Ouch!

You know it's a good party when you come home pierced. 
We celebrated Hameed's end of finals (yet again) at Jamila's handicraft shop on Thursday.  She kindly invited the whole crew over for a lunch of baked chicken, cauliflower, yogurt sauce, salad and cake...all delicious.  Since her and her friend are handy with a needle we also thought it'd be a good opportunity to get our noses pierced.  Wahina - why not?  (Rachel and Jenn also got their nose pierced but I don't have the photographic evidence just yet.  Thanks to Juan for the photos!)

Jamila offering encouragement pre-piercing

My piercer describing where she's going to stick me

Hameed, as surgical assistant, sterilizing the needle with a match

Yikes, it's about to happen...

She was quick and confident, this definitely wasn't her first piercing

The needle had black thread which went through the hole
 in my nose and was then tied in a knot.

done!

Hameed with all of his women!

Hameed, Peretz and Najib.  Najib is fluent in Pashto, Russian and
 Urdu and is now learning English.

Delicious lunch

Cake from the pastry shop.  Notice the cardboard is recycled cereal boxes

How to make bread

Step 1.  Invite the local baker over!

Step 2:  Ask him to bring dough



Step 3:  Douse the inner walls of the clay oven with water. 
(Start fire about an hour beforehand)



Step 4:  Roll the dough into a large circle



Step 5:  Use this contraptrion to create lovely designs on your dough

Step 6:  Place tbe dough on a pillow

Step 7:  Push the pillow against the wall with force!



Step 8:  Make  sure your bread doesn't fall into the fire





Step 9: Go for a roll aftewards to use up all those carbs!

Cricket!

The First Pre-School in Jalalabad!

Our friends Israr and Sayeed recently opened the first pre-school in Jalalabad!  Children typically don't begin school until they are seven or eight so this school gives kids a chance to start learning English, Pashto, math and science at age five.  The kids all wear stylish uniforms with leather jackets and were in the middle of exams when we visited.  Most of the teachers are recent high school graduates and have never had formal teacher training.  We are trying to work with Israr to provide some sort of training for the teachers.

Sara and I with Madina, the Principal of the school

Grade 3 students studying animals

Seriously cute kids in their leather jackets













DIY Soil Testing

The Agriculture Technical School in Jalalabad trains boys from throughout the Province in both general high school courses and agricultural studies. They have very few useful textbooks on agriculture though, since the few books they do have are in English – which few students can read.

Juan and I visited the school on Tuesday to get an idea of what level of education the students had, what type of training they’d like and, in general, how we could best help them. We brought with us a very simple soil test for them to try that didn’t require any specialized equipment – just an empty water bottle (ubiquitous in Afghanistan) and some water.



One of the Ag instructors showing rose bush transplants

We got to the school and were immediately taken to the GCE class where we were given two seats in front of a group of 30 students. The kids had no idea who we were or why we were there, but they looked on politely – I guess it’s not every day that a couple foreigners crash your class. The GCE students speak English so w chatted for a bit about what they are currently studying and what they’d like to learn more about. One big issue that was brought up several times was the fact that they have lab but it’s currently not functional. 

Finally, we showed them the soil composition test. It’s a simple test I had found online which tells you’re the percentages of sand, clay and silt in the soil. You basically dig a small hole at least four inches deep and scoop out about a cup of soil. You put the soil in a clear jar (or plastic bottle) and add about twice as much water. Then you shake the bottle until it’s thoroughly mixed – and you’re done! You let the concoction sit overnight and the minerals in the soil will settle based on weight. All the sand will settle to the bottom, then the silt and then the clay. You can then measure the percentages of each and use a soil texture triangle to identify the soil type. Easy! And, with this knowledge, you can determine what soil amendments to add, what will grow best, etc. (Although a NPK test is pretty crucial as well.)

I described the process and then one of the students repeated it in Pashto to make sure everyone fully understand. The kids seemed into it and promised to try it out that night. Juan will be returning soon and can finish the experiment with them using the soil texture triangle.

Their instructor posted some photos and started a discussion about our visit here, on their Ning site.



 

Beautiful veggies and fruit abound in Jalalabad but

many of them are from Pakistan



Pimp my tractor

Tractors in the midwest seem soooo boring my comparison.  Tractors, tuk-tuks (rickshaws), donkeys, jingle trucks from Pakistan - they all get brightly colored, elaborate paint jobs, often with images of flowers and birds.

Social Links. Discuss!

Today Lou and I visited Abdul Wakil Boys School and took part in their weekly English Open Discussion (EOD). The discussion is part of the curriculum for the Global Connection Exchange (GCE) Program which promotes cultural exchange between high school students and provides IT training. GCE’s facebook-like website can be found here. We are currently hosting a daily trivia game on the site, so check it out, but don’t give away the answer!

The GCE EOD group.  Check out our sweet scarves!

The topic for today was social links. After the opening introductions, each student was asked to describe social links, in English. Lou and I were totally impressed not only with their English skills but their ability to discuss, debate and think on their feet in their second language (or actually their third or fourth language).  The discussion focused on the need for people to be honest and respectful to one another, regardless of where they are from.

