A couple of people have asked me for book recommendations about Afghanistan. Granted, there are way too many good books out there, but I'll vouch for a few. Of course Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini) needs to be on the list. It's a very sad book, but I think it does a great job describing Afghanistan - especially Afghanistan as it once was. I saw the movie adaptation but of course the book is always better. His follow-up book, A Thousand Splendid Suns is also well worth a read, although I think it's even more of a sad tale (if that's possible!). I just finished Three Cups of Tea about Greg Mortenson, who has made a career out of building schools, clinics, and just about anything else that needs to be done in remote parts of Pakistan and Afghanistan. It is more focused on Pakistan, but unfortunately many of the same problems apply here. I'm currently reading The Bookseller of Kabul, written by Asne Seierstad. She's a Norwegian who actually lived with an Afghan family right after the fall of the Taliban. I'm not very far into it yet but it looks really good.
OK, one funny anecdote from my Dari class. Every language seems to have its own sense of humor (speaking from my vast experience of four languages now). We all had to laugh at one translation last week. The Dari word for husband is shawhar - "shaw" meaning "night" and "har" meaning "every." :) Nothing as funny on the feminine side though - the Dari word for "wife" and "woman" are the same - "zan." Take that as you may...
And yet another farewell to report - Rob is a Marine who was assigned to work Detainee Operations. He did that and a whole lot more. I was lucky enough to work with him on an assessment we just completed and he was incredibly helpful. He's heading back to his beloved East Coast. Fair winds and following seas Rob...
One last picture before I run away to study - I managed to get a decent sunset shot so I'll leave you with it. If it looks cold to you - it was! :)
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