Playing in Snow, Afghan Style

Afghan children, I've found, are vicious. I met one young boy who offered me his snowball as a sort of friendly gift of ammunition. He had somehow managed to pack this snowball into a deadly baseball-sized ice rock. He smiled at me and pointed at it, proud of his technique.

During an outing in January, dear Landry was clobbered in a snowfight. Thank goodness his face was protected by his bushy beard... which still isn't long enough to satisfy the old Taliban rule. Under the Taliban, Landry would have been jailed until his beard grew to a fist's length.

The housemates went for a day of fun in the snow, which meant sitting on an innertube and hurling yourself down this hill. The brave housemates had also gone snowshoeing, even though this country is notorious for its landmines. One of them said that according to the Afghans, if the snow is deeper than 50 centimeters (20 inches), then the weight of an object with a large surface area (like a human being wearing tennis racket-sized snowshoes) is not enough to trigger a landmine.

It's all fun and games until you come home without a leg.