Neighbor Kids

I had the opportunity to meet some of the neighbor kids the other day. We started a perimeter fence repair job and I was out with the contractor talking about how to complete the project. While we were there the neighbor kids noticed us and I started taking some pictures of them. The last time I was out in this area the kids were hollering at us to throw them a dollar or a biscuit (cookie). This time was a little different, I found out they have learned some of the not so nice English words from the soldiers. They started to swear at us when we were taking there pictures, throwing rocks at us (very few made it over the fence) and pointing their longest finger to the sky.

The kids were kind of gathered in the bottom area here, a dried up river/stream. Which also serves as the watering hole or neighborhood swimming pool/bath.

They eventually ended up right next to the fence talking with the contractors and us. I started talking with the little guy that was the most vocal. He was probably 9 or 10. He seemed very angry, I think he was just trying to put on a tough front. I asked him why he was so angry, talking so mean and he calmed down and said he was not mad. He also told me I had cat eyes, which confused me for a little bit, but then I realized I have blue eyes which is not very common among the Afghani's which are mostly brown eyed. Eventually we had about 15 kids at the fence, all under 10 years old, then some older kids started to show up and a couple adults. At that point, I decided it was getting a little too much and we headed back to the office.
Later that afternoon the contractor came into the office and told us all their tools (picks and shovels) were gone when they came back from lunch. Apparently, the kids came back, climbed through the concertina wire and over the barriers and the little thieves stole the tools. The contractor said he was going to go the village and see about getting his tools back, he showed up the next day with new shovels and picks.

A couple days later, the contractor told us his employees did it again. They left the shovels and picks out while they went to lunch. They were gone again, but this time the supervisor saw one of the kids just down the hill when they got back and he jumped the barrier and the concertina wire and chased him down. He found their shovels and picks at the bottom of the hill, the kids did not have time to carry them back to the village.

On another note, I'm amazed at how fast we can get new release movies at the "Block Buster Video" shop in the bazaar. Last week someone picked up the new Star Trek movie, so we were able to watch it just two weeks after it was released in the theaters at home. Today, we picked up the recently released Night at the Museum movie. Haven't watched it yet, but it's only been out a couple weeks too. They are not the highest quality, but pretty good, better than someone sitting in the theater videotaping the movie.