Sylvia's Journal

‘‘We are working for your betterment tomorrow. Inconveniences expected.’ This is written on a large sign in the middle of what now looks like a mud field but what is actually a major thoroughfare from the southwestern suburbs of Kabul to the center of the city. It is also the road that separates our guesthouses from the MSH compound.

As long as I can remember this road has been under construction. The resulting traffic jams have led to a commute that took Greg yesterday one and a half hour for a distance that can be covered on foot in about 10 minutes. But we aren’t allowed to go on foot.

I went to the US consulate this morning to renew my passport. It is all very automated until you actually get there. It is as if I was the first American to request passport services. The gurkhas seemed puzzled about me showing up but eventually let me in.

Then, to my great surprise, the visa counselor turned out to be an ex colleague of mine; someone who left us years ago as an administrative coordinator to pursue a graduate degree. I didn’t recognize him because he had put on some weight but he recognized me, partially because he knew I was here. He had dinner with Ted from Sola (Sola needs frequent visas and getting to know the visa counselors at the embassy is important) – and Ted had mentioned his two volunteer teachers.

After our Dari class we joined some friends for dinner at a nearby Korean restaurant. One is American Korean and about to leave. We couldn’t let her go without sampling her native food at a local restaurant (it was good).

Some other friends joined us from across the river: a delightful young and entrepreneurial Afghan and two Afghan American ladies/his business partners. The two women are from California. They are funny, courageous and gourmands.

Sometime earlier this year they decided to move back to their ancestral lands. They packed up their houses and came here to build a new life for themselves. Their husbands and kids are to follow later – there is some reluctance to leave behind a comfortable California existence and the school here doesn’t have spots for their kids yet – they are on the waiting list. If I was a documentary film maker I would want to be there when the families arrive, maybe later in spring, and film the (Afghan) American kids settling into their new Afghan lives.