Possibly my all-time favorite euphemism is "loose movements," learned years ago now from a colleague at Focus in Kabul. After nearly a week, they have begun. Not sure what to credit. I ate some home cooking at lunch on Tuesday with my new colleagues -- they all bring food from home and then share, which is a tradition I'll have to join fully once I have a kitchen. But I assiduously avoided raw veggies and fruit and no worries. Yesterday I had some nuts in AI's office while we were on a call, so maybe that was it? Dinner at the French club was all cooked. Survey says: nuts.
Anyway it's alright, I've had much worse in the past, and it was bound to happen eventually. Let the gut microbiota adjustment begin.
Also, the office has begun to clear out a bit early, because one of the opposition political parties is starting to block a few of the roads leading to Rawalpindi. AI and the security guy, WA, decided to let the Rawalpindi-based staff go before it gets too bad. The protests weren't supposed to start in earnest until next Wednesday but I guess some people got excited. The protesters, led by a cricket-star-turned-populist-politician named Imran Khan, hate the ruling party and its chief, the current PM, Nawaz Sharif. And he's been embroiled in the Panama Papers scandal, which gives a lovely justification for demonstrations. I don't know nearly enough about the politics or backstory here to have much of a view on whom to root for.
No one seems especially worried, even though the last time there was a dharna - sit-in - by Khan's party, PTI, in 2014, it lasted four months. It shouldn't affect me too much, as my whole orientation in Islamabad is in the other direction from the road blockages.
Now, to put the finishing touches on the concept note we've been working on all week, send it in, open a bank account, and decide whether my GI tract will permit me to go out tonight. At the very least I'm going to the Argentine embassy event at the Serena that I was invited to, unless of course it's been canceled because of the protests. Fingers crossed.
Anyway it's alright, I've had much worse in the past, and it was bound to happen eventually. Let the gut microbiota adjustment begin.
Also, the office has begun to clear out a bit early, because one of the opposition political parties is starting to block a few of the roads leading to Rawalpindi. AI and the security guy, WA, decided to let the Rawalpindi-based staff go before it gets too bad. The protests weren't supposed to start in earnest until next Wednesday but I guess some people got excited. The protesters, led by a cricket-star-turned-populist-politician named Imran Khan, hate the ruling party and its chief, the current PM, Nawaz Sharif. And he's been embroiled in the Panama Papers scandal, which gives a lovely justification for demonstrations. I don't know nearly enough about the politics or backstory here to have much of a view on whom to root for.
No one seems especially worried, even though the last time there was a dharna - sit-in - by Khan's party, PTI, in 2014, it lasted four months. It shouldn't affect me too much, as my whole orientation in Islamabad is in the other direction from the road blockages.
Now, to put the finishing touches on the concept note we've been working on all week, send it in, open a bank account, and decide whether my GI tract will permit me to go out tonight. At the very least I'm going to the Argentine embassy event at the Serena that I was invited to, unless of course it's been canceled because of the protests. Fingers crossed.
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