Home sweet home...
I have left it too long without updating, so will post something now, although my back is really sore and I very much want to get up off this sofa! The major reason I haven’t been posting is that I wasn’t here (Afghanistan!) I was HOME! I went back to Melbourne for ten days for R and R and had the most fantabulous time. The timing of the trip was necessitated by the Coldplay tickets I purchased last year, but it was so incredibly good to get home. Normally we have R and R about every eight weeks, so I was a little early, but I tell you what, I needed it! Due to the extreme heat, I hadn’t had a decent night’s sleep for weeks before leaving (we have a variety of remedies we try – sleeping under wet sheets, sarongs or towels, draping wet towels over chairs to cool the air – none are terribly effective…) and the only way to make it through the days was to know that I would be cold soon (Clare brought a big jacket to the airport to collect me!!! ‘Twas delicious!)
Coldplay were indeed fantastic, although I did feel that their set could have been a little longer, and they lost some atmosphere playing in a venue the size of the tennis center. But boy, those boys are just NOT cool! Their black clothes and reflective white sneakers – definitely not destined to make the Gucci catwalk any time soon, methinks. All the other elements of being at home were also great, although it wasn’t long enough and I left with a list of people I hadn’t managed to see, which I was sad about. But I just reveled in the cold weather and the fabulous food that is Melbourne. I also loved seeing all the really well dressed people, especially the men. While I think the men here do look great in their shalwar kameezes, the fact remains that I just don’t do beards, which are pretty much de rigeur here (on an amusing aside, I decided that no man was complete in Pakistan without a Groucho Marx/Saddam Hussein moustache – they are the order of the day in Islamabad). Melbournians are just such stylish people and it made me lament my schlumping around here in the heat and my baggy clothing just a wee bit. Looking over my wardrobe at all the great clothes there that I haven’t worn in several years (and some that I have never worn), did make me a little nostalgic. I was also very sad as it was the last time I would ever see the inside of my house in Melbourne – my parents have sold it about bought another in the next suburb. I actually cried when I left the house, but not when I farewelled my family at the airport (maybe I am becoming immune to that – this is the fourth time I have done so in fifteen months!)
On a positive note, my 92-year old Nana looked pretty good (knock firmly on wood) and it was so much fun to catch up with my eighteen month old cousin Spencer (last referenced in my entries from Hanoi (he and his Mum were also home visiting) and walking like a pro now – he’ll be attacking the Olympics speed walking event soon) and my other young cousins, Oscar and Matilda, who are growing like weeds and just gorgeous. I do have a ripper family and feel very privileged.
Returning to Afghanistan was a little difficult. Not because I didn’t want to come back – I feel pretty settled here – but because I really didn’t want to leave home this time. I really enjoyed being back there and the convenience of life as well, and wondered how much longer I will stay out in the field. I am sure it is just a temporary thing (a few people mentioned that I had not had that long I Afghanistan before returning home) and I am perfectly content being back here now. I get the occasional pang for something (normally a person) and quite often for the Philippines!
On a sadder note, it has been very hard to watch the unfolding crisis in the Middle East, and especially the destruction of Lebanon, having just been there. To watch a city (Beirut) that I wandered around just last month, which was trying so hard to rebuild itself after twenty years of war, being reduced to rubble has made me (and everyone else here) incredibly angry and I find it hard not to sneer at some of the Israeli and American officials on the news as they insist on Israel’s right to defend itself. All good and well to say when there aren’t 300 dead Lebanese and millions displaced. How long will it take to rebuild from this, if indeed they survive? I would normally not be writing about this on a public forum, but am so upset, especially as I now know people there, being bombed day and night, possibly living in shelters or refugees, having lost everything. When I think of the people who sat next to us at restaurants in downtown Beirut – are they still alive? The Lebanese were so determined to rebuild and embraced life so fully – it just breaks my heart.
