Jesse's Afghan Shopping Spree!

    Another week has passed here in Kabul, the war torn capital that one couldn't help mistaking for a ghost town from an old John Wayne film. This week however, was more exciting than most because of the Fall Bazaar that seemingly sprung up on campus over night.

   For two days the school gym was transformed to a mini Afghan market full of carpet venders, jewelry salesmen, antique dealers, and local artists. It was a welcome addition to my ordinarily boring routine of work, eat, sleep, and repeat that I've become use to. In a moment of self-righteousness, I convinced myself that I deserved to spend a little cash on for a change, considering that I normally don't buy much and when I do, it's usually for someone back home. I took this moment of humility to heart and whipped out a crisp Benjamin and went on a bargain hunt.

   After a quick look through what was available, I stumbled across a local hat that some of the locals wear. It's a brown, flat hat that covers the head only slightly and goes along well with the local clothes that I had made. Deciding that I wanted to buy it, I asked the dealer 'chan ast?' (how much is it?), prepared to bargain down the price that was suppose to be over priced. Afghans, by the way, are known for bargaining. Always bargain when in the market. To my astonishment, the hat was only $6. Being a little disappointed that I couldn't practice my haggling skills, I reluctantly handed over 300 Afghanis ($6) to the merchant and went on my way.

 Next stop on my rare shopping trip was a table selling rugs and jewelry. I noticed that there were these long strips of woven fabric in the shape of squares. I inquired as to what they were and was told that they were handmade coffee coasters. Intrigued, and thinking that they would make a nice souvenir for the family back home, and a good wall decoration for my room, I picked up five for the price of 500 Afghanis ($10). The gentleman selling them was also gracious enough to include a sixth coaster for free. These lovely, woven coasters are currently hanging on my wall next to my desk to add some vibrancy to my room. They're a small addition, but I like looking at them.

  Growing tired of buying these small items, I aimed a little higher and strolled on over to one of the antique dealers on hand. My eyes rolled over the fascinating tea pots made out of bronze and silver, the old guns that were there, and finally landed my eyes on a copper made shield. The salesman said he thought it was 80-90 years old, but I doubt it is. Regardless of its age, I am intrigued by the design which includes intricately drawn deer and swirls of all sorts. The man said it was $70, but I got him down to $60. I think it was a fair price. It is now hanging on my coat rack until I decide on a better place to display it.

  Next, I meandered over to a crafts table and my interests were peaked by a set of wood baskets that were on display. The 'baskets' have a handle that folds horizontally, enabling the 'basket' to be pushed downwards until it forms a flat surface. Feeling careless with my Afghanis, I decided to purchase three with varying sizes and to put them on display in my room. The total price was only $30 for three handmade wood crafts. To end the first day of shopping, I picked up a lamb-leather jacket for $50. The man wanted $70, but sensing he was desperate for a sail, I began to walk away knowing that he would finally agree.

 The next day, I returned to the market with a couple hundred more dollars, fully intending on buying a handmade wool rug. The 'killium or quiliyum' cost me $110 and is handmade out of wool. The primary colors are burgundy, yellow gold, and dark brown. I love it! The guy wanted $150, but with the help of a Filipino friend, we struck a deal. It now sits in the middle of my floor and is the main attention getter of my living space. I'm not sure what the difference between a killiyum and a carpet is, but the killiyum is not as thick as a carpet and retains the rough, itchy texture of the wool.

 The next item up for grabs was a painting that I had my eye one since the first day. It was a representation of the green hills of Afghanistan and from a distance, it looked really cool. However, when I went up to it, there were certain details about it that I didn't like and I decided not to entertain the thought of buying it. Hoping for one last painting to catch my eye, I stumbled upon another painting that was more fascinating than the first. It's a representation of a game from Mozar-e-Sharif called Buskashi. In this game, people on horses try to pick up a dead sheep carcass and throw it or put it somewhere else. The painting has dark undertones of gray, green, and brown and is a fascinating addition to my room. It now sits on top of my dresser drawing my attention away from the white wall that it lies against. Total price was only $35.

