hey guys. saw more of afghanistan yesterday. actually a lot for one day. i probably barely went more than 30 miles, but i was in the car much of the day. which i don't mind b/c i have a strong stomach and find it all fascinating. so interesting to see everything going on out the window. i went to check out our programs so i could get a much better sense of the programs that i am working on. first stop was a village where the school health and nutrition class was held in a tent. It was a family's home, made out of plastic that said unicef on it. these nutrition programs are based on a child to child module, older kids teaching the younger ones. the people in this village are pashtuns who tend to be more conservative and not so crazy about the education of girls (the taliban was a pashtun movement). so the girls teaching weren't much older than the others. since whitie was there visiting, i of course attracted a bit of a crowd, with a number of women sitting around the tent outside. they had tattoos on their chins and foreheads. after each class i visited someone had turned my shoes facing out and lined them up for me. now that is hospitality. we must train our children in the states to do this. (yeah, right).

second school visit was in a school in another mud village. we went up a random staircase, and what do you know? i'm in a bright pink room with blue trim on the windows. who woulda thought. these girls were a little cleaner, the teachers a little older. when were leaving i saw this baby who was so tiny he looked like a bird. turns out he was 1 year old, but looked 6 months. the mother couldn't have been more than 14. turns out she just arrived in the village (girls stay with their mothers for the first year of their 1st baby's life, then move in with hub's family) and that village didn't have the parenting and health classes that this village had. it made me really see what a difference this work does and how much it is needed.

let's see, what else. i ate a whole 1/2 a watermelon for lunch yesterday. that was a first, and really quite satisfying. dug right in with a fork. i've been getting to know the afghan staff which has been a pleasure. bounced home in the back of our car yesterday with 2 women from my department. very interesting to watch them chatting happily with the men in the car, and then pulling the burqa over their faces when we came into villages or passed men walking along with their animals. they weren't crazy about the burqa (one girls lived in pakistan for most of her life and didn't need to wear it there) but it's so engrained in the culture, and in this culture you don't rock the boat. even women walking on the street would turn and put their back to the road when we came by. if they had just a scarf on they would cover everything but their eyes. so let's see how it goes, with me introducing sex ed in a culture where people are too conservative to even educate their kids about their bodies. how i'm going to talk about hiv and pregnancy while avoiding mentioning sex or boys bits is still beyond me. but at least i have lots of support from the women i am working with to tell me what will fly, what won't and what's needed.

let's see, what else. been practicing yoga, and went for another run on the airstrip. i am determined not to turn into a cow, no matter how much rice and nan they feed me. heading out on sunday to spend the week at another office that i stopped by briefly last week. this office has implemented a girls program that i am using as a starting off point for the adolescent development curriculum.

on another note, beginning to think about the burn. that template must be beginning to enter into my consciousness! bought my airplane tickets today. flying out to san diego and riding up with my best girl and her hubs. flying outta reno on tues. will only have 24 hours in dc between afghan and cali. crazy. can you expect anything less?