89. Reflections on my first week back

I don’t know why I thought that flying into Kabul on Emirates airlines would be any different than flying any of the Afghan airlines. There were still the same unapologetic stares from men with 6 inch beards and turbans on their heads on the plane who acted like they have never seen anyone from the female species before.  But the flight looked full which was a good sign since I heard that most people are flying out of Afghanistan and not in to it.  I rushed off the plane struggling to get my head scarf and winter coat on while running down the stairs to make it to Passport Control before the rest of the masses got there.  I made it, the lines were short and I was in and out of passport control, baggage claim and security in less than 15 minutes.  That was a record! It sure beat the 2 hour ordeal I had to go through back in the good old days 11 years ago when the baggage carousel didn’t work because there was no electricity and a little old man would stand on it and hold up each piece of luggage and call out to the mostly eager excited foreigners “whose bag is this?!?” and someone would run up to him and claim it before he moved on to the next. 

                                                           

As I stepped outside the terminal, the first thing that hit me was that smell….the smell of Afghanistan.  I don’t know really what it is but there is nothing like it in the world.  The best way I can describe it is a combination of diesel, burning tires, fresh bread and pine trees.  The crisp cold air made the smell even stronger.  I stood there under the warm sun for a minute and just took a deep breath.  Before I take another step into this adventure and all the experiences that are waiting for me, I wanted so much to just cherish this one minute when it was just me, the sun, the ground that belonged to my ancestors and that smell that has always made me feel like I have come home.    

The drive from the airport to the hotel was quite long since my driver decided to take me to every other hotel in downtown Kabul before he figured out where the one that I am booked at is.  But it gave me a chance to notice the changes that have come about in Kabul in the 18 months I have been away.  To be honest, there were surprisingly very few changes that I could see.  The buildings still looked the same, there were just as many cars and people on the streets (including many women) running to wherever they were heading to, the layer of smog that blankets Kabul was just as thick, there were still mounds of trash everywhere, the city still looked like a shade between grey and brown with the exception of the new little green trees that were planted on the dividers on the roads.  Pretty much every landmark and all the places I frequented in the past were in the same place.  The city was alive and kicking as fervently as it always has.  Really the only changes were that I didn’t see any women in burqa’s – but that might have just been because I was in downtown, there were a few more malls and wedding halls and the signage on buildings were looking slightly better than I remembered in the past but that’s about all the physical changes I observed. 

I had a nice chat with my driver.  I love hearing the perspective of these “real people” in Kabul.  These people work hard and lead a minimalistic life.  Their lack of comprehension of the sophisticated manipulations of the powers that run this nation and their simplistic language and choice of words make them so endearing to me.  And my driver, let’s call him Mo, fit the bill perfectly.  He was an interesting combination of cheerfulness that comes from sheer ignorance of reality and cynical pessimism from resignation to a life and future that will either stay the same or get worse.  I asked him about his thoughts on 2014 and he very bluntly told me that people have turned 2014 into a “ba-baow” – a dari/farsi term for the “boogy man”.  At that moment, I made the decision that I like Mo and that we will become friends.  I know it’s sad that my friends are usually my drivers, body guards and cleaners in my office but honestly they turn out to be the most loyal, nonjudgmental, entertaining and sincere people I come across in Afghanistan. 

I checked into my hotel and was disappointed that it didn’t look as bright and welcoming as its pictures on their website, but nothing in Kabul does.  However, it had running water, a clean bathroom, and a heater.  That’s all a girl can ask for.  But I wasn’t prepared for the type of traffic the hotel has and the type of people that create this traffic.  Apparently, the hotel rents out its banquet rooms for conferences and although I was pleasantly surprised to see the number of women that come through who are dressed very elegantly and professionally, I was disappointed to see that most of the attendees and the guests of the hotel are men who look like the ones that were staring at me on the plane in traditional Afghan attire and turbans.  And after eating my breakfast in the morning in the main dining room under the stares of these men, I knew I couldn’t stay there too long.  Fortunately, my old landlord has a unit available which I can move into tomorrow.  I won’t have the conveniences of a hotel but the apartment is in a safe low profile location, has a great bathroom and no one will be staring at me there. 

Work has been fun.  As much as I love the work I do in America, the type of work I do here in Afghanistan has a very different sense of satisfaction and excitement.  No one listens, everyone does the opposite of what you ask, nothing ever gets done, people come up with a million and one excuses for everything and the level of politics and office drama is off the charts but I love it (but check in with me in a couple of weeks when I might love it a little less).  The media industry in Afghanistan is one of the most demanding industries to work for. But it’s also at the forefront of innovation and change and has led this nation out of darkness and ignorance and introduced the Afghan people to the world and to their own potential.  I am looking forward to the projects that I will be working on. 

My office cleaner is Mah Mah Shirine – which literally translates into “The Sweet Uncle” – and that he is.  I love how he makes his goal in life my happiness (or at least pretends to in front of me).    He brings me tea, get’s me fresh fruit from the market, cleans my office, scolds people for hanging out near my office, turns on my heater before I get to the office, brings me lunch and locks the bathroom in front of my office so no one else can use it but me.  Do you guys still wonder why I keep coming back here?  I am partly kidding.  But it is nice to be pampered and taken care of.  I just have to teach him how to make coffee and then I’ll be all set.

So all in all its been a great start with a few hiccups here and there but hopefully the beginning of a new chapter in my life and an exciting year for Afghanistan as it enters a new era with the Presidential Elections coming up in a couple of months, the determination of whether international troops will still remain and a turning point for how the future will roll out for the people of this nation.  Stay tuned for more…..