weekend in kabul

it is weekend and the sun is shining.. good news in the otherwise way to cold place.. cold also in the sense of people.. i was prepared for a bit of loneliness in the first days.. but this is really a bit too much now.. no one around to hang out with.. people here work until late.. go for a drink, get drunk and talk stupid.. mhmm.. maybe i am too old for this and haven't found an alternative yet.. only one lady, a member of the L-world!, but she is working in the provinces and only some times available for hangouts..

thats the sad song of kabul.. :-)

otherwise work is great and the germans are particular nice and ready to break the rules with me..
the new rules say that you are not supposed to go more than 100 meters on your feed, for every way longer than that you have to call a car, that might arrive an hour later since we do not have the capacity to drive everybody to coffee klatsch.. no more local taxis, no more friends pick ups.. that increases the loneliness.. and it increases the distance to the country.. i find it horrible not to talk to the shop owner around the corner.. not to be able to follow an invitation from a colleague to go their house on a friday afternoon since we are not allowed to be in 'non approved' places - which are only armed protected houses, like a couple of restaurants, our own houses and not even all the work places.. the cultural centre is of course not armed.. so technically i am not allowed to be there.. these are actually the rules of UN staff.. that we adopted.. unfortunately we didn't adopt their salary scale and not their housing equipment.. UN buildings usually have everything in their compound, from happily running warm water, to internet connection and a gym..

one of my rule breaking friend and I went on wednesday to the gym,

where we found not only running hot water (hair washing problem is solved for the winter) but also a wonderful little cafe in the basement, where we can also meet some afghans to chat with 'locals'.. haha..
when I arrived the discussion about the new rules where on a high peak and we tried to oppose.. we couldn't stop it and having now a one month 'test' run.. in which we agreed on heavy use of vehicles to crash the system..
but still the next month will be prison like..
lucky german has the l'atmosphere in front of the door.. i do not count if this is more than 100 meters and i still go to my favorite little shop on the corner.. if I try to send my guard to buy me stuff, he comes back with half of it and tells me that is enough for me.. he must be scotish.. taking care that i am not spending one afghani too much..
so far from the very sunny side of the hindukush..