Definitely feeling the late night as we install today’s lab, both good and bad: we’re able to set it up much quicker, but I’m a sleep-deprived zombie through most of the day. The teachers seemed pretty pumped about getting substantially more and better computers than they had before, and some little kid was already glued to some of the “educational” games we’d brought, so my yawns are paying off.
Today’s tourism is seeing some really famous mosque in Old Lahore. Architecturally interesting, but most noteworthy is that Bin Laden supposedly met with the guy that kidnapped Daniel Pearl here. Wild to think that the world’s most wanted man was just strolling around Lahore, but I guess it’s not beyond the realm of possibility... maybe he’s still there?
Picking up more parts at Hafeez Market brings the most disgusting experience I can remember. A hurried wacky American, I decide to jump a cement barrier instead of walking the 5 feet to the opening. All’s going well until I attempt to land: there’s a concrete ditch on the other side, right where I was expecting my right foot to find purchase. I cut my leg a little bit, but infinitely worse is what my foot’s submerged in. A little background: the streets of Pakistan and India have been by no stretch of the definition clean, and the maintenance that does occur entails pushing shit (both literal and figurative) off the asphalt and into the ditches. Thus, a good guess is that my foot was covered in a mixture of poop and urine from an assortment of animals, human waste, and random garbage juices. Not my finest moment of coordination or odor.
Speaking of shit, in the “holy shit” department is news Sameer hears from local friends: a bomb detonated at the Lahore rest house we had planned to stay in. Amna inviting us to instead stay in her house probably saved us from witnessing an explosion. Nobody was hurt, but it still wouldn’t have been too much fun to be around for.
Day’s wrapped up with crimping network cable while watching “Kill Bill 2.” Not exactly Indian activities, but useful nonetheless. And now, some much overdue sleep.