I’ll be posting some new videos today and much more about the trip. KXAN has started to promote this blog, so I better get my posts up. The interviews and video we are preparing will air in a week long series on KXAN starting November 12. Here’s the first online ad that’s up.

I’m starting to feel like everyone in this hotel is shady looking. They are not Afghans and yet they all eye me with suspicion. Actually, everyone eyes everyone here with suspicion. Just now three middle aged men in black suits speaking Russian walked past and stared at me and then stared at my computer where I was sending an email to a friend that said ‘everyone looks like a possible terrorist. Am I that paranoid?’ Oh well. At least they know I’m on to them.

Today was a great experience. We went to Camp Eggers, one of the military bases here, and interviewed 19 soldiers! Some broke down crying while others lived for the adrenaline rush. They let me climb into the gunner’s part of one of the Humvees and said I was the first woman to go in there. They also let me carry their M16’s and grenade launchers. I’ll be using those pics for my MySpace profile.

We also went to the bazaar where I bought 5 Afghan dresses that no one I know will ever wear but I wanted to support their struggling economy. I barely slept last night because I kept having nightmares of us getting attacked. Tonight I’m taking a sleep aid.

So today we are going to Camp Eggers to interview Texas soldiers. You’ll be happy to know the company transporting us everywhere are equipped with an armored SUV, two security guys and loaded M16’s as they take us all over town. They also gave us bullet proof vests. So, we are much safer than others. In fact, our vehicle is so armored, a roadside bomb would take off its tires but would be less likely to harm the people inside. On a side note, the pollution is so bad, it is worse than Southern California on a bad day! There are beautiful mountains that you can barely see because of all the dust and pollution. I already feel like I have miner’s lung and spent half the night up coughing my guts out. I also had horrible nightmares last night about people trying to attack us. I think they were spurred on by being awoken in my sleep when a man barged into the room saying “room service!” I wonder why kind of service he was delivering…bomb with a side of grenades? I shooed him out and then double bolted the door…
Our hotel is a beautiful prison. There are lush gardens inside, a beautiful gym and then out the windows armed guards and 2 lines of security.  I feel like Marie Antoniette during the French Revolution..in our gilded palace while the starving and poor wage war outside. I just hope I don’t meet her same fate.

Greetings from a very very tired Jenny. We arrived in Kabul this afternoon after the engineers took our plane apart on the tarmac in Pakistan..literally..because the engine wasn’t working. I was outside with them trying to use my satellite phone to inform our contacts in Kabul that we would be late. Its not very reassuring when the engineer shrugs, as if resigned to his fate, announces he’ll fly with us and hopefully we’ll make it to Kabul inshallah…. (if God wills it).

Thankfully, we did make it here and it’s like entering a different world. I’ve had my share of third world countries, trust me; but, nothing prepares you for this. Military of all types roam the streets, military jets occupy the airports and almost the minute we got off the plane, we had security around us, bullet proof vests on our bodies and we were rushed to an armored SUV with M16’s inside (which I now know how to shoot!). You drive through the streets and there are no driving laws—cars come at you and you have to swerve to avoid them as well as the hundreds of people walking downtown. The poverty is nearly incomprehensible; all you see is a land torn by decades of war, bombed out buildings and shantys set up on the side of the road with makeshift shops. Many of the women still wear full burqas with the little screen covering their eyes. Little girls wear them too. You see people with missing limbs begging or walking or trying to walk.After passing through the streets, we arrived at our hotel which looks like a military compound on the outside but is quite beautiful on the inside. However, before we enter there are several levels of security to go through, including vehicle inspection to make sure we are not driving cars with bombs attached.

Stan Knee and his security returned after dropping us off to check in and brought us to Camp Gibson for dinner. We ate with the contract workers all spending 2 or 3 years here…and they are actually really excited about a lot of the progress being made. Its very sad that what we see is progress.

I shot some blogs but don’t have the energy to send them now. I havent slept for 30 hours and am about to pass out. I hope you are all well and will write more later.

Our flights have been interesting. The hurry up and wait is not something we are used to in America. All this waiting means we have had plenty of time to document the journey with videos. I’m posting them on YouTube.

We are still traveling and waiting to leave for Pakistan.

As you can see in this video, we are not the only ones tired and eager to leave the terminal.I did meet a very nice Afghan woman that was kind enough to show me how to put on my head scarf. There was a little trial and error, but I finally got it right. We were getting ready to leave for Kabul. The woman I met was going to marry a man in Texas, proving that no matter where you go, there is always a little bit of Texas around somewhere.

If only you knew how insane it was that I was able to tap into internet here at Islamabad’s airport! We were in Dubai before this. (Here’s a YouTube video of us in the airport–exhausted)Ok, Let’s give you a brief synopsis of our travels here. First, I get on the Emirates flight and the guy next to me tells me the woman next to him is uncomfortable sitting next to a man, so could I be so kind as to give him my aisle seat and squish in between three women so as to appease their sensibilities when it comes to being in the proximity of men. I came up with a better solution—I found another aisle seat so he could move over and be away from the women. (I love my aisle seat).

Then, we arrive in Pakistan. First, we were told we took off late because the airport doesn’t open until 5am and we would have nowhere to go if we arrived on time. Then, when we did arrive a bus took us to the baggage claim.. where NOBODY knew where we should go and our only option was to check in through the un-escorted women line and wait for our baggage which was not supposed to show up since it was scheduled to arrive in Kabul. However, since we have 7 hours to kill here we decided to check out the one and only baggage carousel just to make sure. Lo and behold, our baggage was there (after 1 hour of waiting) and we discovered that we must load it up, go outside, stay close to the wall (???) and then re-enter international departures. We walked outside to a huge hoard of men dressed in white and taxi drivers trying to accost us.

Finally, we found our way to ‘international’ departures (aka–5 little desks for 2 airlines). Once there, we were told they could not check us in because the computer wouldn’t allow them to download our flight since it was so early. Finally, after many smiles on my part and haggard looks, they found a way to check us in and once again take our luggage to who knows where. They also reminded me to recheck our return flight since weather could delay it and there are only three flights out of Kabul a week.

Then, we go through security for the THIRD time since arriving at this airport with one gate…and, of course I have to go through the women’s side where they make me enter a curtained room with three women inside…who take a great length of time patting me down and asking all types of questions about my life. After this little tea party, I’m finally let out and we go upstairs to the waiting area which consists of ONE gate, five tiny shops and 2 waiters who have asked us four times already if we want tea, green tea, coffee, coke or cigarettes. Our flight for kabul leaves in 5 hours.

By the way, all the people we’ve spoken with in Pakistan think we’re crazy for going into Afghanistan because of the danger.

We shall see.

Hello, I’m Jenny Hoff. Welcome to my blog on our recent trip to Afghanistan. As the political reporter for KXAN Austin News, I have written many stories on the debate raging over our wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Many of these debates are right here in Central Texas involving people who are intimately tied to the wars, either through a loved one serving in them or through a petition to end them.

I decided it was time to find out what, at least Afghanistan, was all about. After all, its a country that attracted Austin’s old police chief to work. It’s a country where hundreds of Central Texas soldiers have been called on to serve. It’s a country undeniably tied to the United States, no matter where you stand on the war.

It took me three months to gain approval from the State Department, secure our interviews and make preparations for a journey that would take me and my photographer, Frank Martinez, into a war zone.

As we now prepare two weeks of video and interviews for a special series that will air on KXAN Austin News, I invite you to join us on this journey through my blogs, video journals and photos…its personal but an insight into what covering a war is like.