Bittersweet

"Bittersweet" because we're saying goodbye again - this time to one of my favorite people here. Steve is a Marine (through and through!) who has been working on the Afghan National Army (ANA) side of the house. He leaves us to head back to the civilian world, but hopefully our paths will cross again in his Reserve role.

At least Steve picked a great day to leave. Today we were able to observe the graduation of the first-ever Legal Officer Course for the ANA. I know our counterparts have put a lot of time and effort into making this course a reality, so we wanted to go to show our support. The ceremony was a success, complete with simultaneous translation for those of us who are Dari-impaired. I have a lot of respect for our translators. Imagine listening to a speech and repeating it to your friend who can't hear it - but the speaker doesn't stop for you to repeat it. You have to remember what the speaker said and repeat it while continuing to listen to whatever the speaker is saying next. Now throw translating that into another language at the same time, and you'll see why I'm so impressed. Anyway, I digress - here is a picture of a few of the graduates:


A couple more nature pics to finish off this post. I'm told the tree below is actually a peach tree, but I still think it looks like a dogwood. :) The petals are starting to litter our sidewalk outside of our office - not a bad thing at all!



And yes, I'm leaving you with a picture of a weed. I knew dandelions were hardy - but I have to give this one credit for managing to grow in all of that concrete and stone! :)

Happy New Year - again! :)

Yes, you read that right - but this time it's Afghan New Year (Nowruz). It was actually Saturday (sorry, a day late!) but today is also a holiday, so I can wish you Happy Education Day as well. OK, I'm not really sure Afghans all wish each other that, but it is a real holiday. :)

It's been a quiet couple of days in the office without our Afghans - happy to have them back tomorrow! We've been somewhat distracted by the NCAA basketball tournament, but I'm not doing well enough in the friendly office competition to brag about that. :) At least my Final Four teams are still alive! It's difficult to follow from here though - the games start around 9:00 at night and finish up overnight, so I've been content with highlights for the most part.

So, not a lot of pictures for you tonight - found another happy working dog to photograph. He's a Shepard mix and will lean his full body weight into you when you try to pet him. :)



Spring is definitely here - a lot of rain lately, but some nice days as well. I took this picture last week. I couldn't believe how clear the sky was and how well the airplane contrails contrasted.


I also found a dogwood tree in bloom near our dining facility (well, at least I think it's a dogwood - feel free to correct me if I'm wrong!).


And finally an update shot of the little garden. I still have no idea what's growing there, but it's definitely growing! :) I'm hoping for some flowers...

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I can honestly say I've never worn so much green for this holiday before. :) But, I have another reason to celebrate - whatever my end date turns out to be (there's a possible range), I have passed the halfway mark. Yay!!!!!

The base tried to do a party for us, but we were rained out. :( They did manage some shepherd's pie for dinner, so definite bonus points for that.

The Afghan new year is coming up, so traffic and travel are both getting a little difficult. I did manage to take a couple of pictures on a trip to take our trainers to a new training site. If I understood the translation correctly, this is actually a British monument - located in the center of yet another traffic circle. There are very few stoplights in Kabul - lots of traffic police and lots of traffic circles appear to be the best effort to control the traffic. Some days it works, others it doesn't. :) Oh, and did I mention I was driving in all this mess??? :)


Work has been very steady (meaning lots of it!) this week, so not a lot of opportunities to get out and take pictures. Barbara and I went in together on a large bead order from Fire Mountain and were very, very happy when the heavy box arrived. A couple of fun pics:


You can't even see all the stuff that was actually IN my lap - it took us several hours to sort through all the stuff (Lea-Ann, you would have loved it!). Needless to say, I have enough to keep me busy for a while. Now if I can just find the time to work on my jewelry and get more posted on my Etsy site!

I also need to work on my stone identification. Once I get past jasper and rose quartz, I'm a little lost in these piles, but I know what I like!

Spring definitely has arrived - we even had showers today to prove it. :) Barbara and I were able to sit outside on Friday and work on sorting and making new creations... I even managed a tiny bit of sunburn for the effort. I'm not complaining! Spring here is really pretty, and the smell of the rain is really strong (in a good way!). I wouldn't mind if this weather lasts quite a bit longer!

Afraid that's all the news that's fit to post - until next time!

Mazar-e-Sharif (or "mez" for short)

I was lucky enough to have one of those once-in-a-lifetime experiences on Wednesday. We flew up to Mazar-e-Sharif via helo to attend a police/prosecutor combined course graduation. The course is seven months long so you can imagine that the students are very happy to be graduating! Everything was arranged for us by a State department agency, so travel was actually fairly painless. Here's the helo we flew up in:

It was about an 1.5 hour flight, and there was some spectacular scenery (more on that later!). When we arrived, we had a little bit of time to kill, so we were able to meet some of the people that had made the trip with us - lots of government agencies and program supporters. Then it was time to move on to the graduation itself.

