Snake Season (28 April)

Weather is getting warmer. It marks the start of the snake season. Nope, not the snake hunting season or a weird reptile festival…just the time of year where they all come out. I haven’t seen any yet, and hope not to see any. A buddy of mine went to meet with his Afghan counterpart and found him and several other grown military professionals on the floor of his office taunting an Indian Cobra by smacking it on the head and laughing. He rescheduled the meeting for after they were done.

I met with my counterpart yesterday and as usual, he offered me food. They always offer chai (tea) and some sort of fruit, nuts, or something. Yesterday it was apples. Business was done when he offered me apples, so the conversation was dead. I opted to exercise my terp (interpreter) by trying to have casual conversation with my counterpart. I asked him what he thought about the upcoming elections (August). I asked if they thought Karzai was going to win (I still haven’t got a straight answer if he can run again), and he answered, “;aldjfalkdjflkjd OBAMA a;dlfkjadslkfjj.” Which translated means, “It is up to OBAMA.” They always say “Enshalla” which means “God willing.” Now they are apparently saying “Obama Willing.” He was laughing, so I laughed, but I was surprised that he would say this. I don’t know if this is really how some of them feel…couldn’t get a straight answer (rarely do).

On my way back to the FOB, I was talking to my terp about snakes (topic of the day) and he said he hadn’t seen any and hadn’t been here for a snake season. I told him repeatedly how much I hate snakes and he replied simply, “they are hateful animals.” That is all for now. Take care and God bless.
BMP