Russian Cultural Center

It's been a while since my last post.  Things have been super busy here lately.  Our annual big Go Skateboarding Day event was this past Tues, the 21st.  There was media coverage from AP,  BBC, MSNBC, Lomo and many others for those who are curious.  The Friday before Go Skate Day, however, we went out and did some exploring in the city.  We went to check out an potential skate spot which was an old Russian Cultural Center.  This place was f'ing gnarly!  The whole place was riddled with bullet holes and a bunch of spots were blown out from rpg's and whatnot.  Walking around, the first piece of advice I was given was to watch my feet.  There were used syringes and condoms everywhere from the junkies who hideout there - kinda reminded me of walking around FDR in Philly ha.  Anyways - these are a few pics from the day.

Sights from the Streets

Personally, I find the simple things I see to be the most interesting. It's the things that don't surprise those living in Kabul, or those who have been here for a while, that seem to jump out to me the most -  things like a dude riding in a back of a watermelon truck or 12 people crammed into a small Toyota Corolla. I still think it's pretty crazy to see people walking across the 50 mph traffic within inches of their own lives. Another thing that sticks out to me here is all of the construction.  There is so much being built here, and many of the building methods are pretty wild. As someone who has worked in construction before, this just really catches my eye. I also think it's interesting because these are the scenes of Kabul and Afghanistan that I never saw through the Western media.  We see a lot of the negative, especially war and violence, but we don't see much about everyday life here.

A Few Night Shots of Kabul

The other night I went up on the roof of the guesthouse where I'm staying and took a few long exposure shots of the view we have.  I had to be extra careful while doing this, because it's rude here to look down into peoples yards/homes from roofs and balconies - so I was on my ninja tip.  The view, however is definitely pretty awesome at night, the blue mosque is really great (the green light isn't photoshopped - it really looks like that).  The wedding hall is also pretty cool.  All the wedding halls here are lit up super crazy, Vegas style.  Anyways, some of these came out better than others, but I thought these were pretty cool so I put them up.

Afghan Youth Voices Event

A few days ago, on the 25th, we went to the launch event for the Afghan Youth Voices Festival 2011.  The event was located at the Queen's Palace at Babur Garden.  Babur Garden is a historic park in Kabul, and also the location of Babur's tomb.  The Queen's Palace was definitely an amazing venue for the event.  You could see the hill towering over the palace on one side - and on the other side you had a view overlooking Kabul.  The event was a showcase for Kabul's youth to showcase their talents in video, photography, art and music.  There was even a rock band, which ended up doing a few System of a Down covers which was pretty dope to hear in Afghanistan.  There was also a cool mural for people to paint on as well.  It was definitely refreshing to see such a positive event happening - especially being directed towards the youth.  Below are some photos I snapped while at the event.