   Feeling my money escaping me, I decided to purchase on last item that caught my eye. It was a dark blue stone box. The stone is called lapis lazuli and comes from Badakshan province up north. The stone is dark blue with shimmering gold specks in it. It's quite heavy and cost me about $38 dollars. I'm not sure if it's a jewelry box, as it is just one hollow space. Being that blue is my favorite color, I dropped the last bit of money that I had and called it a day.

 All in all, I'm happy with what I purchased and all of my pieces make my room in Peach House feel much more at home. What I'm happiest with the most is that I got a really nice rug and a kick ass painting. And what's more is that I whole heartily plan on keeping most of this stuff for ME! Sorry, fam....

 -  Jesse

Random Ramblings

   Since writing the last blog post, I've remembered how much fun it can be to write even if what I have to say isn't exciting or particularly noteworthy to anyone other than myself.

  Today I find myself at work drinking the same chai - tea and preparing for my ELC 220 class from 5-7PM.    I'm currently only teaching two classes at the moment, both in the evening hours. The students in these classes are particularly nice and I even have some old ones who advanced from the last lower level class that I finished a couple weeks ago. This week I've also been subbing for a co-worker who was on leave and taught her classes at the British Embassy. This is the class that I taught when I first arrived to Kabul for about  one month. It was nice to see some of the old faces again, but the class was really informal chat this week for those who did show up.

 Lately I've found myself picking up the strange habit of drinking Perrier water. I've been buying the stuff when I've been grocery shopping. I enjoy the fizziness in my mouth. I just wish that they had a lemon flavor that I could find. That would be the perfect combination I think. Anyways, I think I'll survive.

 The weather has been slowly getting cooler over the last week or two. I'm looking forward to the cooler weather, just not the snow and chills that follow the autumn breeze. Last winter was one for the record books, apparently. Judging from the picture that I've seen, there will be lots of snow. I'm glad I brought a couple of pairs of warm clothes. I think the local suits I had made will also work good in defending me against the elements of Central Asia. Time will tell.

 Life is continuing as normal following the bombing two days ago. The rooster woke me up to another normal day today, followed shortly by the ice cream cart that plays a loud song from a megaphone-like device. All of this before 7 AM. After a few more cockle-doodle-doos, I finally get out of bed to an inspiring scene of a couple of hundred school children buying stuff in the local market just down the road from me. The school is about a block away and is visible from my second floor balcony. At 7:30 I got picked up by transport and began my half hour journey to the British Embassy. Along the way I passed a legion of guys heading the work on bikes, police officers guarding the roads, and lots of people waiting in line to get water from the local water pumps that exist on the road sides here.

 Before getting dropped off, I had the driver stop at Finest, the foreign supermarket, so I could pick up a coupe days worth of Perrier. In feel quite elitist buying such things in fancy green glass bottles. Following this, I arrive at the embassy and do my thing there. After my class I was dropped off at Peach House and fiddled around my room for a couple of hours. At 12:35 I was picked up and brought to work and had a nice lunch with two of my Spanish speaking colleagues here on campus. It's been a good day, overall.

 Now I'm at my desk with 1:44 minutes left before class. I still have to print some things out and look over the lesson plan in the book. It's the usual routine, but at least the bills are getting paid year ahead in advance. I just have to remember that. Work now, play later.... or maybe a bit of both?! I like that last idea.

 Speaking of play, I'm getting excited about my vacation in November. I know it's two months away yet, but six weeks is a good stretch of time to see some seriously cool stuff. Halong Bay, Vietnam, Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Luang Prabong, Laos, Saigon, Vietnam, etc...  October's Eid vacation is turning out to be a dilemma. Officially I don't have a week off, however everyone except me is taking time off at this time to go away on holiday. I'm being encouraged to do the same. The problem is that I would like to have a month off next year before my first contract ends in June. I'm up in the air about the whole thing. Going to Istanbul for a week or to Sri Lanka would be great and big relief, however with my big vacation shortly after, I'm tempted just to bear with the time and save the money for my big trip. What do ya'll think, spend now & worry later, or wait and enjoy more in Thailand, etc...? Remember that I did stay here during the last holiday and it was UBER boring. This one would be even longer and probably more stressful since I've been here for a while now.

-  J.

