BDK Nature...

More Buzkashi...

Buzkashi up in Badakshan...

 A couple thousand spectators... One hundred or so men on horseback... One carcass of a headless goat... Grab the carcass and drop it in the chalk circle on the other side of the field...

A couple of people getting trampled…Pretty gnarly sport!

The 'Random' of Afghanistan...

I'm always surprised by what I find myself getting into here.  I guess in many ways I look for the obscure and unique - some of it is normal though - which always surprises me as Afghanistan can be far from normal at times.  Below - a list of the obscure and the unique but always mixed with a little What!?!?!

• German Embassy: Classical and traditional Afghan music concert.  Wow - talented musicians!  Somehow I missed the memo that it was a black tie event - well, I had on black socks, hopefully that counted for something.  Once again though, way too many people armed to the teeth, guns everywhere - I think I was sitting behind some 4 star general.
• Volleyball Tournament:  Six people who have never played together before, plus half of whom have never played volleyball before... but we came in 2nd place... haha.  Note to self:  when digging the ball, put Thumb away - otherwise ball will contact thumb and peel back half of the nail....
• 40 yr old Bendyk vintage leather jacket bought in the market - awesome!  Trying to get the 40 yr old smell out of the jacket - not so awesome.
• Ping Pong - always a favourite.  Thinking about starting 'Paul's Ping Pong Playground for Guards and Drivers'  - In the event of an emergency, I'm sure I'll find them huddled around the table.  I'm just waiting for the day when I start getting phone calls from their families asking where they are.... 'Uhm, they're right here, playing Ping Pong....'
• Visiting the Bird Market of Kabul - google it - it's famous.  What they won't tell you is that it actually feels like a cross between Alfred Hitchcock's 'The Birds' and Skid Row...  We were looking for turkeys (hens actually) - gonna fatten two up on corn and beer and have them for dinner later in November.  I found myself walking down the main alley way.  I'm following a turkey seller - he appears to have spent too much time around turkeys.  He's gobbling along, slipping past the masses that are also trying to buy birds - he has a red scarf on, that's what I keep looking for... the scarf reminds me of the red snood on a male turkey - another indication that makes me wonder if this man might actually be a turkey in disguise.  He darts quickly to the left and disappears - I make my way through the crowds and approach the spot where he vanished and see that the human turkey has ducked into a very narrow tunnel-like walkway - caked in bird shat and feathers - so I follow...  It leads to a small courtyard - the distribution point for turkeys.  Turkey-man has taken what looks to be a hundred year old spiral stair case built out of dried mud and sticks to a landing on our left.  I follow, reach the top and find more turkeys in pens. The pens are all open so you can easily select the turkey of your liking.   We go to the last pen and see two hens that look perfect - there's a third one in the pen, oh wait, that's not a turkey - that's actually a  person hanging out in the pen with the turkeys... I think it's turkey-man's brother.
• Card Games - when you travel out to the field - away from Kabul - at night you will most definitely play card games with the local staff.  We're all sitting in a circle - about 15 of us - only males.  The aim of the game is to get rid of all your cards first, the last one with cards in his hands is the loser - and there is a penalty.  The penalty for tonight is you have to drink five large glasses of water, one right after the other.  Now - in other cultures water might be replaced by alcohol.  Seeing that this isn't an option here - water it is.  The real penalty comes when they don't let you go to the bathroom once they see you getting up to leave.  Now that's a penalty.  Other penalties have been everyone gets up, grabs the cushion they were sitting on and starts to mercilessly beat the loser.  

Pics from the roof in Kabul...

Paspul...

Yawan...

Young and Old...

Kids...

It never matters which country I'm in, kids will always be kids...

Badakshan...

Local Staff...

I'm laughing.... even now as I think about all the hilarious situations and cultural - what the heck(s)?!?! - I've been part of over the last few weeks.

Last week - one of our 'chowkidors' (this is Dari for Guard/Doorman) was wearing a pretty hilarious shirt - 'Chippendales' in massive white lettering on the front - and a little bow tie on the short sleeve.   Google this if you're unsure of what it means.  Some how,  I got the honourable privilege of explaining to him what this shirt was all about.  His name is Qais - he's 5' nothing and looks more like a swarthy Mediterranean  who when speaking sounds Mexican - Hey Meng!  His English is quite strong so explaining to him the subtleties of his fashion statement was pretty easy.... and yes - he got the point - so much so that for the rest of the day he paraded around with his hands behind his head and his hips gyrating...  Surprisingly though - he hasn't worn the shirt again....

Sometimes the Arabic I learned in Sudan slips out here.  Some words have the same meaning in Dari as they do in Arabic.... others do not.  When someone comes by my desk and borrows a pen or something insignificant  - I'll jokingly call them 'Harami' - which in Arabic means 'Thief'.  So - after a few days of calling people 'Harami' - I found out that this doesn't mean thief in Dari - oh no.... much better.... it means 'Bastard'.... brilliant!   I've noticed, Afghans have a great sense of humour.....  Some how the running joke in the office is to go around now calling each other 'Bastard'...  I'm not sure what I've started....

