Sylvia's Journal

The Thai massage ladies did not get their visas renewed. This is a becoming a problem for many people, including Axel whose visa expires a week from now. He may need to make a trip to Dubai which makes visa renewal a rather expensive proposition.

And so, this morning I went to check out a new spa in town. It is slightly more expensive but with a whole lot more atmosphere than the Thai basement arrangement. My masseuse’s name was Mona Lisa, a name she gave herself.
While undergoing an exquisite massage that was a combination of Swedish, aroma and Thai massage (the Mona Lisa massage), I teased out her history. I am always interested in how people who don’t work for an international organization, end up in Kabul.

Mona Lisa was born a Muslim, somewhere in the Philippines. At the age of 12 she was married to her cousin, aged 26. At age 13 she delivered a boy who is now also in the family business of massages. He is there for men on ‘family Wednesday.’ He is 23 now. At age 14 she delivered a girl who is also working as a masseuse. That she survived two pregnancies at such a young age, and ended up both looking very good and with a business, and that her two children are doing well, is a miracle.

When she was married off her mother cried and cried and cried and then left her father. I think I would have too. When she was 16 she became a widow and at age 18 she was shipped out to a nearby kingdom to become a servant in the royal family’s household. She served many dignitaries, including Bill Clinton. She said she could write a book about her time in the royal household, but that she would probably be killed is she did.

She became the personal attendant of the sick queen and stayed with her during her treatment in the US until the queen died; then the king died and she went home. I haven’t gotten to the part of how she got to Afghanistan – saving that for next time. She is currently engaged to an American who will be shipped out to Iraq.

The spa has a Jacuzzi, a steam shower and a sauna which you can rent for eight dollars an hour. The Jacuzzi looks out on a tiny little enclosed garden where you can relax and have food brought in. You can go with a bunch of girls and spend the whole day there. Aside from the massage rooms there is a yoga/exercise room with beautiful draperies that hide the sandbags that are stacked against the windows on the outside, just in case you’d forget where we are.

I made another appointment for next week.