our hearts will go on.

    So people told me there is no alcohol in Afghanistan and drugs are considered very low level. Some locals said that they have never drunk nor smoked in their lives and I have no doubts about it. But let’s be real. We are all people and (not)surprisingly, quite similar to each other in behaviour, despite the location and cultural background.

    So there is this one day, a very special one because it is the first day I’m walking in Kabul totally on my own. Of course others were not happy about this idea but things had to be done and there was nobody available to accompany me (I wasn’t sad about it). So in the end I went to run errands alone.

    That day only I made 4 new friends, visited few coffee shops/restaurants, and bought an Afghan map and a great history book for peanuts. Then the wheel of acquaintances started to roll and soon I was meeting friends of a friend of a friend.

    The next day was even more special as it was 100^th anniversary of Afghan Independence. Big celebrations of the streets and my own quite spontaneous one. I was invited to my new friend’s house and headed there without knowing that the party was just about to start. I had a friendly chat with a taxi driver who was patient enough to listen to my miserable Farsi.

    I got picked up by a friend of a friend who happened to speak Russian (I had to refresh mine, not used since summer 2018 and “The Stans Trip”), and thanks to that he become my new friend, too. We were 3 people and a big hookah at the beginning, and then another one joined us, and then a big bottle of vodka and whiskey joined too.

    One remarkable thing happened which can’t be described properly in spoken language if the person was not there, even worse to write the whole thing down. Anyway, it was a hilarious situation and I will always use it as an anecdote from Afghanistan and the only example (so far) of when I got real scared in this country.

    So at some point of the meeting, only 3 of us are sitting in the room. Me and X. are on the sofa discussing a very serious topic on road safety in Afghanistan, meanwhile Z. (who doesn’t speak English well, so he can’t quite grasp the seriousness of the conversation) is sitting next to me (I’m in the middle). From the corner of my eye I see Z. is trying to turn on the TV or something like that. I am telling the story of my road trip to Mazar and the reports on security I’ve heard. I am talking about potential checkpoints installed by Taliban and the second I say the word “Taliban” the massive “boom!” is heard. I freeze, X freezes. I check the back of my head if it’s still there and then look forward only to see the big TV with a music channel on, a band playing Afghan instruments, including the drum. In a few seconds I understand what has just happened. Z. finally turned the TV on, which happened to be set on a VERY high volume (the sound system in the room was pretty good), and the channel he turned on was the music one. Only by a cruel coincidence or a perversity of inanimate objects this all happened at the same time; me saying “Taliban” and Z. switching the channels to the drum playing guy. After few seconds we were all laughing out loud and the story was kept being repeated throughout the evening which was just about to start.

    I found out that Z. was working in a anti-drug department, so the greater my surprise was when he was the one to bring hash to the room and add it to the hookah. Hashish is quite popular in Afghanistan, and after that night I saw people smoking it on the streets in a day light (I was even offered to smoke once). It’s definitely not something you have to hide from the others.

After a few more drinks the forever young song “My Heart Will Go On” from “Titanic” was played. As it wasn’t my first time hearing the song in Afghanistan, I was curious why people choose this particular one to be played during drinking sessions (not exactly the party type of song). Y. who has already come back and speeded up his drinking pace to catch up with us explained, that “Titanic” came to Afghanistan during the Taliban regime and as music and films were all forbidden, it was quite a challenge to watch it. Kids and teenagers would gather at nights to watch it, under blankets or with windows covered by curtain so that nobody could see the screen light from the outside. The film as well as the song bring back the memories of childhood, hence the song popularity among Millennial in the country.

    The party went on for the next few hours; dozens of topics were discussed (no idea which ones, though), loads of laughter and one of the first encounters with “a very normal life” in Afghanistan. Suddenly the cultural correctness, background differences and religions stopped being important. We were just a bunch of young(ish) people having a house party. Something so regular to loads of people and something so unusual to others.

    Afghanistan keeps surprising me. So far, only and always in a positive way. And each time I love the country even more and even more I want to tell others how amazing and normal, surprising and very regular this place is.