A week of events

On Saturday, we had the second meeting of my choir class, teaching them how to pronounce Italian and learning the first song in Vaccai. I also began learning the individual voices and took notes on index cards I had prepared from a list provided by Ghafar. It's quite a challenge to learn all the names of 24 young men, especially when the names themselves are quite unfamiliar. Joyce, a visitor from Liverpool, England, who was staying at the guesthouse, came with me for the morning. She had also attended the recital on the Wednesday before.

In a conversation with Eslamuddin Faroz, the music dept. head, later that day about his visit to the Ministry of Culture on the previous Wednesday, he invited me to attend a conference the next day. So on Sunday, I cut my Dari lesson a little short and set off with Eslamuddin, Ghafar and Saber Faizy, the music history teacher and a whole bunch of the 4th class students to the Barbur Gardens where a huge tent had been erected in the middle of the lawn between the horseshoe shape of the immense buildings. The occasion was the National Folkloric Music Seminar and Festival and there were several hundred people there from all the various provinces of Afghanistan. We started off in the huge tent but it began to rain, so after a couple of brief intro speeches, we were released to take tea up on the balconies of the building. Later we reconvened in an upper hall where several men gave talks on various aspects of Afghan music, among them Eslamuddin who has published a book on the music of Logar province, and Dr. John Baily from England who talked about the development of an Afghan guitar in the Herat area. I had read much about Dr. Baily on the Internet over the past couple of years; he has been involved in reviving Afghan music since the departure of the Taliban. His was the only talk in English, the others were in Dari or Pashtu. They served a generous lunch to everyone, then reconvened in the hall again for a question and answer session, and then at 3:00 we moved back down into the tent for the Festival - performances of various groups. I met many people, including the head of the Music Institute (which is fashioned after Interlochen) and most of the teachers from there. The American Embassy was one of the sponsors of this event although there didn't seem to be any embassy personnel there. Two big announcements were made: On Sunday the Minister of Culture stated his intention that music should be taught in all the schools of Afghanistan (greeted by huge applause!), and on Monday (I didn't attend that day), someone announced that a version of this conference would be held in many of the provinces.

The other major event that took place this week was on Wednesday, at the Ministry of Higher Education, located just on the east side of the campus. Our orchestra was invited to play and sing the Afghan National Anthem and so rehearsal on Tuesday was devoted to learning it. (Yes, our orchestra includes 10 singers as well as a pianist, two keyboards, two rubab, three tabla, three guitars, two violins, one recorder, two saxophones and four percussionists. I spent the rehearsal time finally learning all the names of the 3rd and 4th year class at last.) We loaded all the instruments into a small truck, then set off on foot across the fields of the campus to the Ministry. Once again, this was a much more elaborate event than I had anticipated. There was a stage at the end of a huge hall where our orchestra set up. While they were getting ready, a woman introduced herself to me as the Gender Officer of the Ministry. It is her job to see more women obtain higher education and she promised to get over to the music school soon to visit. We sat together in the first row and listened to some introductory remarks, then the National Anthem, then speeches from the Deputy Minister of Education, the Chancellor of Kabul University, and two Members of Parliament. Finally it was time for the reason for the gathering - the presentation of certificates of appreciation to about 50 individuals instrumental in higher education, among them our own Eslamuddin! Then there was a most interesting theater presentation, and lunch was served while another musical group set up onstage - an independent rock band, it seemed.

My normal activities include my choir class at 8 am on Saturdays, piano lessons for Ghafar, Fawad and Ebrahimi on Saturdays and Sundays, Dari lessons from 8 to 9 am Sunday, Monday and Tuesday from Salwa Noori, one of the university's Dari teachers, and a group piano lesson for three first year girls, Sadef, Gloria and Farzana, on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons. Student recital is Wednesday morning around 10 am. The rest of my time is spent studying Dari in the office I share with Ghafar and Ebrahimi, both of whom are contract teachers. Throughout the morning, students drop in to give me some Dari tutoring, some of them more helpful than others! Saber Faizy, the music history teacher is determined that I will learn Dari well and has instructed the students to have no mercy with me!

I have been living at the Morningstar Guesthouse since my arrival, but on the 19th the Essers took me to look at a possible living situation in a large house where two other Morningstar couples are currently living. There was a lovely large room available immediately and the potential of an additional "sunroom" across the hall for a studio if I wish, so I agreed to take it on the spot and will move in on November 1st. We then stopped at the home of a young couple who are returning to the states after five years here and I purchased some furniture and other household items. On Thursday, Ken Esser and Zamir took me shopping in the Puli Sorkh area, near my new residence and introduced me to the electric shop, the plastics store, the pharmacy, and the big Finest store which caters to westerners and has everything from groceries to furniture to appliances to clothing. A bit pricey, but believe me, they have everything! Tomorrow I am checking out some more furnishings of another young couple moving back to the states.

So I am settling in quite well. Except for one little bout with the 24-hour flu, I have been healthy. The weather has been mild, like Minnesota September, and we've had quite a few rain showers so the humidity has been up. I am feeling quite at home and making some friends. The police guard at the university now recognizes me and lets me in without a word. That's progress!

