This week I took a break from my normal work to travel to another part of the country to take the minutes for a meeting. I normally wouldn't be involved in this kind of meeting but because we are short staffed I was asked to go. To be honest I wasn't looking forward to it. Travelling away from my home for a week to be involved in some dull meetings was not my idea of fun. Especially when my own work load would be stacking up. 
Now I am not going to say that I thoroughly enjoyed my time and the meetings were the best of my life, however they were were better than I thought. There was also some time when I wasn't needed so could answer my own emails etc. That was until the Internet in Afghanistan went down. The internet connection had been cut across most of the country, which meant no emails, facebook etc. It is weirdly disconcerting to not know what is happening in the world. It is also oddly refreshing. Knowing I couldn't answer my emails and that none were coming in was liberating. I spent time reading or talking with people instead of stuck behind a computer. 
One of the joys of Afghanistan are the beautiful flowers, especially roses. The weather has not yet warmed up sufficiently for them to be in bloom in Kabul but they were in full bloom in the north! One of the highlights of my trip was each morning walking past the rose bushes and smelling the beautiful fragrance and seeing the bright colours. It was like a little gift in the middle of a busy schedule to be able to put work to one side and take time to smell the roses.
