Kabul Morning

Salam! (That means - Hello!)  Salam, Isabelle!

In this video, you'll meet Arzu, the black and white dog who lives here in Kabul and likes to eat grass.  You know what else she likes to do?  Actually LOVES to do?  She loves to sleep all day and stay up all night!  There are other dogs in the neighborhood who like to stay up all night, too, and when the moon comes out and the stars begin twinkling, Arzu's furry, noisy friends come to visit her.

The other dogs don't have a home like Arzu does.  They are wild dogs that roam the streets, dodging bicycles, motorcycles, cars, donkey carts, buses and horses - all the while trying to find something to eat and a comfortable place to rest.  I don't know where they sleep or what they eat, but I do know where they come to play!  There's a pack of them - probably 5 or 6 - who come to visit Arzu every night just as I am trying to go to sleep.  That's when their party - and the barking - begins!  The dogs on the street stick their wet noses under our big, red gate, trying to get closer to Arzu; and Arzu sticks her wet nose right back under the gate at them.  They play like this for hours... sticking their noses under the gate, jumping up on the gate with their front paws, and - of course - barking.  This canine symphony makes it very hard for me to sleep!

Arzu stays outside in the yard so that she can help protect the house.  She has her own dog house, and isn't allowed in the house where we are staying.  But she has a trick!  She learned how to open the front door, and last night while we were eating dinner she pranced right in and started chasing her tail in the middle of the dining room.  This inside adventure was very exciting for her, and she was fascinated by everything she saw...and smelled.  She ran around the room sniffing everything - the tray of ripe oranges, my laptop, the napkins, a tupperware filled with almonds...even the garbage can got a whiff!  It took a while to get her back outside, and no sooner did we sit back down at the table to finish dinner, then she opened the front door again and reappeared in the dining room ready to play!  This time when we put her back outside, we locked the door.

As I mentioned in the little video, Arzu means "Hope" in Dari which makes it a very beautiful and meaningful name.  And it's an especially fitting name for her.  Arzu didn't always have a home. Once upon a time, she was a stray dog living on the streets of Kabul with no one to feed her and no safe place to go to sleep at night.  But there was hope for her, and one day she was rescued and given a new life with a home and a yard and a family.  She's a lucky doggie! Now, if I could just find a way to keep her awake during the day and asleep at night, I'd be a lucky doggie, too!