The past week went fast. No sooner did I have my new, liberating visa in hand, but I started the long trpi to Barcelona for a quick holiday. It began with an early morning drive to the Kabul Airport. However, they hold you at a gate until the terminal is ready to receive you. Amongst a sea of humanity awaiting incoming Eid flights, and along with many disgruntled German would-be travelers, it was an hour before boarding the 30 sec shuttle ride. By coincidence, the gal I was frisked with in security ended up as my seat-mate on the flight. She was on her way to visit her boyfriend. They work for a contractor that guards military mail and fuel deliveries and he'd just been shot through the shoulder, neck and jaw. Amazingly he survived and was medivaced to Germany. She's the HR mgr and reported they had lost 40, mostly national, staff in the past month. Cookie delivery is a dangerous business.
Barcelona was good! Admittedly I had a bit of Stockholm Syndrome on my way there, as I suddenly missed my Kabul "caged" life and felt that this big, free world was rather scary in comparison. One good night's sleep, amazing hotel room view and morning walk later, and I was cured. Barcelona is rather beautiful. Between the views, the architecture and the history, you can really get lost in it (meeting up with one's fella helps too).
On the flip side of the surrealism coin, I had a bit of a crisis about returning to Kabul. Limbo land of: unsure if I want to go back, but not sure where else to go was not a reassuring of feeling. But fortunately it passed and the trip home was uneventful. The Frankfurt-Kabul flight was just as empty as the one out, so I had three seats at my Ambien-induced sleep disposal. Arriving at 5:30am with a full day at the office was a rough re-entry but it's Kabul life like I left it.
Tomorrow morning we fly north to Faizabad for our quarterly program meeting.
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