Traffic fLaws
Ostensibly, in Afghanistan, traffic drives on the right hand side of the road. However, this rule is leniently applied. In Afghanistan the road is used for driving, and if the left hand side of the road is open, a driver will take it.  Today while cruising down the lane of opposing traffic, we had to edge back into the regular flow to pass a checkpoint. The guard was angry. “Why were driving on the other side of the street??†He demanded, according to…
read more »So like no shit, there we were…
Today we went on the PRT (provincial reconstruction team) base in Jalalabad. Lou had arranged the meeting. A New Yorker was running it. He spoke fast (refreshingly so, as one’s mind atrophies from a predominance of interaction with non-native speakers.) He was excited about a particular new funding stream from USAID that was meant for offbeat projects that are not being addressed by other large funds. Lou had connected a few dots and suggested cricket fields and now the ball…
read more »Measure Ma’an
Each be ruled by his own. Here in Jalalabad, wood is ruled by a ma’an (my spelling, trying to caputure the pronunciation. Elsewhere it is spelled mann.) Most of the heating and cooking energy needs in Afghanistan are supplied by wood. Along the road you see plenty of shacks of the wood dealers. Â Today we stopped by. Â Typically kids are chopping wood while an older bearded propriator (father/uncle) is sipping tea and waiting for customers. I noticed our wood was being…
read more »Shoes
Behold a typical Afghan shoe. It’s a dress shoe, because that’s the preferred style. And it’s bent in the back because they wear them like slip ons. This is convenient. Afghans take them on and off so many times a day. They take them off to pray 5 times a day. They take them off whenever they enter someones house for tea, etc. etc. And this is probably true across most of Central Asia and many other countries in the…
read more »Guns and Welding
I was playing around with my stick welding skills when I attracted the interest of one of our security guards. He wandered up, trying to look nonchalant, to check out what I was doing that was making so many sparks. I showed him the section of an ammo case lid where I had ground off the paint and was practicing laying welds. When he saw I also had a 40mm bullet casing, then he got really excited. He pulled out a…
read more »Ladies Night…. Or Afternoon
The park in Jalalabad is, like so many other public venues, open to men only. However, Wednesday is special. Wednesday is Ladies Day. So Jenn, Kellie and I decided to take a soccer ball and spend a few hours hanging out in the park with the Ladies of Jalalabad. The park is surround by tall walls, shielding it from the views of passersby and the entrance is guarded, per usual, by a young man in fatigues holding an AK-47. He…
read more »Coming to Terms
And there’s more where these came from… FOB — forward operating base, as in FOB Fenti, a US Army base at Jalalabad Airfield (JAF) FOB — free open bar, as in FOB TAJ 😉 COMMS — communications, cell phone connection, internet, radio.  Gotta keep it running. Prime — Main person on task, who has to keep COMMS flowing. “You’re prime, I need you to have COMMS. None of that cellphone stolen in the market business.” COP — combat outpost, COPs are supported by FOBs.…
read more »Kabul to Jalalabad
The ride from Kabul to Jalalabad was long and adventurous. I saw a dog being killed in Kabul. They are considered pests here. Most of our drive time was spent sitting in traffic on the windy segment of the Kabul River Gorge (also called Tangi Gharu). Part of the reason for the bad traffic is that people tend to drive on both sides of the road in both directions. At first it seems like a good idea, you get a little bit…
read more »Hardware Shopping
As it turns out, Jalalabad has no Home Depot. Not even an ACE Hardware. So, when I wanted to purchase an arc welder  to make furniture and art out of old ammo cases and bullet casings, Mehrab took me and Peretz to the bazaar. More specifically, to the hardware store section. Jam packed stalls nestled next to one another, crammed and overflowing with jumper cables, machine belts, rusty bolts, and cheap Chinese screw drivers. Functioning as individual isles of the…
read more »Nangahar Public Hospital
The first time we came to the hospital, the staff apologized profusely for not being able to host us. They were dealing with the wounded of a suicide bombing incident in the district. There was one casualty. Five people were in the OR. And they were embarrassed in front of us, that such things happen in their country. We left, and came back yesterday. Nangahar Public Hospital (NPH) is a Regional Post-Graduate Teaching Hospital for the Eastern Region of Afghanistan.…
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