Laying Low

I was expecting to write about cricket this week. Last Saturday the plan was to join a group of Swedes, Dutch, Germans and Pakistanis to attend a one-day test match between Pakistan and India at neighboring Rawalpindi. I wasn’t actually that fussed about watching cricket, but I thought that it would be really interesting to attend a live event that would combine Pakistani’s passion for cricket with their intense rivalry with India.

Unfortunately, it was not to be. The Danish cartoon backlash is being felt in Pakistan and as a result the theme is to keep a lower profile. Obviously, attending a cricket match wouldn’t be the wisest thing to do, especially with a bunch of people who look Danish. Therefore, in an attempt to keep the interest of my remaining readers I will make a few random comments and then hope for new adventure in the near future:

- The pace at the office continues to become more normal and I’m faced for the first time with the issue of what exactly I’m going to do with my spare time.

- About ten days ago I made another day-trip to Muzaffarabad in Kashmir via our rented Squirrel helicopter. As we prepared for our return take-off my pilot, a former member of the South African Air Force, asked if I minded if he did a few maneuvers. Sure I said, thinking what can he do in a helicopter except spin around a bit. Wow!!! I now have a new respect for helicopters and the South African Air Force.

- The Olympics have started and as our time zone is four hours ahead of Italy this means that my evenings will likely mostly be spent watching live events on EuroSport TV. I think I’m going to have a good Olympics.

- The weather is getting warmer which is great except that some of the locals say that this may mean an even longer and hotter summer than normal.

- In some ways it’s hard to believe that I have been in Pakistan for over three months already. In other ways it seems longer because of the many new and intense experiences. It is apparent that my time here will have two distinct phases: emergency and post-emergency/regular mission.