Hob-Nobbing with the High-Rollers

The lack of internet is starting to drive me crazy - I feel so isolated. Otherwise, we have made good progress here in Afghanistan in setting up the office. We have purchased almost all our office furniture now - most of which is a teak color, and we have curtains on our windows and nice Afghan carpets on our floors. It is starting to feel homey. We hired two cooks/cleaners to spiff up the office and cook us lunch on a daily basis - they were Tariq's recommendations and they have proved to be great cooks. It's a big improvement to have a nice home-cooked meal at lunch-time. I can handle making myself breakfast, now we just need to find a means of getting dinner everynight. :-) To date most of that has been taken care of by relatives but we're going to have to get cracking soon and start cooking when we have guests over. :-) Tariq has been busy with various tradespeople on the site to get our 30 KPV diesel generator appropriately wired and coordinated with the house's wiring setup and the intermittent city electricity that comes on and off unpredictably. It's been a big job and the thing is an environmental nightmare, the way it sucks fuel. I have never appreciated electricity so much in my life.

Other than tending to these procurement and set up matters, I have been focused on getting ready for our Grand Opening on the 12th, to which the Canadian Ambassador David Sproule will be invited and a number of Afghan Cabinet Ministers. Yesterday I went to the Canadian Embassy for a small cocktail meeting with Vic Toews, the President of Canada's Treasury Board and one of Harper's Cabinet Ministers. He wasn't overally interested in our project given that we are focused on building up the private sector, he was more interested in NGOs working on building up the civil and legal structures in Afghanistan. He's coming from a primary interest in military activity in Afghanistan and the level of civil structural development required to move Canadian troops out of the country. Well, it was interesting to hob-nob with these VIPs for the first time in my life. I didn't really feel prepared for the event nor did I have any sharp things to say. I was pretty quiet, taking it all in. Next time I'll be more prepared. I have a feeling I'll be meeting many politicians while here, maybe even Old Harper himself.