Sylvia's Journal

Nothing untoward happened, at least not in Kabul during the Mujahideen Day parade. Instead bad things happened where people least expected them, Alabama and environs and Morocco. I watched the pictures on our very pixilated TV screen and thought that life, wherever you live, is risky – not just here in Kabul.

Although it was a holiday I spent most of it in front of my computer screen doing various tasks I can’t seem to find time for at work. It left me feeling fried and dissatisfied.

Axel left early for his SOLA classes and I followed him towards the end of the afternoon. We read another 3 pages of Three Cups of Tea. The story remains compelling to my students in spite of the negative publicity around Mr. Mortenson.

I noticed that two of Axel’s students in my class are practicing what he is teaching them about sounding out words using the syllable approach. We both have noticed progress.

After class we met with the young woman who is in charge of the school – we are both impressed with her management skills and her intuition about how to manage a small organization with young boys, young girls, a cleaner, a cook, and two guards plus a bunch of foreigners who volunteer their services. The set up is rather counter cultural but it seems to work in its own loose ways: the kids are learning and the place is not falling apart.

Back home I realized I had completely missed our quarterly worldwide staff meeting, held at 9 AM in Boston, which was focused on girls and women this time. Our contribution was mostly missing, not for lack of trying – people just have other things on their plates and it was a holiday after all.

We watched another installment of the Number One Ladies Detective Agency – a series that we have come to love and that we can download via iTunes.