A Special Treat

This past Sunday I had a special treat. I was invited to my first Afghan wedding party. A faculty member's brother was getting married. So off I went to the Intercontinental Hotel here in Kabul. Of course I had my full kit of camera gear in hand. What a special treat. Great food, dancing, music, and to witness a wedding Persian style was amazing.

What was it like? I can say it was very ceremonial. The funny thing was that many of the same things done in a Western wedding are included in a Persian wedding. You ethnocentric folks might say they copied it from us. Considering which culture is the oldest one can only conclude where the origination of those traditions came from. Certainly not from Western culture. From exchanging of the rings, to feeding each other cake and even smashing it a bit in the face, to the first dance as a married couple. These things have been tradition for thousands of years. It was certainly eye opening for a Westerner.

The kids at the wedding were great. They would play shy but they really love their photos taken. Especially when I would show them the LCD and they could see themselves right there on the spot.

Enjoy the pics. I think this was one of my best wedding efforts. though I have to share that I was scared. I showed up and my batteries were dead so I had to go mostly flash less. Thank goodness they had two videographers going with full lights. Thus some wonderful shots if I do say so myself.

A Hectic Two Weeks -

Wow it has been a hectic two weeks. Where do I begin? I guess I will begin in reverse chronological order; today to my previous entry.

It is a three day weekend here as it is in the U.S. However, we are celebrating President's Day on Sunday which is our first work day of the week as opposed to Monday. It is proving to be a white weekend. Yesterday evening it started snowing about 4:30 and did not stop until this evening about the same time. It was only heavy on and off. All total about 12-14 inches of accumulation. It has been a long time since I have seen this much snow. It is absolutely beautiful! As you can see from the pictures below my housemates Justin and Mohib decided to get out and have a bit of fun in the snow and make a snowman Afghanistan style.

This week was not a lot of fun in Kabul. In case you have not seen it all hell broke loose on Wendesday. The Taliban, upset about Taliban prisoner treatment, attacked in retaliation in a Mumbai style coordinated effort. As the results came in, people were in a state of shock. The result absolutely shut down the city including classes for the rest of the day. Not a good way to begin the ending of the second week of school and go into a three day weekend.

Classes began on February 1 so needless to say work has been hectic. Between Orientation, teaching two classes, and coordinating 3 more the two weeks leeding up to the big Taliban attach are quite the blur. However, I did take a bit of time off. The results are in the photos below.

We did get a special treat. What started as a simple trip to the Kabul Museum turned out to be a special treat. Durul-Aman Palace is right across the road and we decided to take a walk across. It so happened that they allowed us to cross the wire and go inside. The results you can see below.

The weekend prior we ventured to Chicken Street to grab some goodies. Lots of good pictures there as well as you can see. That was also my birthday weekend and we had a great time. We started on Thursday, my birthday, with a group dinner out and continued throughout. Fun times!

So I guess now we are all caught up. Thanks for standing by.

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