But it is really funny…
The only problem is that my desk is right next to a window looking out to this beautiful little flower-filled courtyard.
One thing I’ve discovered since arriving here is that Kabul really is beautiful; it’s just that most of its beauties are hidden away. Out on the streets the city appears very brown and dusty and dirty and polluted. It seems like there is no green anywhere to be found within the city limits.
But there is. Most residences have small courtyards just like this one, with grass and flowers and trees and vines.
You just can’t seem them because they’re hidden away behind high walls and gates.
Somehow this seems like a perfect metaphor for Afghanistan. Or am I thinking to deeply and philosophically?
Afghanistan tends to do that to me…
Finally getting some work done. Today I’ve set up shop in the office because none of the students were using it and I really needed space to spread out and work on my thesis proposal. The thesis proposal that I was supposed to finish and turn in to my adviser before I left. Oops.
The problem is that she wants a lot of specificity and details, the ones that I kind of haven’t gotten figured out/arranged yet. So I can’t really lay them all out for her when I don’t know them myself…
There’s a loneliness that only exists in one’s mind. The loneliest moment in someone’s life is when they are watching their whole world fall apart, and all they can do is stare blankly.
“
| — | F. Scott Fitzgerald The Great Gatsby (via mermaidsongs) |
[Flash 10 is required to watch video]
This is the best video in existence. Your argument is invalid.
John, you are my spirit animal!
ommigod I love him so much.
It takes a really long time for all the images on tumblr to load here, so I’m not sure how often or much I’ll be posting here. If you want to know the details of my Afghan escapades, read my blog about it here.
I arrived yesterday and am pretty much already settled in. I love it here, and it didn’t take long for that love to set in again. The people at the NGO where I’m volunteering and living are amazing, as are the random Afghans who helped me out at the airport. I don’t really understand why everyone (and by everyone I mean foreigners generally and Americans specifically) is so terrified of this place. I get that my experience here is very different from your average American’s (i.e. soldiers), but still.
There’s no reason to go around fearing every Afghan you meet. Sure, the Taliban are awful and cruel and ruthless and very bad people, but most Afghans hate the Taliban and are really wonderful people. So why judge the multitude by the actions of a few?
Ted: Hey, are you a freshwoman? I never use the word ‘freshman’. Sexist.
My college is so politically correct that the entering students are called “first years,” not freshmen. True story.
Just drugged my cats
Right now I’m doing a test run for when I fly them to my parents’ house in a few days. Being cats, neither of them travel well — they both cry loudly and often — so I got a sedative from the vet and I’m testing it on them today to see 1. How much is necessary and 2. If either of them react badly to it. If that were the case, then today I can rush them to the vet but if I waited until the day I fly and there’s a bad reaction, then I would have no recourse. I’m also going to corral them in their carrier and take them for a drive soon to see what happens. The vet said that sometimes the adrenaline can let them push through the tranquilizer so it doesn’t affect them, at least right away. I need to see what happens so I know how much to give them and when it will kick in.
It’s really funny, though, because the poor babies are stumbling all over the place. It looks like they’re drunk or stoned — huge eyes, can’t walk straight, and that glazed-over look.
