I’ve been waiting to post until I have time to sit down and write a proper update, but if I wait for that it may never happen. So, I’ll just give you a quick snapshot of my Monday instead.

Today was like any other start to a normal work week, except my 8 a.m. meeting was at the Islamabad Gun Club. The Gun Club sounds like a scary bunker shooting range kind of deal, but it’s actually a lovely spot just outside of town with rolling green lawns, stretched skins of leopards adorning the door jams, and a very civilized breakfast buffet. Once there I watched a PowerPoint presentation. That part is probably not very different from your day.

While watching the presentation, I had my choice of coffee, tea, or a tall glass of unfiltered apple juice to go along with a breakfast that included chickpeas in tomato sauce. That’s probably a little different from your day (except for the coffee thing).

After the Gun Club, my favorite driver, Abdulrahman, drove me back to the office in a car with screens over the windows so I could get back to work designing a plan for my next six months of work. Everything there sounds pretty normal except for having someone designated to drive you around at all times, although in New York they just call that a “cab.” So maybe…not that different.

After eating lunch at my desk (not different), I went to the US Embassy (different) for a meeting that went on a little too long until I started getting sleepy and my stomach started growling with hunger (not different). I drank a delicious raspberry smoothie that made all my problems go away (not different, if you live near a Jamba Juice or similar). After the meeting, I hit the gym for a quick workout (not different) at a place where I have to run my gym bag through an x-ray machine to check for weapons (different). After the gym I was hungry again and wanted to get pizza delivered for dinner (not different), but the pizza had to be ordered in Urdu (different) so it came with onions, olives, and chicken on it, despite the fact that I just wanted mushroom.

Now dinner and my work day are done, and I can check my email while listening to Pandora and update my Facebook status (not different). While doing all those things, the power in the entire building just went out, as it does 3-4 times every day, and now the loud noise of the generator outside will lull me to sleep (different).

I hope everyone is having a lovely Monday, different or not, wherever you are.