I'm trying to learn as much Dari as possible - I get laughed at every time I try to say 'Sister' - the English translation of what I'm saying is actually - 'Sister-Donkey'

The picture above... well.... that speaks for itself....

FZB...

Life in Kabul...

So it's been more or less a month since I've arrived. I feel quite settled into my role as well as life in Kabul.  Thought I'd give a brief snapshot of events that have happened... some more exciting than others.... and other interesting facts about Kabul... 

Oh, I trimmed my beard - the good news is according to the local guys here I still look like an Afghan!  Flying under the radar and lookin' like a local!

1 - Local shops have pretty much anything and everything you need in terms of shampoo, soap, toothpaste, pirated DVD's and all manner of breast-enlargement creams available.  There are other creams too, geared more towards the ego of male endowment or in some cases lack there of.... anyways... moving on....

2 - Afghan men are into body building!  It's common to see a shop with a full aisle dedicated to protein/creatine/thermogenic replacement supplements...  Apparently on the US Military or ISAF bases this is a staple of every good soldiers breakfast.  Naturally, many of these products on there way to a base will 'fall off the backs of the trucks' bounce along the street and conveniently land on a shelf in these shops. Pretty much any truck full of goodies heading to a base ends up 'losing' something along the way.... heck maybe even the whole truck full of Chips A'Hoy Chewy cookies... it all ends up in the shop - we'll see tomorrow what's new!

3 - Still talking about body building - Passing by the 'Kabul Stadium' today, there was a group of Afghan body builders... tanned, oiled up and dressed in there little itsy bitsy's just standing around on the grass.... looked like a Mr Universe competition.... the juxtaposition of it was bizarre as on the other side of the iron fence burka clad women are walking by.... hmmm... I missed my National Geographic picture of the year... this has now happened to me twice... the first time was in Damascus, Syria in a market, a group of ladies dressed in burka's again, this time standing outside of a shop underneath the weirdest collection of lingerie I've ever seen.

4 - I attended my first Afghan wedding the other day.  The son of one of our staff in the finance department.  This was great, lots of food, dancing and just a really good time!  The local staff were so thoughtful, checking on me to make sure I was enjoying myself and entertained - I really think they just wanted me to stop doing head-spins on the tables... (kidding!)   It was definitely the largest collection of tin-foil like shiny suits of varying colours I've ever seen - Hey, if you can walk into a wedding hall wearing a suit like this... well.... respect!  A fun time was had by all!

5 - Visited Skateistan today.  They have a great indoor skaetpark - skated for about 2 hours and left with only one goose-egg size bruise on my shin!  Wow, what an awesome group of volunteers and a great program - watch this video - it's actually quite moving - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olkvWSjbQZQ and the website - http://skateistan.org/content/afghanistan

  Real positive programs with positive and tangible results.  If you want to support a program financially in Kabul - give to these guys!  It challenges peoples perspective and is creating a new paradigm.

6 - Had my first eye-exam ever.  I thought I would get my eyes checked as it only costs $10 USD - full prescription and frames is $30 USD.  Found out that my right eye isn't as bad as I thought - or saw.  The interesting/moving part was hearing the story of the Optometrist - how he was trained in Kabul by a foreign doctor (who he has a lot of respect for) and who has really helped the Afghan people.  He continued to talk about the doctor and how we worked for IAM (http://www.iam-afghanistan.org/) and then he said the mans name - and then it hit me... The doctor that the Afghan Optometrist was speaking so respectfully about, his teacher and his friend was one of the 10 who were murdered last year in the massacre in Northern Afghanistan... man, it was a heavy moment, realizing the full circle of that mans efforts, the training he gave to the Optometrist and now me a foreigner in a foreigen land receiving eye care.... I felt humbled and proud to have had my eye's checked by this man.

Carpet buying...

Buying carpets made in Mizar-i-Sharif.

Pics of the city...

Daytime - view from the balcony

Night - view from my room

Afghanistan...

The view from just over the balcony wall of our house in Kabul...

The day before....

Saturday night - the day before I left - we were hit with another snow storm.  

Huge flakes...

 no wind... 

calm.... 

Prep for Afghanistan...

So I made it to Switzerland - nothing special to report yet - just that I arrived safe and sound.   Medair has an apartment here in Ecublens, I'll be staying there along with 5 other people who are also passing through the head office or waiting on visas/briefings for various countries.  My guess is it will take no less than 2 weeks for my entry visa to Afghanistan.  I'll start three days of briefing tomorrow and then wait and see how the rest of my time will be occupied...