Shark Tournament

During what very well might be the last shark fishing tournament in Oak Bluffs, there are parties raging in the harbor until well past 4am.  (We were the ones scrambling for the white noise apps on our phones, and wishing all the partiers would stop swimming and go to bed themselves!)  The next morning Isabelle overhears one guy on a boat tell another guy on a boat, "Hey! Give that squirrel back her underpants!"  Maybe it isn't a "catch and release" system the islanders want after all... 

Parks & Presents

This is post is many days old (I think 4!) but I have had no luck uploading until now!

School Vist

Afghan Barbie!

Wahida Jan, the Zabuli School Kindergarten teacher, has a friend who hand makes these beautiful Barbie dresses, and this is the one she had made special for you!  Last night we went to a restaurant for dinner, it was a delicious Lebanese place where they give you free chocolate cake for dinner.  This chocolate cake reminded me of a cake Grami used to make when I was a little girl.  We called it Wacky Cake! And this is the first time I've tasted any cake that tastes like Grami's Wacky Cake!  It was so good! I already wrote to Grami, and told her that we need the recipe so that you and I can make it together. We'll have a Wacky Cake Party!  After we finished eating the cake last night, the owner of the restaurant gave us an entire cake to take home. Today, I brought it to school and shared it with the Kindergarten class.  They loved it!  If you want, we can make a Wacky Cake to share with your class!

Super super super love you!

The Principal's Office

When I'm filming at the Zabuli School, I spend a lot of time in the principal's office.  The principal's name is Razia Jan, and she's a lot like Mrs. Carson at North Falmouth Elementary - she is very nice, she knows all the kids' names, and loves her job.  She's also a grandmother - like Grami and Nana.

The reason I spend a lot of time in the principal's office is that there is a lot that happens there!  When the teachers have a break, this is where they gather and eat a snack together - they often have many spoons dipping into the same bowl when someone brings a yummy leftover from home.  Today, one teacher brought in a tupperware filled with rice topped with chicken and french fries, and everyone devoured it!  I even tasted a few fries.

Remember when your music teacher hurt her leg and you had a substitute teacher while she was out?  Well, here, they don't really have any substitute teachers.  It's the principal who fills in when someone is absent.  And the teachers tell me they only take a day off if it's really an emergency.   They all work very hard here.

All the kids and teachers come to school six days a week.  The week starts on Saturday - so they have school on Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.  Friday is the only day off.  That's the day for prayer, and it's also the day that families take picnics!  That's a big tradition here - to go on a picnic on Fridays.  Fun!

I love you!

Happy Birthday, Anika!

You've heard about the Happy Birthday ice cream carts here in Kabul! Now, meet the ice cream man! This video was a Take 2... somehow I hit the wrong button and didn't save the first recording which is a shame because  not only did the first one feature women in burqas walking down the street, but it also included me including everyone on the big hello.  Briana, Brita:  Hello!

Nana and Grami continue to put the Mar and Jan into Marjan!... completing another successful meet-up at the East Providence Whole Foods for the Isabelle swap.   After dinner in Niantic - with AGD Julie nestled in her own booster seat - the ride to Fairfield was filled with laughter and singing - and promises of a Farmer In The Dell performance.  I cannot wait for that!

As Hillary Clinton so famously said, "It takes a village."  We couldn't do it without all of you, and I hope you have a wonderful celebration today.  These back-to-back birthdays are making April feel a bit Augustesque!   

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!