Pictures

If you remember Grace from last year, she has only gotten cuter.



Dinner at my friend's house- where Ashlie & I are staying. She just got new toshaks.



We went to the village from Saturday to Monday. This little girl has a heartbreaking story. Her parents have picked out the husbands for all their daughters from their other relative's children. Her husband is now about nineteen, and didn't want to wait for her to grow up. So, they got engaged last year (when she was eleven) and he was allowed to start staying the night. Now, she is twelve, and wedding is coming up soon.



This is what most of the landscape looks like on the drive out to the villages and back.

Jokes

The people from here love jokes. The TB coordinator we just spent three days with is especially funny and loves to tell jokes. One common kind of humor here is when you retell an exaggeration someone else told. So here are a few he told us.

So, there was once a village that had a watermelon patch. One of the watermelons kept growing and growing and growing, until it was so huge, that it outgrew the village. The villagers got a truck with a big knife, but they couldn't cut it off the stalk, so they brought in an airplane, with an even bigger knife, and were able to cut the watermelon off its stalk. Then they brought in 360 trucks, because they had used the big knife to cut the watermelon into 360 pieces, and each piece was so big that only one would fit on a truckbed. So that is how they were finally able to get rid of the watermelon that was bigger than the village.

There was also once a man who wanted to buy some rabbits. His friend told him that he shouldn't buy any rabbits, because rabbits multiply really quickly. The man said he would buy some anyway, and his friend said, "Well, I once knew a man that bought two rabbits. These rabbits multiplied so quickly that five weeks after he had bought them, anytime anyone walked through his yard, every time they took a step they killed TWENTY rabbits."

Pictures

One day, we woke up and got to go to a nomad camp. There are nomads that migrate all across Afghanistan. Not too long ago, I read Caravans by James Mitchner, so this was like a dream come true. I just wanted to enjoy the experience, so I didn't take any pictures of the nomads or the camp, but this is the view looking down from where we trained one of their women to be a health worker.



Ashlie greatly enjoyed our trip to the villages. This picture was actually taken in Turkmenistan. The last place we spent the night is really, really close to Turkmenistan and we went to the border and ate melons by a stream.



So, I also didn't want to invade this family's privacy by taking a lot of pictures... but our last night, we stayed with the TB coordinator's family. I stayed with them last year and I love this family. I think of all the places I stayed in Afghanistan, this was definitely the most hospitable family. They are amazing. Unfortunately, none of the women are allowed to leave the house although there are rare exceptions. They wanted to henna our hands, but first I asked our hostess if I could do her hands. She agreed, so the picture above is actually my version of Afghan henna on her hands.

Emails and the Village

Thank you everyone, so much, for the emails. I am a little overwhelmed by them right now and may not be able to write back in a timely fashion, but I am so thankful for the thoughts you've all sent my way.

Tomorrow, I'm going with a friend who is a nurse to some villages. We won't get home until next week and then Ashlie and I are leaving this city. I am so excited that we get to go to these villages- we will actually get to stay overnight with the same family I stayed with last year, a family that lives so close to the border of Afghanistan and Turkmenistan that we were able to visit Turkmenistan last time. Hopefully we will get to again. We are going for longer this time and hopefully I'll have some fun stories soon. Be thinking of us though, because the village is usually where you get sick.

Sorry there are no pictures yet. If I can find the cord that connects my camera to my laptop I will get some up.

Dance Party

One of the best things about this country is that everyone loves to dance! Since I love to dance, this works out perfectly. Last night, a friend of mine who lives here had five girls over from a dorm next door. It is really uncommon in this city for college-age girls to live away from their parents, but these girls were accepted by a local university, and because they are from all over Afghanistan, they live together in a big house. The five of them that came over had various majors- engineering, agriculture, medicine- and they are all in the middle of mid-terms. But they came anyway and we had a great time. We served them an American dinner, and then taught them some American dances. The electric slide didn't go over too well, but the Macarena was a huge success.

One of the girls was trying the Macarena, and poor thing, she just couldn't get it. Another girl finally came behind her and stuck her arms under hers to try and teach her. They ended up just laughing. But then suddenly, this girl busted out the Afghan dancing to the macarena music! We were mesmerized. It was amazing. I think all the women here learn to dance like that when they are really young. Which unfortunately makes them bad teachers since its more instinctive than something they were actually taught. Luckily, this girl let me video her while she was dancing, and although I can't post it on the blog, at least I have something to learn from now.

Hello

We finally arrived in the city we will be staying at for the next few days. It feels so great to be off of planes!

We got to the guesthouse yesterday around 2 pm, and after eating fell asleep... I woke up to the most excruciating pain shearing through my calf muscles. I had no idea what a charlie horse felt like. I was screaming, half because of the pain, half because I didn't know where I was. Ashlie was asleep on the couch next to me, she heard me yelling, lifted her head and squinted her eyes, then collapsed to back to sleep. Then I realized where I was and stopped yelling. Well, now I know to get up a little more often on those long flights.

Today we're going to go shopping so that Ashlie can get a chadar namaas. They are the long black garments women wear in this city. Although the women are still very modest, when we arrived yesterday, it seemed to me to be much different than last year. The women were wearing fewer layers. It was encouraging, to know things are changing, although its only been ten months. Hopefully more to come soon.

