At OCCP, they went about their business just as if the second round of the presidential elections had not been cancelled, which we all (the Americans, the Croatian and us the Finns) thought was very strange, especially when at the same time the provincial governor was arranging a victory celebration for all Karzai supporters at a nearby hotel. We'll try to clarify this issue in the near future. In the meantime, we're still following the elections' FRAGO (Fragmentary Order) from PRT staff. There was a lot of people and security forces in town.
Around lunchtime I paid the local employees their salaries (and as usual some advances for those who can't balance their personal economy too well. But they always have great excuses!)
In the afternoon we went to a "Justice Meeting" at the provincial Court of Appeal. For me it was a very boring two hours, but I suppose our police liaison NCO got something more out of it.
We were all invited to a wedding in the evening. This was in fact the third wedding that we had been ivited to in a month or so, which says more about the weddings here than about our popularity. This time it was the PO's guard commander who was getting married (the other two was our ex-interpreter and the PO's cleaner's sister(!)) We couldn't attend the previous invitations, but this one was just too important to miss out on. The wedding party itself was one of those things that I'll never forget. As a wedding present, we brought him a brand new 21" flat-screen television. I suppose that it was a very typical, traditional Afghan wedding party, but for us the experience was quite extraordinary. I'll write more about it when my first impressions are better processed, when I have more time and am less tired. By then I will propably also have a picture or three to show.
But I've never before danced on a carpet with a dozen men while wearing a pistol belt.
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