After Ishkashem we felt led to travel to a small village called Zebak and do another teacher training. We were able to rent a small house and quickly got permission from the school superintendent. We also were blessed to have the translator we used in Ishkashem come with us, a very bright 18 year old guy named Rahmat.
We had about 20 hours to move in and get settled before we had to throw ourselves into another teacher training. Apparently there was a mis-communication because at promptly 1 PM the next day thirty teachers showed up at our door. At a loss, we quietly ushered them into our small living room and as per Afghan rules, gave them tea and candy. They ate an ENTIRE bag of my favorite candy. They were unabashedly stuffing their pockets with it. I still hold it against them. Arg. So after conducting the first day of training( in our living room) we immediately went to the Principle and demanded a school room. And we got it, thank the good lord.
The training itself was again very successful, but we were forced to condense ten days of teaching into six, since it was harvest season and the teachers needed time to harvest, thresh, and store their wheat. Which they do as their ancient forefathers did before them, with sickles and oxen and separating the chafe. It's fascinating to watch a method that has remained unchanged for thousands of years. No tractors in this part of the world.
I think I speak for the whole team when I say that Zebak was probably the darkest time of outreach. There was no running water, electricity, or decent toilet. The kitchen was a dark mud and straw hovel and I had to wash all the dishes outside with freezing cold spring water that the boys hauled to the house a dozen times a day. Sanitation was impossible, and we had to keep the door bolted at all times or strangers would just walk in and stare at us. And worst of all, we had no cell phone reception, so there was no contact with the outside world for 17 days. Our only option was the single landline in town, which only worked twice in the whole time we were there. And even then you had to wait in line 45 minutes to use it, and bear the stares of a dozen afghan men who were in line as well, listening in as you try to talk to your boyfriend on your one year anniversary. Awk. Ward.
Once the seminar was over we still had 12 days to go before we were due to leave. 12 days, trapped in our tiny little compound, a horde of children loitering outside for a glimpse at us. We didn't know anyone there and houses were pretty spread out, so there was no real way to get out in the community and visit people. We did befriend one girl who visited a few times, but she spoke little English so she conversed mostly with the Pakistani family. I spent most of those days re-reading the Lord of the Rings trilogy and watching The Office on my computer.
Zebak's only redeeming quality was its gorgeous scenery. It is set alongside a beautiful river in a narrow valley with towering mountains all around. There are Taliban hiding in those towering mountains, but I gave that little thought. Not much else happened, other than me having to spurn the advances of our translator. In a culture when men and women have little to no contact, it only takes about one conversation with a western woman before they're madly in love. There were a few young afghan men I had to keep a distance from, poor lovesick fellows.
From Zebak we made plans to go to a bigger village called Jurm, but things, as usual, didn't turn out as we expected. Stay tuned for next week's installment!
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Monday, November 2, 2009
There and Back Again
Announcing my triumphant return! I have passed through two months of villages, earthquakes, bucket showers, scorpions, enamored translators and a host of other adventures and have lived to now write about it. As not to burden you with one unending and wearying tale of two months' time, I will break it down into three or four manageable, bite-size updates.
When I last wrote my team and I were in Kabul.We chartered our own plane (exciting, but less glamorous than I had hoped) and landed at Faizabad “International” airport in northeastern Afghanistan, where the runway consists of a mile of metal grates, chewing gum, and goat droppings. We spent three days in Faizabad at an obscenely overpriced guesthouse while we were getting the necessary paperwork from the Ministry of Education to conduct the teacher training seminars. We also tried, albeit unsuccessfully, to hire a translator. Our plan was to drive 8 hours to a small city called Iskashem where a YWAM team runs a guesthouse there. That 8 hour drive turned into a labored, 13 hour trek fraught with blown tires, bad spark plugs, river crossings, and a driver who stopped every time he saw someone he knew, which was apparently 75% of the men along the road (In Afghanistan, you may hire the car, but you are at the completely mercy of the driver). But we finally pulled in slightly before midnight.
