The Unemployed Life

Hi Everyone,

So I’m feeling a little under the weather today (Stupid Scott gave me his cold… what can I say, as roommates, we share EVERYTHING…)  Anyways, instead of coming up with any new and original material, I thought I’d steal the contents of an email from my friend John Hancock. (yes, that’s his real name).  So John just moved to Islamabad, Pakistan (see map above).  Anyway, he just sent us his first email sharing his adventures with us.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Subject: Getting settled in in Shlamabamabdingbadabad

Hey dooods, a few interesting things to note so far.

Im getting settled into life in Pakistan very easily.  This weekend I
was introduced to some of the young expat circles.  I went to a house
party, met someone I know, sat by the pool drinking beer at the
Canadian embassy, went to a bbq with the deputy prime minister from
Mexico, and played ultimate frisbee at the US embassy.  Needless to
say, I wont be close to the local community like Im used to, this is
straight up corporate NGO/diplomatic culture.  I have all the comforts
of being at home (except my best friends of course) and I have to get
used to people doing everything for me from opening car doors, doing
my dishes, to cooking me food.  Security protocol requires me to be
driven by a driver and a guard.  Our guards are ex Pakistani special
forces and they carry both an AK 47 and  glock 9 in the car.  When I
get out of the car, they open the door, scope things out and then let
me carry on.

Islamabad is like Piedmont, not joke.  Every house is comparable in
size to the latham castle on Kelsey st.  Only rich people live in this
city, and I have been assured that Islamabad is nothing like the rest
of the country.  At this party on friday night a state department
employee told me simply “poor people are not allowed to live in
Islamabad.”  The place is also immaculate, NO TRASH anywhere!
Strangely, no trash cans either.

On Sunday I found myself at a barbecue with a colleague who works on a
very similar project for another NGO.  He is a bit of an airy headed
Mexican who can’t seem to stop talking.  He makes for good
entertainment, and Mexicans abroad are proving to be geysers of
hilarity .  He greeted me at the door to his house by jumping up,
shoving what I only minutes later found out was a FAKE m16 in my face.
He said he purchased this replica gun at a local market, and purely
for entertainment had spent some time on the back of his Pakistani
colleague’s motorbike rolling up next to other folks in cars at
traffic stops and pointing this gun at terrified onlookers.
Apparently his employers security protocols are more lax than mine!
He also owns a retarded dalmatian puppy.  Im sure he will make for
more stories.

During the bbq I had the pleasure of speaking with some Pakistan
Christians who has some understandably closed views of the world.  The
clearly felt that they were bestowing endlessly valuable knowledge
upon me.  My favorite piece of advice was to look out for the “big
beard”  ”The bigger the beard, the bigger the Mullah [religious
man]…they not like you.”

I received a wedding invitation from a Pakistani colleague yesterday.
She has a traditional arranged marriage, and her “e” wedding invite
was nothing short of hilarious.  The endearing tag line at the top of
the invite read “Girl met Boy”  Not sure what to make of that, but Im
glad she has had the chance to meet her husband before plunging into a
life of marriage with him.

Ill send you some pictures of my house and office soon, you guys will
see that its a pretty “normal” setting.

Be well,
J