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!

Back on at last!

So sorry about the long hiatus. I moved on November 1st and changing ISPs caused a change in how the blog appeared. Finally have it figured out. Must be my age - something so simple can seem so impossible!

On Oct 30, Zamir took me and one of Deb Esser's visiting girlfriends shopping for a wardrobe, built-in closets not being de rigueur here. It always amazes me how Kabulis separate their shopping areas. There is "electric street" and "plumbing street" and Khair Khana is essentially "clothing street". That day we went to "furniture street", a huge area with many tall buildings selling furniture, most of it needing to be assembled. I chose one I liked pretty quickly, then after we paid for it, a young man joined us in our car for a trek a few blocks away through a hidden away area one could call "car repair street" to a storage shed where we picked up our carton. It took a bit of organizing to fit it into the Corolla, but we managed after they could be convinced to listen to us women!

The move was pretty simple since my furniture was already there. Muhammed Gul and Qadir, Morningstar employees, came over with Ken to assemble my wardrobe, called an "almaari", sounds very much like the french armoire. Qadir comes from a family of carpenters so he was very efficient. At my new home, I have to do my own laundry and cook my own food, and of course, my own food shopping! Is anyone crying crocodile tears for me yet? Actually, it is nice to have more control over my diet and there are several small shops within a block or two with fresh produce and necessities, even a naan (bread) shop. The new residence is located about a mile south of the university campus, just a block north of the Kabul River, just behind police station 3.

Wednesday, Nov 2, was Akram's wedding. Finally a chance to see what all these huge wedding halls are for - yes, there is an area one could call "wedding hall street"! Our Morningstar party included only three women, Marita, Cacci and I, and we three were escorted by Akram's brother-in-law up several flights of stairs to a huge room already filled with women and children seated at round banquet tables with an area in the middle cleared for dancing and a rectangular table on a dais for the newly married couple, (this was the reception, the ceremony having taken place earlier). We were seated at the far end of the room so everyone got a good look at the foreigners as we walked through. A huge curtain on one side separated us from the men's side where a live band played. We women had a video hook-up so we could watch the men dancing, but the same courtesy didn't apply the other way. However, there were men in our room - a couple of guys were making sure the video worked and occasionally a male relative of Akram or the bride would show up. And at one point, some musicians came over to our side and played while Akram's brothers danced with some of the women. Akram and the bride watched from the sidelines.

We were well taken care of. Two of Akram's teenage cousins sat with us and translated conversations and customs for us. A horde of children descended upon us to show off their English (Hello, How are you, My name is ..., my father is ... my mother is ...) and to have their pictures taken. They were pretty impressed that I could spell their names in Dari. Both mothers came by frequently to make sure we were doing okay. Seated close to us was Zamir's wife with their new baby Daniel so I got to dandle him on my knee for a bit. The food was amazing! There were so many dishes that they had to be piled on top of one another and the teenage cousins served us delightfully. All in all, an amazing night!

The next week was Eid, when the pilgrimage to Mecca takes place, so all government offices and schools were closed. Saturday being the Day of Preparation, the bazaars were open. We took advantage of the break to visit the Baghe Barbur to see the beautiful gardens and take in the photo exhibit detailing the relationship between the US and Afghanistan since President Warren G. Harding's term. Just about every President was there, either receiving Afghan dignitaries in the US or visiting Afghanistan (sometimes while they were Vice President.) Quite an amazing history of which I was completely unaware. The Peace Corps had been in country prior to the Soviet Invasion and there were quite a few engineering projects undertaken jointly. And I learned that Robert Joffrey of the Joffrey Ballet was an Afghan and had brought his troupe there for performances. Of course there were some visits by prominent jazz musicians (Emel of Khyber Pass Restaurant has told me that jazz is America's most important export!)

Finally the next Saturday, Nov 12, I could get back to the university and my new choir! Unfortunately I picked up a bad cold and missed the rest of the week. And then the loya jirga met and the whole city was shut down from the 16th to the 19th. The shops in the bazaar were open, but negotiating the security checkpoints was so excruciating that most everyone stayed home. We even had to go through a security check to go over to the team house just a mile away.

Resumed teaching duties on Sunday the 20th and Dari lessons on the 21st, but had been studying Dari on my Byki computer program quite a bit while home sick. (Also spent some time doing jigsaw puzzles!) The students were happy to see me again after such a long break. On Tuesday the 22nd, a new Morningstar team member Anna came to the university with her violin. Orchestra was cancelled that day but we had a little impromptu recital in the syndicate room with a few students. On Wednesday afternoon, I walked to meet a small group of students and we caught a taxi to the French Institute where our Afghan music students were performing along with the Aga Khan Initiative musicians. Our students acquitted themselves quite well on rubab, violin and tabla, and singing with harmonium. The Aga Khan musicians play a wide variety of stringed instruments and drums, each with a distinct sound and function.

