It's Not All Fun and Games

Hello All,

As stated in the title, it's not all fun and games here to say the very least. Here's a picture of a US Embassy armored vehicle which was set ablaze by local Afghans after it was in a vehicle accident here in Kabul not far from the Ministry I travel to. Unfortunately, this was an armored vehicle (very heavy) and it hit a local vehicle (very light) killing the 4 Afghans in the second vehicle. Fortunately, the Americans in the armored vehicle all jumped into a trailing vehicle and were able to escape relatively unharmed. A mob formed and grew angrier, burning this vehicle. The Afghan police ultimately broke up the mob using minimum force measures. A good thing for the people and the right thing to do for the police.

Our company policy is for all of us to travel in "low profile" vehicles, which mean they look just like the local vehicles and are driven by Afghan drivers. We are also required to wear body armor while in the vehicle. It's worked for a long time and I believe we blend in quite well. Oh ya, I'm amazed there aren't more accidents over here... no rhyme or reason for entering into a traffic circle or any other traffic rules we have in our country.

Here's my real threat these days: TYPHOID. I'm neurotic about washing my hands and keeping hands away from mouth and eyes even when they're clean. However, they estimate that typhoid is carried by about 90% of the population, so keeping it in check is a problem. So far so good. Need a favor though from one of my blog followers: I need some individually packaged sanitizing wipes. I have some liquid sanitizer, but really need to clean my hands of dirt too while I'm visiting the Ministry. If someone volunteers, I will post the name of the "stuckee". I could also use some of those mesh bags you put delicates in for the wash... the machines here are just tearing up my "delicates". Ditto on the blog thing. Needless to say, I do not have access to either of these products over here.

And now for the big blog hug announcement: wait, wait...... My Big Brother Bob!!!!!!!
Since Bob does not have email access I would appreciate someone telling him about his hug. Thank you. Oh man, I've been demanding on this one.

Love

GAIL