October 30, 2006 - Stopover in Dubai (04/20/07)

I arrived in Dubai City late on Monday night, October 30^th 2006. I was on my way to Kabul to begin a new job for a Telecommunications company based in my father’s birth city Kabul. It was an incredible opportunity that seemed like a dream.

I would be able to start learning the spoken language. My brother worked for the same company in the Legal department. He awaited my arrival the next morning.
I hadn’t been to Kabul since August 2003 when my father returned to his homeland for the first time in almost 50 years. The experience of being in Kabul with my dad was as extraordinary and memorable as my first visit had been in May 2002.

It had been 4 years since the family\'s visit, so I didn’t know what to expect. How much had Kabul changed? How would I like my job? How safe would it be? How much would I miss home? Could I handle such a big move being away from home?

There were many questions that only being there over days and months would answer. I had left my family behind in the San Francisco Bay Area. I remember waving to them many times as I went through the security checkpoint at San Francisco International Airport . We were all crying.

The image of my sweet, beautiful fiancé crying was hard to bare as I got on the plane. During the connecting flight to New York’s JFK, I felt heavier in my seat than I could ever remember. I tried to hide my tears. I hoped that the people next to me understood.