This has gone on long enough. Next post I'll proceed on....

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.

Getting ready to go again!

Perfectionism is the enemy of productivity! That is my excuse for not having written anything for the past eight months. One of the blogs I read is so profound all the time that I use that as my standard. Well, today, I'm just going to try to bring everyone up to date.

In the middle of May, I received the long-awaited letter of invitation from the U of Kabul to teach music and assist with curriculum development. About that time, it became evident that I needed to find a proper funding agency so we have been busy developing that. Today I received notice of my acceptance by IMF as an associate member so I will be able to have my funds processed by their missions department. We will be establishing my budget soon, raising any more necessary funding, apply for a visa, buy a ticket and it's GO!

In the intervening months I have spent some time with faculty members at Bemidji State University exploring possibilities for collaboration with them at the U of Kabul School of Music, moved all my belongings into long-term storage, gotten the flow of Social Security and Canada Pension started, and studied Dari.

Before I go, I'm hoping to take a trip to California - can hardly believe it has been almost ten years since I left there, am setting up the basics of the Rynders Reunion for the summer of 2012, and maybe even get the process started of getting my dad's slides converted to digital.

Tonight is Obama's announcement about troop withdrawal in Afghanistan. Perhaps it's a bias on my part (hopefully partly because of the extensive reading I've done on the subject!) but I hope the US doesn't withdraw too precipitately. We have been Lucy with the football too often in Afghanistan's history.

Adjusting

Wow, it sure took awhile to recover from the Dubai sightseeing - added to the usual difficulties of recovering from jet lag, I dealt with nausea, dizziness and fatigue for a good week and a half after getting home.

Read John Weaver's new book "A Flame on the Front Line" which he so kindly gave me. It didn't really have anything new about his experiences in Afghanistan, just an expansion of his early life and the twists and turns which brought him there. Apparently one of the things he may do with his year off is write the story of meeting his wife Jeanne in Afghanistan. Her mother was in the diplomatic service there and her father had some military role which led to Jeanne spending some of her childhood there.

I also just finished reading "A Thousand Splendid Suns" for the 2nd time. It was so much more interesting as the Morningstar guesthouse is located in the suburb Miriam and Laila lived in, Deh Mazang, and I recognized many other landmarks referred to in the book. If you haven't read this, it is a MUST READ. I'm just starting Rory Stewart's famous story of walking from Herat to Kabul in January 2002.

Last week was spent honing the report of my activities and delineating possibilities for short-term volunteers. If anyone wants to get a copy, let me know. There is a major need for books, especially children's books, for the community centers. In view of the University of Kabul's goal of all teaching being conducted in English by 2025, it is all the more necessary for good English instruction at the elementary levels now. Good training in ESL teaching techniques is very important. The centers also need more and better computers, but it may be more financially feasible to purchase them in country, as shipping is such a hassle.

There will be a growing need for individuals capable of teaching leadership skills as the Institute for Leadership Development rolls out to other cities over the next couple of years. And, one thing I neglected to mention in my report, there is a great need for veterinarians to conduct spaying clinics for cats and dogs.

The link to the Playground Builders website is on my page. We've made contact with them and hope to utilize their expertise in getting playgrounds built in the Morningstar community center locations.

I've also started the ball rolling for a connection between the music departments of my alma mater, Bemidji State University, and the University of Kabul. This could involve helping to prepare the Kabuli students to attend BSU as graduate students. Some curricular coordination is necessary. As soon as we determine which music we need, I'll post a list and we'll see how much we can pull together to help provide that resource. One other idea percolating in my head is to bring some skilled teachers to Kabul for a couple of weeks for a Bemidji-style band camp.

I'll also post a link to the Byki website. It really was a great help to me to be able to learn a little Dari before I went. The students at the U of K were impressed that I knew what zabars, zers, pishes, hamzas, tashdids and sokuns were. Are you impressed now too? The Byki Dari requires use of these symbols, which are used in learning Dari, but doesn't explain them on the Express version, although I did figure out how to type them. After downloading the free Express version, they send you emails for the full version and after about 3 months, a really good deal on the full version.

Dari (Afghani or eastern Farsi) is a very easy language to learn compared to Pashtu. The students there told me they thought English was easy to learn in comparison to Pashtu. The Jegdalek community center is in a Pashtu area, but the children are taught Dari in school.

On a closing note, if anyone has a group you would like me to make a presentation to, let me know. I'll be happy to oblige.