Kabul,
Afghanistan
Thursday, July 26, 2007
The former king of the country passed away and there was 3 day mourning period. Every thing was shut, but the expat staff in my office chose to work. I made the most of low work load and unpacked every spare minute I had. At the same time my kitchen was being finished. The finishing here for most things is very poor and they managed to get cement all over my brand new work surfaces (despite a cover) and have left it permanently stained. It's true that when it comes to certain matters everything here is done verbally, you need to insist on details being written down, but even then that doesn't help. So certainly there have been days when my patience has been tested, but it comes with the territory. I'm in a procurement NGO, so it's quite insiteful to be integrated in the local market in order to understand whet some of the challenges in the market are.
OK, we've had a security brief today to be extra cautious. No expats allowed to travel outside Kabul city. One of the most well known orgs whose staff are known for the best parties in town are on 'lock down'. No parties in their compounds either. This is being considered as quite serious. However, I had dinner with a friend at the local Thai restaurant, and headed to a 'jungle'themed party with live music at someone's house and hung out there till about mid-night.
