Life in Islamabad

 

I feel I should apologize for these posts being so few and far between.  The work load has picked up considerably.  As the lead logistician at a time when moving hardware to Pakistan is job #1 I am pretty busy.  Add to that the other areas I am in charge of, vehicles for all the personnel assigned to the Security Assistance Office, housing, and generally providing stats and answering questions about all of these processes I stay pretty busy during the six day work week.  Today is Sunday, for me it was another work day.  I owe an updated brief on vehicles to the one star in the morning.  This was my one chance to tackle it interruption free. 

 

The one thing keeping me grounded is Tai Chi Chuan.  I wake up and practice for a half hour every morning.  It keeps me from having allergy attacks, keeps me from stress, and generally makes me feel amazing.  I find that the more I practice the more it feels as if my feet are anchored to the earth.  The only struggle is trying to learn the remainder of the form from my teacher’s CD.  I miss the classes.  If anyone in the LA area wants to learn Wu style Tai Chi properly let me know and I’ll put you in touch with her. 

 

Life here is not bad.  I was a bit worried as I recalled the animosity between State and DOD at the embassy in Kabul.  Luckily this is an entirely different scene. This embassy is much nicer.  Lots of trees, hills, it has a college atmosphere to it.  None of the twisted Sci-Fi feel of Kabul.  Of course I do work in a welded steel building without windows.  That bit is a bit odd I suppose.  It is likely the safest building on the campus though.  Oh wait, there is one other surreal aspect to our Embassy in Pakistan.  It is in the large diplomatic enclave, a closely controlled and guarded area.  Coming from SoCal it was a bit weird to see thousands of marijuana plants growing like the weeds they are right across the small road from the main gate of the embassy.  It is an endemic plant in these parts. 

We work long hours but are being paid well for it.  I will contribute a fair amount of my pay to the local economy I imagine.  Tribal rugs and hand carved furniture are dirt cheap by western standards… but let’s put this in perspective.  A driver makes about $6,600/yr.  My usual lunch at the Handi Shandi costs less than $1.40.  I am one of the few who routinely eat with the locals who work at the embassy, curry chicken, dall, briani, naan, it’s all cheap and tasty!  Pakistan has had a deteriorating economy for years now and it shows in the prices.    

Margala Hills and… the Pakistani Weight Loss Program

There are no true certainties in Pakistan.  I’ve been here just 3 weeks but that much is apparent already.  One near certainty, if you have allergies Islamabad will remind you of it.  I found this truth right out the gate, day 7.  Went for a hike in the Margala Hills.  These look similar to the Santa Monica Mountains of LA… only different, different dirt, different plants, same general shape and height though.  Seven of us hiked, a mix of State Dept. and Military.  We went up trail 3 and back on 5, about 5 or 6 miles total.  At the top of the hike are a pair of restaurants where we hoped to buy some frozen yogurt.  Alas, the yogurt place opens at 10 and we were there at 10:05… so no luck.  Oh, I suppose I should explain that in Pakistan, just because a business opens at a specific time does not mean you can shop at that time.  10 was simply the time the workers arrived.  The yogurt would take a half hour or more before they could sell any.  So, back down we went.  It was a nice day, a good hike amongst the scattered goats and cattle. Seemed an odd place to forage cattle and goats but then who am I to judge?  This is the same area I hope to do some rock climbing in.  Apparently some of the Brits have bolted a number of sport routes in the hills.  Good news for me and once my rock shoes, harness and helmet arrive. 

The haze the day we hiked was also reminiscent of the LA basin.  Well, OK, the LA Basin of the mid-70’s.  Visibility was only a few miles.  Apparently this wasn’t smog so much as dirt, moisture and pollen.  At the end of the day I developed a sore throat that lasted for days.  No stuffy nose, just an inflamed airway.  Not too pleasant.  So I began getting back into my Tai Chi practice, half an hour daily first thing in the morning.  That quickly helped.  We shall see how it works over the course of the next year.       

Another near certainty in Pakistan is that, as a visitor, you will experience the unique Pakistani diet regime.  Or, as the professional medical types refer to it, an intestinal issue.  Be it traveler’s diarrhea, tape worms or whatever.  (Gee, I guess this post is going downhill faster than usual).  It’s now been a week since I properly digested anything.  Great weight loss tool I must say!  So anyway the usual treatment of antibiotics didn’t touch it.  I need to head back to the clinic when they open Monday and see what my next option is.  In the mean time I am beginning to think differently about food.  I do like the local Pakistani fare but at the moment nothing sounds remotely appetizing.  This must be the adventure part the Navy used to advertise!