Greetings folks, it has been a long time since I have written any sort of blog. But I figured now that I am back in circulation in the world I would write some impressions from the places I have seen, please remember that these are by no means a full travel guide (why you would want to travel the places I work in is beyond me). All of these have been assembled from my personal experiences in these countries, so please keep those in mind when reading. Now that the disclaimer is done it's on with the show, if you have particular questions please let me know I will be happy to see if I can find answers.
I have been outside the consulate here a few times now working around the city, Peshawar has a fascinating society. There are so many things here that come together that it is a huge mishmash of cultural thing's that seem to come from across the borders and cultures. You see everything on the streets here from high priced BMW's (Which I have been told are only $10,000 American brand new here), to rickshaws (straight out of Asia), jingle trucks / buses (if you ever wondered why the bus crashes over here have such high casualty's in the news it's easy to explain. They literally cram the inside, top, bottom, and hang on outside when driving down the road), donkey carts, and mopeds with regular cars. Traffic is chaotic to put it lightly, more like a chaotic mess with thousands of people throwing their vehicles around trying to get from one place to the next. Our drivers are well trained however, and they know just how to push their way through the craziness that is Peshawar road traffic.
Even in other way's this place continues to be a study in culture, the local language for the most part is Local Pashtu, with some Hindi mixed in. However the most common word's used in greetings are the Arabic "Sal-am Aleikum," only to continue in a completely different language that is Pashtu. There is also a smattering of English thrown throughout, I hear greetings from my guards in English at all times of the day, along with "Hello Boss", "Roger Sir", "Copy Sir", and so on. Most of the road signs, advertisements and so on reflect this as well marking the brand name and slogan in English with a Pashtu language add or sometimes in Hindi. As far as fashion goes it is pretty much what I am used to from Iraq almost every women (smallest toddlers and up) you see wears some form of scarf covering her face and most of the body down to the knees at least, there is also a huge population that wears the Afghan burkha covering themselves from top to bottom, while men tend to wear a mix of western styles, or the regular local tribal long shirt, with baggy pants. As far as the rules go it seems to be a weird mixture, there are a ton of signs, and billboards everywhere around that advertise schools, university's, and so on. At the same time not a week goes by when a girls school doesn't get blown up by some local bad guys somewhere in Pakistan, much like the middle east women here are at a huge disadvantage and from what I have heard around the office the literacy rate for girls floats just around 50%. At the same time there are huge programs to send top students to foreign countries particularly England for study at places like Cambridge, and Oxford.
The Brits seem to have left an indelible impression here which I do not think will ever go away. The top game in town continues to be Cricket, with tennis, volleyball, and field hockey following a close second. There is not a night when I don't see some of the local workers watching cricket matches on television, all of course broadcast from India. Speaking of India the hostility between Pakistan, and India extends into the game arena as the two countries refuse to play each other in any way or form. When India hosted an international Cricket Cup recently the Pakistanis were barred from attending, of course the locals here retaliated by making sure India was banned from the games when they hosted the cup, it has gotten to the point where Indian teams now refuse to have Pakistani players on their teams. They are not only discouraged but completely barred from playing with any Indian team no matter how well trained, of course Pakistan has the same rule for Indian players. I guess not even sport can bring these two cultures together at least on the field. The politics of the game have diminished none of the hunger for it, and the workers here devour shows talking about Cricket (even in Hindi), and any game that is put on TV. Most mornings in the city you will drive by at least 30 improv games (many times organized along age lines, with several games next to each other) within ten minutes, and it seems any open sand field is occupied with a group playing their game.
Even the bar at the local American Club has history behind it, just a small example is the fact that Charlie Wilson sat at this same bar during the Afghan Conflict in the 80's. The next door neighbor to the club at the time was one Bin Laden, Osama a Saudi National who was organizing the Mujaheddin fighting Soviets across the border. The bartender who worked here (for 70 years) retired a few years ago, and he had an article written on him in the Washington Post he had a front row (bar?) seat to history being made and retired in his late 80's only after being struck by a motorcycle, and becoming to sick to work the bar on a regular basis (work week here is six days). Mind you the man served Americans for all that time, as does his replacement now, both men are devout Muslims and never miss a prayer at any time of day or night. Nor has either man ever tried alcohol, since it is officially illegal in Pakistan (but can be sold to foreigners on their own premises, or acquired on the flourishing black market). When asked why these men did what they did, they answered simply "we are poor people, happy to have a good job."
