Walking across the rock-filled road after taking a shower, I thought about what today had in store and wondered how much we would get accomplished. I made it to the office in enough time to check my e-mail and grab some coffee, then we were off the ANA camp to visit with our friends.
We signed out of our camp, loaded 15-round magazines into the wells of our 9mm Berettas, and headed outside the concertina-wire covered gate. Our interpreter Rafi was there just outside the gate to meet us like he is every day, and we all exchanged "good morning" greetings as usual. We headed over to the ANA camp, where Afghan soldiers lined the streets, staring at us as we walked by.
At the ANA office, we drank tea and did our normal socializing. I was disappointed to learn that the computer they had still hadn't been worked on by their IT people like it was supposed to have been. There wasn't much I could do, so I decided to check out the computer myself to see if maybe I could get it working. I took it all apart and opened it up. There was dust and dirt everywhere. You could tell that this place really wasn't equipped for video editing. There was dust and dirt everywhere. That's the way it is here. No matter what you do, there will be a layer of dust on everything. That's hell on electronics. I started to spray the inside of the computer with canned air, but the dust filled the room and covered everyone in it. "We better do this outside," I told Chris as I set down the now ice-cold canned air can.
We went outside and I sprayed down the inside of the computer. Chris and I re-seated the cards, and we discovered that one of the power cords wasn't plugged in and one of the cards wasn't seated at all. "Maybe this will help," I thought. I got my ANA video guy to spray out the computer too, and talked to him a little bit about preventive maintenance. These guys really need to think about these things if they want to work on their own and not have to rely so much on other people. I think it's really just a matter of not knowing for them though, as they've been very receptive to everything I've showed them thus far.
Back inside, I found that the cleaning didn't help. The computer still came up displaying the "blue screen of death," and wouldn't go any further. Major Niem said that his IT guys were coming to fix it today, so hopefully that happened after we left. I can't do much without it. We'll see tomorrow.
Major Niem's son came into the office while we were there. What an amazing and cute kid he was. I had a feeling he was near eleven years old, as I have an eleven year old myself, so I had to ask him how old he was. I was right...he was eleven. He is learning English in school and I could carry on a small conversation with him if I kept it very simple. He was all smiles most of the time, and a very pleasant and respectful young man. I made small talk with him and his dad about having a nice daughter for him to meet. I might've entered into some sort of Muslim contract to get Jordan married though, I'm not sure. Afghan custom is for the parents to choose the spouse of their children. Jordan already has Major Niem's "ok" apparently, according to the interpreter. I was a little worried at first. You wonder sometimes here if you cross the line with what seems like normal conversation. What us Americans think is ok to talk about isn't necessarily ok in the Afghan culture. When I mentioned something about my daughter meeting this good-looking kid, I kind of had one of those "can I take my foot out of my mouth" moments. Major Niem didn't take it that way, and the interpreter said that what I said was fine and not a problem when I asked him. The Major said he agreed about Jordan and his son. He said he'd pay for the whole wedding and everything. Wait...I was just kidding. Ultimately, so was he. But don't worry...I didn't sign anything.
We made it back to our camp at around 1130 and Chris and I went to the gym. Thirty minutes on the treadmill was good for me, and I didn't feel as bad as I thought I might. Actually, I didn't think I'd even be able to go that long. After that, we did a shoulder workout. I was pretty motivated, but hadn't eaten yet today so my energy was low. After running, I definitely needed something in my system to finish a good workout. I fought through it though...didn't do everything I would've done normally, but still felt good about being in there and doing something.
The rest of the day was pretty uneventful. E-mail, dinner, pool, Facebook...it's going to be my life for the next 167 days or so. It's ok though. I'm getting into a routine and the work we're doing here is only going to get better. I'm getting things situated the way I want, and the ANA's are very happy with the progress we've made so far. I'm happy with that also. Some days seem slow, but it's coming around. This, like anything else, is going to be what I make of it, and positive thinking goes a long way. I'm thankful I figured that out.
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