One week down....

It's May 4, 2011 and I've been here for over a week. My head was spinning at first, so I haven't really had time to get my thoughts together. I thought I'd start by describing the surroundings...

First of all, let's make sure everyone understands that this is a 'M A R A T H O N '.  We are pacing ourselves, as it is a very long race. Thus, I have not yet explored every inch of my surroundings. My surroundings are very small and have to last me for an entire year, so we're taking it slow.

I'm stationed at a headquarters in Kabul that is a campus of 17 acres. As a point of reference, the Civic Arena site is 28 acres. This place is completely flat, devoid of grass, has about 11 trees and is surrounded by 20' tall Texas barriers (Jersey barriers on steroids) on top of which are another 15' of green fabric screens (unnervingly called sniper screens.) We have guard towers all around and we're guarded by Afghan soldiers. It feels like prison.

I work in a windowless office with 4 other people and 18 computers. It is HOT and stuffy. The mess hall is about 20' away, also windowless, hot and stuffy. The fitness center is in the basement, serves 1200 people and you guessed it... it's windowless, hot and stuffy. (it's new, so it's not smelly yet.)

I have lots of meetings to go to in various conference rooms, all of which are HOTTER and STUFFIER than my office, which is really hard to believe. For a break, I go for a walk around our prison, where the dust and heat hang onto you. But, the good news is, you can see some mountains in the distance, there is usually a breeze and you can wave to the Afghan soldiers.

Thankfully, the evenings and mornings are pleasant, and my sleeping room is very pleasant, with a decent working air conditioner and a great roommate (so far, only Tracy.)

 Courtyard between my office and barracks. Note the lack of windows.

 My office. No windows. I have not ventured up to the 3rd floor yet (it's a marathon, remember.)


Below is the ring road. It's 1000 meters long (about 2/3 mile) and I try to walk 2 to 5 laps per day.

A cool picture of me at the first place I landed in Afghanistan. We were only in Kandahar for 5 hours, but it was a cool picture.