Gorgeous Greece!

Hi there....

One of the joys of being in AFG is that we get to take regular breaks out of here. We have just returned from Greece where we had 10 days. The week or two before going I realized I was tired and in fact many colleagues and friends all seemed to be too. It is hot here and long days (the sun gets up after 4 a.m) which I think cumulatively has an effect on your energy levels.

We passed through Dubai for several hours and went to a cool Air Conditioned Mall - where Nicole and I were like little kids - marveling at the incredible array of goods, the beauty of things, the design of furniture, storefronts, buildings - all just for pure aesthetics! It really struck me how devoid of this Afghanistan is. There is definite beauty here (see the last blog I wrote below) but it does take more energy to find it at times. Things are also often NQR here (not quite right) - cheap, fall apart easily, not well made or thought through. Getting out this time made me realize how spoilt we are for choice and beauty in the west...and how much my brain has been ingrained with that need! So 10 days in Greece was just what the doctor ordered! Was HOT but fun and despite Nicole not being so well for most of it (she is on to treatment for Salmonella now - which was just diagnosed yesterday thanks to a great Greek Doctor and many ph calls later!) - we made the best of it & have come back well rested, ready for the next stint of hard work in Kabul...


We arrived late Saturday night and on Sunday afternoon took a hop on/hop off bus around central Athens to get oriented




Athens has some historical stuff of course and some pretty chic areas, which we discovered when we returned on Tuesday, but also lots of run down areas, people shooting drugs, and graffiti everywhere

This is looking up to the Acropolis

And the view of it from our hotel roof at night

On the Monday we jumped on a Ferry for 5 hours to take us to the Island of Paros where we had seven days of real relaxation...

The little town of Parikia where we stayed

Our hotel room..20m to the pool, 300m to the beach...tough huh!

Daily Bliss!

And more daily bliss...Greek salads galore!


95% of population are Christian...here's one of them!





And some of their stuff to prove it!


Buskers entertaining us as we wit for the ferry - nice!

Typical housing was all white and blue on Paros



Scratching the itch!


Coffee by the coast!



Typical scenes in Parikia town






A beautiful woman I went out with one night!!

Enduring memories to take back to Kabul....

All the fresh Greek salads you could ask for...



And swimming in the sea!!

Back now...happy and very aware of how lucky we are!!
M & N