Eid and our next level of culture shock...

I remember a story my mother told me about when we were here when I was a child. My mother was talking to our Afghan landlord on the balcony of our house and she was exclaiming over the beauty of Kabul in the wintertime. The surrounding mountains are spectacular when covered with snow. And the landlord said "Ah, yes they are beautiful but then you can leave them...for me they are a prison."

Norm and I had made plans to go to Pakistan for a couple of days because we have been working non-stop for months now. I had really looked forward to this as I missed a trip north because of work. But the Pakistani consultate must have learned from the same "customer service" book as the Afghans-first priority is to tease and enrage your customer. He spent a good long morning at the consulate, of course, he did not have all the required references and documents and he was sent away empty handed and told to come back on Sunday. He did and was promptly notified that the consulate had left for Pakistan and no more visa's would be issued until after Eid. I was surprised at my reaction which was a sense of claustrophobia...and a desire to get out of the country anyway possible...even if just for a few days. I am so used to being able to travel our large continent with no restrictions it is strange to be here with no way out!

This Islamic holiday, Eid, when the pilgrims make their Haj to Mecca, is a holiday where sacrificial animals are slaughtered so not my favorite holiday here as I see these beautiful animals standing waiting their turn...however I have more respect for a culture in which butchering is all part of the day here, than us at home who do not witness the death of our meal and are disconnected from the unpleasantness and pain of it.

Norm and I have no staff and no drivers in an attempt to give everyone holiday, so we walked downtown to the huge bazaar, Mandai-ee. It is for the most part just frequented by Afghans because so much of the goods are new, cheap imports from Pakistan, Iran and China. But rich in tradition. They don't see foreigners there much so lots of staring but quite a few strangers stopped to talk to us or to help us. We are both taking Dari lessons again, and I can for the most part understand what people are saying and respond. Norm was taking my picture in the melee that the bazaar was and a man right next to me commented saying "look! the foreigners are taking a picture! to which I notified him "These foreigners understand you! and you can address us directly!" They don't mean to be rude but just are not used to us at all, which is strange for me -as a child I was in that bazaar often -I even remember where certain places are and I never experienced being strange.

We had a great day. We have been steadily reducing our reliance on our staff to attain a more normal life than is expected for foreigners here. We have two days now without staff altogether and are minimizing our needs. We realized yesterday that next to go is our driver. We can actually walk downtown in the time it takes to drive in this traffic (and we desparately need exercise) as well as we cannot explore with driver in tow the way we both love to. So, next purchase, an old Russian Jeep...we won't drive much in Kabul -impossible but we will be so much less dependent- which we really need now.

There seem to be so many layers to culture shock and just when I think I am getting used to it here I will get hit sideways with something so alien to me that I get upset. But we ended our day yesterday in our own neighborhood bazaar-and everyone was buying presents and excited about upcoming holiday. An Iranian woman went out of her way to speak to me out of friendliness. I saw an old Hazara help a young man up from a bicycle fall. Everytime I start to feel critical if I observe closely I will see these small but important gestures of humanity and kindness that is at the heart of the Afghan people.