Well, its kinda like (insert simile here)

Sometimes when I write this stuff down I remember that some people are actually interested in what Afghanistan is really like and what exactly we are doing over here. Then I realize that no one actually reads this shit and if they do and honestly believe that they will get an accurate picture from it, they are the same people who think CNN really is the most trusted name in news.

The truth is, no matter how many pictures I put up on this site, no matter how many stories or opinions I puke up onto this page, unless you are here working, living, laughing, yelling, crying (not that I do that), learning, shitting (don’t drink the water) and trying to find your way through another bizarre day, you will never ‘get it’. I’m not trying to sound condescending or patronizing. It's just that its impossible to describe this place to the point where you can really understand all the madness. Even after having been here for nine months I can’t understand the madness. Perhaps I'm just a crap writer, which, if you think about, is the truest thing I've ever written but I’m sure even great writers would be hard pressed to truly relate the experience of this place with a few well placed pen strokes and pixels. So screw it. The easiest thing to do is forget about writing it, cataloguing it and photographing it and just get on with living it. This will be my last entry.

Ok you got me. I lied. My ego will kick in soon enough and I’ll write some more bullshit that I’m convinced someone somewhere wants to read about...ll try to make it profound but one reason thoughts are declared profound is because of thier rarity so I cant make any promises.

I went back to Toronto at the beginning of august for 10 days. I spent a week pissing around trying to remember what other subjects I can talk about besides work. You mean people actually have lives outside of their jobs? That’s an interesting idea……hmmm, maybe we should import that into this country. Can you franchise that concept? What about a two day weekend? Is that not a clearly spelled out right in the UN Charter of Basic Human Rights? If its not it should be. Anyway, when I was back there everyone was asking, “so what’s it like?” and I found myself mumbling about work, trying to dig up stories about the lifestyle and people, scratching my head over what to say as much as what NOT say and generally, just saying a lot of stuff that related nothing. Stuff that gave not even an obscure vision of what this place is like and what I’m doing in it. Maybe I was just so abhorrently lazy that pronouncing vowels became too much of a chore when I was stringing together my sentences. Either way, I think that while i was at home I ran into the same barriers I face when I try to write on this page. They are:

1) Complete and utter stupidity (das gonna be a tough one to fix)
2) An inability to, uh, um...
3) Right
4) I mean write.

If I were asked to boil it all down though, I would think long and hard and say (ahem):
“This place is fucked up…”
So I guess it’s a good thing I never promised to be profound.

I’m going to Dubai tomorrow morning to stay at the Ritz Carleton, directly adjacent to a white sand beach with a private cabana. If that doesn’t inspire rarity of thought then I’m sure the ice cold beer in a real pint glass will. We're (all the ex-pats) leaving the country for a few days, precisely during the FIRST EVER national elections that this country has had in its 5000 or so years of human history. Bombs and rockets are likely to be going off in Kabul so we are booking it out of here to do our jobs from Dubai and have a few meetings and conferences. Not so bad, but I would have liked to have stayed, just to really be a part of the history. I guess I can read about it in some loser’s online puke page but then, will I really get an accurate picture of what I missed?
Not likely, but maybe I’ll read something profound.
Again, not likely.

(Mine) Fields of Joy

So there was an accident recently where a mine exploded and injured some guys working near a place where we were planning to do some work. To make sure the area was ok we sent some de-miners out there to take a look. I got to go with them. It was a couple hours drive outside of Kabul on the top of a mountain, in the middle of a mountain range, somewhere between nowhere and the middle of nowhere. The local militia commander (Commander Sahib) came with and was very hospitable, cooking fresh goat curry with na'an bread for lunch and then ripe melon for dessert. He proudly showed us the vast expanse of the land he controlled and some of the people in it. According to him, this area was once a defensive outpost of, well, 'terrorists' now that they aren’t on our side, but when they were fighting the Soviets they were freedom fighters trying to save their land and homes from Godless invading armies. Whatever you want to call them, land mines were placed around the area and we escorted the UN de-mining team up to the site to investigate.

Everything went well; no further explosions and they are clearing the land to make it safe. The trip up was pretty interesting though and I took some pictures. I thought you might want to see them. Just click here