It's been a very busy and eventful past couple of weeks. I've enjoyed an earthquake courtesy of Pakistan, moving to a new base on a semi-permanent basis and just this morning, the bomb-assassination of the Deputy Provincial Governor which canceled all of my meetings today. It's also begun to rain more frequently so I guess the rainy season is officially here.
The new position is finally falling into place, making more sense and not becoming such a huge stress inducer. Kudos to me! Basically, they divide the City of Kandahar into 10 districts and I manage the activities through our funder, USAID, for 2 of them. We build schools, roads, water points, equip offices, etc. and work with the line ministries for education, health, women's affairs and the city. It's incredibly interesting and frustrating all simultaneously - for every good move, there's corruption, bullshit and delays to set you back. Political positions and other lines of authority are obtained for profit and not necessarily for the advancement of the Afghan people - kind of like us... We also have to manage our projects through local staff which has been incredibly challenging - you send them out to do the work, site visits, etc. and have to trust and rely on what they report back. Not the best way of doing things, but does avoid us having to be out in the middle of things. Most, but certainly not all, Afghans are incredibly lazy I am finding and are more interested in the money than the mission, so they find ways to cheat and rip you off at every point - not shocking since that's quite common in countries suffering from poverty, war and devastation. If you don't specify exact questions and outcomes, they usually won't make any effort to problem solve or think on their feet so a common request can take a week while you keep asking for more information - it's like sending a bunch of lazy teenagers out to do something important when all they want is the money! I can relate to that as my parents will attest! Not all of them work this way, but enough to make these projects a huge pain in your unmentionables.
So now I'm safely ensconced at Camp Nathan Smith - fortunately this base in in the middle of housing and shops so they don't tend to shoot rockets onto base - it's more bombings at the gate, etc. The base is small so I hear all helicopters taking off and landing, bombings outside of base in the city, gunfire and more importantly us blowing the Taliban to their land of virgins. The A10s are always flying around and bombing the be-Jesus out of them - much different than KAF. More in the middle of things, but safer if that makes any sense. I also have a beautiful view of the mountains and can see kites being flown all around the city outside of base - we have one in our room that blew into base. Tons of cats, dogs and a new puppy that someone has taken in. There are also trees here which will make the Hillbilly quite happy when things enter the season of green. The food is excellent - which can always be dangerous to a hungry Wino - but they also have a pretty nice gym. It's rather old school and reminds me of a boxing gym - it's in the old Taliban prison to I keep my eyes peeled for ghosts! - but the equipment is good and I have for some reason fallen into a rather extreme cardio routine. I hate cardio - it bores the hell out of me, but I could get through it with a good television show or movie. However, here it's just you, your iPod and inside your own head - doing 60, 90 and 120 minute, hard at it sessions - can't explain that, but I think it has something to do with all of the underlying stress and adrenalin that you just get used to but can never fully release. Hopefully I will return for my visit home in June as a very relaxed and toned Hillbilly! Weird though to live in a space where so many people have been tortured and killed - had that feeling about my jaunt to Dachau while I was in Germany.
So - the adjustment to tin can living with a roomie has been evolving. I had someone in my container the first 4 nights I was here -great people, but the living situation needs to me modified as you simply cannot work and live like that - they are working on it and hopefully we will have our own living containers soon. The hardest part is just not being able to get up and work in the early morning, middle of the night - no Skyping at a whim and if you do, there's usually someone in the room while you're talking - I'm here on my own right now and loving it - am even slowly adjusting to the showers and bathrooms - I will say this ... people are pigs OR I'm just extremely clean - could be a combo of both.
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| My tin can - I live on the side with the window |
Here are some lovely pictures of the base and where I now live. I'm quickly settling into a routine and enjoy that everything is so easily accessible - not like KAF where it was almost impossible to get many places without transportation. There's a mosque on base and the chanting from the mosque here and then throughout the city at prayer times is other worldly. I was listening to music the other day while helicopter were landing, chanting was going on and some gunfire blasts were going off and it was totally surreal. I think all of the gunfire and explosions really put you on edge, but you don't realize it because it's so "normal" and just part of your day.
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| Lt. Dan - this guy hangs out with me every day |
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| View from my container - this is the old Taliban Prison |
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| Mountain views. |
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| Little center courtyard in the hub of base |
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| Upstairs deck for working, eating and hanging out |
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| another view of the courtyard |
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| Chinook coming in - these are LOUD |
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| ...and landing - the wind from these will blow you on your big behind |
I have less than 2 weeks before Italy, Spain and France - it can't come soon enough and I am looking forward to actually sleeping for an entire night without jumping awake or insomnia. Good food, good wine, good company and all in beautiful settings - to say I can't wait is an understatement! Hope you all have an excellent weekend!
Drink of the Day - tea on a chilly, rainy day.
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