have on local TV.

Tiger with a two shot lead with one to play. I guess next I’ll be watching to see if Big Momma and Nook LaLoosh can overcome their cultural differences and successfully pull off a heist.

Aussie, Aussie, Aussie....oy, oy, oy

The internet continued to give me grief this week resulting in limited posts. 48 more hours to go! I'm so ready for a long, hot shower and swim in Dubai.

I had a fun weekend. Yesterday I went to an Australia Day celebration here in Kabul. The party was complete with Foster’s beers, INXS music, sheep racing, and Australian beef pies. The weather gods cooperated as well and for the first time since I’ve been here, the weather was above freezing.

I recognized a handful of people from previous nights out, making the party all the more fun. I also met a couple of American “security” guys. Not sure who they are working for or what they were doing in Kabul as they kept that information pretty close to the vest, but I found out one of the guys lives in the Mission district in SF. Of course his buddies, a couple of old, rugged-looking New Yorkers, were busting his chops about being from San Francisco and of course the obligatory gay jokes were getting thrown around. The guy from SF responds, “Yeah, when I drop a quarter, I kick it to Oakland before picking it up.” He then turns to me, “you’ve probably heard that one before.” I quickly replied, “sure, that’s an old one” as I quickly remembered that he had just told me he is legally authorized to carry a gun at all times when he is in SF due to his “security” role.

Here are some party pics:

Interwebs

I can't believe that this trip is coming to a close and I only have four nights left here in Kabul. Besides the interesting work and experiences so far, I think having access to the internet has been the single biggest factor in helping me pass the idle time. Thanks to the web, I definitely don't feel like I'm 6,000 feet above sea level and thousands of miles away from home.

I am able to send emails to friends and family, update this blog, read the LA Times Sports section, watch American TV, basically do everything I would be doing from my SF apartment. Interestingly, the server at the hotel was down last night and I couldn't access the internet. This made me realize how much this technology is relied upon and also how, in the not so distant past, access to such information on a global scale was extremely limited.

I remember traveling through Europe in 1996 with the college mates and having to search for newspaper stands that had English language newspapers to get some state-side updates. (I was in Barcelona and learned about Tupac's Las Vegas shooting this way. It was in USA Today. Don't ask me how I remember such things.) The point is, a mere 10 years ago, when one was traveling internationally, you knew you were away from home. No internet cafes, no satellite TV, not even DVD's to help pass the time. Only newspapers and a long distance call on a pay phone were the accessible tools to get in touch with home.

Today's technology has made traveling so much easier. Since I've been here I've made hotel reservations in Paris, paid credit card bills, and coordinated a trip to LA in March. Although missing face to face contact with friends and family remains difficult, thoughts of being homesick have been minimal. Last night, I had hoped to get online as evenings here coincide with the middle of the business day in San Francisco. When I found out the network was down, I was at a loss. I could have read or watched a movie instead, but I was focused on getting on-line. Without access to the information superhighway, I felt stranded. Luckily, I reconciled by watch some golf tournament on TV and falling asleep.

Today, the office email server is down limiting my productivity, but at least I can still get on-line....hence this entry.

Break from the 3rd World

I went to a steakhouse with some folks from the office today. Upon my return the Oscar nominations were being announced. In a break from Kabul, here are my Oscar picks (let it be known that my co-workers bought me two glasses of scotch prior to returning to the hotel. Also, some movie with Hillary Duff and Heather Locklear is playing on one of the 5 channels on my tv, so my picks may be skewed.)

Best picture: My favorite movie of the year, Blood Diamond (and Jackass Numer Two), was not even nominated so its a tough call. I've only seen 3 of the 5 flicks nominated and didnt think The Queen, Babel, or Departed were particularly epic. All of them were pretty good and to be honest, The Queen was actually the most interesting since I didn't know the back story going on during the Princess Di fiasco with regards to the crown. In my opinion, and not what I think will win, I'll have to say The Departed was my fave of the options. Jack, Leo, gangstas and Boston accents are always entertaining.

Best Actor: Leonardo DiCaprio is my hands down choice. Unless he is asked to play an athlete, DiCaprio is always pretty money. I mentioned to Natalia when we saw Blood Diamond that him and Denzel are always money regardless of the quality of the film. The conflict diamond story was interesting as well and he did a great job I thought. Truth be told, I didn't see any of the other flicks here and only know that one of the other nominees dates Rachel McAdams, another personal favorite. (See pic. Further props to her for starring in The Hot Chick with the Bay Area's own Rob Schneider. Anyone who enjoys working with SF-bred, half Filipinos will always rank highly in my book.)

