Hey everbody, sorry for the delayed post.  We have been incredibly busy and are finishing up today.  We have had a great experience and wish we could spend more time here.  We promised pictures, so here you go.  Keep in mind this is taking three hours to post.  So, here’s a taste of what we’ve been up to.

We met a member of the Taliban yesterday morning, he was cool.  He bought bread at the same shop we did.  He had a really fancy hat. We conned our way into the US Military Base in Kabul and met some fantastic people.  We got invited to go to a secret base on the Pakistan/Afgahnistan border, but ran out of time.  Next time…

Everything else is going well and we’re excited to put everything together. Thanks to everyone who has been following! 

We haven’t been able to update the blog for two reasons.  One: the internet conncection is unbelievably slow.  Two: We’ve simply been too tired and busy.  We promise we will give a big update soon.  For now, here’s some food for thought.

Rule number 1: Don’t drink the tea. 

Believe us, we learned the hard way.  Everyone here wants to give you tea when you come into their house.  It’s such a nice gesture, especially when you find out it’s pretty much the only thing they have to eat, except bread.  However, our stomaches are pissed off that we drank it.  Immoduim AD here we come–and possibly cipro.  

Other than that, things are going relatively well.  We had an amazing day yesterday and got some great footage.  We brought a couple poor kids to the clinic and we able to get them some much needed dental treatment.  They were good kids. 

We have another extremely busy day ahead of us today and we wish we had more time here.  It’s such an amazing place and there is so much to see and shoot.  I guess we’ll just have to wait til next time.

Thanks again for the comments, etc.

Hey everyone!  Thanks for all your comments.

Yesterday was yet another amazing day in Kabul.  We couldn’t do too much because it was Friday, a holy day, so we woke up at 4:30 am and climbed on the roof to get shots of the sunrise and streets below.  It was so amazing hearing the call to prayer echoing throughout the city. 

We had a bit of a scare at the airport when we tried to retrieve our lost baggage.  We got stopped by the security at the entrance and thought they were going to take away our equipment.  They made us get out of the car and frisked the men and sent Brenda into a some “building” with a curtain as the door.  Inside was a sad looking woman watching TV.  She frisked her and sent her back to the car.  Thankfully we were able to keep our equipment and everything was okay.

Traffic here is ridiculous!  It is one of the most caotic scenes I have witnessed.  But it’s amazing how everyone seems works together to not hit eachother.  There’s a certain flow to it. It’s not uncommon  to drive on the wrong side of the road and there are no rules to anything.   But apparently it’s improved-there are now a total of 10 traffic lights in a city of 4 million people.  A truck carrying a massive load of bricks nearly dumped half of them on our car and I’m suprised we didn’t get in an accident.   

It’s so dusty and dirty and we have to constantly clean our equipment.  The air is horrible.  We have all developed a cough and the sniffles. The shower situation is less than ideal.  There is no tub, just a shower head coming out from the wall onto a floor with a drain, next to the toilet and sink.  You have to be careful where you put your things so they don’t get wet. We have a trcikle of water to shower from, but at least it’s not a bucket! (which we have, just in case.)

There are dogs in the street that keep us all up at night and Dr. Rolfe has come up with a temporary solution: a slingshot.  He made out of a rubber band, duct tape and a coat hanger.  He gets up in the middle of the night and shoots bolts at them with it. It helps some, but they still yelp.  I guess we’ll see.

There are two volunteers here right now, a Russian dental hygenist from Boston named Julia and a 61 year old dentist from Tulsa, Oklahoma named Paul.  I don’t know too many other 61 year olds quite like Paul.  He has so much energy and wit.  He climbs over walls and gets on the roof with us and doesn’t seem to be afraid of anything.

The people are overwhelmingly nice and friendly and are trying to do everything to help us out.  Neither of us have ever felt unsafe or threatened, just welcomed.  Everyone here is just trying to live their lives, make an honest living and survive.  

We went kite flying at the top of this hill, overlooking the city.  It was beautiful and an incredible experience.  All the boys immediately surrounded us and tried to speak English to us.  “Mister, one dollar?” and “Hello, you are beautiful” ”You are my best friend”  Brenda was pretty much the only girl in a park of about 400 men and boys and definitely the only girl to fly a kite.  I think it was a sight for them to see. 

There’s an astonishing amount of people crowded in the streets, going about their business and doing their shopping.  They must have so much endurance and stamina to survive.  Although we haven’t felt any personal danger yet, we do see the shadow of war everywhere. We saw movie theatres that were destroyed by the Taliban and and houses riddled with bullet and mortar markings.  I can’t imagine what it must have been like.  We hear gunshots every once in a while, but it’s probably some kid target practicing. 

We’re so excited to shoot today because the clinic is now open and hopefully we will be able to find someone to let us into their lives.

21 hours in the air, one stop to Dubai and we finally made it!  We are officially half way around the world.  It’s been quite the journey so far, and it’s only the beginning.  So far, so good.  The only hiccup we’ve had has been lost luggage, but we’re getting all of it tomorrow.  Dubai and Kabul are only a two hour plane ride away but world apart.  Everyone has been so nice and the food has been yummy!  The “scrambled eggs” we got for breakfast today on the flight from Dubai to Kabul, were…interesting.  Good, but interesting.   I have to say, I don’t think I’ve ever seen watery, orange eggs before.  

We feel totally safe, but we have seen multiple armored humvees and two black hawk helicoptors shooting practice flares around the airport.  It was a nice introduction to Kabul.  I’d like to think of them as fireworks, welcoming our presence.

We are super pooped but are really excited to get started.  We plan to start this evening. 

Note to self: hijabs are annoying.  So glad I don’t have to wear one in the states.  Oh yeah, and the toilets…interesting, and definately smelly.

Thanks everyone for all your comments and concern.

Just got on the plane for Dubai. Brenda says hi.

Ah… Delicious road food. This is a test post from my iPhone.

Well this is it.  We leave tomorrow.  Brenda and I are taking care of the final details for our documentary production.  All our gear is order, the details are worked out and our visas are ready to be stamped.  We fly out of LAX on Tuesday the 23rd and arrive in Kabul, Afghanistan at 10:00 AM on Thursday.  We both hope that you will follow us on our adventure to Kabul as we will try to update this blog daily.