Wednesday October 14, 2009

 

Well been here for a little more than two weeks now. Slowly trying to get a routine going and meeting new challenges as time goes by.

 

After we arrived, had to find sleeping quarters. Had to walk about 200 metres with my bags, thank God Hans was here to help. We opened the door to my office and found a young lady and man enjoying a meal for two. Thank God it was Hans who opened the door or I would've thought I had entered the wrong office. I had forgotten that my office which was once just ours was now to be shared.

 

Apparently, it had been empty for three months. Aysel had actually been here for a year. However, when given the promotion earlier that year she had to leave. Occasionally, the two local reporters would come in and even less occasionally we would have a fellow FMTL come and spend a week there.

 

When Hans came by in July to keep it going for a week, everybody converged on him when he unlocked the door. They have eleven hundred people in a 400-man camp and space is at a premium. They then made it clear that they would be taking over the office. Hans had to talk them down and they agreed to let us to share it. Thus six weeks later …TADDAA!!! … there I was! 

 

I can understand why they don't take the FMT Department seriously, an office unused for three months and when I arrived, my side of it is covered in dust.

 

I made a pledge to be there as much as possible to make sure we don't lose it altogether. The female soldier with whom I share the office, Marie, is quite sweet.

She was worried about how I would fit in with all these Germans and soldiers and I don't even speak the language. She told Hans that I should tell her if I had any problems and she would do her best to help me. She claims that her English isn't good. She actually understands everything but can't articulate herself that well. She has never taken umbrage that I share the office and that she and her boyfriend, a Belgian soldier (the fellow we met with her on the first day), can't have the privacy that they used to. He on other hand, who I shall refer to as Belgian dick as I don’t know his name, seems to be perturbed at my presence. However, the last time I checked, he has an office next door, which he shares, this is the Bomb Disposal Unit operated by the Belgians. He has walked out of the office once or twice in huff apparently peeved at the lack of privacy for the two of them. You can see that Marie is affected by it and feels helpless. I feel sorry for her but “dick” has to understand he is in someone else’s office.

 

 I saw him in my second week in the line at the canteen. Everyone here greets each other when walking by and if you know someone you automatically say hello. As he was behind me in the line, I looked at him just to greet, he looked right past me with a stoic expression on his face. Fuck him! Now I am really going to enjoy occupying that office.

 

I have no room. HQ told me that the camp would provide and the camp said they only provide for soldiers. After a lot of chat about how overcrowded the camp was, we got a tent. One hour to tell us and another hour just to tell where it was. The tent is big and built for eight. There was only one person in it and he left the next day.

 

Sharing a tent means putting up with other people's idiosyncrasies. The guy in the tent actually snored and spoke in his sleep at the same time. I didn't think this was humanly possible. I just got up and looked at him. However, the next day he was gone and it was just Hans and I for the next few days. Hans in addition to snoring occasionally in his sleep also sometimes groans erotically. Again this is not something I am used to. The first time I just sat up in my bed and looked at him. You just try to ignore it and sleep. However, one night I did have to bang on the wardrobe and interrupt his snoring.

 

Looks like I won’t get my own room for quite a while. They have ordered it. Basically this is some kind of portable and on a good day I am looking at three weeks to obtain it and probably two to three months for delivery. Thank God the tent is big like twice the size of a master bedroom and it has AC and heat. However, I just sleep there. It doesn't really entice me in a homely manner. It's also quite close to the bathrooms and showers so I appreciate that.

 

I don’t know much about camps but this one looks pretty big. If you are from Trinidad, think of the Queen’s Park Savannah, if not, it’s about 50 football fields or more. It’s a large dusty looking place. The damn sand is everywhere but we are not that far away from the desert. There are a lot of brown or grey buildings usually surrounded by grey concrete walls. Not extremely picturesque but then again this is an army camp. They have planted lawns around the buildings. And what does stand out are the rose bushes. The roses are huge, about half the size of the average man’s hand and they are beautifully red.

 

These people are going to have to get used to a brown guy who works here and is not an Afghan. The local staff are sent home at the end of the day but seeing me walk around in jeans or a pair of shorts, you can see them wondering just who the hell I am. During my first week I bought some lunch at the canteen and decided I wanted to carry it to the office. I asked for it to go and they just gave me a plate of rice and stewed beef in an open plate. I asked for it to be covered, so they put another plate on top of it. I had to ask for a bag which they did give. As the plate was not sealed, I put my hands on the top and bottom to avoid spillage as I walked. Just as I left the canteen, and with swirling dust all around me, I saw about three tanks about 80 metres away. They stopped dead in their tracks and just looked at me.

 

I knew what they were thinking, brown guy with a concealed package walking towards them. I was worried that the tanks would blow my ass to kingdom come. I figured if I acted in a panicked manner or suspiciously, that might evoke a reaction from them. So I did my best to continue walking and look as non-threatening as possible. They stood their ground and just looked at me. I just continued walking doing my best impression of a safe, unassuming individual. Some German fellow was coming my way on a bicycle. Realizing the situation, he looked at me and then just waved them on. They continued and as they passed me, I just glanced at them and continued walking straight as if passing a neighbour on my way from the supermarket.

 

Welcome to Kunduz you brown bitch.