Greetings from the North

Hello everyone,

I have a decent internet connection right now, so I thought I would stop in and try and add a short post to the blog.

The new unit I'm with seems to really understand the concept of mentoring the Afghans and winning the hearts and minds of the local populice, so that is very good to see. We are doing a lot of good things up here for the Afghan people, and they seem to be appreciative of that. Whenever we go downtown to mentor our police counterparts we go on foot patrols through the city to talk with the locals and of course buy some local food. Everyone we've met so far has been very friendly, one local baker even gave us a free sample of what looked like a donut hole that you would get an an Indian resturant.

I was fortunate enough to have lunch at a Generals house a couple days ago. It was a meal fit for a king. The Afghans certainly know how to entertain. We started off with fresh fruit from the area. Then they brought out this calzone looking thing that had fried onions, tomatoes, and meat in it. Then came the lamb kabobs, about 9 per person... and of course the typical nan with rice and lamb meat. The best though was this ravioli looking dish. It was fancy ravioli noodles filled with meat and topped with a tomato sauce and yogurt. Afghan yogurt is far different from ours though. They let their yogurt ferment for a long time becuase they like the sour taste. It's different, but pretty good.

Other than that I'm just waiting for the snow to start flying. This hot weather is getting very old.

Take care,

Phil