exchange

Today I am going to talk about the exchanges here in Afghanistan. There are 2 American exchanges that have either an American military or civilian at the head and with third country nationals (TCNs) running the shop. We have the basics, but shelves go bare quickly when a new shipment comes in or when it is payday. Prices are about the same as in the States. The smaller exchange is about a hundred yards down from my BAS. The larger is a 5 minute drive. The larger one is always packed since it is on the main American base. Basically, the soilders have nothing better to do with their free time and so go there to loiter about and buy anything of interest.

There are also Dannish and British exchanges which offer a different variety of goods, but often the prices are a bit steep. I like to look at the food items because the labels are often amusing. An example would be 'digestives' crackers.

All the exchanges use the U.S. dollar as currency. You do not get coins as change though. Instead, you get 'pogs' which are silver dollar size cardboard cutouts with denominations written on one side and some sort of motivating picture on the other. You can actually use the pogs in American excahnges back in the States. I have been sending them in letters to the kids for souvenirs.

I had mentioned prior that it was getting colder here, but really the weather has been better than expected for this time of year. We have not yet had snow and the rains have been tolerable. I can only hope that this pattern holds through the winter. In other news, the U.S. is on target for coldest winter in 25 years (tell that to Al Gore).



Getting tired of seeing me in pictures yet?

Welcome to Camp Barber exchange.