Dateline Afghanistan: Absconding with the Tea

Here is another picture from our training for the illiterate soldiers. The lesson here is that you shouldn't steal.

You'd think that the t.v. would be the most valuable item in this picture. You might be wrong. More on that in a minute.

The funny part about this picture is that the senior officers kept ruffling the soldiers' clothes to make them look the part of nefarious thieves.

Note how their hats are off center and their pants aren't tucked in to their boots.

The situation was hilarious because the poor soldier with the t.v. had to hold it for at least ten minutes while the officers kept messing with his clothes. They were so concerned with getting the perfect shot while I was terrified that he was going to drop the tube. We all laughed and had a good time. Sounds silly, but it's times like these that are really good....where the language barriers are broken by simple laughter.

A couple of interesting things to point out in this picture. The lead soldier is carrying a thermos. Theft of this item might even be worse than the t.v. That's because every Afghan carries a thermos that contains hot chai, or tea. Tea is very important to the Afghans. It's pretty good, except that it is served at a ridiculously hot temperature. I personally suspect that they enjoy watching me struggle to sip it while they gulp it down.

Another interesting thing about the tea. We're pictured here in an Afghan office building. Whenever there is leftover tea in a cup, it's simply tossed onto the rug that you see here. I'm not being critical. It's their tea, their rug and their country. They can do what they want.

I'm just saying that (puposefully) chucking one's beverage on the carpet is a little different, that's all.