I got up at 0620 and went to the gym to pedal on the spinning bike for 40 minutes. After breakfast I gave the EUPOL officer S, who was going to the OCCP, some money to collect the souvenir pocket knives that we had ordered from the local blacksmith. He brought them back, but without having succeeded in negotiating a lower price, although he said that he had tried really hard. Then the landlord came to the gate and wanted to talk with us, about money, of course. For lunch we had guests: the commanders of ANP and NDS from all the seven districts of Samangan, as well as the provincial commanders, were invited for lunch. We provided food and some diesel for their vehicles, and in that way helped them to organise their own conference with their own agenda. They liked the food (chicken soup, tuna salad and knäckebröd) and gladly accepted the extra fuel, so in that respect the gathering was a success. Our MOT leaders even managed to talk to some of their contacts although we just had two interpreters present.
In the afternoon I sold some of the pocket knives to those who had ordered them, and even bought some myself. I also bought myself an Aybak t-shirt, which the guys had ordered from the store in the German camp Marmal. I continued doing piled-up administrative work, such as counting the cash and mailing the diesel lists etc. Then there was yet another surprise visitor at the gate: two men from the local radio station, asking for - yes, you guessed it - money. No surprise there. They just keep coming, although we rarely have anything more than excuses to offer.
The blacksmith has done a good job - but everyone says that we paid too much.
The embroidery on the backside of the t-shirt is of really good quality.
The opening words of Samangan's ANP and NDS commanders' lunch at the PO.
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