This evening I was sitting out in our yard enjoying the evening. It had been a busy weekend full of visiting with people and spending time with local friends here. I enjoyed all the social time but was also needing the relaxing evening. I had my book, was sitting in my chair, a couple of the other girls had just finished hanging up their laundry and were sitting nearby listening to their ipods. I glanced over my shoulder a few times to see some dark clouds in the distance. "ooh." I thought. "It might rain tonight. That would cool things off a bit." (it hardly ever rains in the summer here so dark clouds are a very rare thing and worth noting!) I turned back to my book but about 10 minutes later I heard this sound like wind behind me. It kept on going and I looked over to see clouds of dust billowing towards us and swallowing up the tops of the houses that I could see from my yard. I shouted and all of us girls jumped up and began to grab armloads of laundry off the line as fast as we could and as we got inside the dust storm hit and swirled around our house. Right now the streets are empty and there is a haze inside my house as the storm whirls around outside. That's Af-stan for you!
This weekend some of my office staff, a couple of the short-term team members and myself went on a picnic in a nearby town. This town used to be the capital of this area and was a major stop along the silk road back in the day. Alexander the Great resided there for awhile, Genghis Khan and others also made this place home for awhile. There is a spot where there are the old ruins of the walls still partially standing and you can find pieces of broken potter and human bones mixed in with the rubble. I guess so many wars and conflicts happened there. The people I was with said they'd have a war, all the people would die, and then they'd just build a new city on top of them leaving layers of city and bone. It very well could be true. We had a picnic out there, played volleyball, climbed all over the walls and caught some frogs in a nearby stream. I also rode a horse for the first time in Af. It was pretty skinny and a little tired out so he didn't go very fast, but I felt like a true adventurer sitting on top of that horse with the ruins of the old city behind me and the fields of wheat stretched out all around me.
Our lunch for the picnic. Quite nice huh?!
The walls of the old city we visited.
History speaks...more than I want to hear sometimes.
We caught frogs in the river. I've never seen so many frogs at one time.
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