Posts by Eli

I believe that it is essential to spell out your dreams in order to achieve them. I don’t recall exactly where I was, but it occurred to me as I traveled through Europe at age 16 that I wanted to travel to at least as many countries as whatever age I was. I achieved that…

So much to say that I don’t think I could possibly cover it all. I’ll give it a shot, but please forgive me in advance for bouncing around a bit. Singapore is an incredible city. I was looking forwad to a nice visit here but really didn’t have any great expectations. In a word, Singapore…

I wanted to let folks know that I’m fine and wasn’t even in Kabul when the bombing/shotting took place at the Serena Hotel. It was however where we spent Thanksgiving and Christmas. The number of close connections shows just what a small town this is. The Filipino woman who died was known for her great…

I’ve been stuck in Dubai. I arrived on Sunday and made fast friends with my seat mate who I’d met briefly on Christmas Eve and kept bumping in to again. She was colleagues with the guy who died from Atlanta in the Serena incident. We went and got haircuts and had sushi and she headed…

On my first time out of Afghanistan last week I was taken by the warm wishes I received. At the Kabul airport they first send you to a room for women to have your bags looked at before entering the parking lot. When I arrived they called over a woman who spoke a few words…

The aftermath of the Bhutto assassination in Pakistan seems to make Afghanistan look like a vacation destination. I am working on getting visas for a Singapore group departing soon and had considered going to Karachi-I to get them expedited. Given the current situation I won’t be sending them there at all. According to yahoo more…

Holidays are always full of surprises in other countries. The best part is sharing holiday traditions with folks who have only heard about some things through the movies. We managed to come across a place with candy canes about a week or so ago. We brought these into the office yesterday and walked around to…

As the holidays are upon us, giving is certainly on the mind. In a place such as Afghanistan the need feel enormous. My colleagues and I here in Afghanistan are working on the second annual sock drive for internally displaced Afghan refugees. Last year they gave out 3,000 socks to both children and adults at…

When you are dreaming of a white Christmas, just remember that you can make it your own. We happened to get our first tiny layer of snow a couple of days ago, but we are holding out in hopes of a nice thick layer on Christmas. But the white Christmas I’m talking about didn’t come…

As promised, I now present our lovely burqa angel who watches over and protects our house. Kabul isn’t a bad place to have an angel on your side, and we are lucky to have our house angel complete with burqa. The decorating is nearly all done, though give us a week and we’ll probably have…