As I was talking to one friend, he introduced me to another person, who, like so many I have met, has been in this part of the world for many years. This man told me a great story about his time in Iraq, when he met an Iraqi who had been out of the country for many years while Saddam Hussein had been in power. He came home when the Americans entered the country. The man I was talking to told me of a night when he visited the repatriating native, who had spent some time in Germany. Apparently, he had fallen in love with German food while he was away and so arranged for a German restaurant to open near his palatial home. The man I was talking to told of a German all-you-can-eat-and drink feast, costing about $50 per person, and consisting of not only wonderful German food, but also delectable German beer, including both light and dark beers. It was just one more story that I didn’t expect to hear about a part of the world that, for many years, has represented nothing but darkness to me.
Well, we had a good time; it was Michael’s birthday, and I had bought him a big dark chocolate candy bar. We sat around, solving the problems of the world, and then it was time to call it a day. At that point, I realized that one week from right then, I would be in Dubai, getting ready to get on a plane to take me home. I had a hard time getting to sleep.
The next morning, I went with Gayle to a place that is like a shopping mall, except this mall was in one building, and one room full of wares opened up into another, and then another, and then another. The items for sale were lovely, and I could have spent a whole lot of money, but I didn’t. One store sold the kinds of tunics I need for work here, and so I bought a purple one, and then I bought a sweater tunic that “the girls” in our office wear. I told them that I wanted to look like them, and they told me I could probably find one of the sweater tunics in any store. Of course, Westerners aren’t allowed to go to just any store for safety reasons. But I was lucky and found the sweater. I also found a store full of hand-made silk clothing – dresses, jackets, tunics, coats. They were gorgeous, but I hadn’t planned to spend a lot of money for clothes that cannot be washed in the machines here that get a LOT of use. So I bypassed that store, though they had some symbolic clothing – several items were purple, and the silk was from Herat. Still, I resisted.
I also loved looking at the jewelry, but I don’t really want to buy any of that unless Kevin Schroeder can tell me what is good and what is not. Afghanistan is one of two places in the world, I believe, where lapis lazuli can be found – and apparently it is rich in other minerals and gems as well. Some of the pieces were beautiful, but I don’t know about the prices. Kevin and I will have a teaching/learning session when I am home in preparation for another shopping trip! The mall also sold original art from local artists. I fell in love with one pen and ink drawing of a bird, but it actually looks like calligraphy. The rugs/carpets were also pretty gorgeous. I must know a good carpet when I see it, because the ones I am drawn to are invariably the most expensive in the room. I also looked at some tablecloths that were beautifully hand-embroidered, but decided against buying any right now. I can see that some are in my future, though!!!
As we left the building to meet our car, we passed a young woman who was selling clothing – coats and jackets. I walked right up to a gray coat that she had made and hand-embroidered, put it on, and it fit. I was thrilled. I was also thrilled because she is an artisan who makes at least a portion of her living selling the clothing she designs. I will try to wear it home.
After that jaunt, we went to a restaurant to eat lunch. This is a place that has been cleared for Westerners, but it is somewhat disconcerting to enter the restaurant’s gated grounds through an iron door, then to have my purse searched by one man while another stands by with an AK-47, and then go through two more iron doors in order to reach the restaurant itself. I felt as if I needed to say, “Shorty sent me.”
Eventually, we got inside, and then decided to eat outside, which was absolutely beautiful. The restaurant’s balcony overlooked a backyard garden. Several dining areas were set up outside, complete with marble table tops and leather high-back chairs. In one corner of the garden was a pergola, in another area was a fountain, and the entire area was bordered by wildflower and perennial flower beds. It was lovely. I ate naan (a flatbread) with hummus, and lentil rosemary soup. The soup was good, but it had a little too much rosemary to be absolutely wonderful – rosemary is a very powerful herb. I also had jasmine tea, which besides being delicious is aromatic. It was a very nice lunch.
After we finished, our car came to get us, and we drove by the American Embassy to pick up a couple of our co-workers. Getting into the Embassy area was a challenge. Checkpoints start before a newbie realizes that we are actually in the vicinity of the Embassy. Our Embassy is surrounded by what I have come to see as the norm here, and not just for American locales. The place is surrounded with concrete blast walls, sand filled barriers, and heavily armed soldiers. Seeing those sights made our earlier trek, as we blithely went from shopping to lunch out, seem frivolous.
Nevertheless, we picked up our cohorts and headed back to camp. Along the way, one of our co-workers told us that he has made it past the first hurdle to a Fulbright lectureship in Macedonia. See what I am here with? Vaunted company!
All in all, it was a really good day. I decided not to even clean my room when I got back, because I will need to clean it before I leave on Thursday, which will be here before I know it – Yea!!! I went to watch the camp movie, which was a Monty Python conglomeration – some funny, some not – and then went to bed, too lazy to finish this blog post.
Then I woke up to start a new work week on Saturday. I have come to terms with working a week that has two Mondays – one is the day after our day off, and the other is, well, Monday. I went to an English teachers’ meeting, and I am pleased to know that I will be teaching technical writing to non-native speakers. Many of the young people here want to know how to advance their careers by writing more professionally (Will I ever have some lessons for my students when I get back!), so our first lesson will be their choice – how to write e-mails for business purposes. Who knew when I began teaching technical writing that my most enthusiastic students would be from Afghanistan?
Today I also got a chance to visit with one of the Afghans who works here in Kabul. His family history is fascinating, and he told me a little more about Afghanistan history, which supplemented the history I had heard from Esman and Hasat last month. He, too, has known little in this country other than conflict and war – and he is older than Esman and Hasat.
After work, I did a yoga class with my friends who want to relax at the end of the day, then I went to dinner for chicken and green beans and roasted potatoes, and now I reach the end of the day when it is time to think about going to sleep. I have settled into a certain rhythm here, and I wonder how that will be affected by my trip home. I know it is always hard to go on vacation and then go back to work. I anticipate the same kind of feeling some two weeks from now, but I know right now that it will be worth it.
Things go well here, but I miss life – my life. I think I should hold that thought – and feeling – in abeyance for a while.
Until tomorrow.
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