Today was a bit of a slow day. My ANA SGM has been MIA for several days now. I think he is purposely avoiding me. Not really, he is a busy man and the colonel has him hopping all over the ANA camp. Unlike our small camp, the ANA side is much larger and requires a vehicle or a good set of boots for walking because their buildings are spaced much further apart.
Anyhow, I decided to spend some time with our interpreters. This was a chance for me to learn a little bit more about their personal lives and for me to share mine. Somehow the conversation revolved around divorce in America and divorce in Afghanistan. I was rather surprised that even within the Islamic faith, divorce is permitted. But divorce is very rare and the stigma attached of being divorced is often worse than a bad marriage. They explained that the engagement to an Afghan woman can last for 3 years before they are allowed to get married. Then after the marriage ceremony, they live with their parents for the remainder of their lives. Unlike America, the parents still count on their children for support when they are old and too weak to work. What’s also interesting is the father is the still the head of the household and has the final say on all decisions. This is part of their unique culture.
Later in the afternoon my teammate invited me to play the game of Scrabble. It’s been a long time since I could find a worthy opponent, so my cognitive skills were a bit rusty. We were at a disadvantage without having a Scrabble dictionary present to challenge words. Occasionally we would log on to the MWR computers to verify the spelling of a word. Admittedly we both created some words that don’t exist. Some of my favorites were adrip, eb, and he tried to get away with minuters and reeks. But as you can tell from the picture, Lady Luck was smiling on me and I was able to play all 7 tiles with one turn. I can’t wait for my next care package to arrive with the Scrabble Dictionary. Until then, I will try to make up some more words and not get challenged.
Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: | Afghanistan, Deployment, U.S. Air Force
The Thunder Run has linked to this post in the blog post From the Front: 06/11/2009 News and Personal dispatches from the front and the home front.
Rex,
Glad to see you had a quiet day and was able to enjoy a good game of scrabble. When you are playing, are you allowed to use other languages? Since you’re fluent in Korean, you could throw some curve balls. lol
Be safe!!
Love ya!
Sis
Hello Rex,
Y’all have earned a nice quiet day! BTW: reeks is a word! The others, not so much!
Liza