Wednesday, June 21, 2006
Found in Translation
Today, in my Dealing with Drugs class, I asked the students to go around the table and describe the most important learning from the field trip yesterday. Half way through the class, while Fanoos translated back and forth, a rather animated discussion broke out. Let me explain. I teach in English....
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Tuesday, June 20, 2006
A Kilim is Forever
I love kilims. Whenever I see one, the blood rushes to my temples. I get goose pimples. And, if I like it, I want to own it. Immediately. In my travels I have collected kilims from Tunisia, Turkey, Pakistan and Afghanistan. There are many countries in which kilims are produced, and their designs and...
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Saturday, June 17, 2006
Goings and Comings II
It was time for me to leave Kabul after being here for three months. I was to take a two week break in Delhi, where I have a beautiful home, a great husband, a fabulous teenage son, a dog called Aloe, and two full time staff that take care of us and the home. I have sisters, friends and colleagues....
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Tuesday, June 13, 2006
A Matter of Nails
The air of Kabul is dry. When I moved here at the end of February, it was cold, dry, and dusty. Delhi is dry and dusty too, but not like Kabul. Within a week, my skin was looking and feeling like a crocodiles', and I began to worry that my three-month supply of facial cream, moisturizer, and body...
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Sunday, June 11, 2006
Comings and Goings of Expatriates
An expatriate is one who is a resident of another country. In Afghanistan I am an expatriate. I live with five other expatriates in a shared home, and work with two. In my professional and social settings, I come across many other expatriates. The first questions - after introductions and greetings...
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Friday, June 9, 2006
In Search of a Haircut
Four weeks into my stay in Kabul, I started asking around for a place and person to cut hair. My hair is short and needs a trim every four weeks. Jan suggested B's. How much do they charge, I asked? Thirty dollars she said. I gulped. In Delhi, at the beauty parlour I have been frequenting for the...
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Tuesday, June 6, 2006
Healing a Nation
It's been over a week since the rioting and looting in Kabul. During this time, I asked almost everyone I met what they thought about what had happened on that fateful Monday, and why. Most Afghans feel that Americans behave in an arrogant way, driving their vehicles through the city, pushing...
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Friday, June 2, 2006
The calm after the storm
Today is the fourth day after the rioting, looting, burning and destruction in Kabul. It is also Juma, as Friday is known in Dari. It's the Sunday of Muslims, a day when they generally go to the masjid or the mosque. Over the last few days there has been a great deal of speculation as to what what...
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Tuesday, May 30, 2006
The Day after the Violence
Today I stayed home. It was a beautiful morning - crisp air, blue sky, and very sunny. I sat in the garden with my morning tea of ginger and cardamom, and watched the birds and butterflies flying around the garden, chasing each other. It's good they don't know violence, I thought. Everything was...
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Monday, May 29, 2006
Violence in Kabul
At 9.30 a.m. today, as Agathe and I called a colleague at a local media NGO to reschedule a meeting for the afternoon, he said there was a shooting and he would have to call back. We were on the last day of a three-day hostile training course, learning how to survive in post-conflict Afghanistan....
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