Best Actress: Meryl Streep. I saw this flick on the way out here and although nothing annoys me more than the repetitive story of the frumpy midwestern chick with no style making it in NY after a milisecond, Streep played the bitch role perfectly. Again, I only saw three of the five flicks here, but Streep struck a chord. Maybe it was being on a plane for 14 hours, but she was good. I'm almost tempted to blindly pick Kate Winslet since she might be my favorite actress, but I didn't see the flick yet.

Best Supporting Actress: Jennifer Hudson. When I was in NY, we saw a "double feature" of Blood Diamond and Dreamgirls. I've never seen people applaud in the audience during a singing number in a movie before, but people did just that after a couple of Hudson's solos. That alone is Oscar-worthy.

Best Supporting Actor: Djimon Honsou. My bias to Blood Diamond is clear at this point, but he was great I thought. Alan Arkin is also a personal fave (Slums of Beverly Hills and Glengarry GlenRoss are great), but I didn't see Little Miss Sunshine. Marky Mark was only in two scenes in The Departed, which makes his nomination a joke to me. Eddie Murphy is also deserving I think. Hopefully, Charlie Murphy is in attendance with him.

Best Director: Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu. Viva Mexico! I may be biased towards the latino filmakers of the world, but it takes some skill to juggle the numerous storylines taking place in Babel, and I thought he presented them well, especially the Tokyo stuff. Scorsese has so many better flicks that I think a win for him here is just a salute to his body of work, which I can accept.

Progress?

Today marks the 7-day countdown until I leave Kabul and return to the developed world. First, Dubai for 24 hours, then to Paris for 4 days, then finally back to SF on Super Bowl Sunday.

I had an interesting discussion with an Indian woman at the hotel this morning over breakfast. She has been working here in Kabul for over 1.5 years (and has lived at the hotel the entire time. She’s great. She definitely throws her weight around the hotel and gets perks like extra heaters for her room, specially made eggs, warm milk, etc.) I learned that she has been working on various urban development projects for over 20 years in various under-developed countries including Tanzania and the Balkans. She said the model for development is virtually the same everywhere, which makes complete sense to me. All the money comes from big money organizations like United States Agency for International Development (USAID), The World Bank, the United Nations, UK Department for International Development (DFID), and the Asian Development Bank. With these funds, they support development projects (economic development, governance, civil society, law reform, education, health, you name it) that implement approaches that fit into a familiar model. This model is traditionally developed in the ivory tower of Western universities and rarely do projects stray from this style. Whether this approach is the most effective continues to be debated. Afghanistan could potentially be one of the arguments for seeking alternative development angles.

This woman told me that one of the biggest factors impeding the progress of development here is the distrust of Western experts guiding the development projects. The locals would rather work with development experts from Asia rather than the West. Stepping back and thinking about this logically, it makes sense. Contributions from the west in the past have mostly been violent and aggressive. Distrust and skepticism over this history has prevented many of the projects from expanding. Whereas in places like the Balkans, an eagerness to develop and partner with the European Union has made them welcome Westerners (Western Europeans, that is) to help them in this process.

Another huge impediment to Afghan development is the lack of education of its population. Again, since the Russian invasions and subsequent regimes, education was disrupted virtually for the past 25 years. While many civil society organizations have standardized processes that they intend to incorporate to build Afghanistan’s infrastructure, the lack of adequate knowledge and skills by local Afghans have delayed much of its progress. For this reason, impact has been minimal. I also learned that substantive results likely will not be able to be measured until 10 to 20 years down the road.

Additionally, many of the appointed directors of various ministries and the central government institutions are actually Afghan-Americans or Afghans educated in the West. I found out that many of these appointees are younger than 35 and have not necessarily lived in Afghanistan their whole lives. A question persists whether these individuals will stay on or return to their foreign homes after their terms are complete furthering complicating the legacy that these projects are having.

Its really such an exciting time to be here to see a country at this point in its development. The question remains whether the billions of dollars in foreign aid being invested here will provide a stronger Afghanistan or have no effect at all. The consensus here is that it is still unknown.

definitely not on myspace

As mentioned in a previous post, I have been able to glom on to a social network of ex-pats living in my hotel.