Goodbye

Ashlie and I fly out today around 5:15 pm. We won't arrive at our final destination until Wednesday morning around eleven, Afghan time- very early Wednesday morning, US time. So if we don't email until Thursday, that's why. We have to stay in two cities overnight on the way.

We are both so excited! I know I have really been looking forward to this all summer and incredibly, its here already. I am so thankful Ashlie is going with me. Two are better than one (especially when traveling more than thirty-six hours).

Adios everyone! I'll start posting pictures from the other side.

Wrecked

Yesterday, I drove through an unmarked intersection and a blue BMW smashed into the end of my car. It caused us to spin around a couple times before the car hit the curb and sent us up onto the grass.

As we were spinning, the strangest thing happened. I had this weird sensation that it was just like any other moment and didn't have the slightest worry that we would smash into something. I think I thought we were just going to slow to a stop. So it kind of surprised me when we smashed into the curb.

Ashlie and I were fine. We were on our way to an Indian store and in an unfamiliar part of town. The insurance agent called me today to get my statement. He told me that the other driver confessed it was her fault, even though she also did not have any signage, because she was going much faster than she should have been. We were both lucky she didn't T-bone me one second earlier. A few miles faster on her part, slower on mine, and who knows...

I'm still a little shaken up but not bad. Ashlie, my friend in the car, said that she saw them coming and tried to say something but nothing would come out. Later she told me that she had an uneasy feeling getting into my car (but that's not an uncommon sentiment for passengers entering my car anyway).

The agent also told me today that the car is totalled. Bye bye, little Kia... you had a good run.

I'm thankful God protected both of us. Ashlie happens to be the girl going over with me, and its funny that the car wrecked with us both in it. Please keep praying for safety- even before we get to Afghanistan.

Save the Crepe Paper

Today I bought all my pants for this fall. Something very, VERY important for pants you are buying to wear to a third world country is that they have an expandable waistline. I didn't know this last time, because I'd never gotten sick in other countries. But now I know, when you are sick for the fourth week in a row and people are still force feeding you food soaked in fat, an expandable waistline is not a feature you can compromise on.

Last year, I got sick the third day I arrived; it was September 13th, and I stayed sick for a long time. I mean a long time. I remember the day I got better- it was toward the end of November. Yes, it was nearly ten weeks that I didn't have solid poo.

I think my favorite thing about being sick was the crepe paper. Yes, you would sit or squat down in the bathroom, look around for the toilet paper, and instead, a bright pink roll of really thick crepe paper was waiting for you. At first it seemed ridiculous but then I decided it cheers up the bathroom more than regular toilet paper anyway.

I bring all this up to ask everyone to pray that I will stay well this fall. Although the crepe paper was really great, it would be even greater to not have to see so much of it.

Eyelash curlers and Cheerios

Mystery thrillers. Almond seeds. Longjohns. Eyelash curlers. Cheerios.

What do these have in common? They must be hard to come by in Afghanistan, as they are all things that people have asked me to bring them this fall. Its not an exhaustive list, either... I think there are about fourteen boxes being sent to my home in the next couple weeks. But that's ok, because I am a very light packer and shouldn't need too much room. I mean, what am I really going to need that I can't buy or that won't fit into a backpack?

Today is my last day in Keller. I can't say I'm sad to leave Texas and move back to Oklahoma, because I dearly love Oklahoma and I'm excited. But it is sad to leave so many fine people who have been such great friends; luckily its just a three hour drive.

So long, state of Texas. I promise to remember and tell everyone in Oklahoma that you are the only state that was once an independent nation, and that everything is bigger in Texas, and also not to mess with Texas. But we will be, as always, OK. (Not 'okay,' O-K. And by that we mean great!)

18 days

So, I have eighteen days left in the states which will hopefully be enough to accomplish the eighteen thousand things left to do. I will just do a thousand a day.

Tonight I have to say goodbye to all of the people in our Afghan ESL class who have become so dear to me over the last semester. Friday I pack up the office and my house, and Saturday is the going away party with all my Texan comrades. It should be fun- I hear everything is bigger in Texas.

When I get back to Oklahoma, my phone number will stay the same until it gets disconnected on July 31.

This blog won't be very exciting until I get over there, so if you are bored right now just check back again in the middle of August.

Pashto

The last few months I have been taking lessons for the local language, Pashto. Its an odd language. And its hard. (Arr!) The title of this blog is a common Pashto greeting: Don't be tired. Sturey mushe.

Said kind of like store eye mah shi, I am hoping that there will be some lively ones out there. Almost all of their greetings and farewells have completely different meanings than their English counterparts. For example...

As you come in, someone might say to you...

Sturey mushe! Don't be tired!
Pu xeyr raghle! You came in peace!
Aw pu xeyr ose! And may you live in peace!
Xwar mushe! May you not become poor!

And as you leave,

Du xoday paman! May God protect you!
Pu muxa de sha! May you face only goodness!

Summer Schedule

June 1st-23rd: Keller, TX

June 24th-29th: Edmond, OK

June 30th-July 6th: Keller, TX

July 7th-9th: Eureka Springs, AR

July 10th-18th: Keller, TX

July 19th-30th: Edmond, OK

August 1st: Afghanistan

December 7th: Back to Oklahoma