Vacation Vocation

Weeellll.  This has so far been one hell of a week.  Unbelievable, but true.  Finally I made it out of Kandahar on the 29th, but not after a nine hour delay.  I waited around the hot, dusty PAX terminal on base with a myriad of young soldiers waiting to fly home for their leave.  Originally, I was to leave at 1pm and would have been placing that delightful hotel key card into the slot of my room around 4pm - by 9pm, still at PAX, I was trying to stifle a homicidal rage at both the fact that I was still in Afghanistan and that I also lost a day at the hotel I had already paid for.  I made it finally and that key card gained me access to my room at midnight - disappointed, but I was finally here!  The sound of the ocean, smell of something other than dirt and filth and actual moisture in the air was a welcome relief.

camels on the beach

self explanatory - the Palm Island is right in front of you!

view from my balcony

favorite pool and swim-up bar

My first day in Dubai was glorious - waking up in a pillow top, king size bed, walking out on my balcony to enjoy a hot cup of tea in the morning, a few hours at the pool (and pool bar), then a mani, pedi and much needed haircut at the salon.  Capped the afternoon by a walk on the beach, beautiful filet mignon for an early dinner and I was fully and totally committed to the week of relaxation I had ahead of me.  The pool and beach were interesting - body image in other countries is very different than that of the average US citizen.  The whole range from the genetically gifted to some very large Russian and British men (many in Speedos), more back hair than I've ever seen in one sitting thanks to the Arabs and two-pieces on women no matter what their size.  Quite interesting people watching.  It was so hot that your knees were sweating which made the pool and pool bar so much more fun.  I was amazed at watching all of the Muslim women in full black dress, walking on the beach and resort grounds.  Incredibly hot and muggy - so much so that the sea water was as warm as the outside - you could hardly tell that you were even wet - weird sensation!

View from my room window in Kabul

Then... I checked my email... a note from my new employer informing me that the funding for our project is suddenly under review and that I might need to stay in Dubai indefinitely (at their expense) until they had more information.  After a few exchanges of information, the picture looked bleak and I had no idea what would happen, job or no job, project or no project - only that I was in a strangely exotic location, trying to relax and hadn't even made it 24 hours until I was blindsided with some potentially horrific news.  And, it was the Thursday before a holiday weekend so no more info until the next week.  However, I was supposed to leave the following Thursday the 7th, so I made up my mind to try to relax and enjoy myself.  I did a pretty decent job other than totally being convinced that I had dislocated my jaw while sleeping thanks to doing so with my jaws massively clenched - the jury is still out on that one, but I can hardly open my Hillbilly cake hole and it's really painful to chew.  Still no news by the eve prior to my original departure date thanks to the time change, so I literally woke up Thursday morning to an email that said I was flying to Kabul, but that the project was still up in the air.


So here I am - in Kabul, which I've never flown into but its a civilian, not military airport.  Had to hunt my luggage down after waiting for it for over an hour.  A kind employee had it in his "office" - actually, he'd taken my luggage in hopes of collecting a finders fee for it, but I pulled out the "not playin' " face, with a side-eye of  attitude, took my luggage and left.  I'd had one hell of a week of stress while trying to vacation, topped off with sitting next to two Afghan men on the flight over with "cultural differences" (a nice term I came up with to describe horrific body odor, eating like an animal and other related issues) that had resulted in the Wino having an upset stomach and pounding headache - it was eye watering horrible, but really, I'm in their country so it's not up to me to judge.  And you certainly know when you're back here because the coughing, running nose and watery eyes begin within hours of touchdown.

AnyidoNOTtakeshit, I am now in Kabul enjoying a Friday off and leave for Mazar on Saturday afternoon.  I still have no idea what the fate of the program will be, but I did find out while dining at the villa where I am currently staying that many of my future project coworker's flights were canceled.  I think I lucked out by being in Dubai and it being cheaper to just fly me here.  Now I will work my Svengali magic and make myself as useful as possible.  I just want one more year here and then it's home for a nice break with all my short term goals accomplished!  Then I hope to find work anyplace else but back here!

I will say that if it weren't for my family, friends and significant other, I don't know how I could continue to do this work in this particular country.  The kind of situation I just went through while on vacation is mind boggling stressful, not to mention some of the situations and working conditions here.  It takes a lot of self-motivation to continue to come back to this place.  If I did not have my support system and constant good thoughts of home, I would be in trouble.  I try to look at the bigger picture in terms of working here and what I can learn and hopefully apply in new countries.  But at times, it kicks my behind being here and doing what I do. I will say, however, that it's a totally different vibe up here in Kabul and everyone here raves about Mazar.  It's almost normal down to being able to go to restaurants, shops, bars - today I was invited to go out for lunch and then a trip to the market and I caught myself just staring blankly with a look like "out?  Wha..?"  I've never been out here (other than my last trip to Kabul). On days off in the Kandahar region you spend your time following the shade shadows while you sit outside with your friends and swat at the flies that are crawling all over you.  Point being is that I think I'm about to experience something that is totally unreal to me in terms of my thoughts on Afghanistan - instead of the "Stinkistan" it could become the "SocialSceneIstan" or, dare I say "Relaxistan", "Notsobadistan"... just with occasional bombs.  I'll keep ya'll posted!  The adventure continues and I hope that everyone at home is enjoying their summer!

Drink of the Day - A hot, aromatic tea on the balcony overlooking Kabul