Hey everyone,
Sorry for slacking off on the blog. I either forget about it or I don't feel that I have anything interesting to write about. I think it's more the latter.
I have now been in Kabul for over one month. The time hasn't gone by fast nor has it gone by slow. Week to week seems to be pretty steady with work, grocery shopping, and going to my morning classes. The weekends are still dreadfully dull. One of these days I'll get out and sight see, it's organizing the transport from AUAF that I don't like doing.
It is Ramadan now, which means all of the people don't eat or drink anything from sunrise until sunset. This has caused a lot of people to become sluggish, grumpy, and just more irritable. For the most part, my classes have remained unchanged and if anything, my schedule has improved since I teach earlier in the afternoon rather than at night. Yay for fasting-holiday.
I'm still liking my job. I have been meeting some more people at the university, which is still really slow due to summer. I was invited to a birthday party the other night from a colleague in the English department. It was the first night that I honestly had some fun. His wife, a Cambodian, cooked a lovely meal of barbecued meet, chicken, and rice. The meat was marinated in lemon grass and the chicken was perfect. After the meal, everyone let their hair down and started dancing to some good music, including me. And I even had a cocktail or two, which was nice. By the end of the night, I had myself convinced that Cambodia was the best place on earth. I still plan on hitting it up again in December when I get just over five weeks of PAID vacation. I just like rubbing it in, sorry!
About that, I plan on returning to Thailand and doing a loop of SEA (Southeast Asia) heading north to Laos, into Vietnam, and then Cambodia. A side trip to Singapore might be in order depending on how I'm going for time. I'm going to let my stomach be my guide and eat my way through paradise. I'm pumped.
My class at the UK Embassy has finished. One of my colleagues returned from vacation and other work and took over the class. I'm not working at the Ministry of Agriculture two days per week and teaching an intermediate class. It's a nice change, but the commute is longer than before, which I don't like.
I'm also starting to plan a trip somewhere for this October. I get a week off and have ambitions of going to Tajikistan or Kyrgyzstan. If I get a friend to come along, I may go camping in a yurt, if it's not too cold yet here in Central Asia. The other possibility is going to Sri Lanka and enjoying a week on the beach and taking in a national park or two. I'm leaving this one wide open and probably wont decide until last minute.
In other news, I've paid off the first of three student loans that I have accumulated from my studies at NMU and in Argentina from the Universidad de Belgrano. I'm happy to say that my Sallie Mae loan with an interest rate of 6.25% has been paid in full, $13,355 to be exact. Yay for tax-free income in the Middle East and Central Asia!
On that high note, I'll say good bye.
Suerte,
- Jesse
Sorry for slacking off on the blog. I either forget about it or I don't feel that I have anything interesting to write about. I think it's more the latter.
I have now been in Kabul for over one month. The time hasn't gone by fast nor has it gone by slow. Week to week seems to be pretty steady with work, grocery shopping, and going to my morning classes. The weekends are still dreadfully dull. One of these days I'll get out and sight see, it's organizing the transport from AUAF that I don't like doing.
It is Ramadan now, which means all of the people don't eat or drink anything from sunrise until sunset. This has caused a lot of people to become sluggish, grumpy, and just more irritable. For the most part, my classes have remained unchanged and if anything, my schedule has improved since I teach earlier in the afternoon rather than at night. Yay for fasting-holiday.
I'm still liking my job. I have been meeting some more people at the university, which is still really slow due to summer. I was invited to a birthday party the other night from a colleague in the English department. It was the first night that I honestly had some fun. His wife, a Cambodian, cooked a lovely meal of barbecued meet, chicken, and rice. The meat was marinated in lemon grass and the chicken was perfect. After the meal, everyone let their hair down and started dancing to some good music, including me. And I even had a cocktail or two, which was nice. By the end of the night, I had myself convinced that Cambodia was the best place on earth. I still plan on hitting it up again in December when I get just over five weeks of PAID vacation. I just like rubbing it in, sorry!
About that, I plan on returning to Thailand and doing a loop of SEA (Southeast Asia) heading north to Laos, into Vietnam, and then Cambodia. A side trip to Singapore might be in order depending on how I'm going for time. I'm going to let my stomach be my guide and eat my way through paradise. I'm pumped.
My class at the UK Embassy has finished. One of my colleagues returned from vacation and other work and took over the class. I'm not working at the Ministry of Agriculture two days per week and teaching an intermediate class. It's a nice change, but the commute is longer than before, which I don't like.
I'm also starting to plan a trip somewhere for this October. I get a week off and have ambitions of going to Tajikistan or Kyrgyzstan. If I get a friend to come along, I may go camping in a yurt, if it's not too cold yet here in Central Asia. The other possibility is going to Sri Lanka and enjoying a week on the beach and taking in a national park or two. I'm leaving this one wide open and probably wont decide until last minute.
In other news, I've paid off the first of three student loans that I have accumulated from my studies at NMU and in Argentina from the Universidad de Belgrano. I'm happy to say that my Sallie Mae loan with an interest rate of 6.25% has been paid in full, $13,355 to be exact. Yay for tax-free income in the Middle East and Central Asia!
On that high note, I'll say good bye.
Suerte,
- Jesse
