Last week on Friday Sultan (my site project manager) came to my room in the morning and asked if I wanted to go with some of the site Engineers for a picnic. He told me that they were going to a very beautiful place. Always up for an adventure I said sure and we piled into two cars and off we went, no security just a bunch of men on a road trip in Afghanistan, me and about 11 Afghans. I had no idea where we were going.
About an hour and half later we ended up in Hairatan which is a border town to Uzbekistan, the river Amu which separates Uzbekistan from Afghanistan, it is at that river we had lunch, delicious deep fried fish. As I got out of the car Sultan said isn't it beautiful, it was a muddy river - truly beauty is in the eye of the beholder...it is not beauty as you and I know it... but when we got there they were beaming with pride ... I said this is the place?.. but smiled and enjoyed the day with them.. it truly was like being with kids... their excitement was catching...
One story, after we were done eating in the restaurant we went for a drive winding through the back street of Hairatan to a railroad yard... they stopped the cars and ran to the tracks... I was laughing, they were acting like teenagers taking pictures climbing on locomotives .. when we got back in the car Sultan said it was the first time they had seen a train. Hard to believe isn't it. What a difference in culture and life experiences.
I had to go when asked, I knew it was an honor to be invited and included and am glad that I had this experience with these men.
Nice post. What a cool adventure. I hope you get invited on many more. Why were you just able to leave work and do that?
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