Naheed's "mosquito bites" have taken a turn for the bubonic. I told you to see a doctor! OK I haven't given you my post address yet but I will.
I went to Mokhtar my driver/fixer/translator's house for tea. It's in one of the Hazara areas... it's huge and beautiful which was a bit of a surprise. We ate watermelon alone as his family was off preparing for a wedding. I wish I could afford to pay him more. It's already costing me twice as much as I budgeted for as I monopolized his services which I was supposed to be splitting with Naheed, but 5 stories in less than 2 weeks was always going to be ambitious. But I seem to have pulled it off. Maybe I should say that once I get the tapes back to Canada.
We talked about traveling and I told him how much you learn and how many of your habits change because of your experiences in other countries ie. I don't waste water anymore after 9 months of privation in Sierra Leone. He asked me an interesting question: how would I change after Afghanistan. I think of course I will appreciate all of the freedoms we enjoy in Canada, but I appreciated the Afghan lack of overt sexuality from 6-year-olds wearing lowriders and singing along to Akon's "I wanna @uck you" complete with hip thrusts. It's nice to have the freedom to express oneself, but there's something to be said for modesty, male and female.
I missed dinner and now face the unhappy prospect of trying to fall asleep hungry. All I had today was mellon. Lots of it, granted, but it does tend to evaporate in your stomach. I'm eyeing my notebooks hungrily.
