kabul school has stolen my heart.

ok. it's official. i want to stay here. in fact, i want to stay in the classrooms at the kabul school. this is a two month old school geared to disadvantaged children. some were orphans--living with relatives, a couple children had mental and physical disabilities, all of the children have jobs outside of school to help support their families. classes only go until lunch, which is provided by the school, and then the children are dismissed so they can go to work.

we spent all morning over there today, in the 50+ year old building. some of the team were out on the deck with the kiddos, some of us in classrooms. i was in a room full of boys, and loved every minute of it. after quick introductions (i've been dubbed "stepcha"), i sat down on the floor (in a culturally appropriate manner, of course) in a circle of boys equipped with crayons and paper and started drawing with all of them. they are learning english, dari (local language), pashto (the next most common language-also used in pakistan), math, and...computers! the boys were showing me their computer and practicing their english "kompooter!" so we began with drawing them. they know their parts! mouse, computer, keyboard, cpu...pretty impressive. the kiddos kept bringing me their drawings, i kept giving them more paper. they would tell me what they drew in dari, i would try to repeat it, then i would tell them how to say it in english, with them repeating me. we progressed to alphabet flashcards. the boys were so eager to yell out the right letter and try to figure out what the corresponding picture was. again, they would tell it to me in dari, i would tell them in english, helping them with pronunciation. right there, in a room full of kids i had never met, across the world in kabul, making animal sounds, fumbling with my dari...i felt right at home. i remember thinking "i could stay here, do this everyday, and feel completely fulfilled."

after more lessons, games, stretching, and singing, it was time for the kiddos to eat. some of us helped serve the food, while a few of us videotaped interviews of a few students to bring back to flatirons.

we came back to the house for lunch, which we shared with a couple USAF chaplains. great conversation, delicious food. now we're hanging out, processing and recharging before we decide what to do with our 4th of july afternoon. ...i can guarantee we will not be setting off fireworks! :)

since i'm working on my dari... khodar hafez (goodbye)...for now!