What's crazy about this is that for the first time in a very long time, I am considered a youngster. These guys and gals are all veteran international consultants that have worked and lived all over the world. I am still just getting a taste.

Its definitely a rarity for me to be the youngest of the group. I am the eldest in my family, eldest of my 15 first cousins, one of the oldest of the UCLA lads (Escalante has me by a couple months), senior member of the NYC posse, and oldest of the SF homies besides KDo (also only a two month difference). Not sure what this role has played in social interactions or hierarchies (if any), but I'm sure it means something, making this time in Kabul even more interesting.

Just last night I mentioned that I had just seen Dog Day Afternoon for the first time yesterday. I went on to say that I thought it was great and how awesome the young Al Pacino was in the movie. (As an aside, Pacino was so money in this flick that I thought for sure he won an Oscar for it. Great one liners..."Attica! Attica!" among others. This flick definitely set off a lifetime of great Pacino lines most recently from Heat, Devil's Advocate, Glengarry Glen Ross, and Scent of a Woman. FYI- he was nominated but lost to Jack in Cuckoo's Nest. Tough to argue that one. 1975 was a good movie year.)

Anyways, rather than getting some responses from the crew, I was asked whether I was even born yet, and stories about what they were doing in 1975. Pretty funny. One guy immediately asked if I had seen Reservoir Dogs. Now, anybody of my generation knows that Tarantino's first flick influenced a whole genre of movie making and everbody I know has seen it multiple times. I guess what's interesting is that I wanted to talk about Dog Day some more, but the conversation shifted to a movie I've seen and talked about a billion times already.
Maybe they didn't remember the flick as well as I did, didn't like it, or simply didn't care. I'm probably making a bigger deal about this than is actually there, but the point is I think after 33 years, I got my first taste of being treated like a little brother amongst peers...at least I consider myself their peers. The interesting thing about this role is that they have gone out of their way to offer advice about good restaurants, invite me to parties, tell me about good Afghan rug stores, etc. In other words, they made sure I was taken care of.

I guess this is noteworthy because I think I have been more of a nurturer than nurturee (for better or worse) over the course of my life, and rarely am I in this position. It doesn't necessarily feel awkward, but worthy enough for me to write about. When placed in a forced social settings, roles within a group dynamic seem to reveal themselves pretty quickly. I think I'm just not used to being a pup after all these years.

The Kids are All Right

Every time I've been able to get out and take some pictures, there are always little kids around begging for money, selling matches, gum, or chocolate bars, or asking for their pictures to be taken. Here are a few shots...

Kabul Cocktailing

Last night, I ventured out with some of my co-workers and actually had a night on the town. A night like this was long overdue.

Some of the other folks staying at the hotel invited me to a happy hour in one of their rooms. Life at the Park Palace Hotel is a bit like returning to the UCLA dorms. Due to limited access to places around Kabul, everyone who wants to hold an impromptu party hosts one in their room. I first should point out that most of the tenants at this hotel have been here for several months. They all know the ins and outs of living in Kabul and have carved out quite a tight knit community with others in similar situations. By getting invited to the happy hour, I felt like I was joining a secret club or entering a speakeasy. I should also add that these were 50-year-olds, which made me appreciate their invite even more.

I walk into the door and there is a full-blown bar setup in this guy’s room, complete with beer, wine, scotch, vodka, the works. This is all very significant as this was my first encounter with such a scene since my arrival over 10 days ago. Even more significant was that to a rookie like myself (or “new guy” or “short timer” as I became known), I learned that access to alcohol is in high demand and difficult to attain. For a rookie, that is. About five months ago, the government pulled alcohol off the shelves forcing foreigners to get creative with their booze purchasing. Apparently, these folks spend most of their working day trying to figure out ways to get hooch.

The most direct way is through the various embassies throughout Kabul. The embassies live by their own rules and hence booze is plentiful. In order to get access to such places a connection is needed to get on the premises. Some of the folks I spoke with mentioned how if they have a meeting with certain embassies, they will request to meet at their office, so they can get onto their compound, and have access their commissaries. Or they just ask their colleagues for the hook-up. Pretty simple. I also quickly found out that this crew rolled as if they were Kabul’s Costco for booze. During my 1 hour of hanging out, two people came in to buy a case of beer to take away. With a stocked inventory, this was not a problem and the $50 transaction was made (pretty steep, eh?).

