day 33: all I know about "affaganastand"

I'm not so sure that either of my children can really quite comprehend where their Daddy is right now. I've pointed it out on the map many times, but I think in their minds, it's just a far-off place. R, for some reason, still prays for "Daddy to be safe traveling to Affaganastand". I've tried to convince her that it's now okay to pray for God to keep him safe there, since he's already arrived. "Oh," is all she says. And then, a few breaths later, when telling her Daddy on the phone about movie she thinks he should check out, she tells him to "go get that from a Redbox soon so you can see it, too." Clueless!

But I have to admit that this land that's been at war practically since the 1970s is a bit of a mystery to me, too. I know that the same sun and moon rise and set over the land just as they do here, but 8 1/2 hours ahead of good ole' Indiana time. That half hour baffles me. Where did it come from? Iraq was always 8 hours ahead of us. Who gets to sit down and decide, "Yes, Afghanistan. Let's royally confuse everyone by putting them in a time zone that no one will understand,"? But one thing is for sure, whoever that was has forced me to get really good at adding 8 1/2 hours to the current time here, all in my head! Okay, I will admit that I occasionally do rely upon my fingers.

And I know that this country is home to stray dogs (hence: Sipr the pet dog, for whom I bought Milkbone dog biscuits at the request of my husband) and camels, which ASC saw roaming wild yesterday at his base. My research tells me that many, many years ago, tigers used to migrate over the Afghan hills, but they are long gone.

Muslims, though, are not sparse in Afghanistan, as they make up the highest majority of the religions there. And most inhabitants of this country are Pashtun. Over 29 million people call this land home, and of them, only 28% are literate, the average lifespan is 45 years of age, and the average woman gives birth to 5 children. And all this takes place in the country that is the world's biggest producer of opium.

No Redbox, no Starbucks, but tons of opium.

We literally are a world apart.