Day 3

Here we are in Faizabad (town of grace), beginning a third sunny day.  Chas and Claudia are our hosts, with their 3 beautiful children.  They live along the river that runs thru town, and their neighborhood has been paved in recent years.  Until a couple years ago they lived in Old Town, with no running water or electricity.  So this home is an upgrade!  The ‘running’ water is a small tank by the sink, and there’s no hot water.  The only bathroom (at least they have an indoor one here) is in the annex where our guest room is above it.  No central heating either, so we turn on the propane heaters to take off the chill and take hot water bottles to bed.  The covers are thick and heavy, making turning over an exercise.  The extra tall steps on stairways here are strengthening my legs....a built-in physical therapy course.  They have no refrigerator, so we eat up what can’t be stored, or the dog gets it. The dishes are washed and then put on the front porch in the sun for drying and sanitizing.

  It is interesting how basic needs can really be simpler than we think.  The chaukedor just brought in four buckets of water from the tank outside, which will be used drinking (in the filter tank)cleaning and cooking.  Claudia says this is bath day when they build a fire under the water tank in the bathroom and washtub baths can be had.  Something to look forward to!

Jon has taught the Leadership Training classes with Chas the last two nights.  The topic was Teamwork. His power point used the examples of teamwork in medicine as well as the crew team from UW in the book The Boys in the Boat.  He and Chas enjoyed working together on this. Students are adults and usually professionals from the area. 

Claudia took me to the bazaar in town yesterday.  It is NOT paved.  At least I can safely walk in this town.  We found a few things to purchase, for which she bargained:  fabric for curtains I can sew up for her, and a few trinkets. 

Today Chas took us and another guest on a tour of the city, along the original Silk Road

that turned north toward China.  Animals were being auctioned in the river bed and lots of construction  is changing the ‘face’ of the city.  We drove by the bushkazi  field, which will be in use after the New Year...it is  a ‘game’ of ‘grabbing the goat’....which is headless and the players are on horseback.  It is THE tradition of yesteryear which still gathers all men (no women allowed) to attend.

We ended up the morning by finding an area by the river to walk among the trees.  The children loved running and climbing.  It is nice to see a bit of beauty here. Jon and Chas had gone to purchase 3 trees earlier for a barrier between them and the new neighbor.

We found out last night that we either had to leave on a plane this morning or wait until next Tuesday as the Saturday flight is cancelled.  Weather is going to be bad in Kabul over the weekend.  We decided to stay.  It’s a good thing I brought extra of my prescription meds.  Flexibility is the key here!