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!