Afghan Weekend

By far, the most asked question I get is "What do you do for fun?" in Afghanistan. The answer to that question is "not alot". This is usually a surprise to most people and I'm not sure why. I guess people are so used to me finding any and every way to have a good time that it's hard to imagine that I wouldn't be setting the Kandahar night life on fire. Alas, it wasn't meant to be. For those interested I'll detail the typical "weekend" in Kandahar after the jump.

In Afghanistan, like many places in the Middle East and South/Central Asia, the weekends start on Friday. This is complicated by the fact that because of the high operational tempo it is expected that people work 6 days out of the week. I tend to work 7, but some people do manage to take that day off. They are usually in Kabul. 

It's a bit weird to have your only "day off" be on a Friday. If you'd like to take your day off as an opportunity to catch up with family and friends back home you have to deal with the fact that they're probably working. So, that's a wash. Then the slog through the first few days of the week is exacerbated by everyone regaling you with their tales of weekend debauchery on facebook. Oh, you're so wasted in Dupont right now? That's great. I'm in a 2 hour camp management meeting. It's going down in the Club? Sweet. I have to redo my patrol schedule. 

Not that I'm bitter.

Anyway, at least you get to sleep in a bit on Friday. That usually takes me right up to about 7:45, leaving me a solid 15 minutes to put on pants and get breakfast from the Chow hall that still opens  at what would be the ass crack of dawn, if Afghanistan hadn't missed the point of time zones. Oh. Did I not mention that sunrise in Afghanistan is usually around 4:40? It's pretty awesome, but I digress. I usually follow that up with some basketball with some other guys around the camp (Note: Despite being 6'5 and pretty athletic, I still fucking blow at basketball). 

After that, I'll probably spend a few hours in the office taking care of things. If I can pull myself away there are a few leisurely activities that can take up ones time. Firstly, there is the fire reservoir that is conveniently chlorinated with several strategically placed lawn chairs. Secondly, the Canadian guys will usually set up a movie on a huge projector to watch a movie or two at night.

And...that's about it. I typically use any extra time I may have to catch up on some personal matters or do some reading. It's not really much. Exciting huh? I bet it makes you want to catch the first flight to Kandahar. 

Of course, this all changes if I'm in Kabul. In which case I'd probably start drinking about noon, play volleyball for 7 hours and hang out at the pool. You can say there's a little bit of a disparity. :)