Sylvia's Journal

Last night we went to a party organized by Democrats Abroad in the centre of town. We met a whole new cast or characters, not just Americans of the Obama type but also sympathetic South Africans, Spaniards, Brits, Afghan-Americans, Chinese, Koreans, etc. It was a contrast to the usual American-who-live-in-a-bubble types I meet professionally. The people we met last night actually run the hash in Kabul, faithfully, every Friday and live a near normal life.

Our hosts were a Chinese-British couple who showed up half-way through the festivities, returning from the hash. By then the barbecue was going at full speed. Hamburgers, beer, wine, salads, there was enough for us and for the thousands of flies that had descended on the food. I decided to go for foods that had been shielded, as here you don’t know where these flies have been.

We met Ben again who we had last met at Babur’s gardens. Ben is a horticulturist who is here on a long assignment that ends in December. He is from Indiana which endeared him right away to Axel, for whom Indiana was, during his graduate student years, his second home.

About 10 AM this morning I had recovered from the stressful week, ending my processing of the week with the ultimate frustration dream in which I was trying to catch a plane but no type of transport was able to get me to the airport on time.

When I woke up I had enough energy to do my 5 km walk on the elliptical but I was too late for my usual Saturday morning physical therapy session.

Today the embassy had organized a celebration which, according to our TV reports, coincided with the new commander taking command. MSH staff was invited to participate in the celebrations but my name was not included on the list of invitees. It looked like someone simply copied the list from last year when I was not yet here and MSH still employed two Steves. On paper we still looked like an organization that has no women in the senior leadership ranks. Too bad.

We spent a quiet (and very hot) day at home which stood in some contrast to our colleagues from DAI in Kunduz who suffered an attack on their compound. Some staff got killed, including expats, according to the incident report we received from ANSO. Axel wondered, should be have a packed suitcase ready in case we have to suddenly evacuate? There are days sometimes where we wonder, how long will we be able to stay here?

We had our usual Dari class in the afternoon. Axel once more found himself wondering whether he will ever be able to speak this language. His good teacher talked him back into not giving up. At home we practiced Dari with our guard and then played a game of backgammon and then searched for the channel on which to watch the Germany-Argentina game.