The Situation

   It's been a long time since I've done a blog post. For the most part my life here in Kabul has become boringly routine. I'm still living in Peach house which is where I am voluntarily serving my year long house arrest, lol. And I am still going to work at the University. Most of my morning classes at private institutions have ceased for the time being.

 There's been a lot of news coming out of Kabul lately, especially with the video called 'Innocence of Muslims'. By now you've all heard about the tragic riots that caused the death of the US Ambassador to Libya, which have now spread all over Muslim world, including Afghanistan.

 First and foremost the video is incredibly poor quality and quite offensive to the host country and people where I now call home. I had the unique opportunity to watch the trailer for this video with two fellow Afghan coworkers on campus and there reaction to it was very surprising. Not only did they not lynch the foreigner in the room, me. But they were quite calm when I asked them what they thought of it. They were only concerned about the 'other peoples' reactions.

 There have been some protests here in Kabul over the last week, during which some police cars were burned. On one day this week I couldn't go home because there was a protest near my house, so I had to take a back way to campus coming back from the British Embassy class I had been covering for a colleague on leave, but it was peaceful.

 A couple of weeks ago there was a suicide bomber near the Italian Embassy that caused the deaths of four young children who were part of the Skatistan project which teaches kids how to skateboard. And of course yesterday there was the big attack that targeted foreigners on the Airport Road. Apparently a women driver *which is quite rare* rammed a bus full of contract workers and detonated herself causing the deaths many people. This is the first attack that has actually targeted foreigners and has rattled some nerves on campus among the foreign population.

 Due to all of these sad events, many people from home have been asking (telling?) me to come home and find another job. I respect and appreciate the concern that many people have for me over here. It really shows you who cares about you. However, I do not believe that the security situation here in Kabul is to the point where I feel in danger and ready to leave.

 I can say that ever since I've been here I have been very careful and watchful in my movements, which are few. I literally just go to and from work on a daily basis, with a side trip once a week to the grocery store. Very rarely do I go out with friends to restaurants for dinner in town or to other places. And when I do, it's always with University transport or in a private taxi used bay all of the university employees.

 I'd like to take this time to suggest to many people back in the United States to shut off the television and to put down the newspaper. The stories that you read about this part of the world are so narrowly slanted and bias towards a wrongful portrayal of the culture and society of the people who live here. Afghans, for the most part, are  a very gracious and generous people who do not seek violence against foreigners, but rather peace and stability in a country that has known nothing but war for forty years. The people I work with day in and day out in the office, my classroom, in the transport I take, and stores that I frequent are all beautiful people who yes, are different, but still people. Period. End. Of. Discussion.

 For whatever reason, I am not scared to be here and do not fear for my security when I go out. Maybe I should, but I don't. I take the necessary precautions when I do decide to have a little fun and am very watchful when in the streets of Kabul, which is rare, sadly. So please stop and think for a moment before sending me demands of returning home or quitting my job.

 At the end of the day, it was me who chose to come here, well aware of the situations I would most likely experience. I'm not about to give up and quit just because a couple of crazies decided to play fireworks with themselves and do some stupid acts. I enjoy my job and have set very strict financial goals for myself in the months ahead. I'm totally committed to achieving everything I've come here to do, so long as the situation doesn't get too dicey.

 On a positive note, everyone can take a sigh of relief in knowing that I will be leaving Afghanistan for six weeks from November 23rd - January 5th for my first paid leave. I'll be heading to Southeast Asia for a whirlwind tour of Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, Singapore, and Malaysia. It's going to be stellar!

 -  Jesse

Month 1, check!

  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

General Update...

     Well, another weekend in Kabul has come and gone. I did my usual grocery shopping at Finest and Spinneys with an added stop at a street vegetable stand to get some radishes. My classes at the British Embassy and the other NGO where I teach are going well. I'm finally used to the early schedule and am appreciating the couple hour break I give myself from about ten o'clock til noon when I go to campus to prepare for my evening courses.

   I found out last week that there is a possibility to go work in another city here in Afghanistan for two weeks every month. It's called, Herat, and is near the Iranian border in the far west of Afghanistan. I have spoken my interest in giving it a try and look forward to possibly going to another place.

