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/
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.
