Kabul, Afghanistan - Day 1
In an attempt to consolidate and document the Afghan experiences... I'm going to post the emails I sent home during my 14 days in Afghanistan. What an eye-opening, inspiring, humbling, wonderful experience.....
Grrr. So just had my first experience with the ever-so-reliable Kabul power system. Wrote a long email, attached pics, and the power went out. Lovely.
Well anyway. I'll try to remember what I said! I am on my way out in about 1 hour now for a day of shopping, shopping and more shopping!! then trivia night and chinese food tonight. haha. We met some British security contract workers who guard the US Embassy high rollers. They said they might come join us. haha. See, making friends in all the right places. :) We also made friends with our middle seat companion from Dubai to Kabul. He is a Afghan entrepreneur working in one of the cities we'll visit this weekend. He was coming back from Washington DC because he was doing an internship with B Peace, one of the non-profits Thunderbird for Good partners with quite often. He was very smart and thankful that we were traveling so far to see his country ;) He made a point of shaking our hands and giving us his business cards while we were in the crowded baggage claim area. We were some of the only women, and this legitimized us. It's weird how the culture works... But he showed us respect and shook our hands in public, which every other man took notice of. We were grateful for that.
Kabul is beautiful - for the most part. The flight in was uneventful, and people on the whole are fascinated with who we are, why we're here, and are very grateful for the work being done with 10,000 Women. Many have heard of it. Our flight was half Afghans, half contract security workers. So...think - beefy, American military looking dudes who are certainly not blending in with the locals. :) We have about 10 of them in our hotel lobby 24/7. Our hotel is seriously Fort Knox. We had to go through 4 check points just to get within 30 feet of our hotel. Hood up, check under the car, xray us and our luggage, no photos allowed in the lobby or outside, etc... It's very, very secure. I feel safe for sure. It's a compound!
So I love you all... I'll attach some photos of my hotel room - it is so beautiful :)
Lots of love. I'm deliriously tired, but on with the show!!!
xoxo
amy
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| Walking in my hotel room... I love having two beds. One for all my STUFF! |
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| View out my window. I'm surprised I didn't capture machine gun toting security guards. They're everywhere. |
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| I wasn't on the flower "VIP" list. But I remarked how beautiful they were, and the man gave me two huge bunches for my room. Love it!! |
Grrr. So just had my first experience with the ever-so-reliable Kabul power system. Wrote a long email, attached pics, and the power went out. Lovely.
Well anyway. I'll try to remember what I said! I am on my way out in about 1 hour now for a day of shopping, shopping and more shopping!! then trivia night and chinese food tonight. haha. We met some British security contract workers who guard the US Embassy high rollers. They said they might come join us. haha. See, making friends in all the right places. :) We also made friends with our middle seat companion from Dubai to Kabul. He is a Afghan entrepreneur working in one of the cities we'll visit this weekend. He was coming back from Washington DC because he was doing an internship with B Peace, one of the non-profits Thunderbird for Good partners with quite often. He was very smart and thankful that we were traveling so far to see his country ;) He made a point of shaking our hands and giving us his business cards while we were in the crowded baggage claim area. We were some of the only women, and this legitimized us. It's weird how the culture works... But he showed us respect and shook our hands in public, which every other man took notice of. We were grateful for that.
Kabul is beautiful - for the most part. The flight in was uneventful, and people on the whole are fascinated with who we are, why we're here, and are very grateful for the work being done with 10,000 Women. Many have heard of it. Our flight was half Afghans, half contract security workers. So...think - beefy, American military looking dudes who are certainly not blending in with the locals. :) We have about 10 of them in our hotel lobby 24/7. Our hotel is seriously Fort Knox. We had to go through 4 check points just to get within 30 feet of our hotel. Hood up, check under the car, xray us and our luggage, no photos allowed in the lobby or outside, etc... It's very, very secure. I feel safe for sure. It's a compound!
So I love you all... I'll attach some photos of my hotel room - it is so beautiful :)
Lots of love. I'm deliriously tired, but on with the show!!!
xoxo
amy
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