National geographic eyes

February 3
Another brilliant day in sunny Kabul- it is not always sunny but frequently thick w dark smog and minus visibility and yesterday it poured so the streets are once again gray mud, and today it is snowing
But today was one of the brilliant DAYS when I can’t bare to be inside and lucky for me my friend Zuhra -, grad of London School of Economics, teaching international law, Afghan beauty with National Geographic eyes acc to Kevin (see last letter)- she and Kevin came over as first lunch guests in my new LUXURY APT- it is luxurious but there’s always something in this case the previous tenants were chain smokers and anyone who knows me knows that is death to my poor faint hearted lungs- none of other faculty have apt- I was given this bec of diesel as well as noxious housemate fumes in previous fab abode- marble everything here and large garden but best part is solarium w 360 degree view of city
After lunch Zuhra talked the guards into letting me walk with her to a ‘’boutique’’- expensive afghan designer clothes amazingly embroidered by ‘’widows’’- not sure though how much they get- it is about ten min away- my very first actual walking without a guard on the streets of Kabul
Zuhra’s boyfriend is ambassador to Norway and \i think her father is in govt as well; she knows head of one of the TV stations that is doing a first ever afghan soap opera and \I was thinking of trying to get an op for my students to write an episode- basic premis is family leave country afte r 9/11, rent house to cousins, then wan t to come back and take house back, family feud ensues and 2 young members from either side fall in love- I of course have MANY theater ideas –we\ll see if I’m Able To manifest ANY
Sunday was firs t day of classes and all my students were literally beaming with joy to be in class – I am not kidding- to a one they described how coming here is their dream come true though many of them are wildly accomplished, medical doctors for u\s embassy, degrees in literature from Kabul U, workers for UN and NGO’s, etc My 2 eng comp classes so far have total of 4 women and 20 plus men- world lit class has 5 women and 3 men
I was telling a friend that all the people on the plane coming HERE were male contract workers except for me and he asked what they do for sex- good question, I asked around – Chinese restaurants! Sex workers in China are regulated and if they get a disease they are barred from working in China so they come here.
Last Thurs eve we went to hear wonderful Sufi music- very similar to Indian raga I couldn’t tell the diff except that the musicians seemed to go into ecstatic trance- the eve was sponsored by former afghan Fullbright fellows (all men), there was terrific food after and many interesting foreigners- I met a Finnish woman, Sari, and her Dutch political advisor friend (lover?)- Sari is doing victim theater -maybe we’ll work together?
On Sat several of us went shopping on Chicken st (not exactly 5th ave of Kabul, but basically tourist - there are beautiful things for sale for not much $ but I don’t think I’ll be going very often-women in burkas crowd around asking for money and many children selling maps and gum- if you give a few some as I did, the crowd grows bigger, they tug on your clothes and envelope you
In the past I’ve gone shopping w just a guard or a couple others and this time was more challenging- some of the ne w male teachers are kind of loud and brash, everyone seems to have a dif sense of what is an appropriate way to be on the street, plus our Guard got into it with some of the street kids, shoved one of them who was hanging near us, the kid started crying and actually went over to a cop to complain- shoving and making the kid cry was very upsetting to me and th e other woman in the group but it didn’t faze the guys –the standard response (and to everything) is : TIA (this is Afghanistan)
Re: security – we get daily briefings from head of security but it usually involves incidents that are not near here, more nr embassies and ISAF etc though we are warned it may escalate as there’s sposed to be new interior minister and elections soon but Karzai is trying to postpone them. Taliban ar e paying low level thugs to kidnap. Last week was orientation for faculty and the afghan who founded the university spoke about the current risk, stressed being conservative so we don’t draw attention, but there was disagreement from younger afghans about how conservative
Hopefully soon I will get it together to create a blog and post these letters w photos.

Friday February 6
I am sitting cozy in my room (the res t of apt is toooo cold) with a few exquisite new rugs transporting me into Imagistan after a great lunch with neighbors James and Kunduz (from Kyrgystan), one of the best meals I’ve had yet bec it was all fresh and safe (I think?)- I am slowly learning how to shop here, the best deals are nuts, fresh vegetables and citrus, today I even got some pomegrantes though the season is basically over and made juice- yum-anything imported expectedly is outrageously expensive and not esp appetizing-I’ve given up eating in the too greasy school cafeteria though its so convenient and I’m frequently starving before class – my clases are late 5-8 PM S TU Th and 6-8 PM MW
New adventure outing yesterday!- two blocks away (I had to be driven) a café! Chai La- large comfortable several rooms with glasse d in solarium and garden (in spring one presumes)with swings and grape arbor, fireplaces, the usual fare- the light fixture is a bunch of tangled twigs
to meet Sari’s (see above) colleague- not sure what to think of him in yellow leather jacket with the giant DIOR emblem- he talked – we didn’t really have a conversation but he did tell me a little about the participatory theater (Theater of the Oppressed) they are working to create: Afghans victims talk about their exp under Soviets, mujejadeen amd Taliban and discover not a lot of diff; Later in the day Prez Mou stopped by my office to say hello and sprung my theater ideas: theater of the oppressed; working w Eve Ensler for NYC performance- bad move, he reacted as if he’d encountered a bad smell, couldn’t wait to get away how could I assume he shares my politics when he hires a Republican lobbyist
earlier a ‘select’’(not by me) few faculty met at a French rest to gripe (?). Hazara children served us; supposedly the French owner was saving them but her manner of addressing them reeked of colonialism (while being obsequious to us) and she had dressed them in ugly orange check vests and bow ties- the two main issue s of the meeting were enrollment- why aren’t we recruiting in the res t of the country (they have recruited Zuhra to assist); and why did they hire so many people to teach uppe r level courses when there’s no one to take them since they rerally need more teachers for entry level subjects (bec to get accredited they have to have graduates!)
Zuhra and Kevin say I am more respected of new teachers (gray hair, age), I’m in fact equal to a man (Kevin quotes Simone de Beauvoir in 2nd sex- first female is girl then woman, then man)
The variety of female coverings and dress is of endless fascination to me; besides the omnipresent blue burka, there is a long black enveloping cloak for the returning refugees from Iran and the returning refugees from \Pakistan altogether different and in spite of all these, women exhibiitng their own unique fashion statements- peeking out from a black cloak a brilliantly red patterned skirt; from a burka, green sequins and all in high heels



My world lit class is turning into Geographically political lit