I could go on about this – there are so many more dimensions, I know. But I won’t. It is just so hard to see a city that I marveled at the beauty of, just a month ago, being systematically destroyed. And people I found to be so wonderful and hospitable, running for their lives…
Okay – I will return soon and talk about my further adventures in rural Afghanistan. I had only one day back in Herat before heading out to the zones (by car this time – plenty-a-jolting going on there) and I really do love my time out in the field. So much more interesting than sitting in the office…
Coldplay were indeed fantastic, although I did feel that their set could have been a little longer, and they lost some atmosphere playing in a venue the size of the tennis center. But boy, those boys are just NOT cool! Their black clothes and reflective white sneakers – definitely not destined to make the Gucci catwalk any time soon, methinks. All the other elements of being at home were also great, although it wasn’t long enough and I left with a list of people I hadn’t managed to see, which I was sad about. But I just reveled in the cold weather and the fabulous food that is Melbourne. I also loved seeing all the really well dressed people, especially the men. While I think the men here do look great in their shalwar kameezes, the fact remains that I just don’t do beards, which are pretty much de rigeur here (on an amusing aside, I decided that no man was complete in Pakistan without a Groucho Marx/Saddam Hussein moustache – they are the order of the day in Islamabad). Melbournians are just such stylish people and it made me lament my schlumping around here in the heat and my baggy clothing just a wee bit. Looking over my wardrobe at all the great clothes there that I haven’t worn in several years (and some that I have never worn), did make me a little nostalgic. I was also very sad as it was the last time I would ever see the inside of my house in Melbourne – my parents have sold it about bought another in the next suburb. I actually cried when I left the house, but not when I farewelled my family at the airport (maybe I am becoming immune to that – this is the fourth time I have done so in fifteen months!)
On a positive note, my 92-year old Nana looked pretty good (knock firmly on wood) and it was so much fun to catch up with my eighteen month old cousin Spencer (last referenced in my entries from Hanoi (he and his Mum were also home visiting) and walking like a pro now – he’ll be attacking the Olympics speed walking event soon) and my other young cousins, Oscar and Matilda, who are growing like weeds and just gorgeous. I do have a ripper family and feel very privileged.
Returning to Afghanistan was a little difficult. Not because I didn’t want to come back – I feel pretty settled here – but because I really didn’t want to leave home this time. I really enjoyed being back there and the convenience of life as well, and wondered how much longer I will stay out in the field. I am sure it is just a temporary thing (a few people mentioned that I had not had that long I Afghanistan before returning home) and I am perfectly content being back here now. I get the occasional pang for something (normally a person) and quite often for the Philippines!
On a sadder note, it has been very hard to watch the unfolding crisis in the Middle East, and especially the destruction of Lebanon, having just been there. To watch a city (Beirut) that I wandered around just last month, which was trying so hard to rebuild itself after twenty years of war, being reduced to rubble has made me (and everyone else here) incredibly angry and I find it hard not to sneer at some of the Israeli and American officials on the news as they insist on Israel’s right to defend itself. All good and well to say when there aren’t 300 dead Lebanese and millions displaced. How long will it take to rebuild from this, if indeed they survive? I would normally not be writing about this on a public forum, but am so upset, especially as I now know people there, being bombed day and night, possibly living in shelters or refugees, having lost everything. When I think of the people who sat next to us at restaurants in downtown Beirut – are they still alive? The Lebanese were so determined to rebuild and embraced life so fully – it just breaks my heart.
I could go on about this – there are so many more dimensions, I know. But I won’t. It is just so hard to see a city that I marveled at the beauty of, just a month ago, being systematically destroyed. And people I found to be so wonderful and hospitable, running for their lives…
Okay – I will return soon and talk about my further adventures in rural Afghanistan. I had only one day back in Herat before heading out to the zones (by car this time – plenty-a-jolting going on there) and I really do love my time out in the field. So much more interesting than sitting in the office…
posted by Kate | 1:27 am
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