You made it, really?

9:25pm

The first tremor felt like a big truck going by.  I removed the earplugs and waited and I didn’t wait long for the second tremor that felt like the Hulk had punched the floor under me.  Blanch.

I do not like earthquakes, Sam I am, there is nothing like chasing a tornado, the electricity in the air, the thrill of nature’s power is palpable, but earthquakes, this one this afternoon was 250km away.  No tornado can scare the beejeepers out of you from the next state.  O man.

Today was also the first day of a new Business English class at Afghanistan's largest telecommunications company, Roshan, and everything went well for the most part.  Twenty men and two women, one gal sat to my left and I kept looking at her black eye lash flairs, is that what they are called?  From the corners of her eyes like them Italian horns, they flaired away like Cleopatra and there was the other gal whose name in English is Angel.  Sweet kid, been here four years hopes to move to Canada in two.  She doesn’t like working here for a few good reasons.  Well, she said she liked the lesson afterwards and walked me to the exit where my ride back to the university awaited.  There is never anything wrong with having an angel in class.  Take care.

And lo and behold in an email a fella at the US Embassy said they would make an exception and fingerprint me tomorrow and suggested somewhere near the perimeter of the embassy because getting fingerprints is not a service the consular section handles, this is all sounding a bit clandestine to me, let’s meet near the perimeter and we’ll fingerprint you. 

Anyways, thanks, I’m not complaining.  This is a huge relief and it is now possible I could get everything in order and go to the Belgian embassy in Abu Dhabi and apply for the visa.  But before that I have to send the prints and the other stuff back to the states and then have it all forwarded to the fbi office in the smokey mountains somewhere (I know where) and then it’ll have to be returned to me.  How long will this take?  I don’t know but I can’t book a ticket to Abu Dhabi until I get those results back in my hand and then I have to tell KU which embassy I’m going to go to and then!  And then I have to send eight thousand Euros to a bank in Leuven as proof of my solvency.  The absurdities are just getting absurd-er.

Lord, really, keep them earthquakes away.  Wow, they are awful.

4.11.16

8:10pm

I called Frank on the phone outside the second floor room of the Michigan building and I told him I was here, outside his door:

‘You made it, Really?’

Yes really though I suppose looking back I shouldn’t have made it.  I had an appointment at the consular section and was given a badge to go there which I did but when there I asked a fella inside where the Michigan building was, he said I had to go outside and go around the building, go through the tunnel and then I’d find it, well I found the tunnel and emerged on the east compound and still hadn’t a clue so I asked this Filipino fella who was quite gracious and he led me through this bewildering maze of construction (“I get the feeling the US govt is in no hurry to leave”) until I found a row of buildings with state flags hanging overhead from the second floor verandas, hey Arkansas, hey South Carolina and there was the Michigan flag. 

Now it is certainly no coincidence that Frank’s office and as head of RSO Investigations is in the Michigan building and that I am from Michigan, that is just another loopy coincidence with no significance, right?  Anyways, I was let in and Frank’s assistant rolled my fingerprints and Frank, who looks like John Goodman, just smiled and wished me well and I thanked him profusely for doing this because in the email he said it wasn’t normally his job to fingerprint non-govt citizens though I work for the AUAF and we are all paid by Uncle Sam, but I wasn’t there to piddle-de so I left and got back to the backside of the consular office and I wasn’t sure where to go to get out so I meandered a few minutes and entered another building adjacent to the consular building and found a cafeteria and served myself a fresh cinnamon and orange coffee, free I guess because there was no one there to take my money so I walked out into the gleaming courtyard surrounded by buildings you don’t see anywhere else in this country and I stood under the American flagpole, the flag proudly snapped in the warm spring breeze and I drank coffee.  What a magnificent place.  I felt so good to be American right then. 

I approached the consulate building again still unsure how to get out of when a Marine approached me, I must have looked lost on the CCTV, right?  He said I had the wrong badge, I told him what I had been doing, he took me inside and finally escorted me to the exit. On the way I said the same thing to him I mentioned to the Filipino and added ‘I guess they really need us more than we need them, eh?’  The Marine smirked like only a Marine who has been told never to show emotion to non-military folks but I’m guessing he’s chewing on that one.

And here’s a really strange observation.  On the embassy grounds I saw a lot of Americans, and there are a lot, and they just look so American.  I work with Americans on the campus and no one looks like Americans the way all these folks looked. 

It felt good.

Then I got back to my office on campus and read the email from the embassy:

The U.S. Embassy in Kabul has received reports that insurgents are planning to conduct attacks targeting The Star Hotel in Kabul City. In response to this potential threat, the U.S. Embassy Kabul is advising American citizens to avoid the Star Hotel, and to remain vigilant when visiting hotels in Kabul, especially during large gatherings.

After my second day of teaching at Roshan AUAF security told me to stay away for the rest of this week because the Star Hotel is right next to Roshan.

What a crazy bonker day.  I did not sleep well last night so it’s time to crash.  God help this country.