From there, I was invited to a house party near my office. This was definitely a side of Kabul that I had been missing. Since the national work week here is Sunday- Thursday, Thursday night is the big party night. Apparently there are always parties going on somewhere. This party was great. About 30 international workers from all over were there along with catered Chinese food, full bar (of course), and good music (not just Shakira and Sean Paul either). I got the chance to talk to a number of people and hear stories about what they were doing here, how they like it, what was their major, the usual.

Despite having conversations with a handful of interesting people, I quickly learned that each story was generally the same. Whether it was a Kenyan woman working with the UN, a Canadian working with the Ministry of Women’s Affairs, an American working for an international NGO, or a German working with the Ministry of Urban Development, each job was essentially identical.

Me: Who are you working with?

Them: XYZ on a project with the Ministry of something or other.

Me: What exactly are you doing with them?

Them: We are working to build their capacity and conducting needs assessments.

Me: Interesting. How long have you been here?

Them: (Answers varied from 3 months to 2 years)

Me: How is the project going?

Them: Slow. Any impact that we are achieving is happening at a very slow pace. It has been difficult to get complete buy-in from the local Afghan staff.

Me: Understandable I suppose. The presence of the international community here is all brand new, so the notion of capacity building workshops, needs assessments, process implementations, etc. are all very new to them. How much longer is your stay?

Them: Well, the project is scheduled to end soon, but they’ll probably extend my contract for another year.

Me: Great. I could use another drink. You?

It may sound pretty boring but after not going out all for the past two weeks, it felt like New Year’s Eve to me. An interesting side note is that at about 10pm, most of the party gathered up their things and headed out. Pretty much every international worker has a curfew and drivers only offer rides back to their homes/hotels/guest houses until that time. I too had a curfew (11pm) but fortunately, I was with friends with connections.

A co-worker was awaiting some friends of hers from the Swedish embassy to arrive and we intended to continue the party at a local bar. We got picked up by the Swedish embassy car, which was a bullet-proof SUV. Pretty crazy. Along the way, I was told to knock on the window, and quickly learned what a bulletproof window was like. It was like tapping the shark tank at the Monterey aquarium, nothing was getting through that bad boy.

We arrived at a bar called L’Atmosphere, a French joint. As usual, the door was guarded by security with heavy artillery. I see this every day and it still freaks me out. Once we got in, I felt like I was back in Germany for the World Cup. The bar was packed (probably close to 125 people) with folks ages 25-40 from everywhere in the world drinking, dancing, laughing, and smoking (CA and NY got it right. My clothes reek of smoke this morning.) This was clearly the place to be on a Thursday night and people were letting loose. I suppose its justified when considering you can’t walk the streets on your own.

I actually started to fade out at about 12:30 (cut me some slack, this was my first time up past 10:30pm since getting here) and we all headed home. How you ask? There are no drivers available this late, you say. Since the Swedes were rocking on, we had to figure out a way back. Luckily, the Kabul veterans I was with knew of a secure taxi company that takes intl. folks back to their cribs after hours. So not a problem.

I woke up this morning feeling pretty good despite the late night and although I had found a way to pass the time better, I highly doubt that I’ll be missing my flight on the 30th.

Let It Snow

Nothing says winter like snow on the trees and razor wire



View of the street outside our office



Office security puts down his rifle and picks up a shovel



Friday afternoon from the hotel roof

White

This morning I woke up to 4 inches of snow on the ground. It definitely brightens things up a bit.

I'll post some shots this evening.

International Affair: TRIVIA ANSWERED

Congrats to Natalia and Erin!

Prizes will be forthcoming.

Validation

Today, I was finally able to get out to the field and had an amazing day visiting the Rabia Balkhi High School, the only all-girls high school in all of Afghanistan.

Our organization worked to rebuild this school that had been destroyed during the years of Taliban rule in Kabul. Unlike the only other area of Kabul I had seen, the neighborhood where the school resides remains tremendously underdeveloped and signs of rebuilding have only recently begun. This high school is a great success story when considering that no more than five years ago, women were not even allowed to attend school under the tenets of a fundamental Taliban regime.

I was escorted by one of our program officers, an intelligent woman deeply committed to the success of the school. She kindly showed me the various elements of the school that the Foundation helped support and further reaffirmed my rationale for pursuing non-profit development as a career.

