Alive in Herat

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On the off chance (extremely unlikely) that there are people out there calling embassies and desperate to get news from me (like I said, very unlikely), I'm alive and doing well, although I still don't know what the penalty is for being a Khareji in Herat...

I've been adopted by two really cool (Hazara) guys: one with an amazing life story (and pretty good english), and the other who is just returning from work in Saudi Arabia (and so I pretended like I spoke Arabic with him). When not sharing personal histories they're telling me about how the "Talib"s are going to kidnap me and ask for a ransom of "a hundred million dollars" (I know I'm not worth that much), and they've already made jokes about selling me for 50,000.

I don't think anyone has really caught on to me being a foreigner yet (apart from at the hotel... kinda blows your cover when you're raided by the police late at night), and I'm trying *real hard* to look local (I think my cover works best in the middle of the day when people have to squint a lot and so can't see me that well). And my "buddies" make it a point to not speak to me at all while in public.

So like I said, if anyone cares, I'm alive, and haven't been kidnapped yet (knock on wood). I'm alive and kicking. I'll probably return to civilization in a couple of days (hopefully I won't get stuck here during Eid). And then I'll return to a blog-free existence (janvier).

In case you were expecting personal correspondence, consider this a replacement.

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Comments

[deleted_899]

Is that it for you? No more blogs? If that's the case, I just wanted to let you know that I really enjoyed your writing, even if I disagreed with a lot of your views. I followed your blog from the start, way back in Turkey, and was hooked from then on. Your writings on Egypt and Ethiopia in particular were my favourites. It's too bad you've called it a day, but I know from experience how tiring it can be to keep updating a blog, especially if you don't enjoy it anymore, and feel you're only doing it on demand. So good luck!

[bedreddin]

hopefully not the end
glad to hear you disagreed with my views :) hopefully "real soon now" i'll be writing up a storm (i'm way behind).. but you know how it is... after a while you realize no-one understands what's going on anyhow and it's just a way to pass the time, and you write in your diary enough as it is... hence the lethargy.