Welcoming the weekend with a bomb blast and grabbing the grab bag for the first time

Was woken up a little over an hour and a half back on a jumma morning (my weekend) with the sounds of a blast (initial thought was earthquake), stepped out of my bedroom to see all the windows had opened with the impact, and things had fallen off the counter. Grabbed my wallet and passport and stuffed it into my grab bag, got a call from, my neighbour, Jen to say that our Country Director Lex said to get dressed and be ready. Now for the things that I thought of putting into my bag (all in a period of two minutes), prayer book, extra pack of ciggaretes and my knitting. This is the first time that i thought of my grab bag (we are all advised to have a small bag ready for emergencies)

We all went out into the yard, its been pouring all night and still raining, there are four of us in the compound right now, made a pot of coffee and stayed together till the gun shots abated, checked out the exit routes in case we needed to get out. An hour spent like any other socialising, how strange is that, except ofcourse everyone was worried- the phase that was repeated most often- if they are out to get you they will, nothing we can do. Called parents to let them know that I was still alive and kicking. Texted friends in the neighbourhood to make sure they knew what was happening and were ok.

Now that I have not heard any gun shots for the last twenty minutes, will get back to work and stay put for the day!

There was finally snowfall in kabul!

 

Yeah!!!!!!!!!

 

Lydia and me braving the snow and wind to get our energy fixes :)

The Knitting Club finally meets

One of my biggest stress busters the last few months has been knitting, started doing it for all the SMT/security/PCM meetings that we have every monday. It helps me to stay focused and sane :). The first time, i brought my knitting along there were the usual comments and jibes, as well as requests for scarfs, but now no one bats an eye when they see me camped in the knitting room (opps, meetings room) with my knitting, note pad and coffee.

So when I started talking to friends about it, we realised that there were a few knitting enthusiasts amongst us as well as a few who wanted to learn, and a few who then put us in the category of old maids :).

So this monday, the first knitting club get-together took place at my home with Salima, Karen and me (the enthusiasts), Zahra (the learner)and Alka (who came for the comfort food or dal, mattar pulao, zeera aloo and chatni's). Salima has set herself a goal of completing a scarf she started 5 years ago in two weeks, Karen, has been working on socks (how cool is that) for the last two year, and I wanted to finish the scarf  I started earlier this winter. So we thought if we sat down together with khana, tea and crepes (salima- makes fabulous crepes) we could motivate each other and relearn some of what we all seem to have forgotten, casting, which is knit, which is pearl and how do you change colours midway (I still havnt figured out how to do this without leaving a mark)?

Karen counting the stiches, while alka decided to join in and make a coster just for the fun of it. There was talk of darning needles, patterns, knitting books- cant wait to see where we go with this.

Zahra, the novice of the group, finally moved past the casting and first row. This girl has the right attitude, long way to go :) !







My new goal is to complete the scarf in two weeks and start on an Afghan (with diffrent coloured yarns) and get more of the ladies and gents (oh yes, there was one brave soul who is interested in learning how to knit) involved in the knitting club. I was also teased about my comments on the proper way to hold needles (but that was my mom talking not me, ladies)

Salima jan finally figured out the pattern she was working on and that it was pearl the bumps!









Look forward to more evenings like this one!

Under 19 Cricket world Cup: Afghanistan Vs India, the defending champions

It was a treat to watch Afghanistan play India in the U 19 world cup, I wasnt sure who I should be cheering for, the defending champions or the afghanistan team. Noor-Ul- Haq, played a captain's innings of 61 to take the afghanistan team to a respectable score of 118 all out. Zaki is a another player to look out for in the future. Of the 16 teams that competed in the tournamnet, afghanistan though in the bottom half did not fair as badly as the US team, which i am sure will being some cheer. I look forward to seeing this young team taking on some of the greats in the years to come.

I have seen some of them play on the ISAF grounds once before against an English county team, wish more teams would come to kabul and play cricket!

Does anyone know whats so special about Nangarhar and cricket, half the team was from there?