My new commute.

One (minor) advantage of moving to the new villa is that my commute got much more attractive - I have to walk through the gardens of villa 5.....

Living in a brothel...

Between loosing access to the adjacent hotel due to a change in management, and additional staff, things were getting crowded in the compound. Many of us (including me) were doubled up and sharing a room. An adjacent building (and former chinese brothel) was available, and our company rented it, cut a door in the wall, and renovated it for our use. I didn't see it before the renovations, but I understand it was pretty ugly.

Since I'm only going to be here for another six weeks I volunteered to move over there and save one of the 'permanent' staff the hassle of moving twice. The only real downside is that I no longer have a private bath.

They haven't really started working on the garden yet, but that should be next on the list.

Oven Street

On the way back from Qarghah we went down what our PSDs called "oven street" - it's supposed to be one of the older streets in the city, and where they make the giant clay ovens by hand.

Qarghah

We were out at a base near Qarghah and I managed to snap some shots from the car. These are fairly typical of the smaller streets that I've seen.

Snider-Enfield

I didn't mean to buy another rifle at the market yesterday. I've already gotten a couple, plus various knives, swords, and axes. This carbine, however, proved irresistible. It's a Snider-Enfield, which is a cartridge conversion of a muzzle-loading firearm. Add the mother of pearl inlays and I was helpless....

Turquoise at the ISAF Market

I know it's been a while since my last post, but things have been rather boring. No real adventures lately in the 'stan or while I was home on R&R....

Today was our normal taste of freedom each week, with a two-hour trip to either Camp Eggers or ISAF, I went to ISAF where the market is bigger and the merchants take dollars. The market at Eggers is smaller, and I have to deal with getting Afghanis, and then doing the exchange rate in my head. I've had a request for some turquoise for a family member, so took some pistures to show what is available.

New Rug!

Picked up a new rug for the house today. It's roughly 6x9, wool, and dyed using vegetable dyes. The colors shift slightly depending on which direction it's viewed.

It'll decorate my room here in Kabul, and then go home when I do.

Bela Hassar

I was going through some pictures, and found some great ones that were taken by Nino, one of the other ExPats.

It really shows how the houses are built on the slope, and what they're like.

It's a whole different world over here....

My Home Away From Home

It doesn't really feel like Christmas over here. None of the hustle-bustle of shopping, parties with friends, and no family to spend Christmas morning with. I'm not sure if that's good or bad that it doesn't feel like Christmas - I don't think I fully realize what I'm missing.

They gave us the day off, s0 with yesterday being our normal 'Friday' off it makes for *two* days off in a row. I'm thoroughly enjoying being lazy. Slept late, got some reading in, and now I'm looking forward to making all of the Christmas phone calls. I think, perhaps, I'll know what I'm missing then. No regrets, though.

With a day off I thought I'd post some pictures of my little home away from home. Pretty nice quarters, all things considered. Roomy, warm, and with a private bathroom. Not too shabby......