Last night on my way back to my tent a few of my fellow officers decided to check the tent next door to us and were pleasantly surprised to find it unoccupied. We promptly moved out of the overcrowded cell block of a tent that we were assigned to and into the unoccupied, non-feet smelling one. I woke up refreshed nine hours later to a cool breeze and hazy sky with white-capped mountains all around. It was perfect weather for a little exploration around the base.
I took a 25 minute shuttle ride to the main side area of the base to look around. On the way, I saw some minefields with various remains of soviet tanks and equipment. Crazy. I wanted to stop and take pictures, but I had other priorities, namely to locate the supposed TGIF. I asked a crusty looking Army soldier on the bus with me where I could find it, and the contorted look on his face followed by his response said it all.
"What, sir?"
"Never mind," I said in return, realizing then that the rumor was false after all.
So much for loaded potato skins for lunch! Thankfully, the soldier realized I was new in town, and kindly directed me towards a dining facility, the PX, and various shops in the area. I bought a vanilla chai tea at the local Green Bean, and proceeded to do some window shopping. The Afghan bazaar vendors have some amazing items for sale, from Persian rugs to furs to handmade furniture. I have my mind set on bringing home a Persian or Afghan rug, but I think I'll wait a while before jumping into souvenir shopping. I will most assuredly be coming home with a nice "Afghan" afghan.
I was also surprised at the large number of people on this base. Most are U.S. military from all branches of service, but there are also many foreign military and civilians working here. It is very interesting to see the diversity in the personnel not only from a national perspective but from an intellectual one as well. I had a very interesting conversation over dinner with an anthropologist and professor from U.C. Irvine whose mission here is to go out into the villages and collect specific data from the local population. She collects information such as language, religion, tribal/government affiliation, occupation, etc. This data is then used to create a human terrain map for use by coalition forces to better understand the local Afghan populations. This is s very difficult task considering the level of danger she puts her self in, but even more intriguing when you consider the challenge she must have as a woman trying to collect personal information from people in an extremely patriarchal society. She admitted she gleans most of her information from the Afghan women, but gaining access to them is not easy. Very interesting work going on here indeed.
I hope my job will be as interesting! I should find out more on that very soon. It might be a few days before I can get to an internet connection again, but I'll be sure to write some more when I get a chance.
Good night!
I took a 25 minute shuttle ride to the main side area of the base to look around. On the way, I saw some minefields with various remains of soviet tanks and equipment. Crazy. I wanted to stop and take pictures, but I had other priorities, namely to locate the supposed TGIF. I asked a crusty looking Army soldier on the bus with me where I could find it, and the contorted look on his face followed by his response said it all.
"What, sir?"
"Never mind," I said in return, realizing then that the rumor was false after all.
So much for loaded potato skins for lunch! Thankfully, the soldier realized I was new in town, and kindly directed me towards a dining facility, the PX, and various shops in the area. I bought a vanilla chai tea at the local Green Bean, and proceeded to do some window shopping. The Afghan bazaar vendors have some amazing items for sale, from Persian rugs to furs to handmade furniture. I have my mind set on bringing home a Persian or Afghan rug, but I think I'll wait a while before jumping into souvenir shopping. I will most assuredly be coming home with a nice "Afghan" afghan.
I was also surprised at the large number of people on this base. Most are U.S. military from all branches of service, but there are also many foreign military and civilians working here. It is very interesting to see the diversity in the personnel not only from a national perspective but from an intellectual one as well. I had a very interesting conversation over dinner with an anthropologist and professor from U.C. Irvine whose mission here is to go out into the villages and collect specific data from the local population. She collects information such as language, religion, tribal/government affiliation, occupation, etc. This data is then used to create a human terrain map for use by coalition forces to better understand the local Afghan populations. This is s very difficult task considering the level of danger she puts her self in, but even more intriguing when you consider the challenge she must have as a woman trying to collect personal information from people in an extremely patriarchal society. She admitted she gleans most of her information from the Afghan women, but gaining access to them is not easy. Very interesting work going on here indeed.
I hope my job will be as interesting! I should find out more on that very soon. It might be a few days before I can get to an internet connection again, but I'll be sure to write some more when I get a chance.
Good night!
3 comments:
The handmade rug sounds good to me too.
Good night, sleep tight. Love you,
Aunt Kathie
checking on your blog. hope all is well. give us a post soon.
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