The Foreign Service Journal, March 2015

86 MARCH 2015 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL LOCAL LENS BY BRIAN M. GIBEL n GILGIT-BALTISTAN, PAKISTAN Please submit your favorite, recent photograph to be considered for Local Lens. Images must be high resolution (at least 300 dpi at 8 x 10”) and must not be in print elsewhere. Please submit a short description of the scene/event, as well as your name, brief biodata and the type of camera used, to locallens@afsa.org. Y oung boys from Shigar, in the far northern Gilgit-Baltistan province of Pakistan, play polo on two legs instead of four. This is a common scene here, where locals claim polo originated. Iran might dispute that, but there is no denying strong local interest in the sport. Gilgit-Baltistan is home to the oldest royal polo square and holds annual con- tests with the neighboring province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, which is home to the highest polo ground in the world. n Brian M. Gibel is the cultural attaché at Embassy Islamabad. Previous assignments include Embassy Seoul, where he was cultural attaché; Consulate General Shenyang, where he was political-economic chief; Consulate General Shanghai, where he was assistant public affairs officer; and two additional tours at Embassy Seoul, where he was a consular officer and deputy spokesperson. A native of Oceanside, New York, Brian wrestled competitively for 15 years before joining the Foreign Service. He is married to Dr. Hyun Hee Kim, a professor and academic coordinator of Hanyang Univer- sity’s Graduate TESOL Program in Seoul. Their daughter Maya was born in 2008.