The morning revealed Ishkashem to be a picturesque village set in a beautiful valley amidst the towering, snow-capped mountains of the Pamir range. There are rolling wheat fields, bubbling streams, and grooves of lovely deciduous trees. On a side note, also residing in in Ishkashem are what I estimate to be 80% of the world's population of donkeys. And the bray of a donkey is the most obnoxious, grating, unnatural sound to ever come out of the pits of hell-but I digress. The point is, Ishkashem is one of the most beautiful places in Afghanistan and a most refreshing change from the downright ugliness of Mazar.
Our stay in Ishkashem was supposed to last a few days while we prepared to travel south to a village called Koran-a Munjan. It was during these few days that we ran into several problems. A) We still were not able to procure a translator. You see, big budget NGO's, journalists, photographers, etc, come through areas like Ishkashem and offer exorbitant prices for translators, so when small teams like ours come through the locals refuse to take less than these aforementioned exorbitant prices. And B) the Taliban chose this time to try and take over Koran-a Munjan. Soooo we decided to stay in Ishkashem for a month and do a training seminar there. It was very well attended and they only tried to defend the use of the cane as a form of discipline once. We were also able to give the Good Book to several people in this village, but more about that later when I can post from a country that believes in religious freedom. Gotta be careful what we say over here, ya know.
Other noteworthy items:
-It was here that I found the first scorpion in my room. It was small but terrifying. I squashed it with my shoe.
-We marked the end of Ramadan and its tedious fasting with a big holiday called Eid-e Ramazan. It involves visiting all your friends and neighbors and eating candy and drinking tea. We were invited to nearly every house in the village, as a visit from a foreigner elevates the esteem in which your household is held. We met a lot of interesting people and drank gallons of tea.
That's all I can remember at the moment. My next update will highlight our move to the even more remote and comfortless village of Zebak.
Until then, please keep me and my team in your prayers, as we are in Kabul for the next few days. One person has died of swine flu (excuse me, H1N1) and the country is literally shutting down. Schools are being closed for three weeks nation wide, weddings are being postponed, airport employees are wearing face masks. I'm more amused than concerned, but still, Kabul isn't the safest place in the world to be. So pray that we get safely to Mazar on Tuesday!
Peace out
When I last wrote my team and I were in Kabul.We chartered our own plane (exciting, but less glamorous than I had hoped) and landed at Faizabad “International” airport in northeastern Afghanistan, where the runway consists of a mile of metal grates, chewing gum, and goat droppings. We spent three days in Faizabad at an obscenely overpriced guesthouse while we were getting the necessary paperwork from the Ministry of Education to conduct the teacher training seminars. We also tried, albeit unsuccessfully, to hire a translator. Our plan was to drive 8 hours to a small city called Iskashem where a YWAM team runs a guesthouse there. That 8 hour drive turned into a labored, 13 hour trek fraught with blown tires, bad spark plugs, river crossings, and a driver who stopped every time he saw someone he knew, which was apparently 75% of the men along the road (In Afghanistan, you may hire the car, but you are at the completely mercy of the driver). But we finally pulled in slightly before midnight.
The morning revealed Ishkashem to be a picturesque village set in a beautiful valley amidst the towering, snow-capped mountains of the Pamir range. There are rolling wheat fields, bubbling streams, and grooves of lovely deciduous trees. On a side note, also residing in in Ishkashem are what I estimate to be 80% of the world's population of donkeys. And the bray of a donkey is the most obnoxious, grating, unnatural sound to ever come out of the pits of hell-but I digress. The point is, Ishkashem is one of the most beautiful places in Afghanistan and a most refreshing change from the downright ugliness of Mazar.
Our stay in Ishkashem was supposed to last a few days while we prepared to travel south to a village called Koran-a Munjan. It was during these few days that we ran into several problems. A) We still were not able to procure a translator. You see, big budget NGO's, journalists, photographers, etc, come through areas like Ishkashem and offer exorbitant prices for translators, so when small teams like ours come through the locals refuse to take less than these aforementioned exorbitant prices. And B) the Taliban chose this time to try and take over Koran-a Munjan. Soooo we decided to stay in Ishkashem for a month and do a training seminar there. It was very well attended and they only tried to defend the use of the cane as a form of discipline once. We were also able to give the Good Book to several people in this village, but more about that later when I can post from a country that believes in religious freedom. Gotta be careful what we say over here, ya know.
Other noteworthy items:
-It was here that I found the first scorpion in my room. It was small but terrifying. I squashed it with my shoe.
