The Man in Afghanistan

Well, here I am in Kandahar, Afghanistan. It's been close to three weeks since I left Canada. I'm happy to say the conditions here aren't as bad as I imagined they'd be. I sleep in a type of tent called a weather haven. It sleeps about 12 people, has a wooden door, sits on a concrete pad, and has partitions for each sleeping space.

The eating messes are run by the Americans, and the food isn't bad. Although the Yanks do seem to have a love of corn dogs. The weather has been mostly sunny and warm during the day, although we have had a few dust storms since I've been here. Being a desert environment, the nights are considerably cooler, but still much warmer than Canada this time of year.

One of the rules here in the camp is no drinking. While I'm missing cracking open a cold one at the end of the day, I can see the wisdom in this rule, seeing as we're all constantly in possession of a either a rifle or a pisol. You think drinking and driving is bad, try drinking and packing heat. Bad idea. There's also no "fraternization" here in the camp (i.e. no foolin' around). This means I'm living a monastic existence here. I'll just have to make it up on my European Tour. I'll be touring through 10 European countries in 19 days in May with a bunch of 18-35 year olds. We start in London, travel south until we hit Rome, then travel north again until we finish in Paris. At the end of the tour, I'll even have a couple of days in Paris to wander around by myself before I have to return to Kandahar. It's gonna be awesome!

I'm working with a great bunch of people in the headquarters, which definitely helps make the time pass easier. Most of us, myself included, work seven days a week here. After a while, you start to feel like Bill Murray in Groundhog Day. Every day is the same as the last.

I was excited to receive my first piece of mail from back home today. It was a St. Patrick's Day card from my brother and sister-in-law. They sent it on the third, so it didn't take long to get here. Thanks guys! Letters and packages are just a reminder that people back home miss you and love you.

I'm glad they have internet access and e-mail here, because the 9 1/2 hour time difference can make it difficult to reach people on the phone. By the time most of you are getting home from work, I've been in bed for several hours. At least there's the weekend for phone calls.

That's all I have for now. I hope my readers, all six of you, are doing well back in Canada. I look forward to seeing you all when I return to the Great White North in August.