Sylvia's Journal

Why did Hillary not wear a scarf, we wondered, at Karzai’s inauguration? When you move around in such high circles everything you do is symbolic. My gut feeling was that not conforming to this ubiquitous local tradition was a signal of one upwomanship: you are adapting to us, not us to you…maybe? And what about the Kashmiri embroidered coat – Kashmir is a flammable thing in these parts of the world. Was there a subtle purpose, like attracting attention to the beauty of the place to remind everyone that we should not destroy it?

I would have loved to be a fly on the wall when the scarf issue was raised (I can’t imagine it was not). In Pakistan she wore a scarf and when she visited the Pope some time ago she wore something on her head (but that was as a spouse I believe). What were the pros and cons raised about the scarf wearing? I am always curious about such matters because I cannot imagine that not wearing a scarf was because she was in a hurry and simply forgot.

When Axel and I were at the opening of the 4th International Film Festival in Kabul in July, the female reps from the Goethe Institute did not wear scarves. I was jealous of them as I sat wrapped up in a vent-less and hot auditorium on that day. The scarf-less lady was important because she sat on the front row and was invited to address us. Next to her, also on the front row was another woman, a little younger, who wore a tank top and a short skirt (and no scarf). Remembering how naked I felt all wrapped up in my mid-calf dress, cardigan and headscarf, I wondered whether she felt the glances from people but endured them because of the statement she was making or whether she was simply oblivious.

A young woman who takes pictures for our donor at special events here in Kabul also never wears a scarf. I don’t know her enough to ask her about her reasoning. I did ask my Dutch friend Janneke who is rather casual with her head cover. For her it’s a principled issue. But most of us foreign women do comply with the local culture and cover our head, rain, sun, shine or snow.

It was nice to sleep in this morning. I had expected to be woken up by low flying helicopters but all was quiet, very quiet, in our neighborhood. Once of my staff members called me from the other side of town where there were gun fights, supposedly turf battles between the army and the police, nothing serious, given the rumors of AOG (armed opposition groups) threats that had been circulating.

It was a slow news days on our local TV station, with patriotic shots of bejewelled children in local dress and other traditional scenes filling the time between talk shows in Dari that we couldn’t follow, except for the occasional reference to words I do recognize, such as president, nation, country, and the equivalent of ‘so help me God.’

One of my staff came over to talk about his performance plan and his personal plans over the summer, after which I finished the other performance plans of people who report to me. It is an administrative activity that I have been spared most of my MSH career. In between all this I messed around with printers while the day slipped by and more emails messages slipped in from Boston which had a regular work day.

We had a nice outdoor lunch of leftovers and three kinds of pomegranate juice: made in Cyprus, made in UAE and made in Pakistan. Missing was the ‘made in Afghanistan’ which we think is because of the poppies that are more interesting to cultivate that these fruits. Such a shame.

We were sitting on the terrace soaking up the sun that was shining down from a perfectly blue sky. I would like to believe this to be symbolic for Karzai on his inauguration day – all clear – but I am afraid that the days and months ahead are more about opacity than clarity, no matter how hard Obama and Hillary are pushing.

To avoid a third meal of the same leftovers I had us invited at guesthouse zero that is currently occupied by two Americans, one Nepali and one Dutchman who lives in Namibia. The range of dishes in guesthouse zero is larger and the variety better. They even had pumpkin soup. Their cook makes the best soups and I want him to teach our cook how to make those, and the occasional cookies and pies. We don’t need much in terms of sweets because of the sweetest pomegranates that are abundant at this time of the year, even though they probably come from Pakistan.

In the evening I made Skype calls to KLM to get Axel on a plane with me when we fly from Boston to Amsterdam to Dubai and Kabul in the new year. For an astronomical number of miles and Euros I got him a seat next to me, and both of us confirmed to return on June 10, 2010. We assume that by then the project (and therefore my job) is not quite over and that this will be our second R&R, after our planned 30th wedding anniversary in the place where it all began, Beirut.