Today John went to a meeting where different officers asserted that we should build a new dam (cost >$10 billion) and that we should phase out hydropower and replace it with fossil fuel consumption as a long term strategy?!?! They are both just silly ideas. They need to listen to a water engineer and not just try to get a promotion by taking a stand.
Last night I worked on the proposal for a new flume study in response to the new funding source for basic research. I proposed that we buy materials, set up the flume and do 1-2 weeks of runs towards the end of year 1. That way I can be home more. Then, we can see how well I travel with a baby at home or a wife and baby in Mississippi.
Other than that, nothing much new today. Getting close to going home.
Jason and John went to a meeting this morning where the Corps talked about bringing us back. They said they would like to send us to the Universities to teach the professors modeling. I thought an exchange where they sent me to teach numerical/statistical hydrology/hydraulics for a year with my family would be pretty cool. Dan said that he couldn’t believe how well our training went. He said that it was the first training out here he has seen that was worth a sh**. He said he wished we had come out for two weeks each class…and he’s pretty cynical.
My wife hasn’t been getting my e-mails. She sounded a little cross with me today. I have sent them from the internet café her on base the last two nights (and it was a nightmare both times) so tonight I e-mailed from AID. I hope she gets it. I would have hated to be 2 days without hearing from her.
Tomorrow is my last day of class. I will be sad to leave them but I’ll be happy to see my wife.
Dan found out that Jason and I are poker players and invited us to his house to play. There were five of us and it was pretty fun. There was plenty of against the rules alcohol and I had a good Australian beer and tasted the scotch that we got Dan as a gift. I played well but was the first one out by like an hour and a half. I risked my stack on a 96% chance of tripling up…a move with a 98% expected value...and the other 4% happened. So I was out, but it was one of the best moves I’ve made in a long time.
I think Dan is more friendly after a half dozen drinks. It turns out that the place he is moving in 22 days is right next to the Italian dolomites which I told Amanda I would be interested in hiking. He invited me. I think a little hiking/dissertation writing sabbatical in montenaro and the dolomites sounds pretty fun.
Tonight we are having pizza. They are taking it out from a local place. It sounds a little sketchy but we declined going to a local restaurant (against the rules) so we agreed to pizza. They said it should be made to western health standards. I certainly hope so, I’ve got 28 hours of plane travel coming up. If I was here longer I would be open to some minor risks like going to a local restaurant. But here for 18 days, I feel like I should follow the rules as much as possible.
The morning went surprisingly well, actually leaving me short on material. But they seem to like to watch me use new features in RAS and follow along, so I think I will do that and one more lecture that I had printed but thought we didn’t have time for.
This morning’s driver was really cool. He also worked with the mines but left during the violence. He had a tour business in Delhi. He speaks Pashtun/Dari, Hindi, Urdu, English (well) and Uzbeckie. He told the story of the wall again and his English was better so I understood
more. It went something like this: An ancient king decided to split the city between his two sons. To do this he began to build a wall. To get this wall built he would force people into indentured labor and if they didn’t work hard enough he would kill them and put their bodies into the wall. One day a man was conscripted two days before his wedding. His clever wife convinced him to let her go in his place. When the king asked why her husband didn’t come she told him they were about to be married and she decided to replace him. The king was impressed and asked, if I gave you power, what would you do. She said, if you gave me power I would finish the wall in two days. So he granted her his power and told his servants to work for her as if for him for 2 days. The first thing she did was put the king to work on the wall. After some time she had the king killed and his body was built into the wall, which then remained unfinished as the indentured labor stopped.The professor said today, ‘We will never forget you. We are very thankful that you would come here and teach us such useful things.” That was fun.
My bag is mostly packed. I was really careful and it was not totally full. I didn’t see the gift I got for my wife, though. I hope it was in one of the bags that I packed without looking for it.
I am looking forward to seeing my wife and hoping I get a lot done on the plane. This will be the last entry that I will send from Kabul.\\
Dan had a little going away party tonight. He said he was ordering pizza and I was a little leery. I had ordered pizza in the mountains of Nepal once and got sour bread with fermented yak cheese. But apparently there is a pizzeria that caters to the Italian embassy. It was fabulous. I had artichoke/mushroom/olive(with pits) and a piece of pizza with 5mm thick slices of prachuto. I think I will be doing more of that if I come here again…and speaking of coming again, it is looking really probable.
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