It was a good week. We had some cooler weather, mostly nice and in the upper 80s every day. I guess it is the rainy season now, and pretty much every afternoon it gets cloudy, and in the early evenings there is usually a thunderstorm. When it rains it really pours!! The showers, though intense, don’t last a very long time. And often, toward the end of the shower, the sun starts shining brightly, which is very weird, bright sun and glistening pouring down rain.
On Friday night we had a thunder and lightening storm in the evening, and a plane crashed on landing at the airport, killing all 127 people on board. The media reported that the plane had difficulty landing in the lightening storm. It was very sad.
On Thursday night we were invited to someone else’s home for Bible study and dinner, as our usual hostess has gone on leave. The lady who hosted is an American and is here working at an international school, her husband and teenage daughter are with her. They were a lovely family and I enjoyed meeting them.
One evening I went to the local shopping market with my friend. It is something like a strip mall, located in a residential area, hundreds of little shops packed tightly on top of each other. There are shops for electronics, rugs, clothing, jewelry, fabrics, flowers, fruits and veggies, cosmetics, drug store items and groceries. This particular store was called “Best Buy” and was something like a little Wal-Mart, with groceries and food downstairs and household goods upstairs. I bought a few things for my house but enjoyed going up and down the aisles and looking at the strange and unfamiliar foods and spices. Some of the displays made me a little nervous, eggs and rather large pieces of whole animals were displayed, no refrigeration that I saw. Everything seemed very inexpensive to me, especially the food. After about ½ hour, the “stranger in a strange land” feeling was becoming overwhelmingly unpleasant so we left. I think it will take me a while to become comfortable in these places.
Friday night was a special line dancing happy hour at the American Club patio at the Embassy. There wasn’t actually a lot of line dancing., as most people seemed happy enough sipping their beers and eating their munchies. When the storm approached we went inside for awhile, then 8 of us went to a Thai restaurant for dinner.
This was a very interesting group of people working for USAID. I have never known much about AID, other than it is part of the State Department and the people are hard working, in the trenches every day, up to their elbows in snakes and scorpions, helping developing countries with large infrastructure projects and smaller development projects. Everyone I have met so far is very hard working, good natured and lets-roll-up-our-sleeves-and-get-this-done types, who seem unfazed by their work in extremely austere and challenging conditions in these third-world countries. I thank God that there are people who are willing to do this work. These folks are mostly focused on energy and the power grid in Pakistan. See more AID projects here:
http://www.usaid.gov/locations/afghanistanpakistan/
BTW, they are looking for junior foreign service officers, so if you are interested, apply here:
http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.usajobs.gov%2FGetJob%2FViewDetails%2F313519000&h=zAQGxi4ts
Electricity here is a problem. The power goes off several times a day and night for about 1 hour at a time, a process they term “load shedding”. Most people have generators that kick in immediately, they are fairly reliable but seem to need attention fairly often. Over the summer, when temperatures are routinely 110-120 degrees during the day, the draw on the power grid is overwhelming and causes frequent brownouts. I read this week that the electric company will routinely shut down the power for up to 18 hours a day, to conserve the fragile power grid. That will be a big strain on the generators, which require diesel fuel to work and are not designed to run for 18 hours straight 7 days a week. This is a country in an energy crisis.
Anyway, the folks I had dinner with were all very nice and friendly, mostly Americans who had served all over, mostly in the Middle East and Africa. These folks have had such fascinating careers and lives and I am really impressed. One man told me that since this is his last tour, he and his wife have bought their first home in Virginia. They are in their 60’s and have never owned a home before ever!! They are like hermit crabs, going from one home to another. Another lady told me that she has 2 kids, 25 and 22 and the kids are both in the US now visiting, but they have never ever lived there! They have lived their entire lives in other countries and cultures. The foreign service lifestyle is certainly different than what I have known, and I’m grateful to get a peek into these interesting lives. This is the path not taken.
The Twilight Zone moment of the week came that night when we left the restaurant, it was about 10pm and a downpour had just started. Imagine my surprise when one of my dinner companions suddenly whipped out an Ohio State umbrella! It was like he just pulled it out of a hat or something! Turns out he is from Westerville, and another lady at our table was from Wooster. Small world, glad to connect with some Buckeyes here on the other side of the world. Maybe next time we go there we can do an OH-IO picture!
I started taking Urdu classes this week, so practiced my vocab and writing lessons too. I’m glad to have the opportunity to learn another language, but it does not come easily to me. I think its that whole left brain/right brain thing. I really like my Urdu teacher. She is very smart and patient and in addition to teaching Urdu, she is an artist and shows and sells her oil paintings. She is now working on her PhD in fine arts. She told me that she thinks I am smart and pretty, but too fat. I just need to lose weight, she said, I should join the gym and stop eating so much. Good advice.
Most of the day Saturday and Sunday my cable TV and internet were out, so I cleaned house, did laundry and spent some time reading and writing. My garden is in and it looks fabulous. Since we’ve had daily rain, that has really helped the new turf grass take root and it looks green and healthy. The other plants are planted and the flowers are already starting to bloom. A few flowers and a little greenery make such a difference!
My cook came 2 times this week and made me dinners of spicy beef, chicken and vegetables. It is great coming home to good smells in the kitchen and a clean house. I love this arrangement!! The food here is just fabulous and although it seems like I eat a lot, I have lost weight. There is virtually no white sugar or flour here, no white bread or rice and very little salt or fat is used in the preparation of food. I’m eating a lot of veggies, which seem to taste so much better than what I’ve been used to, I guess because they are grown locally and not trucked in from another continent. I don’t know what the names of the spices are but they make everything delicious.
Millie is doing fine and is quite spoiled by all the attention she is getting. She has it pretty good and I think she really likes it here. The only thing is, I’m unable to walk her, so I am afraid she is getting a little round and lazy. I think I will have to find a dog walker, or someone to walk with me so she can get in some walks. Someone was telling me that it is ok to bring dogs to the Embassy on weekends and walk them around there, so maybe we would do that. I think Millie would enjoy lounging around the pool and meeting everyone.
Sunday after church a bunch of us went to the brunch at the gorgeous Serena hotel. The hotel and gardens are just beautiful and the brunch was fabulous. We all ate way more than we should have and as I write this I am in a little pain. Everything just looked and tasted so good I got a little carried away. One of the women in the group was born and raised in Cleveland Hts., and one of the men was a Buckeye! I am surprised at how many Ohio people I have met in the last couple days.
After that, a friend was hosting an open house at her home, to benefit an organization called the “Special Children’s Educational Institute“, a school in Karachi, run by an American women to serve developmentally challenged children and adults. She helps the children to make little crafts that are sold in markets and people’s homes, things like gift bags, pillows, stationery, trays, pictures etc. I bought some stationary, notebooks, and envelopes. I might bring a whole bunch back to the US to sell at my Church mission fair too. I was very impressed with this lady, that she helps these poor children, many of whom are orphans, gives them a place to live and learn, and gives them pride and a sense of accomplishment by helping them make crafts they can sell. She said she has about 40 children and young adults, ages 3-30, who come to her home each day for classes and crafts. The organization is funded entirely by donations and craft sales. I am absolutely in awe of people who dedicate their lives to serving the neediest and most forgotten, it is truly God’s work. Their website is:
http://www.sceipak.org/
I didn’t see any lizards this week, thank goodness. The people next door have chickens and a rooster, which is quite noisy beginning around 2am and continuing all day long. They also have a large pigeon coop on the roof of their house, I imagine it is a major food source for them.
Please write back or comment, I love hearing from everyone. Until next week, Insha’Allah.
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