Convocation at AUAF
Today was convocation. All the faculty got dressed up in fancy graduation gowns and funky hats and sashes and paraded down a very cold sidewalk into the gym. (Only for about 40 yards, so it wasn't a big deal at all.) Ceremonies like this are inherently boring, but the speeches were interesting enough and generally impressive. We have a saying (I don't know if it's an official motto, but we certainly say it all the time) that we're training the "leaders of tomorrow." It's a common saying and one I've heard around schools everywhere. Nowhere have I found it to be more true than here at AUAF, though, where our students really will go out and rebuild the country. It's a great feeling to be part of.
One thing that you don't get to see at most convocations is the security, which I realized I haven't really commented on. So....
The bomb sniffing dog did a thorough tour of the gym earlier in the afternoon.
On top of the gym was at least one guy with an AK-47 all day. (There may have been more. I didn't really think to look or try to count.) We normally have two armed guards behind sandbags on the roof of the admin building (the highest building on campus) but I think the guys on the gym roof are only there for special events like this.
The police had cordoned off the road outside campus and they'd posted extra patrols down the street.
Such fun these things are....
But, as I mentioned, no bombings lately. I have no idea why the Taliban goes quiet in the winter, but that seems to be their schedule.
Apparently they announced the actual date for the full withdrawal of troops here. It is "mid 2013" as I've seen. I somewhat regret that it'll be right at the end of my contract. One of my main motivations in coming here wasn't the money (although I won't deny it's nice), or the altruism (although it's become that), but simply that I thought it would be an interesting experience (be that in the Chinese curse fashion or not.) And 2013 will definitely be interesting, I think.
One thing that you don't get to see at most convocations is the security, which I realized I haven't really commented on. So....
The bomb sniffing dog did a thorough tour of the gym earlier in the afternoon.
On top of the gym was at least one guy with an AK-47 all day. (There may have been more. I didn't really think to look or try to count.) We normally have two armed guards behind sandbags on the roof of the admin building (the highest building on campus) but I think the guys on the gym roof are only there for special events like this.
The police had cordoned off the road outside campus and they'd posted extra patrols down the street.
Such fun these things are....
But, as I mentioned, no bombings lately. I have no idea why the Taliban goes quiet in the winter, but that seems to be their schedule.
Apparently they announced the actual date for the full withdrawal of troops here. It is "mid 2013" as I've seen. I somewhat regret that it'll be right at the end of my contract. One of my main motivations in coming here wasn't the money (although I won't deny it's nice), or the altruism (although it's become that), but simply that I thought it would be an interesting experience (be that in the Chinese curse fashion or not.) And 2013 will definitely be interesting, I think.