The Butcher

I haven't had much meat since I've been here. It's all frozen in the supermarket and not so adequately wrapped. I 'treated' myself and tried the t-bones one week. They were expensive and not good.

An aside sorta: Halal refers to what is permissible under Islam and specifically refers to the slaughtering of meat from permitted animals - not pig - by having their throat cut and being bled out. What this means to western taste is that there's no blood in halal meat which gives it a distinctive flavor. I wasn't sure I cared for it.

This weekend we're in a lockdown situation. I was told that a very very important person - VVIP was in town - and no one was allowed to go into the center of the city. As security put it 'a credible ongoing threat here...' and there were road blocks and ID checks everywhere.

To celebrate that I wouldn't be going out to dinner tonight, I decided to visit a local butcher and try some fresh meat. Lamb was what I was looking for. The 'mystery' meat at school is called 'lamb' - if it's lamb, it's an old one.


Here's the butcher. When I pointed at one slab and asked what it was. He pointed

Gospan. Sheep.

I bought some ribs for a stew. I really wanted lamb chops, but this gospan just didn't look the part... tender that is.

I cooked and ate some tonight.

I'm back on beans, rice, and canned sardines tomorrow.

winter came

and went before I had time to post some pictures. By all accounts it's been a most unusually mild winter, with only a few uncomfortably cold days. Not like the horror winters we had heard about. There was one slight snowfall - and it snowed on and off for a few days.

Here are the first flakes. We were out at the time - buying groceries and other adult beverage stuff.Leftover from the holidays, but now covered in snow. I look at this picture and I miss the US.

Here's one of the neighbors shoveling snow -- from his roof.

Me and my hearty exercise mates continued to walk and run at the 'new campus' property just below the ever-photogenic Darulaman Palace.

Me wending my way around the soccer field - and around - and around...

Saplings on a misty path.
and comings and goings.

Another wintry shot at the new campus.

The current University grounds.

Homeward bound.

And then the snow melted and the frozen ground turned to....

Mud

everywhere.

Winter's pretty much gone now - still a bit chilly at times - and rainy. But it's not bad.

I'm looking forward to spring.

So is this rosebush in the guesthouse garden.

Yesterday's bombing

I heard the boom - early in the morning. I pretended as long as I could that it was a sonic boom: that's what loud sky noises are in South Carolina. Not here. Here it's the sound of a bomb - in this case a car bomb.


Then came the ding ding of my cell phone and the text message from security:

"There has been a large explosion and gunfire heard in the Shar e naw area; all international staff are restricted to their guesthouses until further notice."

and ...

"Early reports suggest that at least three attackers stormed the Safi Landmark Hotel/Kabul City Center. It is understood that one BBIED detonated near the entrance and SAF is still being heard."

Those messages were the limit of the information that we, in this guesthouse, received all day. We had no Internet access. Our communication to the outside Kabul world was through a phone call to one of our roommates from his friends in Nigeria! I heard from an escort that it was 'very bad.' And that 'some Indians had been killed,' but that was the limit of my Dari and his English.


Today Internet back and finally some news: reports say 16 or 17 people died, mostly Indian nationals. Car bomb and suicide bomber, buildings wrecked, Another sad sad day for Afghanistan.

The Taliban have claimed responsibility for the killings.

Yesterday was the Prophet Mohammad's birthday.

Street guys

Here's what you see a lot of on the streets of Kabul - men hanging out.

Selling.

Resting.


Waiting.
That's a wedding car - ready for the big day!


Watching.

Sitting around.

Longing.

Roaming.

Doing stuff.

Discussing.

Sleeping.

Studying.

Begging.

Thinking.

Kibitizing.

Plotting.

Waiting.

Bargaining.

Visiting.

Hanging out.

Taliban stalls project

The Taliban is not just fighting NATO troops for control of Afghanistan. It is disrupting the country's development by preventing the delivery of services to its citizens.

Here's one example:

A turbine designed for a hydroelectric project in Helmand province (Taliban territory) intended to supply electricity for southern Afghanistan may never be installed. In August, 2008, the turbine (220 tonnes) was dragged by 2,000 British troops on a five-day convoy through enemy territory. The project has been put on hold, however, since the huge amounts of cement required to install the equipment cannot be delivered safely. NATO has been unable to secure 30 miles of road against Taliban attack for the length of time needed to move the cement.

The parts have been inventoried and stored away until a better time.

Kajaki Dam

BRONWEN ROBERTS/ AFP/GETTY IMAGES

Lest I forget...

NATO surveillance blimp - tethered here in Kabul.

This is not Charleston, SC.

'home' in Kabul

After travelling for 3+ weeks over the holidays and suffering several rough spots and at least one cosmic meltdown, I was glad to be back.


Bed buddies.






I brought cuttings of these succulents from the States. They languished in a plastic bag in my lost luggage for 7 days until I could 'free' them. My room and one other are on the 3rd (top) floor. We share this patio, which extends across the front of the house.

And that's it - my place: a room in a guesthouse in Kabul, Afghanistan, 2010.