Staying Warm

Winter is here again, and I imagine is not too different right now to the weather back in the UK. Clear, crisp mornings with a stark blue sky are commonplace and sometimes the views over to the distant mountains that surround the city are just spectacular. They are half covered in snow and look very Alpine. The dust still hangs in the air but is slowly losing its battle with the afternoon rain and finds itself condemned back down to the ground in the form of mud. The university is one of the most beautiful places to enjoy the winter scenery. The long sweeping avenues are lined with many trees, some of which are still a variety of autumnal colours, and parts of the campus are large open spaces where the morning mist lingers low to the ground. It has been quiet these past few weeks after the government shut the campus as a precautionary measure to stop the spread of swine flu. Almost immediately a rumour started to spread that it was the foreigners who had the flu. I suppose, in a way, this is true. It was foreign troops on an army base near Kabul who were the first people in Afghanistan to contract the virus and further cases of the virus will have entered the country in people coming from abroad. Unfortunately for us, the rumour was misinterpreted as meaning that all foreigners had the flu! Suddenly almost everyone was wearing a surgical mask, some of them three, one piled on top of another! I could see people giving me a wide berth and wincing if I coughed or sneezed. For a few days my colleagues and I felt like stray mangy dogs. It was a relief then, when a couple of days later the hype died down and the surgical masks magically disappeared. I think everyone has forgotten about swine flu now.

Speaking to my parents on Skype last week, they told me that they had been watching a BBC news report from Kabul where they could see a panoramic view of the city. We tried to pinpoint where I was, my dad identifying as a landmark a large floating balloon sitting still in the sky. I immediately knew where he was looking – the ‘spying’ weather balloon in the east of the city. (Too far away unfortunately for him to see where I was!). The spy balloon went up a few months ago, apparently to have a 360 degree CCTV camera view on the city – useful for tracking the movements of AOGs and other criminal groups. My taxi driver lives just under it and told me with great authority that they raised and lowered the balloon during the day to let the man inside collect his lunch, go to the toilet etc. He didn’t like my idea that there is just a video camera inside.

We are looking forward to coming home for Christmas. Kabul is a great place to start feeling Christmassy. It started snowing today and the smell of wood smoke hangs permanently in the air as people burn whatever they can get hold of to keep their homes warm. We will head to Chicken Street, the tourist shopping area, soon to look for gifts to take home. Amongst the fake gemstones and "antique" furniture (usually made in Pakistan last year and left outside to get 'old') you can sometimes find some real treasures - 70s style Afghan sheepskin jackets, ornate samovars (water kettles) and beautiful carpets from all over the central asian region. Further up the road in 'Bush Bazaar' (named after the previous US president, now jokingly referred to as Obama Bazaar) you can find military kit that seems to have fallen off the back of a truck. Oakley sunglasses, gun cleaning kits and torches that shine a green light to minimise the risk of being seen! There are MREs too (Meals Ready to Eat) from the US and France mostly. The French ones are as you would expect - Basque Chicken, Beef Bourginon, Cassoulet! Nothing but the best. American ones provide amazing cookies, hot chocolate powder and mammouth size trays of illegal meat products. My friend buys MREs every week and brings them to work. He heats them up by placing them on top of the little stove in our office!

Well, that's all for now. Until next time - Khoda Hafez!