A Strange Post

So this will be a strange post. As this week is winding down and I get closer and closer to coming home I have been thinking about the last 6 months and my time in Afghanistan. When the day is hectic and I get frustrated and angry with some of the stuff that I have to put up with, I can't wait to get out of here. A break, a vacation, whatever. It is beyond time and the fact that TIA, as I often here, (this is Afghanistan) just makes it worse.

However, sitting out on my porch or others rooftops as in tonight, I think to myself never have I felt more appreciated in what I do or more at home in a job. It is weird, let me tell you. For the 6 weeks I am home I will really miss this place. What they tell me is that it gets in your blood. What I can tell you all that what gets in your blood is not the dust, not the food, but the fact that these people really need us here. For once in my life I think I am really making a difference somewhere. While, I can tell you stories about making a difference in the life of people throughout my current career, now that I am here, somehow that seems very insignificant.

A great story is the difference between my day class and evening class. The day class is all made up of typical college age freshman with typical freshman attitudes. In fact about 1/3 of them are Afghan Americans who have returned for various reasons. So they are really the typical first year college students. Although, I can say that several of them grasp everything with gusto and do well, many of them like their American counterparts are there because someone tells them they should be. On the contrast though, is my night class. Any night class at any University are largely adult students. Adult students, throughout the world, have a different attitude and true appreciation for the gift that has been bestowed on them to continue their education, no matter where that gift comes from. I know, I was one of them, who returned at a later age to complete my college education therefore can relate first hand that experience. However, Afghan adult students are different. Albeit a young age for some of them, they can still remember times in Afghanistan under the Taliban, where education was not the norm. It was limited to the elite. They really truly appreciate the opportunities they now have. That is different for me. They really devour learning. That is take it in and digest it and appreciate it for the strength that it gives them in their future success.

Each semester is sad, I must say. Although I will see some of these students for quite some time to come, for many of them it will be the last one on one type relationship that I will have with them. Like a mother hen turning out their chicks to the great big wide world of education, a relationship that was developed over a period of time is now over. Wednesday night was the last night for my evening class. One student stood up and gave a speech that if I had written it, I could have not done much better. He talked about how he had learned from the class and how he had appreciated everything we had gone through. Most specifically he talked of my role in the class, not as the "sage on the stage" as we call it in education, or preacher as I refer to it often but as the coach, the leader that had brought them through this great journey that they had gone through as a class. For those of you that know me well, you know I am a pretty stoic guy. At 6'6", 275 lbs, a pretty intimidating figure that often has been characterized as showing little or no emotion. His speech though, WOW. It almost brought this big guy to tears. As I have said, I have been doing this 8 semesters now. Never in those 8 semesters have the students go it, like the students in Afghanistan. True, I have taught mostly college Freshman of traditional age, and as such it sometimes takes a bit to sink in and for them to truly appreciate an experience, never do I think they get it quite so much. Needless to say it was a very AHA moment and one that almost brought this big ol' guy to his knees. I emphasize ALMOST.

I am talking with a guy from D.C. that did a year in Afghanistan. He can't quite put a pin on what got in his blood but he is dying to return. I think I have it. It is these AHA moments and the moments in which you know that you and the work you do are truly appreciated. I mean really truly appreciated. I have had so many "thank you for what you do" statements in the last 6 months. My goodness. From students, which I truly appreciate, to fellow faculty/staff members, to really a first, Board of Trustee members, I can tell you they are no less than once a week. I cannot emphasize to you enough how rewarding this job is.

Monday night, I told you about our Memorial Day BBQ. Tonight we had kind of a send off for many of us leaving, and/or, such as me, going on a bit of a holiday, as the Brits say. Both nights I sat back, looked up at the beautiful sky, breathed some great clean air, and thought to myself, David, this is what you have always worked for. This could really be home. Now the next morning, as we faced the crazy traffic, the blowing dust in the middle of the afternoon, the crappy food, the inconveniences of life here, and all the frustrations that accompany being here, I say to myself, boy you must have had a little too much fun last night, but no matter who I am with or what I am doing, it still comes back to me. This is the single most rewarding decision that I have ever made in my entire life. Maybe this really could be home. That statement may get me labeled crazy, or even anger my closest friends and family, while personally I miss you all and never stop thinking of my return to you, I can tell you that at the end of the day it feels really good to be here.

Now who knows where I will be at mentally a year from now. Who knows even what will happen in Afghanistan. Or who knows even at the University where it is rotation time and we will have a new Pres., Vice President, and many new faces. . They talk of troop surges, increased incidents of attacks, etc. etc. Who knows, what even what life will be like in Kabul, May 31, 2010 when I am at the end of my contract. Finally, me personally, I have always been a builder. One who likes to create things from the ground up, to build them inch by inch. I have been doing so, and from the comments I get, doing a great job. However, someone often calls me a rolling stone. When I start gathering moss, I roll on. This is somewhat true. I get bored and start looking. So next year I question if I have the same remarks or will be sitting in the I can't wait to get the heck out of here seat. But for now, although I miss most of you dearly, I am happy, happy, happy with where life has led me.

See you all in a while...........

Memorial Day Festivities

I must admit that I really missed Memorial Day weekend at home. Specifically it was the first among many years that I did not get to make the Rolling Thunder festivities. I hear, however, the economy has taken its toll on even this the grandest of Memorial Day events and the numbers were down greatly.

I did though have some festivities here at the guest house. I had a very traditional Memorial Day BBQ event. Yes, even after the fun of two weeks ago I am loving my smoker grill. We had about 20 folks over in the afternoon/evening for some good food and good camaraderie.

