Here’s another of my Afghanistan texts – written just shortly after I came home from a nice get together with a bunch of the Internationals. And while Afghanistan itself seems like a completely different world to me – especially once I was back in my home country in the so called civilized West – the expats and their way of live is yet again another parallel universe.
Just a few minutes ago I came back from the so called �Mobile Bar�, the weekly social get together of the internationals working with the different NGOs or other international organizations. And let me tell you something: You would not belief the kind of relief I felt right the minute I came to the rooms of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), who hosted the event today. People, male and female, were chatting to each other, music was playing loudly, alcohol was served � if you wanted it, and the headscarves were abandoned right at the door.
When we arrived at maybe 9.15 p.m., the room was already packed. Heinecken was flowing by the can, water as well as vodka orange by the glass and that perfect mixture of English, French, German and a few more languages so loved by all, who�ve spent some time abroad as a student, filled the air. �the mixture where you change the language in the middle of the sentence yet still everyone understands what you want to say.
Apart from that, the people talking, having fun and appearing as they might in any bar in the western world were extraordinary! Mine searchers, doctors, people working with handicapped men and women, those that work to give pure water to the people� Idealists who might have spend more than 25 years going to places like Cambodia, Iraq or Afghanistan, to better the lives of the regular people like you and me.
I�m not surprised that they seemed to suck up the atmosphere just as I did, enjoying every second of it. If I, after just a short few days, craved being in a familiar (western) environment, in which I didn�t have to cover myself up to avoid annoying anybody, in which I actually could communicate with the people somewhat more sophisticated than �yes�, �no�, Thank you�, and �Good bye� and in which I could easily flirt with people if I�d wanted to� How relieving such a meeting has to be for someone, who spent 7, 12 or 24 months in this city already. I won�t know it for sure, but I think I can imagine.
abgelegt unter Blog