Essence

I feel in writing this blog that I'm not even close to expressing the essence of this place. I had to buy a new outfit today because I will hopefully travelling soon. This outfit covers up most of me and makes me basically invisible. It's very strange with the freedom I have in Kabul to know that even going a little bit out of the city I have to watch what I wear and basically stay quiet and submissive. It's times like that where I realise what a different country this is. At lunch today for about an hour and a half I could pretend I was somewhere else, and then the moment I step back out into the street and once again see guns and armoured vehicles I realise this is a very different and unique country. I went out with one of the expats this evening to pick up some icecream and snacks from a local supermarket that is basically for foreigners and rich Afghans who want foreign food. I was going because I needed to use an ATM and there was one in the store. Two police with automatic guns were "guarding" I guess is the word the store. I realise after being here for about 10 days already that I'm beginning to get used to the sight of guns, so that as I travel about it doesn't seem so strange anymore. It will be interesting to travel outside of Kabul just to see how things are different. I also need to try and get up early one morning and try and see a sunrise here, I'm sure it's amazing.