Although the high school is on winter holiday until early March, the resource center was bustling with Winter Intermission classes in English, Mathematics, and Computers. Classes of approximately 20 students sat in quiet attention, despite the freezing temperatures outside.



The experience of this visit was particularly moving as I had written about Rabia Balkhi twice before (with the help of local staff) in donor reports, but as is often the case in this job, it carried no specific feelings with it. To actually see the school in action was beyond words. I now know the struggles of the surrounding community, the earnestness of the faculty staff, and the commitment to education of the students.

I have millions of more pictures that I want to share, but the internet connection is super slow. I will link the rest to my flickr account shortly.

Khuda Hafez!

Kabul Trivia Time! PRIZES INVOLVED

In addition to the post below, I forgot to add another element of home that came up during the shopping ride.

During the ride the car radio was set to a local pop music station. I knew none of the artists except two, which were actually not surprises based on my trip to Germany this summer and China earlier in the year and realized these two artists are big time everywhere. As I'm bored, I'm willing to take guesses in the comments field as to who these artists were. It shouldn't be too hard as these are two pretty popular artists.

Two correct answers will yield a prize from Kabul. I promise it won't be a bootleg DVD.

where am i?

I've been here for a week and all in all its been rather nondescript with minimal updates. Today, though would be different. Saturday is the day that a convoy of international development workers from my office head on a shopping excursion to three different "PX's". These PX's are international military-backed shopping areas where one can get all of their groceries, sundries, and other things to feel a bit more like they are home and less like they are in Kabul.

Since my stay isn't for the long term, my only reason for going along was to see more of city (albeit in a car) and basically do as the local internationals do. On our first stop, I was more than happy to find a DVD store loaded with bootleg DVD's to allow me to better kill time. In my recent international work travels, the DVD stop has always been a personal fave. For $3 per DVD, you can load up on movies that you would never pay to see back home. I chose such cinematic classics as Benchwarmers, ATL, Supreman Returns, 24 Season One and Green Street Hooligans. At least now my evenings will be busier. They also had Season 11 of the Simpsons which is not even out yet at home. This was particularly interesting since that is the season that stars yours truly in a supporting role. I thought I could use this bit of information to schmooze the owner into giving me a free copy, but the language barrier was too much. He only spoke in US dollars. I actually didn't buy it, but I'm sure I will before I leave.

These PX's are full-fledged Target/Rite-Aid/Walgreens/Duane Reade style grocery stores complete with such western goods as Pringles, North Face gear, M&M's, and Pepperidge Farms cookies (chessmen even!). It was a trip to see modern stores after only seeing street vendors. Interestingly, none of the workers at these stores were Afghan. They were from other places such as Turkmenistan, the Philippines, and other neighboring countries. That speaks to the struggling economies of these other lands, as they would come to Kabul for work. Although upon further reflection, Kabul is definitely bustling and with a large population of international workers, they are much more likely to find steady work here than in other Central Asian countries.

I did finally get to see a lot more of the city on this trip. Again, I was in a car and didn't get to stop and take any pictures. No words will really do it justice, except to say that is didn't look too different than any other major city in the developing world. A lot of military on the streets, signs of emerging globalization including primitive store fronts sitting next to four story commercial buildings, and tons of uncontrolled traffic.

The ride also took me near the presidential palace, a number of embassies, and the US military base. I'm glad that these sites were pointed out to me as they all sit behind seven-foot concrete walls, razor wire, and heavily guarded entrances, which meant there is no way I could distinguish them from anything. I also learned that there is a bazaar that comes to the US Embassy on Friday afternoon (which is like Saturday in the US) to sell local goods so I'm stoked to check this out next week.

Perhaps, most importantly, after a slow first week a number of international consultants who work for the Foundation are beginning to pop up around the hotel and office just returning from "R&R" after the holidays. I have been able to strike up conversations with these folks and have been assured that they will take me around to do more things this week(and maybe even have a beer!). Hopefully this means that my stories will be a bit livelier , and more photos will be generated. Until then, it looks like I'm hanging with Jack Bauer for the rest of the day and evening.

My buddy Rich in LA has hooked me up to his Slingbox and I'm praying that the power stays on tonight so I can catch the UCLA-U$C hoops game. Sadly, I have been really looking forward to this (anybody who's reading this is likely familiar with my UCLA hoops addiction), but am a bit worried because the hotel power tends to have issues at night. Keep your fingers crossed that the electricity gods are with me, but more importantly that the boys get the W.

