nawroz mubarak!

That is, Blessed Spring Equinox to you all! Nawroz is the Persian/Ismaili celebration of the beginning of spring. Had some cake with the whole AKDN staff about an hour ago to celebrate.

Today has been a bit of a blur, thanks to the jet lag. I have not yet taken a nap (good work, Luke!). Spent most of the day with Karim Nayani, who is coordinating the AKDN response to the flooding, including my grant. He got right down to business after greetings. We talked for a couple of hours, including ironing out some details about my in-country trips. Then went around and he introduced me to a bunch of people, most of whom I can't remember. But they included Nusrat, the Deputy Executive Officer of FOCUS Pakistan, and Salman, who heads up Aga Khan Cultural Services Pakistan and knows more about American foreign policy than most Americans I know. Very engaging. I ended up having lunch with the three of them -- rice and chicken and potatoes in some kind of sauce, not very good -- then doing some work and generally trying to stay awake until cake.

The office is very spiffy and new, although oddly devoid of artwork apart from a beautiful carved wooden screen that hides the copy machine. Karim's quite a bit older than I expected, probably in his 50s. He'd thrown his back out over the weekend, poor guy, lifting flower pots. But he was in good spirits all the same, as everyone seemed to be. Holidays do that, I guess. Nawroz is a big holiday for Ismailis.

I'm barely able to keep my thoughts together, so I'm going to head to the gym, get some exercise, eat dinner, and generally push through to 9 PM. Wish me luck.