Pao's Version
We met in probably the least hospitable place in the world: Afghanistan. I had recently landed there in the middle of a crisis due to the bombing of some government offices, and was not expecting what was going to happen next. Far from falling in a war zone, I was falling in love! I met Claude a few days after my arrival, and haven't separated from him since then (actually, he followed me on my first holidays in India with Dani, and fortunately I couldn't get rid of him ever since). It has been more than two years and I realized how lucky I am to have him next to me.
Versión de Pao
Nos conocimos probablemente en el lugar menos hospitalario del mundo: Afganistan. Yo arrive en medio de una crisis debido al bombardeo de oficinas gubernamentales, y no esperando lo que pasaria a continuación. Lejos de encontrarme en una zona de guerra, encontre a mi media naranja! Conocí a Claude a unos dias de haber llegado, y no nos separamos desde entonces (en realidad, me siguió en mis primeras vacaciones a la India con Dani, y afortunadamente nunca mas pude deshacerme de el). Tras mas de dos años, me doy cuenta de lo afortunada que soy de tenerlo a mi lado.
Claude's Version
Arriving Kabul in 2008, the last thing that could cross my mind, just as Pao stated earlier was meeting anyone. In fact, I had in mind that I was going for an 'all work" environment and nothing else of any sort. Above all, try to stay out of trouble such as bombs and cultural restrictions in Afghanistan, because I felt resetting my thoughts about relationship issues was a ticket to safely depart Afghanistan at the end of the mission.
But hey, it was a week in town (Kabul) and I met up with some new colleagues who had arrived as well for the same mission, most of them having previously worked with Pao in Sierra Leone. Amongst the names I heard, was the name Paola!!!! So it went down to viewing pictures of the last mission in Sierra Leone from my new found buddy (Anselme- Pao's colleague and house mate in Salone- as fondly called). Then I started thinking, hmm, maybe I have to reshape the thoughts I had before arriving. She struck me! Not only her beauty on pictures but because it was all nice stories coming out of the mouth of everyone who knew her. So I was like, she seemed like the person, I would like to meet her soon ( and I was like hurry up Paola and come to Kabul- since she had delayed her arrival for some reason or else we would have arrived around same time).
It was just over a week or a bit more and she arrived in Kabul. On the first evening, I pressured Anselme (my new buddy) to call Pao and we go pay her a visit at her hotel. She was either unfortunately or fortunately hosted in another hotel, away from us depending on how anyone wants to guess how this story ended. So we went searching for Pao in an environment we had no mastery about. Got to the hotel lobby, called her and she said she was coming downstairs and we waited for a long while and she was a 'no-show'. Guess what? We had missed the hotel she was supposed to be lodged in, and it was late to continue the search for Pao. I did not give up, just wanted to see this personality who had charmed all the people I had met in Kabul.
The next day was briefings for all and I had arrived earlier than Pao and we were all seated in a conference room. There was enough space around, but there was also an empty seat by me no one took. I told Anselme that I was going to think of something in my mind, and when Pao comes into the room, she was going to come seat next to me. It was not 10 minutes and there she was greeting everyone she knew and I just sat watching. Yeah!!!!! It was great just watching from a distance. After she made her rounds, as the new celebrity in town, boooooom!!!!! She greeted me and sat next to me on the space I had been meditating about (mind you that Anselm was seated away from me) ha ha ha ha ha, so Pao did not seat next to me because her friend Anselme was close to me. Yeah it was my new found meditation skills just a few minutes before working in my favor, ha ha ha ha....
Briefings started and no way, I was not concentrated, she did not seem to notice me, but I knew my thought and wish was getting to the angle of reality and the right side of history. After briefings, it was lunch, dinner for a couple of days with the entire team and we just sailed closer and closer, until I lobbied for her to get a room in our hotel with limited rooms available but Anselme and myself just managed to get our way through the Hotel manager. I once more started breaking cultures that I had promised myself to keep, by inviting myself to Pao's space. Yeah I knew it was worth the risk, knowing we could get some lashes from authorities for any misinterpretation of our closeness. Yeah we braved the limitations and so we are together today.
The rest of our stay in Afghanistan was wonderful despite the restrictions and challenges we went through together. She was at the start based in another province (Mazar), and there was no way stopping us as we managed to get her move to Kabul, and life just got better and better in the midst of the challenging country which we found ourselves in. But all worked out well as we moved on together and getting married.
So they finally called our names!!! So nervous, we were both shaking! We entered the court, while everybody else stayed behind. Between kisses and laughters, we all took our seats. The judge entered making lots of jokes like "Was Claude family of Tchami (in this case- Alphose Tchami, the Cameroonian ace footballer who played for BOCA)? He also joked on how Cameroon beat us (Argentina) in 1990! The atmosphere started being much relaxed, as everyone and laughed and laughed and laughed! Then came the usual questions like "Will Claude take care of me, in sickness and in health? Will he buy me everything I asked for? Will I care for him and love him for the rest of our lives? YES, YES, WE DO! WE DO! WE DO!