The graduation was held on a base, and there's not a whole lot you can do to improve very plain surroundings, but it was obvious they had gone to a lot of trouble to make it as nice as possible. The ceremony was a butt-numbing two hours, but very interesting. Lots of speeches - one from the General that we mentor, and quite a few from regional senior prosecutors and senior police officers. There were 31 students graduating, and they each were able to take the stage for a moment after they received their diplomas. The range of reactions was surprising - some were obviously happy to be done, others so moved by emotions they were near tears, and others not saying a word, just smiling for the camera.

We had a little bit of time after the ceremony, so we got a tour of the base as well as some more social time. I met an Afghan-American with a fascinating background and we were able to chat for quite a while - hopefully I'll be able to keep in touch with her.

The flight back was definitely a better ride for the scenery (all of the pretty snow-covered mountains on my side of the helo!). All of the pictures were taken out of the windows so they're a little bit hazy, but you can get some idea of the scenery. We basically flew through the Hindu Kush to get there. As you can see, there's still quite a bit of snow left in the mountains, even if it has all disappeared from Kabul.


On the ride back from the airport to base, I managed to grab a picture of a Kabul landmark - Massoud Circle. It's a traffic circle (boy do they love those here!) that has a memorial plaza in the center.

It was a very long day, but I'm really glad we were able to go. The students seemed to appreciate all of the visitors who had made the effort to get to the ceremony (even if it did mean the ceremony was much longer because of all the translation!) and it was a good feeling to see tangible results of efforts put in by others who are really trying to help this country.

Back in the swing of things

Work is definitely busier, but that makes the days go faster. My boss has now left for her R&R leave. If you are here for a year, you get to take 15 days leave anywhere in the world - she chose Paris! Unfortunately, with as difficult as the travel can be, she could be gone significantly longer. Her absence is definitely being felt, but we'll manage. :)

We had another VIP come through - this time it was the Honorable Jeh Johnson, newly appointed as the General Counsel for the Department of Defense. And yes, that really is how he spells his name. :)


A quick picture for Adrian's side of the family - I'm not sure why this Canadian flag appeared in our DFAC (probably for a visitor) but it seemed appropriate to grab a picture.

I couldn't find any cute critters lately to post, so I grabbed another picture of a military working dog team. Every time I see one of them I think of Brandy (our dog, who is a Shepherd mix (at least that's what we think she is!)).


I was walking over to a friend's office the other day and stumbled upon this tiny little garden. It's elevated - probably about two feet off of the ground (so that no one steps on it accidentally?). I have no idea if someone actually planted these flowers, or if they're hardy annuals that decided to peek out, but it really made me think spring might actually be coming. We've had about a week of really nice weather (knock on wood!) with the highs in the 50s or so - I'm in no hurry for this weather to end!

Today was a very good day - TWO care packages (thanks Tim, Cindy, Steph and Chris!). SO many people have been very generous, and I can't say thank you enough. It didn't start off so well - I was stuck walking behind the sewage truck all the way down our main street (timing is everything!) on my way to breakfast - that didn't do too much for my appetite. It was a fairly quiet day in the office, as today is an Afghan holiday (the Prophet's birthday) and our Afghan employees all had the day off. I managed to get to the gym for the first time during the day - I normally go very early, but decided to shake up my routine a little bit. Also managed to solve some logistics/transportation issues and prep for the rest of the week - it's nice to start the week at least feeling prepared. I'm sure everything will change between now and the time I need it, but at least it's a start. :)

Well, I'm rambling now, so that's a sure sign it's time to finish this post. :)

In memoriam

Sgt Simone Robinson, USA

Yup, still here!

I know - no posts for a while. I'm sorry! Things are getting very busy at work - not a bad thing, considering that's what I'm here for (!) but it does mean not a lot of time on the computer at night.

Our Afghan attorneys have really taken to their training mission. They cheerfully show up for work every day and make sure that we get them to their training location on time. I have no idea what the training slides I'm printing say (it's all in Dari) but it certainly looks impressive. :)

Just a couple of pictures tonight. The first one is an Afghan carpet that is hanging as part of a display at the Embassy. In general, Afghan carpets are made with a heavyweight wool, instead of the wool and silk combinations I've shopped for in Sharjah. Guess they have to be a little more durable here. :) The patterns vary widely - some abstract, some with entire scenes. Anyway, just a sample...



We went to a Rule of Law conference at a nearby base. The conference itself was very good, but a nice extra bonus was that it fell on their bazaar day, so I finally got to do a little bit more shopping. Mom, this is where your scarves are coming from. :) I also picked up some beading supplies that hopefully I'll get a chance to use soon - just have to find the time!


Short and sweet, I know - I'll try for a longer one in the next few days.