Day Two, and Three

It's 6:30 p.m. here in Kabul, and I am listening to church music and gazing at our Christmas lights while waiting for Jeremy to return from the dining hall - er - cafeteria, with dinner. We continue to be more or less satisfied with the cafeteria (a good thing, since we've only been here just over 72 hours). They have a decent variety, and so far, there has been some sort of South Asian dish on the menu at each meal - various curries, and today there was a vegetable biryani. We're starting to realize, though, how poorly we prepared our consumables shipment. We're stocked up on cereal and instant oatmeal and paper towels, but plan to order some staples like pasta and tomato sauce so we can "cook" at home. And I will start trying to figure out how we can acquire fresh ingredients once in awhile so that we can cook a proper dinner.

Friday is the big day off here, so yesterday, we went to the weekly bazaar at Camp Eggers, which is probably about half or two-thirds of a mile away. It's one of the only ways to get off compound on a regular basis, and we are told many members of the mission staff go very frequently. It's a very nice bazaar, with a good variety of goods, including carpets, ridiculously cheap pashminas, gemstones and semi-precious stone jewelry (most notably lapis lazuli), and of course, carpets. We are definitely going to spend some money there. Unfortunately, the bazaar being on a military base, I can't take pictures of it.

Then last night we attended two parties, one of which was held in an apartment in our building. Met a lot of folks, including the resident poker sharks, one of whom also happens to be a musician. It will be good to be busy.