Ankie accompanied me to the spa for the weekly massage. Our massage tables were placed side by side. It was Ankie’s first real massage and my umpteenth. She got hooked just like I was; but she’s going home and I get to have another massage every Friday. This is at least one advantage to living here. We had our picture taken, all wrapped up in sheets, during the cool down phase of our treatment.
All oily and relaxed we had lunch in the garden of one of Kabul’s tea houses that are hidden behind tall walls in a lovely section of town that hasn’t been invaded by poppy houses yet.
Next stop was an open house of the Turquoise Mountain foundation. All the students’ work was on display, some for sale while many of the students were there to take commissions. There was exquisite calligraphy, pottery, tiles, Nooristani wood carvings and jewelry.
The Turquoise Mountain Foundation has been digging out trash and restoring old buildings in Kabul. A maquette and wall with photos chronicled the efforts.
Our friend Will is going to give us a tour of the real thing next Thursday. Several of the workshops were the various art forms on display are practiced have been transferred to the renovated old buildings. This project is a wonderful example of everyone working to repair and preserve some of old Kabul’s beauty which is otherwise hard to spot between the blastwalls and razor wire.
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