In my nearly three week blogging absence I have accrued several glorious stories. There's been laughter, tears, and one poor unfortunate sheep. I'll start at the beginning.
A few weeks ago saw the departure of our short term team. They were a group of 4 very gregarious guys and a girl from the Y base in Hawaii. They were an extremely fun group and we were all sad to see them go. So a glorious farewell party was planned to send them on their way. I heard rumor of some mutton being purchased but thought nothing of it at the time. Then, whilst approaching the house after teaching my classes, I heard it....baaaaaaa. I walked, in utter disbelief, to find a very much alive sheep tied in our courtyard. The sheep that would be slaughtered in honor of our departing guests. I had thought this kind of stuff only happened in the Bible! Apparently it also happens in Afghanistan. Thankfully the deed was done quietly and out of sight, but my appetite for mutton was sufficiently ruined. Thank God they also served chicken. And now the team is gone and they are sorely missed. It's way too quiet around here without them.
It is also way too hot. The temperature is consistently above 110 now, and the power is consistently out from noon to around 8 PM. It's a combination of the power genuinely going out and the city shutting it off to conserve energy. But I am of the mind that purposefully turning off power during the hottest hours of the day is downright barbaric and I am trying to find out if there is a local congressman around here that I can write to and complain. Because the days are miserable and the nights even worse. It's hard to sleep when your room only cools off to 95. I'm a new fan of taking cold showers with my pj's on. So I go to bed wet and then re-shower throughout the night as my clothes dry. It sounds weird but honestly, it's the only way I stay sane and get any sleep.
Oh! We've also had a plague of grasshoppers. Grasshoppers the size of my ring finger. And one two occasions I've seen inch long bees. Crazy stuff, man. I've learned a few odd afghan cultural traditions too. One is to put mascara and eyeliner on kids under the age of two. Its purpose is to make them 'ugly' so as to ward off the Evil Eye. Another is one I've seen in the classes I teach. Often when I ask one of the girls to give an answer or read something off the board they stand and preface it with some form of " In the name of kind and merciful Allah" in Arabic. I'm told that you have to start every public speech with this intro. And speaking of my class..I am so darn proud of them!! This 'semester' is almost over and they have made great progress. My little babies are all grown up and learning to speak English...sniff.
We're still waiting to find out where we'll go on outreach, which begins in August. There has been talk of doing teacher training seminars in some of the mountain villages, which would provide a veeery comprehensive look at rural afghan culture. It will be an adventure, to say the least :) I suppose that is all for now- I'd like to give a shout out to "JP" and the rest of that sunday school class.
Well, my bed is calling and we girls have to migrate the half mile to our house. I miss you all back home and wish you were all here on this adventure with me!! We'd rock the house.
Janna
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
On why water is very important
This has been quite the interesting week. On Thursday I started feeling really sick...kinda like my insides were rotting. A few of the staff were pretty sure I was dehydrated, and one of them made me this evil sugar/salt water concoction to try and rehydrate me. All I managed were a few swallows before it all came back up (luckily I was outside, so a nearby rosebush bore the brunt of my intestinal wrath). This started an unfortunate process of vomiting every hour or so, which I'm told is a sign of severe dehydration. I couldn't even keep an ounce of water down. They finally had to get me on an IV to rehydrate me, and after 20 hours I stopped vomiting. It still took me two days to get back on my feet, but suffice to say I learned my lesson and now drink 3-4 litres of water a day, regardless of how hot it is. It was a scary reminder of how quickly you can get dehydrated here. So drink water, kids.
