Yesterday afternoon, my uncle and I were bored so we had our own tea party-just the two of us- and ate some cookies and drank some tea. I have been very spoiled in the food department while I’ve been here. I’ve been eating good food every day. Before our tea party my uncle bought two lambs and they were grazing in the yard. He bought them for “khairat,” which is charity. Basically, their heads will be cut off while being prayed over (halal). I was thinking about those poor lambs, but then I thought at least these lambs get blessed before they are killed. There is some appreciation for the lamb giving its life to feed someone else, whereas in the US I’m not sure the animals we eat get so much gratitude. I decided I should watch the process, which I suppose sounds pretty sick. But I just thought if I’m going to eat them then I ought to see them killed too. If I can’t see them killed than maybe I should become a vegetarian.
After our tea party we went to a friend’s house for dinner near “chicken street” which is a famous street that sells antiques. We sat outside in the courtyard under the full moon and my dad and the other engineers talked “engineer talk” while I tried to keep up as much as I could. The TV was on and the news showed some men carrying coffins in Jalalabad. A few days ago US forces raided houses in Jalalabad and killed several people, including women and children. I can’t remember if 25 houses were raided or if 25 people were killed. A man and a woman from Jalalabad spoke angrily of this injustice and that the US forces should not have raided these houses without permission. Today I saw that Karzai said he will not tolerate any more civilian casualties. I think he’s been saying that for a while though, and am not sure how he can enforce his claims. After the news was a show similar to David Letterman or SNL. There was a pretty good sketch making fun of the Afghan program “Afghan Star” which is the equivalent to American Idol in the US. One thing that is really refreshing about Afghanistan is the media here. It’s so new, and so much more democratic than the media in the US. Remember “free speech”? They show different programs, their news interviews everyday people and shows what’s going on in everyday life rather than just interviewing so-called “experts,” as we see on the news everyday in the US. It was really funny, they were showing president bush talking but it was dubbed in Dari. Regardless though I could still hear his dumb voice. The man looks stupid even when he’s dubbed in another language.
This morning I woke up several times. First was from the call to prayer. Then was the rooster’s call, and finally it was my dad shuffling around the room trying to empty his suitcase. He couldn’t sleep as usual. He flew in yesterday and surprisingly did not take a nap during the day. I thought we would share the queen sized bed but he opted to sleep on the floor, which made me smile. I thought, my mom would kill to snuggle with me, but I guess my dad is not much of a snuggler, which is OK. He probably would have tossed around like a dolphin anyway, twisting the covers around him.
Fortunately or unfortunately I woke up too late this morning and missed the lamb sacrifice. After the lambs were killed, the meat was separated into several bags and my uncle distributed them to the poor.
Later that day I had some of this lamb in a dish called “Do piaza” (Two onions) which has yellow split peas and onions soaked in vinegar
Today was a pretty relaxed day. Outside my window I saw some men trying to get a camel on a truck. They pushed and pulled as the camel moaned. I have no idea what they were trying to do with that camel. I went to the bathroom and when I came back they were trying to get the camel OFF the truck. The camel was not so happy about that and it took several men to drag him off as he moaned and groaned. Later on I saw the camel tied up outside my dad’s place, sitting contently.
Today we went to a coffee house called Chaylee. It’s a coffee house geared towards foreigners and was opened by an American woman. On the outside of the building, you can’t even tell there’s a coffee shop. There is no sign and it’s completely non-descript. Inside it’s like a little oasis of Kabul meets Starbucks. Wooden Afghan furniture, rugs, soft lighting and even some photos of coffee on the walls. Outside there is seating as well with red cushions and a screen that they use to screen movies every so often. My uncle and I opted for the ice cream with strawberry sauce. Yum :). It was really great people watching. It was a little magnet for foreigners. It was like they had all come out of the woodwork and were in this one place. Inside the women took their scarves off, sipped their lattes and worked on their laptops. There were also some young Afghan men hanging out there. One had his traditional paron-e tomban outfit with ipod earbuds in his ears. After I finished my ice cream, I noticed these two young men walk in. they looked like teenagers. I couldn’t help but stare at them, they were so adorable. At first I thought they were Japanese—they had Asian like features, but what made me really think they were Japanese was their clothing. They were SO hip. Washed out blue jeans rolled up, leather loafers, designer t-shirts…they looked straight out of an urban outfitters catalog or something. They ended up sitting near my uncle and I and I could tell by their fluent Dari that they were indeed Afghan, not Japanese as I had assumed :).
After ice cream eating, my uncle dad and I went shopping. My dad loves shopping, no matter where he is. He wanted to buy a small mattress that he could sleep on since he’s sleeping on the floor :). My impression of Kabul on this trip is that it has opened up a bit—it doesn’t feel as stiff and people are more relaxed. Also I see many more women wearing a head scarf rather than a burqa and also expressing themselves with different fashions. It turned out the owner of the mattress store had met my dad some 18 years ago in Seattle. He used to have a rug shop there. Small world, eh?
kBukakkesexy K D Trimming Sexy Stripped Mom And Daughter Nudity Szh 1 Trimming Sexy Stripped Mom And Daughter Gazelle Speakj Order Nudity A
tBukakkesexy K D Trimming Sexy Stripped Mom And Daughter Nudity Szh 1 Trimming Sexy Stripped Mom And Daughter Gazelle Speakx b Contacts