Zürich, en route Mijas

Nearly two days after this trek began, I am nearing the end of the seemingly endless flights. I will board the last flight in about 30 minutes for a quick flight from Zürich to Malaga. I am tired, a bit cranky, and smell like a goat, but excited to meet up with the family in Spain.

The Answer is...

First the question (as the airplane door opened and the hot air rolled in: "Holy Moses! It's HOT! I wonder how hot it is?"

44 degrees Celsius (112) and it was only noon. Fried eggs, anyone?

On the Road Again

I am in my second (third?) home--Traders Hotel in Dubai. It is a definite sign that I am traveling too much when the people at the hotel know you by sight and call to you by name. Not that I mind the excellent service, but it is a bit unnerving. Several of them even remembered that I was in town en route to Spain to meet the family.

I saw an interesting sight today flying over southern Iran. There in a sea of reddish-brown terrain (appeared to be sandy) arose a single towering peak that was jet black. It was beautiful.

When I flew back to Kabul last week, I enjoyed the smoothest landing ever--the transition from flying to on the ground was absolutely seamless. That crew was not working today. The plane, apparently so recently purchased on eBay it didn't even have an airline name or tail numbers painted on its fuselage, was a real treat. My favorite part (the toilet brush in the open--and sloshing--bowl of bleach in the bathroom was a close second) was the 'security door' between the passengers and the flight crew. Seems the handle and locking mechanism was broken, so every time the steward needed to bring in the next round of chai for the pilots--you're going to love this--he took the demonstration seat belt, hooked the male end of the fastener between the door and the jam, wedged it in there nice and tight, and yanked. The first time, I must admit, I was a bit alarmed to see someone breaking into the cockpit. After that I just laughed. I had a great view of the whole thing too, as I took an earlier flight and found a seat in first class (read: no difference other than a glass of mango juice). It was worth the extra couple of pesos because it got me into Dubai about 7-8 hours earlier. And, that is 7-8 hours that I can get the Kabul dust worked out of my lungs so the family doesn't think that I have taken up smoking. It has been pretty dusty of late, so there is a bit of Kabul that I am exporting as an unwanted souvenir in my lungs.

About eight hours to go before I take off for Zurich on my way to Spain. I can't wait.

Then there were three...

Days that is, until I get to see my family for the first time in five months. It has been a long winter and spring and I am excited to get away for just a bit to relax and get reacquainted. I daresay we have all earned the break.

And the Sky Turned Black

I got to witness some amazing weather yesterday while I was driving home from a task on the eastern side of the valley. The weather all day had been sunny with just a little wind. Just before I was leaving for home, the wind kicked up (in good Ellensburg style!) and the air got noticeably cooler. About half way across the valley, the leading edge of a huge storm cell crossed over the western mountains. There was a distinct line between the clear blue sky and the black, lightning-filled sky. It almost had an apocalyptic appearance. The lightning was incredible! Big, bright and often, the forked lightning struck at the mountain ridges around my home. When these storms come breezing through, there is a distinctive smell that accompanies them. I suppose that it is mix of the charge in the air and the rain mixing with the thousands of acres of dust and bare dirt. It was quite a sight.

Home again, home again, jiggity-jig

After having an extraordinarily busy time in Dubai, I have returned to the relative calm of routine Kabul. All of the new employees that I met in Dubai have arrived safely in Kabul.

A quick week here and then on the road again: one week and I will be back in Dubai on my way to meet my family in Spain. There are sand castles to build, waves to splash in, monkeys to watch in Gibraltar, good food to eat... How will I ever concentrate on work this week?

"Yeah, but it's a dry heat..."

...except for all of the humidity! It was well above 100 degrees F today with the humidity level so high that every time I walked outside, my glasses completely fogged over. Talking to people that have been through a summer here, I haven't seen anything yet. I have daytime highs of over 135 degrees F to look forward to as summer approaches.

The more time I spend in Dubai, the more I like it. It is a very international city with business people from all over the world. It is a true melting pot.

Headed out to play Tom Hanks again as I meet another batch of new employees entering the theater.

Happy Mother's Day

Wishing all of the moms and moms-to-be, a very happy Mother's Day!

Off to Dubai

I leave today for five days in Dubai. If things go smoothly, there might be an entire afternoon on one of the days for me to do absolutely nothing. It doesn't look like I will need to pack any sweaters--the little weather guy that lives in my computer says that it will be 104 there today. I can't hardly wait until summer arrives!

