“Where do you live?”

A simple question, yes. Yet, the answer always leaves the asker reeling.

“Kabul.”

There’s always a pause and then, “Cabo?”

They always smile when they say that, like I’ve discovered a secret that allows me to live in a holiday dream. Then the letdown…

“No, Kabul, Afghanistan.”

The brow furrows as they process the information, followed closely by the inevitable exclamation…

“Really?” “Afghanistan!” “Seriously?!?”

I never know quite how to respond. I imagine it’s much like telling someone you have a dread disease. You’ve come to terms with it, but you then have to walk them slowly through it step by step…

“Yes, Afghanistan.”

The issue that everyone struggles with is safety. Though I’ve come to terms with the risks, it’s not something that I can quickly explain. Most people want to hear about the danger – the fear – dodging IEDs and Taliban patrols. After you’ve dispelled their mythical idea of Afghanistan, their eyes glaze over and you’ve lost them entirely.

Thus begins the divide.

This isn’t my first overseas job – after high school I spent a year in Costa Rica working in an orphanage, then after University I went to Russia to teach English – but, people seemed to connect with those locations, those jobs. Afghanistan is something different.

Unless you’ve been here, it’s tough to connect with Kabul. Whether it’s because of the bad press, or simply that it is so different from the reality of most of my family and friends – it creates a divide.

The divide is difficult to explain and even more difficult to bridge – particularly as you pack your bags and leave behind a tearful grandmother and a pouting puppy. Yet despite the tears and heartache, including my own, it’s worth it. The time I’ve spent here, the experiences, the people I’ve met, what I’ve learned about myself , what I’ve learned about them – this I wouldn’t trade for anything.

One day I’ll be home, and though they still won’t fully get my experience or even why I did what I did, the divide will close, the questions subside and just perhaps when a stranger says “Cabo?” I might be the one smiling…

“Yes, Cabo!”