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I've mostly packed!!!! Got a week of travelling around to go, but, my departure window to start the journey, is not far away! When I get home, I'll need to fix the internet connection there, but first there are a couple of kittens, a beloved wife, and a car, that need lots of TLC! No more sand, water runs, body armour & helmet, alarms, or talking shit in a small cramped room all day with the same 8 people! Tags: afghanistan, desert, internet access, work
Current Location: Afghanistan
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I've been moving around for a week, doing security assessments and site surveys in North West Afghanistan... I've got some awesome photos from the back of the helicopters and of the mountains. The most amazing thing is that there are always people... we can be flying over mountains for 30 minutes, and *still* see, in the middle of nowhere, a man and a camel walking down an endless road, apparently going nowhere. There are cultivated fields on mountainsides that are hundreds of miles from any town or village. People live in huts randomly distributed across the wild. And then, suddenly, in a basis or on a plateux, is another military camp with thick walls, barbed wire, lights, business and proto-civilisation, normally with a tent-camp of migrant worker Afghans nearby, and an airstrip. Is a very beautiful country. I'm back at the camp where I'm temporarily staying, now, and have written up my reports (which are eventually going to the SACEUR - Supreme Allied Commander EURope (Nato's 2nd biggest wiggyest big wig). Never has a computer geek had so much rank trying their best to help him! Tags: afghanistan, army, desert, nato, work
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There was a dust storm brewing a few times, could only see 50 meters at one point, but it died down. It gets quite painful to open eyes whilst outdoors! It is much hotter here (Mazaar-e-Sherif) than it is in Kabul, it verges on 50 degrees, and 40 degrees in the shade. I am here at Mes for another two weeks (probably), before returning to Kabul. I'm some kind of free-floating technician. The bugs are energetic, and spontaneously generate randomly. Only the small red ants are organized. There are only 11 Brits on this camp, plenty of French, Belgians, Swedes, Finnish, hundreds of Germans, a few guys from Croatia and a few from Hungary. Amongst others. I am on the night shift, but haven't had any time to myself on account of there being a barbeque. Tags: afghanistan, desert, heat, insects, work
Current Location: Afghanistan
Current Mood:  blank
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"Settling" in Afghanistan is a two-way process. On the one hand, I am in a good routine of chatting to friends of an evening, and doing a little coursework, and relaxing during the sparse hours I have free. I am settling in that I've bought speakers for the laptop, got my own pillow cases onto my pillow, and am settling into a routine. But as I said its a two-way process... the dust and sandy atmosphere is settling in to everything... I am getting accustomed to floors, surfaces, objects and everything being constantly covered in a constant film of desert and dryness... whereas at first I wanted to constantly wash my hands and face... now the desert is settling into me! But the days are getting hotter... 40degrees celsius today at 1pm... and with that we wear body armour, jacket, helmet (when driving from one work premises to another), boots, etc. I'm quite liking it out here :-) Thanks to Shuri and Gail, and Opto! for the conversation, it's a real morale boost. I got some good friends :-) Tags: acclimitisation, afghanistan, desert, work
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