Sorry no pics folks. I was too busy cooking and no one else had a camera. However, I really wish I had at least a picture of my get up. Shorts, sandals, Harley 105th t-shirt, my cowboy hat, sunglasses, and the thing that made my outfit special my Afghanistan bbq apron. Literally, it is a khaki apron embroidered with the word "Afghanistan" and has camels embroidered as well. My guests, of course, commented but the best thing was the looks I got from the guards. Yee haw is all I can say.

As in before I do not feel comfortable giving my date of departure out for security reasons. Leave it to say though, that we are beyond months or even weeks. We are down to days and almost hours now. The first week I will be getting some much needed R&R in Miami and have even scheduled a bike trip to Key West, FL. Bucket List Time!!! However, I will see you all very soon. Lets Ride!!!

Afghan Students Helping Afghans

For those that do not know, I have been teaching a course for many years now. It is what is called an FYE (Freshman Year Experience) course or as some Universities such as ours calls it University Success. It is an intro to life in a 4-year American institution of higher education institutions. Some universities require it some don't. I have seen it as a 1, 2, or even 3 hour course. At the University here it is a 3 hour required course. Everything from time management, career choices, personality development, taking notes, taking tests, and even money management are covered in this course.

Part of my course has always been a service-learning component. What is service-learning? It is a philosophy adopted at many colleges and Universities in which students apply what they have learned by doing a community service project. Each of my 7 semesters of teaching we have done some sort of service-learning project as part of the requirements of the course. It is built into the course as part of the learning outcomes. These outcomes are getting to know oneself, getting to know those immediately around you, getting to know the University, and getting to know the community around the University. Of course the class project fits into the latter of these outcomes.

Each semester, my students research, design, and implement one project as voted on by the class. In past semesters they have done things to benefit the homeless, women shelters, and even the red cross. As I approached this project in Afghanistan I had my doubts. Community service is something that is a bit foreign to this culture. Rather than doing so themselves they tithe money to the mosque who is supposed to do the community service as it is the center of the community. I had no idea how Islamic students would react to doing hands on work within the community. Boy, was I surprised.

As always I divide my class up into groups and each group proposes a service-learning project. At the end the class votes on the project and the groups are brought back together for implementation of the winning project. The groups here in Afghanistan blew me away with their project proposals. From building a road to improve road conditions, to helping schools, and to the winning proposal, helping Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), otherwise known as refugees, in one of the camps around Kabul.

If you have not read of the plight of IDPs in Afghanistan you really should. Sanitation and hygiene is a major issue in the camps. It is an issue country wide, I would say, but a very big issue in the camps. In fact as the students were proposing this project the issue of such hit the news. http://www.rawa.org/temp/runews/2009/04/23/afghanistan-sanitation-woes-in-makeshift-idp-camps.html. This is just one of many articles you can find on the net. So the students proposed that they raise money to provide the families in these camps hygiene kits and a modicum of education to assist in these woes.

The students went to work. To raise money they proposed a "fun fair day" in which the campus would be turned into a carnival. Live music, a mini circus, vendor stalls, games, etc. On top of that they started hitting up major donors for support. They raised quite a bit of money on the outset. However, one of the students works at the Ministry of Public Health who happened to have a stockpile of premade hygiene kits. GOLD! The Ministry donated these kits, valued at about 55,000 USD to the students in one fail swoop. They had proposed one kit per family but this donation gave them 6 times that amount. Although the end goal was accomplished with this, they still had to to through with their fundraising as they proposed. In addition to the kits they raised almost $2000 in cash, which was their original goal. Instead of using this money for the kits they will be able to use it to assist with getting the camp some clean water trucks in and to help with waste water evacuation.

So needless to say my doubts about community service in an Islamic country have been decimated. By far, even without the donated kits, this has been the most successful project in 7 semesters of my classes. I can tell you the students here are amazing. They not only grasp concepts you give them they actually run with them. This is just one example of many I could give you.

So as to the Spring Fling Fun Fair, it was not only a success monetarily it was a success in general. Lots of folks on campus on a Saturday which is great. Although today my feet hurt, I am sunburned, and my body is sore from 9 hours of hard work, I am proud that it was such an overwhelming success. Unfortunately, I was too busy to take photos. However, my students have all promised me some CDs of the festivities to share later. So I promise that will happen soon!

Semester Winding Down

So the semester is winding down here. In fact, less than a week in the term. It is time to have some events commemorating a great school year. The first on tap was the Staff Appreciation BBQ. It can best be described by saying loads of food and lots of fun.

One thing I missed in Northern Virginia was being able to have good grill or even a smoker. Well such is not true here. I was able to go to the local market and have one built from scratch for a great price using some plans I downloaded off the Internet. Since most barrels here have petroleum products, and you do not want that in your food, the double barrel smoker is made from the ground up, including the barrels. I can say one thing though, I will never smoke food for 150 people again. 90 Kilos of meat (almost 200 lbs). WOW. However the smoker outperformed my general expectations and is still in great shape. The BBQ it produced...yummy. This thing is going to make for some awesome summer BBQs at the guest house! The first of these will be a traditional Memorial Day BBQ on Monday. But that is another Blog!!!

Dubai

Photos from the Dubai trip. Yes that is a real ski slope in the Mall of the Emirates also a life size stuffed Giraffe. Needless to say, as you can see from the pictures, in my free time I shopped until I dropped several times over.