So there I was, finishing up one of my sessions with the Afghan general in his office, and me and my interpreter, Nik, were getting ready to leave; when in walks another Afghan in a uniform I hadn't seen before. He walks up to the general and they greet each other, and then talk to my interpreter. Nik tells me, "this is the general's friend from the presidential staff." I say, "that's cool, one of President Karzai's staff. Glad to meet you." Nik interprets, and then the general and his friend say something, and all three of them laugh. I nudge Nik and say, "come on, Nik, I want to laugh, too." Nik says, "sorry; he said he's here to talk to the general about the cup tot." I look at Nik, then I look at the general, and then I turn back to Nik: "The what?" Nick says, "the cup tot." I look at the general and his friend again, trying to figure out what that could possibly mean, and I finally turn back to Nik: "Nik, that's not translating correctly. What's a 'cup tot'?" Nick says, "You know, that thing where they overthrow the government?" I stare at Nik and finally say, "You mean 'coup d'etat'?" So then I politely laugh, and nervously tell Nik, "we have to leave."
Now, I know they were just kidding around, like we do sometimes when we talk about bosses we hate, and things like that. But then a month or so later, the "annual" massive attacks around Kabul started, and as I was putting on my body armor and heading to the bunkers, I couldn't help thinking: "I sure hope this ain't the cup tot...."
So Andy, like Salty says: It's an adventure. But pray hard, and make sure it's the adventure God has in store for you. For each funny story like the one above, I could tell at least five others that aren't funny at all.
Praying that God will give you guidance and wisdom.
