Is that you, Bill Gates?

Expatriate Life in Afghanistan

Being an expatriate living in Afghanistan can mean a number of things. Sometimes people are excited to chat with you, at other times, they may feel nervous or uncertain. Of course, the possible perspectives are as diverse as the people that have them. But, you never know what someone might think…

The plane taxied to the domestic terminal and came to a halt. Everyone started getting ready to disembark. The man in front of me turns around and looks at me and says in Dari, “You look like Bill Gates.” I thanked him for the observation, denied that I was he and pointed out that others had made that observation in the past too. What I didn’t tell him was that was at least 20 years ago and that Bill is a lot shorter than me and looks nothing like me. Do all foreigners look alike? Or at least like Bill Gates?

It just seemed really strange that this man knew of Bill Gates and thought I looked like him. Oh well, some things just make you feel more at home 🙂 Now if only Bill’s bank manager could see the resemblance, there’s a lot we could do here with that sort of money…

You can read more about expatriate life in Afghanistan here.