Step in Kabul after 5 months.

This is what I look like a good deal of the time here in Kabul.

KFC. Kabul Fried Chicken.

Is finger lickin good.

Time has flown - Kabul 5 months later

Since February I have:

Given two Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women Project workshops
Taught Business Communications at AUAF
Selected and ordered over 1,300 books for the AUAF library
Established new technical services procedures in the library
Established new public services procedures in the library
Moved to a new guest house
Bought 3 Afghan carpets (one is felt, does that count)
Traveled to Dubai and India again
Learned that sleeping pills are wonderful things
Turned 40
Attended an Afghan wedding
Hiked up the Soviet Swimming Pool hill
Never got sick
Never got scared
Made lots of new friends
Realized how hard withdrawal from good internet bandwidth is
Never cried about anything
Is a good nester
Only killed 5 things and they were all ticks
Learned that USAID does not quite have its act together in Afghanistan
Read the Tufts University report saying that more aid leads to more problems
Read Flashman
Drank very little poison
Drank lots of Diet Coke and Dr. Pepper
Never smoked anything illegal, but like the smell
Never had to use any of the medicines that I brought except for one z-pak for a chest infection
Gave away medicines to two different colleagues
Ate local foods without 'dying'
Babur Gardens twice
Learned enough Dari to tell a taxi driver how to go to my home
Generally worked my tail off on stuff
Only thing that makes me homesick are thunderstorms
The only gun ever pointed at me is at the International Club and they have one gun that points at everybody
Am pretty comfortable surrounded by men with guns now
Still do not like when red laser pointers shine inside the car
Realized that I don't fear too much in this world

and finally, I still believe that Afghanistan can make little steps towards the 21st century
....but I am much more cynical now.