Well, it is now Friday afternoon, our day of rest here. I have been in Kabul for two full weeks and much has happened. First, the travel. The trip was long but smooth. I sold my car to my mechanic on the way to the airport for cash and Mike got me to the airport in ample time to make my flight. I had to shift some things around between my two cases, but British Airways allows two checked bags so that left me with far less to carry. I managed to get some good naps in on a couple of legs of the journey, so was in pretty decent shape when I arrived at almost 7 am on Thursday morning, Kabul time. Since my luggage was so heavy (yes, I had to pay some overage charges!) I had decided to take advantage of one of the helpful men at the Kabul airport. I think the luggage carts are free, but it is difficult to find one without someone already "attached". But my helper was indeed a help, hefting the heavy bags, helping me get my ID card filled out, then accompanying me through the baggage security check and walking me the half mile out to the area where pickup is possible, so I was glad to tip him. Ken and Debbie were there, with Zamir driving (those of you who have seen my pictures will remember all the pictures he took in the apple orchard last fall!) The guesthouse was quite full with groups, including, to everyone's amazement, my cousin Beverly's daughter-in-law Natalie, who was with a group of doctors from Tulsa visiting the Hope Family Residency Training Program, which is affiliated with Morningstar. I moved into a room with Diane (a nurse on a team from Colorado Springs), Joyce (a retired ESL teacher from Liverpool visiting an Afghani "son" and attending the wedding of a friend from Liverpool), and Mindy (a reporter from the east coast.) Friday was a day of rest, and on Saturday I received an email from the head of the School of Music, Eslamuddin Faroz, inviting me to come on Sunday. So off I went, walking over with a group of guests who were planning to spend a few hours at the medical clinic on the campus, also operated by Morningstar. It was delightful to see so many of the students that I had met on my visit last fall and they gave me a warm welcome. Also visiting at the school was a German professor who is just beginning a two-year project to help refine the curriculum and bring more depth into the music school. He was also teaching some cello students at the Music Institute. (A percussion ensemble from the Music Institute came on Wednesday morning to perform during the regular "recital" hour, so I was able to meet many of the teachers.) Now at the end of my two weeks here, my schedule has firmed up somewhat. Three mornings a week, one of the university Dari teachers comes over to the office I share with a couple of contract teachers to give me a Dari lesson for an hour. I usually spend 3 - 4 hours more at my desk there practicing writing and having sporadic visits from students and teachers all anxious to help me learn Dari quickly and comprehensively. On Saturday morning (the first day of the week), I have a choral class which was created just for me to teach with all the students of the 3rd and 4th year, 24 young men in all. Tomorrow will be my second meeting with them. It will be interesting to see how much we accomplish in the remaining two months of the school year. I'll be sure to make a recording! There are three young women in the first class who meet with me three times a week for piano class in the early afternoon. Eslamuddin is so proud to have these three women in the music school (there is a fourth in the night school, but she works in an office and can't make it to our class.) The tradition here seems to be long lessons with teachers several times per week. Students do very little practicing outside of these lessons. I'm not sure how much of this is cultural and how much is simply the lack of practice instruments. There are only two accoustic pianos at the school of music, one is very old and battered and doesn't hold a tune adequately, located in the large classroom. The other is a 5' grand in a smaller classroom and was a recent gift from the government of Italy. There are also three keyboards, one of which is kept in our office but they do not have a "piano touch". Finally, I am teaching piano to two contract teachers, Ghafar and Ebrahimi, and one fourth year student, Fawad, who are the most advanced. Those lessons seem to happen sporadically, but at least these learners practice on their own time quite a bit. The students have heard so little western music that I have the opportunity to play pieces just for exposure. Imagine never having heard the first prelude of Bach in C Major (the basis of the Ave Maria) or Debussy's Clair de lune! Last Saturday morning, the orchestration class showed off three pieces they have been working on. The instrumentation in the orchestra consisted of two rebab players, three guitars, a violin, a saxophone, a recorder, two keyboards, one piano, three tabla players, four percussionists (one on a trap set, one playing congas, two playing various shakers), and ten singers. I loved it! This past Wednesday, the recital hour featured: a violinist and tabla (Afghani drums sort of like bongos but much more melodic) playing two pieces, a guitar duet of a classical piece, Fawad on piano (the horrible one!), a rebab (Afghani guitar) and tabla piece, and a prepared piece on one of the keyboards - a synthesizer composition. Well, I hope this is enough to give you a flavor of my life here. The weather so far has been lovely and the people friendly and helpful. Next time I'll post more about my living situation and how that is evolving.

This will be a quickie post. I'm in Afghanistan, arrived on 6 Oct at 6:50 am after 38 hours of travel from Minneapolis, through Chicago, London and Dubai. I'm adjusting well, but will post more complete description of my settling in later. Signing on to my blog here is a bit difficult because the site comes up in Arabic and I couldn't negotiate it until our Office Manager was here to help. I'm off in a few minutes to Kabul University - already at the end of my second week there.