Thoughts on Dubai: Part One

Quiet day here in Kabul. Another day of hotel to office migration. I will say that with work having my entire focus, I have been able to get up to speed on various issues quicker than I normally would and have immersed myself in working with the local staff. I had a feeling this would happen as the same thing transpired during my last two visits to Beijing. Back to Dubai...

Unlike Kabul, Dubai looks like the entire city was built within the last twenty years. From everything I read, I thought I would be entering Las Vegas in the Middle East. I was correct.

Despite being a fully modernized and developed society, there is no metro system to speak of, nor is there any way to really walk around the city to get a sense of it as other cities in the world. The only options are to rent a car or take expensive cabs from giant mall to giant hotel resort to giant mall. Metal construction cranes dominated Dubai's skyline as it appears that Dubai developers intend to have propoerty available for every person on earth. These developments in process include projects that will make Dubai home to the tallest building in the world and a series of privately owned man-made islands in the shape of a global map. Oil money can buy a lot.

During my lone free day there, I decided to particpate in the excess by going indoor snowboarding at the Mall of the Emirates. It was quite a trip. The consistency of the snow as actually pretty good, but because it was indoors the runs were short and I got bored pretty quickly. The feeling of snowboarding with a roof overhead was disorienting (but not as much as watching a baseball game under a dome...dizzying). I paid for a 2 hour pass, which was more than enough time to take the experience in.

Here are three pics I took while on the slopes.

I'm starting to fade out. More tomorrow...

Quote of the Day

"Don't drink any tap water here EVER, not even in the shower. The water truly does have fecal matter."
--as told by a co-worker as I lugged a crate of bottled water back to my hotel room

Arrival in Kabul

After a six hour flight from NY to Amsterdam followed by another six hour flight that took me to Dubai, I have finally arrived in Kabul.

The flight from Dubai to Kabul was interesting. I was scheduled to fly in on a United Nations flight and had no idea what to expect (a common theme throughout this trip so far) regarding the size of the plane and the number of passengers, etc. To my surprise, my flight was on an older 737 and I was accompanied by about 125 other passengers. Almost all of these people were Europeans and seemed to be returning to Kabul for work after the holidays. As we waited to board the plane, I felt like a new kid starting school on the first day of the second semester. I was definitely one of the few people taking the trip to Kabul for the first time. As I curiously looked over the scene feeling slightly anxious about the whole thing, everyone else was casually chatting about their recent holiday travels, duty free purchases, and the merits of 50 Cent with regards to his "tonal versatility" (true story: I overheard 4 Brits talking about how they felt 50 was a new breed of rapper. it was pretty funny.)

Seeing all of these foreigners flying in definitely calmed whatever nerves I was feeling. The fact this this many people were treating this flight like a typical SF-LA flight put me at ease.

The flight was three hours long and was pretty non-descipt expect for the meal which included two ice cold beef patties with rice that broke my plastic fork and knife after two cuts. I have a feeling I'll be pretty hungry over the next three weeks.

The flight from Dubai to Kabul was predominatly flown over snow capped mountains. The view from my aisle seat was pretty striking, and I wanted to take some photos of the scene, but I had a bad angle and felt pretty self-conscious about pulling out my camera at that point. Hopefully on the way out of here, I have a window seat to take some shots.

I was picked up by office staff at the airport by local staff which was a great relief after a bit of confusion about where to head after customs and picking up my luggage. I had spoken to the guy that picked me up via email before the trip, so it was good to finally meet someone that knew me. One of the first things, he said to me after handing me a folder with a number of documents including security briefing materials, and local etiquettes, was how I am fortunate to have dark hair and dark eyes, which allowed me to not stand out as much as other foreigners visiting Afghanistan. This was good to hear although I don't think this means I will be cruising freely through the local markets, as I quickly learned that security will not allow me to walk anywhere. I will be accompanied by a driver everywhere.

I'm still pretty out of it, so I think that's all I have to offer for now. I do want to post something about my indoor skiing experience in Dubai and my impressions of the culture I gained in my 36 hours there. All is well though. Kabul is chilly, but I am in a warm hotel that has internet access and cable which allowed me to catch the Colts- Chiefs rerun.