Sylvia's Journal

My countdown gizmo on my computer now says ‘Time’s Up’ and so I find myself in Dubai.

The early morning ride, at daybreak, through a still mostly deserted Kabul was fast and eerie. This was a different kind of parting. Who knows when I will be back? I continued to feel both elated and sad, remembering the sobs of desperation that my departure caused. I hope the desperation has turned into resolve because otherwise all the struggles will have been for naught.

After a flight that could have been called the ‘cry-baby-express’ with too many crying, shrieking and generally undisciplined Afghan kids, I was relieved when we landed in Dubai. Actually the sigh of relief came when it was wheels up from Kabul airport – as I am aware that a complex attack on the airport remains a possibility. It would certainly be spectacular and media-genic. Ever since the failed attack earlier in the summer I have been conscious that this might (will?) one day happen.

The gate area at Kabul International Airport was full of Afghan soldiers, hundreds of them. Continuing my pondering of an attack I wondered whether they would be of any use – they didn’t look like they would. I never found out where they were headed and didn’t get a chance to ask as they stuck together like bunches of grapes. Why they weren’t flying on military planes was a mystery until someone murmured that Ariana got the deal.

I found myself soon in deep conversation with a USAID employee in charge of health and education programs in Paktya, where she is stationed at the FOB (Forward Operations Base). We had several acquaintances in common, including the person who will be my new boss at MSH.

In Dubai I checked into a hotel a block away from the Dubai mall that is one of the more exquisitely decorated places I have stayed in. Axel and I stayed here on our way back from the wedding, a year ago. It is the place with the glassed in bathtub in the middle of the room with a TV that swivels to allow viewing from the bathtub (while one’s roommate – if there is one – can view you taking a bath, allowing for full transparency!)

On the way to the hotel I made an appointment for a massage at my habitual place in the mall (Feet First), then a pedicure next door, and for desert sushi in one of those places were the color-coded dishes work themselves like a train between the tables and you can be totally impulsive. Although the quality was not the best (but in line with the cost), it was still sushi and I was in seventh heaven, relaxed and with shiny toe nails, filling myself with sashimi, edamama and sushi rolls.

Back at the hotel I quickly deleted about 5 emails announcing escalating trouble in Kabul – I don’t want to know about these tings right now. They were about demonstrations related to the continuing parliamentary mess. So far they have stayed peaceful but they do tie up traffic in knots. I am glad I had taken the early morning flight to Dubai.

And now I am looking out over Dubai at sunset and getting myself organized for the next leg, to Paris, which is supposed to start just after midnight.