That is all my impressions for now, I will write more in the future.
I have been outside the consulate here a few times now working around the city, Peshawar has a fascinating society. There are so many things here that come together that it is a huge mishmash of cultural thing's that seem to come from across the borders and cultures. You see everything on the streets here from high priced BMW's (Which I have been told are only $10,000 American brand new here), to rickshaws (straight out of Asia), jingle trucks / buses (if you ever wondered why the bus crashes over here have such high casualty's in the news it's easy to explain. They literally cram the inside, top, bottom, and hang on outside when driving down the road), donkey carts, and mopeds with regular cars. Traffic is chaotic to put it lightly, more like a chaotic mess with thousands of people throwing their vehicles around trying to get from one place to the next. Our drivers are well trained however, and they know just how to push their way through the craziness that is Peshawar road traffic.
Even in other way's this place continues to be a study in culture, the local language for the most part is Local Pashtu, with some Hindi mixed in. However the most common word's used in greetings are the Arabic "Sal-am Aleikum," only to continue in a completely different language that is Pashtu. There is also a smattering of English thrown throughout, I hear greetings from my guards in English at all times of the day, along with "Hello Boss", "Roger Sir", "Copy Sir", and so on. Most of the road signs, advertisements and so on reflect this as well marking the brand name and slogan in English with a Pashtu language add or sometimes in Hindi. As far as fashion goes it is pretty much what I am used to from Iraq almost every women (smallest toddlers and up) you see wears some form of scarf covering her face and most of the body down to the knees at least, there is also a huge population that wears the Afghan burkha covering themselves from top to bottom, while men tend to wear a mix of western styles, or the regular local tribal long shirt, with baggy pants. As far as the rules go it seems to be a weird mixture, there are a ton of signs, and billboards everywhere around that advertise schools, university's, and so on. At the same time not a week goes by when a girls school doesn't get blown up by some local bad guys somewhere in Pakistan, much like the middle east women here are at a huge disadvantage and from what I have heard around the office the literacy rate for girls floats just around 50%. At the same time there are huge programs to send top students to foreign countries particularly England for study at places like Cambridge, and Oxford.
The Brits seem to have left an indelible impression here which I do not think will ever go away. The top game in town continues to be Cricket, with tennis, volleyball, and field hockey following a close second. There is not a night when I don't see some of the local workers watching cricket matches on television, all of course broadcast from India. Speaking of India the hostility between Pakistan, and India extends into the game arena as the two countries refuse to play each other in any way or form. When India hosted an international Cricket Cup recently the Pakistanis were barred from attending, of course the locals here retaliated by making sure India was banned from the games when they hosted the cup, it has gotten to the point where Indian teams now refuse to have Pakistani players on their teams. They are not only discouraged but completely barred from playing with any Indian team no matter how well trained, of course Pakistan has the same rule for Indian players. I guess not even sport can bring these two cultures together at least on the field. The politics of the game have diminished none of the hunger for it, and the workers here devour shows talking about Cricket (even in Hindi), and any game that is put on TV. Most mornings in the city you will drive by at least 30 improv games (many times organized along age lines, with several games next to each other) within ten minutes, and it seems any open sand field is occupied with a group playing their game.
Even the bar at the local American Club has history behind it, just a small example is the fact that Charlie Wilson sat at this same bar during the Afghan Conflict in the 80's. The next door neighbor to the club at the time was one Bin Laden, Osama a Saudi National who was organizing the Mujaheddin fighting Soviets across the border. The bartender who worked here (for 70 years) retired a few years ago, and he had an article written on him in the Washington Post he had a front row (bar?) seat to history being made and retired in his late 80's only after being struck by a motorcycle, and becoming to sick to work the bar on a regular basis (work week here is six days). Mind you the man served Americans for all that time, as does his replacement now, both men are devout Muslims and never miss a prayer at any time of day or night. Nor has either man ever tried alcohol, since it is officially illegal in Pakistan (but can be sold to foreigners on their own premises, or acquired on the flourishing black market). When asked why these men did what they did, they answered simply "we are poor people, happy to have a good job."
That is all my impressions for now, I will write more in the future.