   Another fellow I met, Dr. Rod, who teaches business here at AUAF, is encouraging me to travel outside of Kabul if I get the chance. This past weekend he went to some pristine valley north of Kabul by two or three hours. Apparently, the security is really strict there and it is very safe. To my parents and/or my sister's ire, I thin I'll do that come September when more people show up who want to do things.

   The air in Kabul today was horrible. The plume of smog on the street was so thick, I couldn't see the large Afghan palace that lies directly at the end of Darul Aman road, a major street in Kabul. I'm surprised to say that I'm not coughing like I though I would; although the rumor is that after awhile you get 'Kabul cough' from here for too long. Knock on wood!

   I'm started to feel a it cooped up in the house,  nowadays. I think this upcoming weekend I'll venture out into the center of town to do some exploring. At the very least, I want to go get a beer with some of the other foreign teachers here who seem to know different places.

  Today, I had a nice lunch with a couple of Afghan coworkers in the cafeteria. We had an interesting conversation about their lives in Iran during the Taliban era. I found it intriguing. The lunch today was rice, chicken, salad, and more Nan. Nan here is the staple food and it only costs twenty cents for a nice, hot piece of bread measuring more than one foot in circumference. Apparently, the price of it is subsidized by the Afghan Government.

  The talk on the street today is all about a suicide bombing that took place yesterday in the north part of the country. Some imbecile blew himself up at a wedding reception of a prominent politicians daughter's wedding. The MP who was killed was a political ally of Hamid Karzai and a former commander during Afghanistan's Civil War in the 1980's. Around twenty people were killed. The Taliban did not claim responsibility and it is thought that a personal enemy of the MP may have arranged this to happen, but who knows?

 Well, that's all I have today.

 

Siem Reap and Angkor Wat

  This post is a continuation to one I did regarding traveling in Cambodia a few months ago. It was after this that my blog dropped off from the face of the Internet due to laziness on my part. 


 Siem Reap, Cambodia: It's Cambodia's second largest city and easily the most developed for handle throngs of tourists from all over the world. What they all come to see is the famed temples of Angkor Wat, a massive city complex built about one thousand years ago in honor of the pagan god Vishnu. Built by the Khmer Empire, the city is Southeast Asia's best preserved ruins from a time long past. Having survived centuries lost in the thick jungles, the ruins luckily escaped numerous wars and modern-day skirmishes relatively untouched. Today, Angkor Wat is to Cambodia what the Mayan Ruins are to Mexico.

 After bidding Adieu to Valentina and Fabio, my travel companions from Italy, I started looking for hotel to stay at in Siem Reap. It turned out that the reservation at a local hostel I had made didn't go through and as such, there was no more room. With the help of a local Tuk Tuk driver, I found a place in the center of town for about $25 per night, very expensive in Cambodia. The room was nice and clean with a very comfortable bed. Being in the center of town, I walked around the riverside and through the market for a bit before returning to my room to take a nap. I was still tired from traveling from Bahrain and reminded myself that I was on vacation and in no hurry to see anything. The rest of that day was spent relaxing and just taking strolls through market places and trying to meet up with people.

 Luckily enough, I was met a German fellow on Couch Surfing who was willing to share a Tuk Tuk with me to see Angkor Wat. His name was Jens and he was from Berlin. The ride to Angkor was stunning, you drive through the poor parts of Siem Reap and come into a thick lush forest right out of Tomb Raider. You eventually pass by a lake and some big trees and there it is, the first glimpse of Angkor Wat, except it's not it, it's really the gateway leading to it! The Tuk Tuk stopped among the throngs of tourists already at the ancient marvel. Hundred of people were trying to get that famous picture in front of the gateway and the mobs of tour guides trying to get you to hire them was hard to ignore.

 Jens and I were happy to see Angkor on our own as not to be rushed. Walking up to the gate are two lakes or big ponds on both sides of you with people walking around them and even some Buddhist monks in their traditional orange robes. I got a picture of them and I considered myself lucky to get it.When you reach the gate, you have to ascend steep stairs, which are being renovated, as if you had to bow so far just to pay tribute to the ancient civilization. While constructed well before Buddhism came to Cambodia, Ankor Wat now serves as a sort of Buddhist pilgrimage of sorts. Inside the gate is a statue of Buddha to make offerings to and long hallway corridors with walls that contain carvings from a millennium ago. This part took long to get through as I took plenty of pictures (see FB).

