Life is a bit different in the north, access to the Internet was somehow by cell phone so I didn't bother. But now I have five days to post at once.
We flew from Kabul Airport in one of PAC TECs planes, I think it was a 10-passenger Cessna 210 and flew home in a 9-passenger Beechcraft King 200. Our non-stop flight seemed to be over nothing but mountains. There were some clouds so the pilot nosed his way around and above them.
Arriving at our destination in the early afternoon to sunny but a bit cooler temperatures, it was a surprise to have the road to the airport being paved - the nicest road we'd seen stretching right into the new city portion. All joy of that soon disappeared as we headed across the bridge to the old city and drove through the bazaar on something which beggars the term road. It was like driving down the creek wash of Mill Creek back near Forest Falls CA. No boulders, but lots of donkeys and people. Barely wide enough for two vehicles to pass. Our host drove us to his home, up a side street from the main road where his young family greeted us warmly. They have a nice yard with fruit trees and several pieces of wooden playground equipment (I'm on a search for playgrounds while I'm here!). There is a concrete apron off the rear of the house which has sidewalks extending through the compound to the necessary places, to the entrance, to the outside lavatory, to the wash hut where laundry is done and baths are taken - yes, even in the winter.
The house is two story, was built as three rooms on each level with a rectangle at the back and two rectangles on each side coming forward. They had enclosed the front balcony area when they took possession of the house so ended up with eight rooms, the lower balcony functioning as an entrance and the upper one as a nice nook with an easy chair and bookshelves. I was awarded the guestroom upstairs on the right, Brian was in the toy room below me with orders to not play with the toys at night from the 3-yr-old son.
Rather than go through a day-by-day account of our activities, I'll just try to sum up with some general observations. Our team up north consists of our host couple with their two children and an older woman who has a small house with a huge garden a short distance away. They operate a community center in the poor section of the city which offers tutoring in basic school subjects to bolster the short public school day, English classes at several levels, computer classes and a sports program. I had the opportunity to sit in on a mixed class of older elementary students and to spend an afternoon with some older girls reading a book in the library. Two older girls, ages 17 and 20, stayed behind with the Afghan teacher and we had a lively discussion on all sorts of topics. All three of these clad burkas to make their way home.
President Karzai was hard on our heels, arriving the day after us with a flurry of helicopters and troops in various uniforms. He apparently came to see the new road and a new hydro electric plant being built by the Germans. Traffic was pretty tied up all over town - which didn't take much.
We spent one afternoon in the bazaar. So many shops, many selling the same things - vegetables, plastics, fabrics, men's clothes, small appliances, shoes - one wonders how they make enough to survive. The street was full of donkeys bearing loads, women in burkas, a few beggars, children who seemed fascinated by three western women without burkas! Some shops stay open quite late, and most are open on Friday too.
On Friday, the holy day, we had the opportunity to meet many of the ex-pat community, the majority of whom were German. They work for a variety of NGOs, doing medical work, translation, teaching English as foreign language (EFL). Some spend much of their time up in the Wokhan Corridor.
Our hosts took us out to eat at a couple of restaurants. The first was located on the 2nd floor of a beautiful guest house and offered hamburgers and quesadillas. We weren't too sure whether the hamburgers were really beef - it was pretty dense and tasted a bit like liver. Goat, maybe? The second restaurant was KFC - the K stands for Kabul though, not Kentucky. They had pizza, some chinese dishes and yes, some chicken. To travel to these restaurants in the new city, we took the "high road" on the south side of the river to avoid driving through the bazaar. A bit easier on the vehicle, but the drop-offs were somewhat frightening. Many new government buildings are being erected along this stretch.
Other items of note: Downtown is located one of the few buzkashi fields located in a city setting. It was complete with viewing stands and a fence around it made of concrete pillars and wrought-iron with Olympic logos on it. Did I miss something? Is this now an Olympic sport? If so, the Afghans are sure to take the gold. Also, on the way to the airport, one can see a large compound up on the north. This was built by Rabbani, one of five major players during the mujahadeen period, as his headquarters. He was part of the Northern Alliance and was President of Afghanistan until the Taliban came to power.
One of the biggest challenges of living there is not having indoor plumbing. Water for drinking comes from a naal pipe serving the neighborhood which still has to be filtered before it is safe to drink. Water for washing clothes and bathing must be fetched in a big tank. Electrical service is improving. Because our hosts live close to a commander, they now have pretty much 24-hour service, a recent development. The other team member who lives just one side street over, only has electricity at night. All yards have a water trough running through them, a jouie which provides water for irrigating the trees and flowers. These are subject to the whims of one's neighbors, who may or may not cooperate with allowing the flow of water through.
Taking a bath involves heating up a bucket of water, combining it with cold water in another pail, then using a ladle to pour it over you as needed while you stand in a concrete depression which has a drain. It worked pretty well, but I was very thankful to be doing it in such pleasant temperatures. When it gets cold, they heat the room as much as possible with a wood heater. The latrine doesn't get heated though!
Clothing. Life is more conservative in the north. We saw no women without burkas. We wore chapans, long coats over our long skirts, which also had long pants underneath. And of course, scarves over our heads any time we left our compound. Most difficult for me was learning to take off my shoes every time I came into the house. I bought a pair of house slippers in the bazaar which I also need in Kabul.
The flight back to Kabul was a bit more interesting. The PAC TEC flights serve the NGO community only and are organized to fit the travel needs of the various groups. On our way back, two men got off at Rostok at a less frequently used airstrip next to a melon field (they had to buzz the airstrip before landing to check for rocks and encourage the donkeys to get off!). Then we stopped at Kunduz to pick up a man and his wife. The Kunduz valley was very extensive and green, much greener even than Kabul. While waiting for the Kabul airport to clean off some flares, we flew east quite a ways, but I don't think we got as far as Jegdalek.
It was nice to get back - albeit much warmer and dustier. We were met by Zamir at the airport, and came home to a delicious lunch which had been delayed for us.
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