Foreigners

With Saturday being a day of getting to be with the Afghans, Sunday turned out to be the opposite. A group of us piled into a taxi and went over to the more expensive side of town and the Design Cafe. This is a place where all the foreigners and expats hang out, you can get pizza, burgers, wraps, cokes, milk shakes, steaks, chicken wings and other foreign types of food. For many it is like a haven after being in their compounds for a while. They are places that are considered safe for foreigners to congregate - although unlike the Flower Street Cafe that I visited last time I was here, there was no body checking for guns. We had quite a bumpy ride over though as they are digging up a lot of the streets in the area, and re-laying them, apparently for winter. They are also digging new drains on the side of the roads, which just consist of deep channels dug out for the water to drain in to. In the evening we went to a more local restaurant, mainly Afghans eating there, but it was about 4 of us foreigners in there. The place was called BBQ tonight and one of our party was quite excited about the idea of BBQ chicken, of course when it arrived she was surprised how unlike BBQ it looked. A reminder that she was in a foreign country provoked much laughter and a "I guess" from her. It wasn't that the food wasn't tasty, it was that it wasn't what she expected. That happens a lot to foreigners here, and I think it's probably true for most places people visit. What something is called on a menu isn't always the same thing that you would call it at home. The food sure is tasty here though! It is good to be back in Kabul and I have spent this morning trying to fill my days while I am here with meetings. Unfortunately it seems that there are prime times of the day that everyone wants, and of course I have to think about getting from one place to the next which is very much dependent on traffic. I am trying to see some different people from the last time I was here, although there are some old contacts that I am hoping to touch base with. I am also hoping to get out of the city at the weekend, and I have a meeting with my security guy after lunch to discuss if that is possible. I'm really hoping yes, because last time I was here every time I tried to get out I was stopped because of various issues. I'm just trying for a day trip this time instead of an overnight somewhere. I figure that bodes better for convincing the security guy....are they supposed to be this paranoid???