The students were eloquent and thoughtful and….competitive! To make things interesting, the students decided that we should break into teams and compete against one another when answering the questions. The student who was leading the discussion would then decide on the winner. The de-facto leader of my team was determined to get ‘first position’, so I was a bit nervous when it was my turn to discuss the advantages of social links. At one point, he even nudged me and told me to take notes! In the end, the student leading the discussion (nicknamed by his friends Osama because of his thick beard) judiciously decided that both teams gave excellent answers and he couldn’t decide between the two!

The discussion leader with the donated National Geographic mags.
  Thanks Brent and Heidi!

In typical Afghan hospitality, Mr. Zia presented Lou and I with beautiful scarves before we left. They asked us to wear the scarves for a group photo and I had a moment’s hesitation – can I take off my scarf in front of men to put the new one on? I decided to just put the new scarf over the one I was wearing…I think it looked okay. After the photos, we headed on our way with promises to return for next’s week discussion – what would you do if you were the Governor of Nangarhar Province. That’ll be an interesting one!

Buddies

Jalalywood

Love, betrayal and slow-motion fight scenes – the makings of a good movie and in Mr. Azizi’s case, the makings of a GREAT movie.

Mr. Azizi watching a pivotal scene in his movie


We recently had the chance to rub shoulders with one of the biggest movie stars in Jalalabad – Mr. Azizi, who also works at SAFA radio station. He was kind enough to show us his entire movie during a recent trip to SAFA. Well, I suppose we only saw most of the movie, he fast-forwarded through the parts of the movie that he wasn’t in.

A tense scene half-way through the movie when Mr. Azizi
discovers the bad guy is actually his best friend!

The entire movie was filmed in and around Jalalabad and was completely financed by the small group of friends that created the movie. They took a big risk producing the movie since it has a strong love story and the main actress isn’t wearing a head scarf. There are also a few risqué dance scenes scattered throughout the film. The main actress is from Pakistan; apparently they weren’t any women in Jalalabad who were willing to be in the film.

I will add a link as soon as I’m able to post part of the movie on youtube. It’s a must-see!



Hangin' with the Ladies - Afghan style

Aside from the schools where some of the women of Jalalabad work and study, there are few public places for women to gather and socialize. A rare exception is the main park downtown, which is only open to women and their children on Wednesdays. The park is downtown and has one large field and another field with trees and benches for picnicking. A concrete wall eight feet high surrounds the park, allowing for privacy.



Jenn and Lou hanging with the the female guard for the park.  The only Afghan woman I've seen wearing pants - and sweet shades to boot!



Lou, Jenn and I visited the park this past Wednesday,

 not know what to expect once we crossed the gate. We were first greeted by an Afghan woman dressed in a military outfit and surprisingly – wearing pants! She was very friendly and ushered us in with a smile. There were a couple hundred women and children milling around the park. The children, both boys and girls, were chasing each other around the fields while the women were sitting together in groups talking, drinking tea and eating. The first thing I noticed was the brilliant colors. Everyone seemed to be decked out in their finest, which included bright reds, purples and greens and lots of flashy jewelry. The second thing I noticed was that we were one of the few women who had head scarves on! Most of the women had their scarves draped around their shoulders with their long hair stylishly in plain sight. It was a beautiful thing to behold.

One of the first girls to join our game of soccer

We had just bought a knock-off Nike soccer ball so we headed out to the main field to kick the ball around. It didn’t take long for a few of the braver kids to edge over towards us and watch. We kicked them the ball, the international sign for come play with us, and we quickly had a couple dozen kids playing with us. The boys started to dominate the game, pushing aside the girls to get to the ball, but we tried to pass the girls the ball and encourage them to participate. After about a half hour we took a break and had tea with one of the families. I was kicking myself for not knowing enough Pashto (or any really) to be able to converse with the ladies. It would have been a great opportunity to talk candidly with them.

Two of our soccer buddies - the older one is wearing one of Lou's stickers

After our tea, the three of us walked over to the food vendors in the back of the park to snag lunch. We sat down at a small table with our newspaper-wrapped bits of goodness and snacked while looking out on the park. While we were eating, our ever-popular Jenn, was approached by two groups of students that recognized her from visits to the schools. They were taking a break from their exams which they said had been quite stressful! One of the girls invited us to meet her two sisters and mother who were with her at the park. Jenn’s student-friend was able to speak English so she helped translate for us as we chatted with her family. Finally, although we were the drabbest women at the park (wearing dark colors, no makeup and matted-down hair) Jenn’s friend and her family asked us to have our picture taken with them. They had a photographer from a photo studio in the park come out with his digital camera and take photos of us in front of a defunct water fountain. Like the male food vendors, it didn’t seem to matter that this man was seeing the women without their head scarves.

All good things must come to an end, so after two hours we said our goodbyes with promises of returning to the park next Wednesday.

I can see Russia from my airplane

Maybe I should see if Palin needs a foreign policy advisor!

The snowy suburbs of Moscow on an early Tuesday morning...