Sylvia's Journal

We just returned from the Dutch embassy where, supposedly, Saint Nicholas was to have appeared. We even brought little Kate (4 years) along but she turned out to be the only child and Saint Nicholas had, according to the ambassador, sent his regrets. Poor Kate had been so excited and thought, for a moment, that the ambassador was Saint Nick but his clothes weren’t quite right for the role.

A nice lady from the embassy gave Kate an orange (what other color?) plastic bag with three chocolate letters (we told her the H was for happy) and some other goodies. The combination of the chocolates, chips, perpernoten and pizza was a little too much and all was regurgitated in the middle of the night, her mom told me the next day.

I met some nice Afghan/Dutch citizens who are trying to reconnect with their ancestral home and find work which is not so easy. I envied them for the way the spoke Dutch; so much better than my Dari.

The only sign of Sinterklaas were the traditional sweets: ‘pepernoten,’ ‘taai-taai,’ ‘speculaas’ and ‘schuimpjes.’ I stuffed myself with them, my only chance.

Back at home the workmen have been winterizing our quarters. We have plastic on the windows now and the outside world looks a little fuzzy from the inside which is otherwise nicely warm and cozy. We have been given three new hot/cold air conditioners. We can only run one at a time because of the weak electrical system that cannot be upgraded. But we are happy because that is something we can manage. The summer will be a breeze now that we can produce cool air (silky cool according to the airco manufacturer).

I spent the morning at the ministry and attended a meeting that gave me hope that local leadership is possible and that donor agencies can work together. It was the result of three years of hard work but it was very encouraging because it showed what is possible when the ministry is in charge and the donors fall into place. Everything is possible, although sometimes we forget that here and more than once I wonder.