Who are you, Readers of Tony's Travels?

Over the past months, I have enjoyed watching as the group of readers of this blog has grown. So far over three thousand of you spread across thirteen countries have logged in and learned a little bit about me and my time in Kabul. Amazing.

The Return of Arrogance

Some of you may remember my message expressing an opinion of American corporate arrogance in the form of visiting VIPs (here and here to refresh your memories). The bosses of the people mentioned in those articles are here visiting now. Anyone in the pharmaceutical business out there? I need a Costco-sized pack of blood pressure meds.

The visiting personnel arrived yesterday and the circus began. I have held the belief since I was a junior enlisted man in the service that if the 'boss' wants to see how an organization truly functions, inspections or visits should be unannounced and random. If the leaders of the local level of the organization were doing their jobs, it wouldn't matter when the inspection occurred. Go to work and complete your tasks every day as if you were being inspected. As a police officer, the criminals don't call ahead and schedule when an event is going to take place. As a soldier, the engaging combatant doesn't call ahead and warn that an attack it is eminent. So why do we have 30/60/90 days warnings that 'the brass is coming' for an inspection.

Today's final straw--and it happened at breakfast, so who knows how the rest of the day is going to go--was another instance of arrogance that makes my blood boil. I rise early and on most days am the very first person in the dining room. It gives me a chance to watch a bit of the news and drink a cup of coffee before the day's events begin to unfold. I walked in this morning and noticed that there were 24 seats reserved for the 2 visiting personnel. I asked the kitchen staff about the apparent discrepancy. "That's what we were told to do, sir." Hmmm. Having sat in this very room each morning, I have learned the ebb and flow of the camp life. By reserving 24 seats for the 2 visitors, that only left about 18 seats for the 50-75 people that come in to eat at the early breakfast time. The first wave of diners are the Ghurkas and local police that are coming off post. These are the soldiers that have just stood watch all night so that the rest of us can sleep in peace. They are told that they can't eat in the dining room with the Americans. My dander already up and my blood pressure sky high, I erupted. The hell if I am going to stand by and watch the people putting their lives on the line to protect me be treated like yesterday's trash. I invited the soldiers to sit at one of the reserved tables. The lead Ghurka, who knew full well what was being played out before him, smiled, sat down, and ate his breakfast. His men, following the lead of their commander, joined him and ate before getting some sleep so that they could stand post again in too few hours.

In my 20+ years of wearing a uniform, I have had the privilege of working with some extraordinarily fine leaders and the unfortunate circumstance of working for some very poor "leaders" as well. As time goes by, this company is showing its true colors. RHIP (Rank Has Its Privilege) indeed; it also has its duties and responsibilities and they are being shirked. You should be ashamed.

Upcoming Travels

The next month will be filled with much travel. I will be in Dubai twice for work and then a pleasure trip to Spain to reunite with my family for a week. I wish KamAir had frequent flier miles, or do I? Check their website and you might pick up on why flying with their crack crews make area travellers pray more than smile. And, they are the "good" airline. The only other commercial airline that flies between Kabul and Dubai (Ariana Airline) is on the "Thou shall not use" list put out by the US gov't.

Reminder to all: Mother's Day is right around the corner. In spite of our mothers' best efforts to leave us in grocery stores when we were children and other such stories, let them know you love them on their special day.

Just Like Old Times

The quality of the food has reached all-time lows of late. I don't know, and really don't want to speculate on why it has become so poor, but I was ready for a change. On one of my trips to one of the international bases in town, I found Skippy peanut butter (the words are in another language, but if you look closely you can see the little 'Made in USA' symbol on the label) and some jelly from our friendly neighborhood Danes. Last night I walked down to the dining room, looked at the menu, sighed, picked up a plastic plate and loaded it with sliced bread. I carried my treasure back to my room and made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. There I was sitting in 'my room' eating sandwiches, drinking orange pop, and watching "Rockford Files" on TV. Just like the old days...

I'm Back

Image courtesy of http://theage.co.au.

Two days back I was struck by a freight train locally known as the Kabul Krud (and a few other names that shouldn't be repeated). It left me feeling awful and looking about the same. Today I was able to look at lights brighter than a 40w bulb without crawling under the bed and, also, look at food without crawling to another part of the house.

I shall be back to my old chipper and perky self in no time.