Disjointed Notes

Here are things that don't go with photos, which means I can post this entry more quickly.  It is Ramadan now - I think it started Tuesday night, but since no one knows until the moon is sighted, and sometimes it's cloudy, it's hard to say.  What is clear is that most of the local employees are NOT around.

On Sunday I went to Bagram for a conference of a dozen or so Afghan governors from the eastern part of the country.  I am told that it is the eighth busiest airport in the world, though I am skeptical.  I took no pictures because it's an airbase, and if you've seen one military base, you've seen most.  Plus I didn't want to get shot.  I will note that the USO recreation lounge there is called the Pat Tillman Memorial Lounge.  It takes three hours to drive from Kabul to Bagram.  It took about five minutes to fly.

What I will eventually get photos of are the kites.  I'd seen several before, but the past couple of days there have been lots.  Today at the airport, standing around on the tarmac waiting for our ride, I saw five kites flying in the neighborhood near the gate.  Two of the kites were dueling, many hundreds of feet in the sky.  They were still swirling and dancing about each other when we drove off.

I have now been at work for 39 of the past 48 hours.  I'm going to bed.  Tomorrow is Friday, our day off.  I have one meeting at 1000, another at 1230, and then a conference from 1700 to 2000.  Days off here suck.  I should do laundry, but Plan B is to keep wearing the same clothes until the people in my office volunteer to do it for me.