-We marked the end of Ramadan and its tedious fasting with a big holiday called Eid-e Ramazan. It involves visiting all your friends and neighbors and eating candy and drinking tea. We were invited to nearly every house in the village, as a visit from a foreigner elevates the esteem in which your household is held. We met a lot of interesting people and drank gallons of tea.
That's all I can remember at the moment. My next update will highlight our move to the even more remote and comfortless village of Zebak.
Until then, please keep me and my team in your prayers, as we are in Kabul for the next few days. One person has died of swine flu (excuse me, H1N1) and the country is literally shutting down. Schools are being closed for three weeks nation wide, weddings are being postponed, airport employees are wearing face masks. I'm more amused than concerned, but still, Kabul isn't the safest place in the world to be. So pray that we get safely to Mazar on Tuesday!
Peace out
Sunday, August 30, 2009
And they're off!
Sorry for the lack of updates lately. I'd love to be able to say that I was waylaid in writing by thrilling adventures, but alas, it's the result of a pitiful lack of anything interesting on which to report. We've finished our last three weeks of lecture and prepared for our outreach trips. The presidential election was mercifully uneventful and the electricity, as per usual, came and went as it pleased. It all made for a very un-noteworthy month. But now things are actually happening that are worth blogging about. So prepare yourselves!
We are now on day three of our outreach. Day three of lounging around a guesthouse in Kabul until we get a flight chartered. My team is staying here on our way to the province of Badakshan in Northeastern Afghanistan. Our hope is to conduct two three-week teacher training seminars in more remote villages where teachers have few resources and limited training. Our seminar teaches them basic skills like lesson planning, classroom discipline, organization, fun activities, etc. It also provides a great opportunity to promote moral lessons and healthy ways of instructing the children. It is still common to hit, insult, and demean children as means of punishment in the rural schools, so we aim to put a lot of focus on more positive teaching strategies.
We have a lot of challenges ahead of us- we still don't have a translator lined up, we have to get permission from the governor of Badakshan to conduct the trainings, find a place to stay, we don't have all the money we need, and so on and so forth. But we are confident in our calling and know this will be an extraordinary time of growth as we learn to depend on God and invest in the teachers here. So in other words..it will be really hard!! Living conditions in the villages are pretty stone age-esque, so it will be a big leap from my hygienic comfort zone. But by the grace of God I will get through it with little whining and complaining.
The outreach will last until around the 5th of November, at which point we will return to Mazar, have a debrief week and then I head home the 21st, just in time for Thanksgiving!! I get about 6 weeks off before returning in January for my final three months in Afghanistan. I've greatly appreciated everyone's prayers and financial support thus far and ask that you continue to lift up my team and I as we start out on this crazy adventure!
Well, this is goodbye for a while. I doubt I will have internet access for most of the trip, but I promise to post if I can. So stay classy, San Diego. And by San Diego I mean whatever city you happen to live in.
Janna
We are now on day three of our outreach. Day three of lounging around a guesthouse in Kabul until we get a flight chartered. My team is staying here on our way to the province of Badakshan in Northeastern Afghanistan. Our hope is to conduct two three-week teacher training seminars in more remote villages where teachers have few resources and limited training. Our seminar teaches them basic skills like lesson planning, classroom discipline, organization, fun activities, etc. It also provides a great opportunity to promote moral lessons and healthy ways of instructing the children. It is still common to hit, insult, and demean children as means of punishment in the rural schools, so we aim to put a lot of focus on more positive teaching strategies.
We have a lot of challenges ahead of us- we still don't have a translator lined up, we have to get permission from the governor of Badakshan to conduct the trainings, find a place to stay, we don't have all the money we need, and so on and so forth. But we are confident in our calling and know this will be an extraordinary time of growth as we learn to depend on God and invest in the teachers here. So in other words..it will be really hard!! Living conditions in the villages are pretty stone age-esque, so it will be a big leap from my hygienic comfort zone. But by the grace of God I will get through it with little whining and complaining.
The outreach will last until around the 5th of November, at which point we will return to Mazar, have a debrief week and then I head home the 21st, just in time for Thanksgiving!! I get about 6 weeks off before returning in January for my final three months in Afghanistan. I've greatly appreciated everyone's prayers and financial support thus far and ask that you continue to lift up my team and I as we start out on this crazy adventure!
