It's been another interesting week here in Kabul - we have our first placement for an trainee here in Kabul, the exams here keep going, and the kittens have returned to our community centre with about as much common sense between them as a Mr Bean Boxset.

It's not the easiest time to be in Kabul for the students, with the exams going full swing. Nobody has much time, head down to revise for the exams which are designed to be pretty tough. People do a pretty good job to make time, but the exams are still there.

I'm hoping to start the language lessons soon - waiting on news back this evening for that one. Learning the language is gonna be interesting for me - having spoken just one language for far too long... There has been some difficulty in contacting the person who did the language teaching quite nicely at the USAID group where a friend of ours works, but getting the number is not so easy with the sensitivities of passing on numbers.

Then there's the cats which seem to have claimed our nice little, once peaceful Mediothek community centre for their own. They sure are making themselves known, mainly when I'm trying to sleep. I'm not quite sure how one of the kittens got on top of that door frame - so I tried to help by offering a lift down for the vocally worried little cat. Not taking me up on the offer, I tried moving my hand closer, which caused the cat to jump out of danger. And I escaped unharmed too in case anyone was worried.

I have been going for the food quite a lot around here - it's just so perfect. It tastes great and the price is right. Add to that the social side of life here and it makes life out here quite enjoyable.

And we have our first traineeship here in Kabul! The only trouble was getting to meet Wafi (the committee president) before going to Tolo HQ. The plan seemed simple enough, meet at the office in the morning and go together to Tolo. But there was a change - and I wasn't gonna find out about it - thank you AWCC mobile phones! So I go to Tolo just on time - and went in. Wafi got there a few mins later - all the time both of us trying to call between each other - no luck.

Gotta start making sure no plan, or change of plan, depends on mobile phones...

I gotta try and get our new groupware collaboration software system up and running - soon we may have powercuts, we may have no internet backup, but thanks to the open atmosphere here, we will have one of the most advanced IT systems outta the 91 countries in AIESEC!

Well, first I have to say it feels kinda strange now here in Kabul, following the terrible news from London.

Here in Kabul all continues thankfully to be pleasant. I indulged last evening in some really excellent food at Raiyt's house (an Alumni of ours) and practiced the local language with the family.

Work with our new online collaboration software continues - almost fully customised and ready to go for testing. Should have one of the most advanced systems in the network up and running here for AIESEC Afghanistan - the open mindedness and culture leading to one of the what I reckon is one of the most advanced systems in the AIESEC network.

The students here have exams now that makes life a little more difficult - it's the all important finals here. I still get to see folks though which is pretty good - the university is on the other side of a mountain.

Soon hopefully I will start lessons in the local language Dari so that I can speak properly here, well worth it I would say and kinda cool to know such a language.

And I will get a haircut, must do soon...

Well, the title says it all. It seems like I only got here a couple days ago, and with the Afghan culture, it feels very much like home - and a very friendly one at that.

So what on earth has been going on these last days? Well, we've been working together on training for the committee members here. AIESEC subjects, skills, all being working on and facilitated by people here.

We got a good partnership going with the Ministry of Youth Affairs - the minister and the Afghan ambassador to India will be accompanying us on our trip to the AIESEC World Congress in India. And more to follow on this I'm sure...

We're getting ready to start the campaign on campus to find the students who will be going on traineeships to Germany and around the world here at Kabul University. At long last we have an application form and process that will allow us to get through the 300 applications as efficiently as possible.

And the beauty of Skype is shining through here - that wonderful program that lets us talk to practically anyone in the world at almost no cost. And introducing it to others can help make us popular as well.

Today we met with the kind folks at KPMG. They have an operation training local students on a correspondance course in accounting and operating the accounting firm here in Kabul. It was a really nice place that they have - very friendly and relaxed environment there.

It was kinda funny, at first Wafi here was concerned that he wasn't quite dressed up enough for the meeting - it turned out there was no need to be concerned! It was quite a good environment!

So the traineeships for people to come here to Afghanistan are well and truly on the way. Pretty soon we have meetings with Tolo - the main broadcaster here, also operating the yellow pages here in Afghanistan, a marketing agency, and other operations.

On a day to day basis I see hardly any westerners - they all seem to live in NGO land. Why on earth would anyone come to Afghanistan and the only Afghan they know is the guard? The culture here is fantastic, friendly, and welcoming, yet many seem not to experience that. It's a real shame, the honour for me is that I have got to experience the life here. That when I'm out and around I see not one other westerner - and that really is the best way to live the culture here.

The amount of work that is put in by the members here is phenomonal - even though it is the exams they are still volunteering their time for the AIESEC work - it's amazing. Very few AIESEC countries are recognised at the level that AIESEC Afghanistan is recognised - and it's well deserved by the members here in Kabul. Already I have had a fantastic experience, many have got the chance to live and work in Germany, and much more is to come.

So essentially the exchange is getting well and truly underway and the external relations work that was done here by before is driving that. But better than that is how small my little role is. That I'm just somewhere in the background, not really doing all that much, and that more and more my role is getting smaller and smaller, that the activity is driven here, just here being trained and facilitating. Getting to live and work with the people here, is really the honour. That it's as close to the normal life here as possible, and that's the experience.

Well hopefully I shall be able to update more often in the future.

It’s almost unreal – we were on our way to an evening party with the DAAD (The German Academic Exchange Service). We found what we thought was the house – except that there were two people with the same name on the street! So after we were in the garden, we found out 10 minutes later or so we were in the wrong place.

But so was the Afghan Minister of Higher Education! His deputy invited us to take a lift in the guard’s car, and there you are, second day in Kabul, being escorted by the minister’s guards. Then we arrived at Ms. Zerwinsky’s house (head of the DAAD) and who has greatly helped AIESEC here, and joined the guests. Kinda challenging networking when so many people are speaking languages that you don’t understand, how do you know when it’s your turn to speak when you can’t understand the language? I guess it’s my turn to learn more languages.

All in all seemed like a pretty cool evening, I got to know a fair few people and get a better idea of what it’s like working here in Kabul for AIESEC.

So now it’s time to keep going on the training materials, finish off the one remaining session and start to build a full local information pack for parties interested in AIESEC in Afghanistan so that we can start upscaling the partnerships. And we can start the exchange process and getting some forms in. So Khodah Hafiz for now, time to get some rest.

It's still kinda hard to believe. That somehow, I would be here, in Kabul, working with some of the friendliest and high potential people in the world. Yet, here I am.

It starts just like any other flight, you check in a couple hours before, you get some bags checked in, you say some emotional farewells. Then you sit next to someone returning to his country for the first time in 12 years. Then you land at Kabul International Airport, you go through the airport, and at 6am you see a huge banner and group of people waiting to welcome you. You meet a group of people, who in just a few years, have formed a group doing better than half the rest of the world who have been part of AIESEC for more than 20 years.

There's something awesome about just being able to sit down and chat with a group of really cool young people on the other side of the world, in a greatly different culture. Being here with the chance to support AIESEC Afghanistan really is the greatest honour I've ever had in my life.

Today, the second day, we got the chance to really talk about what we're gonna do. We're getting ready for an intense training program, I mean 6 days every afternoon intense. This committee has already achieved a higher standard than half the network of 90 countries, you really can tell that AIESEC here in Afghanistan is gonna become one of the leading players.