Holiday Shopping in Afghanistan

Well, my bags are packed and I'm ready to go home. Tomorrow we leave Afghanistan and we'll arrive in NH on Saturday evening, December 12. It's gone very fast.

Today we did a little last minute shopping at my favorite place.
It's an NGO that sells only things made in Afghanistan. Check out their website.
http://www.afghanartisans.com/index.html/
The store inside of this complex that I like the best sells items handmade by Afghan women - mostly refugees and women from the villages. Their embroidery is beautiful!

The other day I went shopping as well, in Kabul, and found beautiful hand-woven scarves and other things. The scarves are made from pure silk and pure cotton from Afghanistan. I was happy to actually meet one of the weavers and to take his photo.

It's been good for me to be here and to learn about what it's like for Dennis while he's working here. I've met many of his colleagues and friends and have learned to appreciate their culture and the many challenges that they face as they rebuild war-torn Aghanistan.

Tomorrow we fly from Kabul, Afghanistan to Istanbul, Turkey. On Saturday we leave Istanbul to fly to Boston, via Paris. We arrive in Boston, if all goes well with the weather, etc., at about 3:30 in the afternoon. We'll take a bus to the New London, NH park and ride and Joel will come to get us. Sleep in our own home on Saturday night! So nice...

I am looking forward to shopping, eating bacon, ham, hugs from our family and friends, driving, my washing machine, my kitchen with all of my pampered chef tools, much more, and believe it or not - going back to school on January 22nd! I have learned by taking this leave of absence that I'm not really ready for retirement. I have a few more years before that happens!

Next post from Acworth! See you soon...