 Once your through the gateway, it's still a fair distance before you hit Angkor. You have to tread carefully through a grass field of ancient building and stones that once adorned magnificent architectural wonders the world can only image looked like in their full glory and context. All of Angkor is now a dark black and gray color, but it still holds its own beauty from the hands of the designers who made the complex so long ago. Near the forest, there are make shift restaurants where you can buy coconuts and basic food to enjoy being in the presence of history. I proudly did so after our tour was finished. After all, this place is Cambodia's piggy bank for tourism, they want you to drop a dollar anywhere you can.

 Once your in the main temple of Angkor, you can climb all the way up to the main tower (for lack of a better word) and have a grand view of the forest. To ascend it was no easy task. One can easily fall to their doom should you take one wrong step on the ancient stone stairways covered in plywood for safety concerns. Jens and I explored this place like it was none other on earth. It was a fascinating experience to see hundreds of people and the expressions on their faces as they gazed into magnificence. During the trip, we also saw some monkeys on the ground and in trees which added a bit of excitement to the day.

 On the way out, I couldn't help but think of what I had just saw. My mind went back to that old CNN commercial that first got me interested in Cambodia and to the gateway where I entered the country. For the rest of the day, Jens and I went to many other ancient temples and buildings just as old, if not older, than Angkor Wat. I also spent three more days after this in Siem Reap just to enjoy the local people and the company of my new German friend. It was a great place and I look forward to returning one day to pay Cambodia more travel justice than what I gave it at first.

 Until then, I have the memories of that journey.

 - Jesse

The last couple of days...

    The last couple of days have been pretty routine here in Kabul. I went back to my NGO class on Wednesday and taught for the hour, I also got another ID card for when I enter there facility. The ride to and from classes is still pretty intriguing on the eyes. While the brown buildings and dusty mountain scenery are the same all around, the daily hustle and bustle of life of normal Afghans still is intriguing to me. Take for example the man who walks in front of Peach House at 7AM with an ice cream cart, yes, at 7 am... He

walks a short distance while spewing out the loudest version of the Happy Birthday song that you can imagine. I'm trying to decide who is worse, him or the rooster?

    On the way to work, I also pass by about one hundred school children dressed in blue-shirt uniforms just hanging out, eating, playing, and talking. It's a nice sight for a country where all you expect to see is bombs going off and Chinook helicopters overhead. There's also usually several school girls covered in white head scarfs walking down the streets with smiles on their faces, something that probably wasn't very common under the rule of the Taliban regime.

  What I really find fascinating every time I go out into the city are the houses that are built high up into the mountain with no way of reaching them via roads. I mean their almost vertical compared to the ground level. I don't know how people can stand living so high up. Imagine having to walk down and then up several times per day just to get water, because there is no indoor plumbing up there. The houses are brown and rundown usually. They look like something out of the Middle Ages or from the time of Christ.

  When I finally get to campus, security check the car for bombs and looks through my computer bag before I can officially enter the main campus. The university itself is quite serene. It's not very big, but for what it is, it's very pleasant. There a big courtyard with rosebushes everywhere and shrubs of all sorts. The buildings of the university aren't the most modern, but compared to the rest of Kabul, they may as well be new. Behind the campus is a mountain that is usually blurred by the smoggy air that plagues this town like a sickness that wont go away. The students are quite nice and usually well behaved. My first class I had at the university started off well and all them had a smile on their face. I only had nine show up out of sixteen.

  On Wednesday afternoon around lunch, I ordered takeout from a restaurant that caters to foreigners. I was craving something Middle Eastern so I ordered a lamb platter and some yogurt with cucumbers and mint (there was no mint). Later that night, Montezuma's revenge crept up on me and made me live in the bathroom for that night and the next day. I'm still battling some of whatever it is I have. At least Kabul has Imodium (thanks Bea!).

 It's the weekend now, which falls on Friday and Saturday here in most of the Islamic world. It's quiet and there is the occasional sound of a plane or helicopter flying overhead. I've been entertaining myself by playing the Price is Right game on Facebook. That gets old quickly, but hey, my high score for this week is $61000!

 I think I'll go play a game now!

 - Jesse