31st August 2012
Having a lot of fun here now that work has started! Unfortunately I can't write anything about the project but I'm getting a lot of good experience! The temperatures do get very hot though when you are out standing in the sun for four hours minimum! At least for me the breeze is quite cool, so it is just like Wellington on a very hot but windy day.
Last night we invited an Australian guy and a New Zealander and American living with him over for some drinks, we had lots of fun. Some of the New Zealanders who are living with us were in the NZ army and SAS and they had some great stories to tell, as you can probably imagine.
The Australian, Angus, said they were going to leave soon to go to some another gathering of ex-pats to continue drinking, but we convinced him to invite them over to our house instead. So eventually three girls turned up, Abby, Amy and Fleur. Fleur was a New Zealander, Amy was Irish and Abby was English. Together we made up well more than half of the ex-pat population!
We also met an Afghani guy Rouf's family, they are extremely influential in Bamyan and they were very hospitable to us. Rouf's father used to be the Mayor of Bamyan, and was a Governor before that in both Bamyan and another province, so he is very well respected around the area. They served us fresh grapes and watermelon while we were there, it was the first time we had had fruit in over a week!
I also had a go at driving around the town! It was really weird driving a left hand drive and staying on the right side of the road, but the most annoying thing I found with the car (a Toyota Landcruiser) was just the amount of pressure I had to put on the accelerator for it to start revving. I had to press very hard just to stop rolling backwards if I was stopped on an uphill slope. Then there were the brakes. If I pressed too hard on them they would lock up and the car would just skid forwards or sideways on the gravel roads. Luckily they only locked up once for me and for a very short time in the first minute I was driving so I knew how hard I could press the brakes!
Driving on the roads here is weird though, there aren't really any rules! I overtook a police car because he was going too slow!
Having a lot of fun here now that work has started! Unfortunately I can't write anything about the project but I'm getting a lot of good experience! The temperatures do get very hot though when you are out standing in the sun for four hours minimum! At least for me the breeze is quite cool, so it is just like Wellington on a very hot but windy day.
Last night we invited an Australian guy and a New Zealander and American living with him over for some drinks, we had lots of fun. Some of the New Zealanders who are living with us were in the NZ army and SAS and they had some great stories to tell, as you can probably imagine.
The Australian, Angus, said they were going to leave soon to go to some another gathering of ex-pats to continue drinking, but we convinced him to invite them over to our house instead. So eventually three girls turned up, Abby, Amy and Fleur. Fleur was a New Zealander, Amy was Irish and Abby was English. Together we made up well more than half of the ex-pat population!
We also met an Afghani guy Rouf's family, they are extremely influential in Bamyan and they were very hospitable to us. Rouf's father used to be the Mayor of Bamyan, and was a Governor before that in both Bamyan and another province, so he is very well respected around the area. They served us fresh grapes and watermelon while we were there, it was the first time we had had fruit in over a week!
I also had a go at driving around the town! It was really weird driving a left hand drive and staying on the right side of the road, but the most annoying thing I found with the car (a Toyota Landcruiser) was just the amount of pressure I had to put on the accelerator for it to start revving. I had to press very hard just to stop rolling backwards if I was stopped on an uphill slope. Then there were the brakes. If I pressed too hard on them they would lock up and the car would just skid forwards or sideways on the gravel roads. Luckily they only locked up once for me and for a very short time in the first minute I was driving so I knew how hard I could press the brakes!
Driving on the roads here is weird though, there aren't really any rules! I overtook a police car because he was going too slow!
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| The city of screams |
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| A toilet |
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| A wealthy Bamyan restaurant. I went to have lunch there with some of the Afghani staff. |
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| Looking out over Bamyan from one of the solar sites. |
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| Plastic bags used to cover bare wires in the mains box |
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| The fruit we got from Rouf's family, the grapes were very sweet! |
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