Tea and a Teammate

Tea
This last week I had the privilege of spending some time with an Afghan refugee family that some people I got connected with tutor once a week. When the tutors found out I'd lived in Afghanistan and spoke the language (as best I can), they were ecstatic and immediately invited me along.

So, we showed up at their apartment and in Afghan style though I was not known by them they welcomed me in and ushered me to a seat. I was promptly served green tea with Cardamom in it (yummmmm....my favorite and I haven't had it for 5 months so I was pretty excited) and they put a tray of raisins, almonds and pistachios in front of me. They then proceeded to tell me which of the part of the tray had the fresh almonds and which had the old ones, in Dari, and not to the other English speaking guests. I was part of the in crowd!

We had so much fun chatting away and I brought pictures to share. As we looked at many of them from Mazar, they told me about making a trip there (they are from the central part of the country, a ways away from where I had lived) before their kids were born. They have an incredible story of fleeing during the Taliban times on foot over the mountains of Pakistan and being separated from each other for years. I am truly humbled by what many people in this country have had to face. I definitely don't take freedom and stability for granted any more!

It was a great connecting time and I hope to be able to continue to meet with them. It hinges on me getting a vehicle though because they are a little ways away from me. I am looking forward to continuing this new-found friendship. And they all offered to help me with Dari in exchange for help in English (which admittedly I'm in need of!)

Teammate
One of my teammates is in town visiting relatives and spending the weekend with me on her way back for a break. Today we went downtown and visited the art institute of Chicago. It was great...there's much to see, although I was a bit disappointed that the section of American art was closed so I didn't get to see the Edward Hopper paintings I was hoping to see. We had a great time. We then walked around downtown and as today was the big lighting ceremony for downtown there was lots of events going on. We stumbled across a K.T. Tunstall concert just as she was singing "Black Horse and a Cherry Tree." Walked by Armani, Tiffany's, etc. on the magnificent mile. It's a whole other world! I passed on the diamond earrings though, maybe I'll put them on my Christmas list. If someone could mention to my future-husband that he should start saving for those, that would be great. ha! yeah, they don't quite match with my wardrobe of fleece and jeans though, do they?!