Well, this is goodbye for a while. I doubt I will have internet access for most of the trip, but I promise to post if I can. So stay classy, San Diego. And by San Diego I mean whatever city you happen to live in.
Janna
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Many moons later...
Hey guys! I've finally gotten around to blogging again. I fell into a very peculiar habit of falling asleep every time I sat down at my computer, naturally causing my blogging to suffer. But now I have free time and wi-fi so I will catch you up on the last month or so.
I suppose the biggest news is that I flew home to surprise my family and boyfriend for the summer break! My parents had no idea I was coming-my mother's piercing screams proved that much (we have since decided to never, ever, surprise mother again). It was a lovely opportunity to enjoy Western plumbing and sanitation again, stock up on needed items, and hang out with friends and family. I've also hopefully flushed out most if not all parasites from my system. Cross your fingers!
I'm now heading back to Afghanistan for the second phase of the school. The last two months made up our lecture phase-we had classes on subjects like Compassion, the Holy Spirit, the Word of God, and so on. Now we are about to enter the outreach portion. We will split into teams and go to a different part of the country, with different goals. I am on a team that will go into eastern Afghanistan villages and do either a teacher training seminar to train village teachers, build a library, or conduct health/sanitation seminars. We haven't quite worked out those details yet. It will definitely be a challenging experience as we leave the city and go into the mountains, where life hasn't changed much since the early days of Islam. It is sure to be an adventure!
I also want to let you all know of the upcoming presidential election in Afghanistan on August 20th. There is a lot of unrest throughout the country, as this is only the second democractic election to take place since the fall of the Taliban in 2001. Because Afghanistan is still a politically unstable country, there is a lot of concern over how the election will go. If any of you paid attention to the latest elections in Iran that will kind of give you an idea of what could happen. So please join us in praying for a peaceful election!
I write this from the Portland airport, and the smell of Panda Express has become to enticing to ignore, so I will take my leave. In other news, I learned that our base has had its internet connection turned off since we don't have the money on hand to pay the obscene quarterly bill (it's thousands of dollars). So if you think of it, and want to continue having a blog to read, please pray that we get the money to have our internet back! I have a boyfriend (and a mother) who need to hear from me on a fairly regular occassion :)
It's been grand but I must leave America now..see you all in November!
I suppose the biggest news is that I flew home to surprise my family and boyfriend for the summer break! My parents had no idea I was coming-my mother's piercing screams proved that much (we have since decided to never, ever, surprise mother again). It was a lovely opportunity to enjoy Western plumbing and sanitation again, stock up on needed items, and hang out with friends and family. I've also hopefully flushed out most if not all parasites from my system. Cross your fingers!
I'm now heading back to Afghanistan for the second phase of the school. The last two months made up our lecture phase-we had classes on subjects like Compassion, the Holy Spirit, the Word of God, and so on. Now we are about to enter the outreach portion. We will split into teams and go to a different part of the country, with different goals. I am on a team that will go into eastern Afghanistan villages and do either a teacher training seminar to train village teachers, build a library, or conduct health/sanitation seminars. We haven't quite worked out those details yet. It will definitely be a challenging experience as we leave the city and go into the mountains, where life hasn't changed much since the early days of Islam. It is sure to be an adventure!
I also want to let you all know of the upcoming presidential election in Afghanistan on August 20th. There is a lot of unrest throughout the country, as this is only the second democractic election to take place since the fall of the Taliban in 2001. Because Afghanistan is still a politically unstable country, there is a lot of concern over how the election will go. If any of you paid attention to the latest elections in Iran that will kind of give you an idea of what could happen. So please join us in praying for a peaceful election!
I write this from the Portland airport, and the smell of Panda Express has become to enticing to ignore, so I will take my leave. In other news, I learned that our base has had its internet connection turned off since we don't have the money on hand to pay the obscene quarterly bill (it's thousands of dollars). So if you think of it, and want to continue having a blog to read, please pray that we get the money to have our internet back! I have a boyfriend (and a mother) who need to hear from me on a fairly regular occassion :)
It's been grand but I must leave America now..see you all in November!
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Baa, Baa, black sheep
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
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
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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