Invitation

Today I went to visit the Hope School in Kabul. I participated in both 10th and 11th grade math classes with the girls. It was so encouraging to watch the students go to the board and demonstrate their understanding. (In one class they were solving systems of three equations without calculators. In the other class they were studying arithmetic sequences.) They asked me to explain a problem to them, which was great fun! The students understand English better than the teachers, probably because of a greater focus on learning English in recent years.

I was planning to stay at the school to attend classes with the boys. Girls attend from 7:30 until 11:45 and boys start at noon and finish around 3:30. However, at noon I was invited to lunch by one of the teachers. It was even more interesting because she doesn't really speak a word of English and I don't speak a word of Dari. Fortunately, she has two daughters who were able to communicate well enough. Actually, she has a son and four daughters. Her name is Mastora Jan and she said, through an interpreter, that she wanted to teach me about their culture and to share with me their traditional food. We ate in the guest dining room - seated on the floor. They were kind enough to present me with my own plate, a knife and a fork. It was delicious food. After the meal we went to another room and I was served tea while relaxing, sitting on mattresses on the floor. The girls asked me many questions. They had good language practice today.

It was my first time to go "out" without Dennis. (He's away from Kabul visiting another University for a few days.) It was challenging to figure out how I was going to get back to the guest house. I always have a driver whenever I go anywhere. His name is Hashem. He works for IFHope, the NGO that employs Dennis. I had arranged for him to pick me up at the school but now I had to change that plan. When I was ready to leave Mastora Jan's home I couldn't get service on my phone. So she called her driver who took me back to the school and my driver came to pick me up there. Her driver spoke NO English and riding alone with him through the streets of Kabul was a bit intimidating. But he escorted me safely back to the school and I am safe back in the guest house.

I'm planning to spend the next two days at the school. The math teacher for the boys has questions for me about pronunciation of English words. It's very interesting to me to see the math textbooks written in Persian but the mathematics work is exactly the same as ours. And even though the book is in Persian, the functions are named in English: linear, quadratic and rational. Today he asked me how to pronounce "rational" and he asked me the English word for "asymptote". I plan to visit his class tomorrow. They are all very friendly and very professional.

Sightseeing in Herat, Afghanistan

We went to the Jihad Museum, where the Afghan people are remembering their war with Russia and those who were lost in that war.   

"Conceived  in early 2002, just months after the routing of the Taliban, the multi-million-dollar complex is the brainchild of Ismail Khan, who at the time was the all-powerful governor of Herat and known among both admirers and critics as the “Emir of the West.”It is a circular, domed structure, lined on the outside with 700 marble plaques, each containing the names of three “shahid,” or martyrs. The grounds around the building display helicopters, anti-aircraft guns, even an airplane used in the fight against the Soviets.

In addition to weaponry, the museum features portraits of the fallen, photographs of jihadi heroes, letters and other memorabilia, along with a vast, panoramic display made up of dozens of meticulously fashioned figures acting out the events in Herat on March 15, 1979 that helped kick off the first Afghan war.

The government responded with a fierce bombing campaign that killed hundreds, perhaps thousands, of civilians. The guide insists that 26,000 Heratis died in one week, but the figure has never been substantiated.

The Herat uprising is thought to be one of the major precipitating factors in the Soviet decision to invade the country in December 1979, an event whose consequences are still being played out today.

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/afghanistan/090423/the-land-endless-war

Next we visited the Citadel, a very old fort that is first attributed to Alexander the Great.  It has suffered some destruction due to recent wars but is currently in the process of being restored.  It's an amazing sight and affords a great view of the city from its towers.  

You can see their building styles and their markets.  The soil is clay and nicely conducive to making bricks.  

Finally, a view of the city that we see as we drive through.  Vendors set up for sale wherever they can find a spot.  However, if you want to buy a variety of items, good luck.  There aren't very many department stores.  Instead, all of the shops selling linens are located in one spot, those selling kitchen wares in another, jewelry along another city block, etc.  You will have to travel to many places and haggle the cost with several vendors.  It's challenging!

Neighborhood

At home in New Hampshire, our streets and roads are lined with trees and as you drive around, you can see the homes of your neighbors, their gardens, their wash hanging on the line and their children playing in the yard. In Afghanistan, the streets are also lined with trees but the residences are all enclosed inside of walls.

As you drive along the streets in the residential areas, you only see large walls with doors inserted. At the top of many of the walls is barbed wire. (The little spot in the sky of the picture is a kite. In the afternoons, we can sit on our veranda and watch kites flying in the sky! Those are the neighbor children who are flying the kite. They are standing on their rooftop, otherwise we wouldn't be able to see them as their yard is also enclosed by walls.)

You cannot see the actual home, garden, or children playing. I hear children all day long as I go out into our garden but I haven't seen them. I haven't met my neighbors and I probably won't. There is a great lack of trust amongst the people of Afghanistan.

Welcome to our "home" here in Herat, Afghanistan. When we arrive home, we see the gate next to the road. Our driver stops in front of the gate and we ring the bell.

Zabi will open for us and then he will open the doors wider so that the driver can bring the car inside of the compound. The picture below shows the inside of the gate and to the right in the picture is our bedroom window.