I had a fun cultural experience this afternoon. Here in Afghanistan the main way of socializing is to go "visiting". And visiting here is very different from visiting in the states-you just show up. No need to call or prearrange, if you go and knock on someone's door they will invite you in, give you tea and candy, and expect you to stay for several hours. This usually extends into an invitation to dinner, which almost always leads to an invitation to stay the night (which you are generally expected to refuse). So today I went with two of the staff girls to our neighbor's house, without giving them any notice. We were invited in and ushered into the special guest living room and had tea and candy within minutes. I could really only sit there and understand every three words or so, but the girls told me later that the woman had been married at 14 and had 8 kids, and her husband lived in Kabul but had another wife in a different province. He hadn't been to Mazar in several years and she was afraid that she was getting to old for him. It was so sad to hear, but even worse to know that her story is pretty common in Afghanistan. She and her daughters said we were welcome to come back anytime we liked. I'm really hoping that I'll be able to get closer to this family. We are the only ones who have access to the women of this country, and the women here are so welcoming and loving and take you into their homes and tell you all about their lives. I'm excited for more opportunities to come in contact with them.
In other news, I got a real mattress! I am, however, still on the floor in one of the staff girl's rooms. But a new room has become available (construction on my original room has ceased, with no immediate plans to start again) so maybe the other girl student and I will have our own room soon. I think it will really help us to get settled, it's hard to feel at home when you are a guest in someone else's room, still living out of your suitcase. But the good Lord has given me the grace to stay calm and peaceful in all situations, which is a lifesaver in a place like this!
I meant to take pictures last weekend of the city and my clothing but being sick got in the way...soon though! And most of my new clothes shrunk when I washed them, so I'll probably have to get a whole new wardrobe. Boo. But I think I'll try and be more creative this time, try and look more like the locals. We'll see, there is some craaazy fabric in this city. I miss you all back home but it's so rewarding to be in a place where I'm learning and serving in a different culture. Now if only they had mexican food...
I had a fun cultural experience this afternoon. Here in Afghanistan the main way of socializing is to go "visiting". And visiting here is very different from visiting in the states-you just show up. No need to call or prearrange, if you go and knock on someone's door they will invite you in, give you tea and candy, and expect you to stay for several hours. This usually extends into an invitation to dinner, which almost always leads to an invitation to stay the night (which you are generally expected to refuse). So today I went with two of the staff girls to our neighbor's house, without giving them any notice. We were invited in and ushered into the special guest living room and had tea and candy within minutes. I could really only sit there and understand every three words or so, but the girls told me later that the woman had been married at 14 and had 8 kids, and her husband lived in Kabul but had another wife in a different province. He hadn't been to Mazar in several years and she was afraid that she was getting to old for him. It was so sad to hear, but even worse to know that her story is pretty common in Afghanistan. She and her daughters said we were welcome to come back anytime we liked. I'm really hoping that I'll be able to get closer to this family. We are the only ones who have access to the women of this country, and the women here are so welcoming and loving and take you into their homes and tell you all about their lives. I'm excited for more opportunities to come in contact with them.
In other news, I got a real mattress! I am, however, still on the floor in one of the staff girl's rooms. But a new room has become available (construction on my original room has ceased, with no immediate plans to start again) so maybe the other girl student and I will have our own room soon. I think it will really help us to get settled, it's hard to feel at home when you are a guest in someone else's room, still living out of your suitcase. But the good Lord has given me the grace to stay calm and peaceful in all situations, which is a lifesaver in a place like this!
I meant to take pictures last weekend of the city and my clothing but being sick got in the way...soon though! And most of my new clothes shrunk when I washed them, so I'll probably have to get a whole new wardrobe. Boo. But I think I'll try and be more creative this time, try and look more like the locals. We'll see, there is some craaazy fabric in this city. I miss you all back home but it's so rewarding to be in a place where I'm learning and serving in a different culture. Now if only they had mexican food...
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Images from Afghanistan
Here are some photos from an outing the all the girls took to a restaurant in a 'gated community' here in Mazar. We ate at a nice Turkish place, went to a park, got ice cream...it was nice to let loose and play a little. This also shows you an example of the clothing we wear here. I tend to stick with jeans and a tunic, but some ladies with more style than I branch out a little. So these pictures show the street that we live on, the gated community where we had lunch, and some scenes from the park.
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