Return from Kabul

I am back at Kandahar now, after a return flight from Kabul that got in around 8 pm.  We made good time; usually the flight takes about 80 minutes.  By my watch, we landed after being in the air for 68 minutes.  At the airport, we saw two Australian officers I work with, LTC M and MAJ S.  They had accompanied an Afghan General to Kabul and were now returning back to Kandahar as well.  During the flight, LTC M showed me the book he is reading - The Book Thief.  I read the back of it - it looks wonderful - and he said he would let me read it when he was finished.  While I looked at his book, I passed him the book I have been reading - Beyond Culture, by Edward Hall.  It is an older title - from 1976, but I find it very helpful in my efforts to understand -maybe that is the wrong word - maybe it is not possible to understand a culture so different from ours - in my efforts to come to terms with the Afghan culture.  They are very different from us americans!

After we landed, the five of us went to the dining facility on the base to eat.  I was very hungry and enjoyed a meal of beef stroganoff, peas and some pasketti.  I had orange soda to drink.  I rarely drink orange soda, but this was one of the times.  Then, I rode with AfghanTim - my colleague and co-logistician- back to our base.  After putting my stuff in my room, I went to the office to check my e-mails.  I had about 250 e-mails waiting for me.  Happily, most were not specifically for me but were "distro" e-mails I had been included on.  I have alot of catch-up-reading to do tomorrow.

I have followed the news of the evangelical church that plans to burn a Koran in Florida in the next day or so with much dismay.  If these people REALLY had the courage of their convictions, which it seems is to send a message of defiance and to provoke the fanatical islamists who were responsible for the horrors of September 11, 2001, then I would think they would hop a plane and come over to Afghanistan where their message could be appreciated IN PERSON.  I doubt they will do that, however.  They will fan the flames of intolerance and fanatical reaction from the safety of their church in Florida and leave the Coalition Soldiers over here - the Americans, British, Austrailians, Dutch, French and other allied countries - to bear the brunt of the rage produced by their intentionally insulting gesture.

Well.  That is enough for tonight.  To sleep.  The picture I am posting is of a small garden that was on the base we stayed at in Kabul.  The translation is "Begin with the end in mind."