Good Times, Bad Times

I quite like my job here. It can be very demanding, but also very rewarding. Such a moment was today at the OCCP, when I went there for the first time in about three weeks. The representatives came to shake my hand saying Khub Bakhair, and ask me how I was, how my family is, etc. Like you do in Afghanistan. But that was not the rewarding part. It came after the meeting, in which we had agreed upon something. The commander of OCCP was very happy for our support and told jokes. (He also wanted some painkillers for his bad leg from MOT D's medic, but that's beside the point.) But that was not rewarding either, though the commander is rarely happy about anything. In fact, I don't know what made me feel good. It must have been a combination of many small details that, when I got into our vehicle to leave, made me feel like having achieved something, through hard work, against the odds.

After OCCP the logistic transport came in, with yet another new boiler for the guards' house, and an electrician to repair a few items that were out of order. Then there was the new chairman of the IEC (independent election committee), who wanted to meet us - and to get a shelter built for their generator. Well, I suppose they can concentrate on things like that now that the parliment elections have been postponed from May to September. Then I actually got a chance to go to the gym, which was also rewarding, once I was done. There was roast duck with orange sauce for dinner, because it was the CO's last day here. I bought him an elder's coat as a going-away present, the kind that president Karzai always wears. After the briefing I had a short presentation about the neighbouring PRT that I visited recently.

The hardest part of working here must for me be that I have to be available 24/7. I can never be sure that no-one is going to want something from me at any given time. There aren't many opportunities to be alone, either, and I try to make good use of those opportunities for solitude that present themselves. One thing that also bothers me every now and then, is that it's never quiet here. It's always, and I do mean constantly, more or less noisy. I suppose that it could be more quiet in the mountains, but then I don't get to go there too often.