For those of you who remember, of course, that is the reply by Stymie when asked, "Where ya going?" on two Little Rascals episodes. For some reason it came to mind here. The other line that came up through my training was when I asked for a cutlass...What kind of cutlass?...I want a veal cutlass.
So, here are the very basics of my job. My title is ANSF Branch Chief. ANSF stands for Afghan National Security Force. It is comprised of the ANA (Afghan National Army) and the ANP (Afghan National Police). All I can say is that I have to keep track of what is going on with things. I may be a branch chief in title, but I can't figure out if anyone works for me, perhaps they are good at hiding. Apparently, I attend about a hundred meetings, working groups, and conferences a week. Not the most exciting stuff in the world. I work in an office type environment using a lot of Microsoft Office and presenting briefs on a regular basis. These are all the things I've trained for in the navy of course. We all carry our weapons still as a rule, now with ammunition. No big deal, just a way of life here.
I am done with my inprocessing and indoctrination type briefings. So, I guess the real work has started. The time here is a lot like the movie Groundhog Day. Everyday is about the same. I guess it will be the same for me for the coming months. People do just about anything to change the pace. My change of pace so far consists of trying to get a good place to get on line. Right now I am at a cafe on the lanai using the free wireless connection on my computer. If this keeps as a good connection, I'll be here most nights. I'm also watching some movies and stuff on my computer in my room, but tend to fall asleep doing it since I watch from my bed. It's no big deal since I don't have any grading to do or tests to make up.
I'm sure you all saw that Penn beat Lehigh in wrestling. That's about all the good news for Penn sports as we choked against Cornell costing us the Ivy title. Oh well, I suppose I have other things to worry about here. Things have been safe here on base and I think I'll only be leaving for local meetings at an adjacent base (actually walking distance) and some other minor, safe stuff.
We're allowed to have two beers or two glasses of wine per night (with many rules attached). I haven't had any yet, but might on Thursday, which is the only weekend night here where you can sleep in. I honestly don't remember the last time I had a drink. The food has been good, very European.
On Fridays we have a bazaar adjacent to the base. Local merchants come in and we can buy all kinds of things real cheap from the locals. The haggling and bargaining is pretty cool. What a different world this is. Carey showed me around, we hired two local kids who have family running tables to carry the stuff we buy. They start the kids young here and they were hysterical (they are 8-10 years old). They are already working on their skills. We call them our bodyguards. The kid I hired was named Jaw-ed, nice kid. He put on a show at the end for more money saying he was hungry and that he couldn't eat because business was so bad that day. It was all worth the two bucks I gave him. Next time, he's doing push-ups.
Like I said, it is Groundhog Day, so I don't know how exciting my updates will be, but I'll do my best. Remember, the highlight of my day is email/posts from you all. If I can remember to bring my mailing address, I'll post it here.
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9 comments:
Hey Ithan,
If you are bored, we can all send you some papers to grade. I figure if we send them to you, you can grade them, send them back to us and we can still beat the return rate some of us have been known to have. Heck, we can each send you $2 for your troubles. This way you can pay your bodyguards.
European style food? Well, it does beat our cafeteria. Do you order off of a menu, are there many choices? This may sound weird, but I assume they get the food frozen from the states, right? How is the water handled?
Enjoy your movies,
Karen
Hi Ithan...Kathy sent me a new invitation so I'll try this again...I really am enjoying your posts...who knew you were such a good writer...you didn't have to go around the world to show us...your job sounds really important....I like that you're safely in one place...sorry you couldn't open the video I sent you so yesterday I mailed out a bunch on a CD....I also sent you some Samurai Soduko's (courtesy of Robert and Aunt Carole)...have fun and as always, stay safe.
Mom
HI Ithan,
Drinking on a Thursday night? Sounds like my old Rutgers days! Speaking of Rutgers, did I tell you Kathy, Shauna, Janelle, and I are going up to the RAC on Saturday to see Rutgers women play Syracuse? I got a "personal" invitation from Vivian Stringer as a former letter winner to come to a pregame reception to honor my(!) contribution to women's athletics, and I can bring guests and get tickets for cheap, so I figured Who was I to disappoint Vivian? Beforehand, Kathy and Shauna and I are going to get REALLY wild - we are going to Princeton Plasma Physics Lab for a lecture called "Getting Behavior out of Fossils" - I think it is some kind of sex-therapy session for older people, but I am not really sure.
Watch out for all of that good European food and the alcohol - now that you are back to a desk job, you might lose that new youthful physique you have!
Miss you,
Jane
Seein' me and Julio down by the schoolyard.
I know you are interested in how your loved ones are doing back in the States, so I thought I would tell you about the scare we had with our goldfish, INDY. He had been “resting” on the bottom for long intervals. We changed the water, bought new food, gave him fish medicine, purchased a new bubbler, and $39 worth of things the pet store recommended. Nothing seemed to help. So we went on the Internet and found out he might be constipated. Fish get constipated? Who knew? We fed him chopped up, peeled peas and fish food soaked in oil, and now he’s back to his usual self and upholding his name.
This is about my 3rd time trying to post a comment. I explained all the food stuff the first two times at length. Anyway, it's cafeteria style and we have unlimited bottled water available to us throughout the base since the local water is undrinkable.
Glad to hear Indy is good and ladies please behave yourselves at the lab and the RAC, you have a rep to uphold.
Dos servicas por favor !!
I was just grading my class blogs and thought I'd jump onto your blog and leave some kind of inane comment.
So, what's the weather like in Kabul? (Inane enough?)
Really, I just wanted you to know we're thinking about you.
Love,
Kathy
The weather just turned really nice regarding temp and humidy. However, every breath takes in a bunch of particulate matter (dust) and it smells bad due to the city burning all kinds of waste for fuel including animal waste. This is one of the more polluted cities in the world.
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