Monday, December 21, 2009
the real market
On Saturday, Z took me to the market, the real market, where Kabulis shop. I tried to hide inside my hooded down coat with a scarf covering my face revealing only my eyes. We walked through miles and miles of catacombed market, but everyone who saw me did a double take-I was the only westerner in there- we're not allowed. All the shopkeepers were lovely to me, no one tried to sell me anything, they smiled for my camera, one shopkeeper was teased by all his neighbors when my camera quit working for lack of a charge but they all blamed him "You're too ugly, " they told him.
Friday, December 4, 2009
traveling between Kabul and Bishkek via StarTrek
Valeri is Literature Professor at American University of Central Asia in Bishkek, Kirgystan. We are going to co-teach Contemporary World Lit with emphasis on the region (Afghanistan and Central Asia)- I'm excited to be introduced to a whole new world of literature mostly unknown in the west. Two of my colleagues and I flew to Dubai last weekend to meet our counterparts and be trained in this non-user friendly software that is intended to help us coordinate the course across the miles. Each university has a room with a huge screen so each class can see and interact with the other - the room looks like a cockpit out of StarTrek. In spite of the software, Valeri and I hit it off- an interdisciplinary teacher after my own heart, as part of his lit courses he always includes art and film so I'm now catching up on all these Kirgyz movies though it takes so long to get the books they wont arrive til just before the class starts. One of the books I've put on the list is Murder in Samarkand, a real page turner about Uzbekistan by a former British ambassador that wasn't available in the US for years (guess why). If you can find it, read it!
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