Once inside, you see our front door.

It's very safe. Zabi watches the gate, Hekmat buys the groceries, most of the time, and he and I share the cooking responsibilities. Yaqoub also stays here - he is Dennis' tech guy and manages the finances for the project. He and Hekmat are also full time students at the University. Nick from the Univ. of California - Davis is here for 10 days doing some work with soil science, setting up labs, etc. So we have a house full - of guys! And next month another professor from UC-Davis will come to work on irrigation.

Comforts of Home

There isn't much going on lately.  We are back in Herat and I've been very domestic!  Washing curtains in our new, twin tub washing machine, cleaning house, etc.   As I work around this house, here are some of the things that I wish I had access to.  I'm sure that I could find most of them, at a cost, and after searching high and low, but we are trying to live simply so that there isn't a lot of "stuff" to get rid of when leaving.  

My "comforts that I miss" list:

•  my sewing machine and my good sewing scissors

•  a blender

•  freedom to move about when and where I wish

•  freedom to leave my head uncovered

•  a good oven

•  an automatic washing machine

•  did I mention freedom to move about?

•  cheddar and parmesan cheese

•  tortilla chips and Green Mountain salsa (or my own)

•  half and half for my coffee

•  rain (I've seen NO rain since my arrival a month ago)

•  women friends, such as my neighbor across the street :)

•  church

•  my "pampered chef" kitchen tools

•  my Kitchen Aid mixer

•  easy access to chocolate!  (I'm missing my daily fix of chocolate chips!)

•  high-speed internet access

•  my students and math classes that I'm familiar with

•  Autumn in New Hampshire

Just for the record, I'm not unhappy.  The weather is pleasant, sunny in the day, cooling off at night.  The garden here has a multitude of beautiful roses that are blooming right now.  And I'm with my husband, which is a lot of fun, even though we are pretty much stuck here in the homestead when he finishes his work each day at the University.  We have gone shopping a few times and we attended a trade fair the other day.  Tomorrow night we are having dinner at the 5-star hotel in town!  Today I will teach my first EFL (English as a foreign language) class.  Many people here pronounce all of the vowels in the word "foreign".  Try it and see how it sounds!  

School in Kabul

I believe that everyone who really knows me knows that I love teaching. I've been reminded of it these past few days as I have visited both Math and English classes at the IFHope school. The girls have class in the morning and the boys come for the afternoon session. Maybe we should try that? Each session is made up of 6 classes but they don't have the same schedule every day. It's a bit complicated.

Class sizes are typically around 30 students and they are crowded into small classrooms. They have textbooks and notebooks and the teachers use white boards for presentation. No overheads, computers, projectors or SmartBoards. We are VERY spoiled teachers. And the pay is not very good. But the teachers are dedicated and they are doing the best with what they have. They have shown me great hospitality, even preparing special Afghan food for me at Tea Time yesterday. It's called "Mantu", a kind of ravioli served with chickpeas and a sauce, with yogurt and mint on top. It was delicious! I find that in many ways the students are the same as ours: they talk in class (when they shouldn't), they forget their books at home, and are just a bit playful. One of the boys today asked me if I preferred a student who was relaxed and intelligent or rather one who works hard but is not so intelligent! LOL I said I preferred one who works hard and is intelligent!! He reminded me of one of my own students. I have one more day at the school. It's been so much fun! Enjoy the photos.

The helicopter ride turned out to be fine. I sat next to the "armed" guard and was able to look out the window quite a bit of the time. The landscape is just so different from New Hampshire. Jalalabad was fun. It's a pretty city although I wasn't really allowed to walk around outside. We spent time with Dennis' director and stayed at their headquarters, an old Russian compound. The real adventure happened on the next day when we returned to Kabul, by car. Dennis and I both wore traditional Afghan clothes so as not to be conspicuous. We went through 3 mountain passes and drove over several sites where tankers had been bombed/set on fire. Drivers in Afghanistan tend to drive offensively so even though Dennis told me not to, I was "driving" with the driver the whole time. (Is that the true definition of a backseat driver?) When he passed a car, that was passing a truck, I was cringing!! And many of the turns were hairpin turns, tunnels, etc. (Look closely in the center of the picture - you'll see the tunnel that we are headed for.) It was beautiful but I must admit that I was totally exhausted upon our safe arrival in Kabul and had to immediately take a nap!

On Friday, it was very nice to meet an American couple working in Kabul. They are working for Shelter for Life, an agency that helps refugees. After talking with them, we went to another house to meet with Dennis' project directors and his wife was able to loan me quite a few "appropriate" clothes.

Today I visited the IFHope school. It was fun. I visited a math class and two English classes. In the Math class, although I didn't understand a word that was said, I knew exactly what math was being taught. It was fun.


In the English classes I told them about myself and answered questions. In math class, I observed that they are teaching the same concepts that we are. I'll go to the school again tomorrow and for the next two days after that. Dennis has business to attend to here and there so I will wait for him here in Kabul.

He was supposed to go somewhere today but the flight was cancelled. So, his plans have completely changed. That happens a lot. He's very good with that. I'm still learning...