Electricity? Meh, who needs it.

I miss Bend weather. I miss (though I may recant this statement later) snow in May. The heat here is suffocating,the dust all-encompassing,the flies innumerable and we are discouraged from wearing sunglasses-"They would draw attention". I'm supposed to let my eyes fry as to not draw the attention that as a 5'10" white girl I ALREADY INHERENTLY COMMAND?!?!? We'll see how long I put up with that...covering my hair out of respect is one thing, but letting UV rays cook my retinas in an effort to not draw attention is a whole new ballgame. Arg.


After almost two weeks here I’ve learned that the staff are disorganized, to put it mildly. It has been a true test of character to stay calm and not get disgruntled with the lack of organization, preparedness, and communication. They are all really busy getting this school (which, ahem, has already started) ready, so I’ve felt a bit lonely. I’m sure once everything is taken care of and they can relax things will get better. All the students have arrived except for the Ugandan girl, they haven’t really heard from her in a while. And please, oh please, hopefully I will move into my own room in a few days.

Hmmm, what else? Today I taught a girls’ beginning English class, by myself. Now thanks to me 23 Afghan girls can successfully name a tomato and other assorted foods and vegetables. I am doing so much for this country. I also taught them the Hi-five, which I’m sure will go a long way in strengthening US-Afghanistan relations.

Some people have been wondering what a typical day looks like. Normally I get up around 6 to beat the line for the shower. Then it’s breakfast, quiet time, and then off to prayer and worship at 8. Classes start at 9:30, and we have had 1-2 speakers per week covering different topics. We break at 12:30 for lunch at the education office (I found myself frequently “fasting” lunch these days…office food still hasn’t grown on me). Afternoons usually vary-I teach Tuesday and Thursday, and other days I either have free time or am recruited for a project around the house. At 5 every weekday I have language lessons, which are pretty intense-my teacher throws 50-60 words at us per day. But as far as I can tell I’m doing pretty well. Then dinner at 6:30 (which I never fast-our house Brazilian cook is pretty good) and free time til bed, which shockingly usually happens at about 9:30 for me. It’s been nice to catch up on my sleep!

At the behest of a few outspoken family members, I will soon get pictures of me in my awesome and cutting edge Afghan clothes up on this thing. I’m still trying to get used to the severe restrictions placed on Western females-sometimes the symbolic oppressiveness of the headscarf REALLY chaps my hide-but I’m trying to avoid stubbornness. We’ll see how well I do.

That’s all for now, my access to internet all depends on if we have power, which has been a crapshoot lately so I should post this and stop pressing my luck. I miss you guys back home but am learning a lot here. So for now I bid you all goodnight and KhudAafez!