Winter in Kabul

After spending two weeks in Dubai waiting for all the paperwork to process for my entry visa, I was glad to get back to Kabul last Friday. After spending five January days in Kabul, one almost wishes the visa had taken longer! Not!

Really the weather isn't bad. Saturday it began to snow and by Sunday morning we had perhaps eight inches of lovely, packable snow - perfect snowman building stuff! And another added bonus was that the snow damped down the typical Kabuli dust so we had a couple days of very clear air. But most buildings here are concrete and they don't hold any heat. People install kerosene or wood stoves in one or several rooms in their homes for heating, just for the winter season. Our house only has one such "bukhari" in the dining room. All the rest of our heat is from electric heaters. Electricity is not only expensive but a bit sporadic. Generally we may have two days a week when the electricity goes off at 7 am and comes back in the evening. You just learn to plan for it. One tends to begin doing internet work in the middle of the night.

Temps were about the same as Minnesota had this winter - but we had so much snow! No street plows to speak of, each day the temp would get just above freezing - not enough to melt much, but enough to make it a bit slippery to walk. One day I went to the Bush Bazaar with some friends (I think it's named after our erstwhile President) and our driver got hung up on the ice. Being a true Minnesotan, of course I went to help push him off and my feet went out from under me, and I landed on my backside. I had fallen on the ice at the university a week or so earlier, so the combination made for a sore tailbone for several weeks. So grateful for very strong bones, the result of good genetics and organic meats and vegetables as a child!

As a result of the cold weather, I didn't make it into the university very often. It was simply too cold to hang out there. At home I could sit in the saloon (living room) in the sun and work on language.

I learned that winter survival consists of wearing multiple layers of clothing, especially at night, having good wool socks and most importantly - two hot water bottles! Amazing how effective they were. My bedroom was down below freezing most nights; I had a fleece below me and my Korean blanket on top, but was quite toasty warm. Cotton sheets were abandoned!