Mmmmmmm food

Okay so I'm in Afghanistan and what is the most important thing to do when you're in a new country?

Eat.

Mmmmm. Okay so let's start with boulani - basically a variation of aloo paratha - it's fresh, hot naan (naan taze) stuffed with potatoes and onions with spices. It was delicious, pipping hot and left a beautiful layer of oil on my fingers. Next up I had Qabli- a famous dish featuring rice with raisins. I finished off the meal with spicy mushroom curry (nobody seems to know the name - everything is just called korma). I also feasted on a kabuli burger which is actually a hot dog sausage (everything here is halal) wrapped in naan, stuffed with french fries, onions and hard boiled eggs. It was drenched in hot sauce and served piping hot. Oh - and if you're feeling really macho - you can double it and get twice the meat and twice the eggs. The naan can barely contain it and it's impossible to fit into your mouth.

So working at Roshan (more on that later) we get served breakfast and dinner at the compound but we eat lunch at the office. The interesting thing is that they actually segregate the lunch rooms - the locals eat in one area and the expats in another. I'm not really sure of what to think of this system. My first day here I went with the locals to eat - we had korma with salad, chips (aka french fries) and mirinda (a non-equivalent pepsi brand for fanta). We riffled through huge bins of naan and grabbed a seat in the crowded lunch room where I was teased for my inability to speak...well anything really. It's kinda sad how if you grow up in Canada you really only have the one language (maybe 2 if you count french and 3 if you speak something else at home). But then when you get to other countries people speak like 5 languages - fluently not like oh I took it in high school and cheated on all my tests or I snuck out of every class by pretending to drop my contacts. (Those examples do not refer to me). Apparently they segregate the expats and the locals for 'diet' reasons but the food is still better for the expats.

Do countries need expats? Isn't it odd that countries will call in 'foreign' experts, treat them like kings and queens and pay them significantly more than the locals. And for the most part the ex-pats leave once their contract is done. I guess the idea is to use them in transition periods - universities have been closed here for a number of years and higher education is still very difficult to access. Many people in my office work full-time and take courses at night. I'm reading "The White Tiger" and there's a really great line where the entrepreneur says nobody remembers their education more vividly then the one who didn't have an opportunity to continue it.