Surviving Winter

Well life here has finally settled into a routine, a very cold one. The other night, in a blinding flash of insight from Nathan unlocked the true potential of my heater. I discovered that I could let in more air to increase the heat of the flames and that I can burn wood to heat up the room a lot and then start up the sawdust component to keep the room warm further into the night. I also realised that I do have a small kitchen in my house, which I had previously though was only a store room. That being said, the weather hasn't been all that bad since most days are above freezing here.

My boss, Lorenzo, finally came back from France, with tonnes of great ideas that hadn't occurred to me for my own project. In other news Saurabh left from India after three days of snow had shut down the airport's short-wave radar. Then last night I went out for dinner with Team Counterpart, since Ian is leaving for DC tomorrow and our land mines specialist, Matt, decided to get out of town early before they shut down the airport again.

The most exciting news, however, is the Nathan might well be moving into my hood. While we didn't have room for him in my lovely rustic house, he will be getting a room with Khwaga, which will make Saurabh his housemate and give him some exposure to Afghan culture, along with the wood-burning stove which he so fervently desires. Counterpart, Nathan's NGO, realised that A) they were running out of space at their guest house, B) that is was probably the most unsecure living arrangement obtainable in Kabul, and C) that their insulation from Afghan society was hurting productivity.

And, yes, I am ready for that lovely trip to warm Southern India!