Saturday, September 30, 2006

Kabul Blues

Babur, the great warrior of timurids, destroyed all while heading to India. But he saved Kabul because of it’s beauty. He even ordered that after his death his heart must be buried in the soil of Kabul. Nowadays, five hundred years later, the Babur gardens are the one of the few places in Kabule where you can really sit down to relax.
To be honest, Kabul is an awful place to live. There is very high pollution and almost no infrastructure. Everyone is responsible for their own water well or electricity because there is only some hours city power per day. Huge piles of garbage are on the every corner and sewage water runs in deep concrete ditches beside the streets. There is no city transport, only minibuses dash around like bees. Only wide avenues give hints that there had been some good ideas when this city was planned.
Old residents of Kabul have told me that before the last war it was a beautiful city: huge trees lined the streets, there were many beautiful worship places (even for jews and sikhks), trolleybuses rattled around. Russians who were afraid of snipers cut all big trees, worship places were destroyed and Taliban took down all the wires necessary for trolleys. Only huge "graveyards" of trolleys or roots of cut trees remind those times.
But the worst thing is that there is an atmosphere of fear. You can feel it. You can see it. You can smell it. It just surrounds you wherever you go.
I met one young lovely afghan lady from Canada at the airport. She just visited her relatives in Kabul. She was born in Afghanistan, she knew very well both dari and pushtu languages. But she was afraid. She never went out alone and felt all the time oppressed. "It was not the same country I remember," she told me sadly.

Wednesday, September 27, 2006

Prologue

After being in Afghanistan for months we took a break. My husband and me stayed at the house of lovely Latvian lady during our holidays. We talked a lot about Afghanistan. “You are egoist,” accused this lady me. “Why only Estonians have the possibility to read your diary? We would like it too.”

I have been describing our everyday life in Kabuli päevik (Kabul Diary in Estonian) http://qnne.blogspot.com/for five months now. I was amazed how many people are interested about our experiences: to read stories and to look at my images.

It has been an interesting wandering. We started like lonely westerners in hostile land. Now we have find some good friends not only among international community but among some afghan people as well. We started our living in a tiny room of the guesthouse, continuing in a small house at the compound of internationals. We ended living with afghan family in their garden house.

For me, personally, most important has been the disappearance of the feeling of fear. After our first security training I thought that I will go mad. How can we live next years behind wires and walls as prisoners? It seemed impossible to go out even just for a walk. But walking for me is something self-evident, part of normal everyday life in Estonia. When I go now to shopping down the street, trying to use my elementary dari language as much as I can it is somehow ridiculous to remember very first days.

Afghan people are the most patient I have ever seen in my life. I envy their dignity. And something - despite a quarter of hundred years of war - is left about their hospidality. The way how poor farmer from outskirts of Kabul is offering tea, is something to learn about.

And, especially, I am impressed with Afghanistan landscapes: the majestic look of medieval minarets and mosques in Herat, the peaceful agricultural views of Kunduz river irritation area, the ruthless snowy mountains near Salang pass or breathtaking beauty of the colorful hills in Bamian Valley.

There are lots of news about Afghanistan on every TV-channel. But whenever I see news I can’t recognize the country I live. Still I have seen another, human side of Afghanistan. And I hope to share my experience with you.

Friday, September 22, 2006

Blogging Beers

In the absence of Russell, Paul and I thought we'd try and carry the great man's mantle. The draw of Paul and I wasn't quite up there with Mr Davies but we still managed to persuade Ben and Sophie to turn up. Conversation ranged from 'fuck me facts' to Google Analytics to vegetarianism. Apologies to anyone in the George pub that overheard us and was offended/bored. It was good to see Ben again

Blogging Drinks

In Russell's absence, Paul and I will be having a blogging drink tonight (Friday 22nd September) at 6pm in Soho. We'll be at this pub, so feel free to drop in and say hello!

Thursday, September 21, 2006

Some fun from Nike

Materazzi training.

Cornwall

Sorry for the lack of posts recently, but I've been at my parents new house in Cornwall. Lovely part of the world. Anyone who's never been should go, just avoid Newquay.

Emerge

Emerge is the latest addition to the Influx Insights blogging stable. The aim of Emerge, according to Ed Cotton, is to cover all things relating to emerging culture, focusing on the people and places that reflect and represent it. Emerge focuses on film, art, music, fashion, design, places & spaces and also has interviews with leading lights across these sectors.

Wednesday, September 13, 2006

Apple

I feel obliged to blog this. Apple have announced a underwhelming variety of new/modified products. * The iTV - great product, but Apple announcing it before it was ready???!* New and very tiny iPod shuffle* Updated 5G iPod - brighter screen or something* New colours on the NanoWhat's going on with Apple, where's the innovation gone? I can't remember the last genuinely new and interesting

The Varifier Approach

If anyone has read James Surowiecki's book, the Wisdom of Crowds, they will be familiar with the story of the US submarine, Scorpion, that disappeared on its way back to land. Despite the Navy holding various bits of data about the sub, such as its location the last time it had made radio contact they had to find it in a possible circular area which had a 20 mile diameter and thousands of feet

Friday, September 8, 2006

Wages of Wins

This website is brilliant. Wages of Wins is a book published in the USA that analyses atheletes indiviual performances in team sports and works out the correlation between performance (i.e. no of wins produced) vs their salary. I'm not really sure how to do the site and the concept justice in this post but I thought it was well worth highlighting how well they have taken the statistics of sport

Wednesday, September 6, 2006

My John Grant notes

Here's my summary of Paul's John Grant podcast. My apologies for the messyness of the notes. John and Paul are both very smart.John's second book after image was all about knowledge brands e.g. Google, Wikipedia & ebay rather than image brands such as Levi's and Coca-Cola. This helps put it into context looking back.It is now a quest for knowledge not information. Education is an important role

Monday, September 4, 2006

Lebowski Blogs

The infamous Lebowski of W+K London has, after months of protestation, started his own blog. Worth checking out, Lebowski will be coming up with a new idea everyday. Looking forward to it.

Sunday, September 3, 2006

BA and Google Earth

I've just seen the latest BA tv ads and, just like ITN news, they use Google Earth. The ad takes viewers on a tour of the world using the search giant's software, highlighting destinations and prices as it goes. It's a great example of how the web is influencing TV and the power of the Google Earth tool.