Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Birthday Post

I have written and re-written summaries of my 29th year and I bored myself (and I usually find myself fascinating).

The plodding battles with my health. Red blankets wrapped around my knees. Cups and cups of tea. Headaches, hives, dust, heat, cold. Doing the right thing and then wondering if it’s enough. Doing the wrong thing and hoping it wasn’t too bad. Failure.

Bouts of anger, disappointment and the feeling of standing still, when all I wanted was to move.

But.

As I look forward to turning 30, this highly fraught age that is either highly despised or highly lauded, I realize that I only know one thing for sure:

I'm pretty friggin lucky.

Friends and family punctuated this busy year. The connections I’ve made throughout the world may pull sometimes. I’m always somewhere that some of my friends and family are not. Yet, everywhere I go, there seems to be someone welcoming me and handing me a cup of tea. That’s pretty cool, huh?

I’m thankful. I hope next year is the same (ahem, perhaps with less rocket blasts and health issues). Oh, and I'd like a sophisticated new short haircut that won't look like a mullet. And world peace. And to be on What Not To Wear (really, I'd like a shopping spree, 2 funny fashion consultants, Nick to cut my hair and Carmindy to do my make-up). That's it, that's all I want.

Here’s a nice quote to end my ‘birthday’ post:
She pulled in her horizon like a great fish-net. Pulled it from around the waist of the world and draped it over her shoulder. So much of life in its meshes! She called in her soul to come and see.
- Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

I will stop messing with my blog now

I promise.

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Pimpin my friend's business

Saint Mary's Market

First, a disclaimer, this is my friend's business. Please be assured that I wouldn't give a positive review if I didn't actually like the products. Got it? Okay, let's carry on then.

As you all know, I love food. What you don't know is that I don't just love Afghan food. I love Jamaican food too.

Jamaican food brings back warm memories of going over my friend's house in high school and having dumplings (where's the dumpling & stew recipe?!), goat curry and my favorite, jerk chicken. Oh and Oxtail. That picture of the oxtail doesn't convey how good that stuff is. It's the perfect recipe for a cold winter evening. Well, as cold as it can get in the Deep South (shut up, we have blizzards sometimes).

Now I'm hungry (Could someone bring me some Ting?). PFR can attest to our giddy delight at finding Ting at the local supermarket in DC (I LOVE YOU TING).

Anyway, now that I'm grown and don't live 10 minutes away from my friend's house - I must make do with my own cooking. This is quite helpful in that regard and I plan on taking a bit of jerk seasoning to Kabul with me.

I've been meaning to do a write-up on it ever since I was given the Niyabingi Nettle & Rosemary soap as a gift. I love the rosemary and while the nettle was a little rough at first, it softened up when I ran the soap under water. It also served as a great exfoliant. I have super duper sensitive skin, ever since the medicine debacle of 2006, and this is one of the few soaps that doesn't irritate my skin. Oh yeah, the soaps are hand-made and organic.

That's the end of my unpaid advertisement. And now I'm really, really hungry.

Monday, July 09, 2007

Grand plans that dissolved into an update

I had grand plans for my next post. One is about the hijab and another is about color & race.

Y'all will just have to make do with this update-y post until about the end of the month. If I finish everything early (this would require magic), then I'll post.

I'm tired. I haven't prepared for the exam as well as I should have (I have a whole host of reasons, stuff I would've have chosen to do despite the slight panic I'm facing now). I have a paper to finish, family stuff to take care of, prepare for travel back to the watan (soon Inshallah!) and oh yeah, and I no longer have health insurance.

Umm, I really wasn't planning on complaining in this post. I planned to mention that I have finally accepted the HiK moniker that Q gave me. I noticed that LoA has titled the link to my blog as HiK...so why fight it?

I've stopped dieting as it was ruining my quality of life. Y'all know I like to eat. According to the health charts, I'm at a healthy weight and don't need to lose weight...so I'm done with dieting. It's an early birthday present to myself.

So, until later, go read Afghanistanica and Dr. Rubin's new blog. Afghanistanica called him a 'super-academic' (and he's right). Oh, and if someone called me a super-academic, it would be on my business card immediately. Then I would refer to myself in the third person, "Well, as the Super-Academic mentioned in her previous post..." Perhaps this is why fame is eluding me, to keep me humble.

Oh, and since I seem to be anonymously sucking up, go get some Gulestan products. I use the
rose toner and it's wonderful.

You know what else I'd like to do? Revamp my blog completely. But that would cause my head to implode. I can't imagine that being a good thing.

Wednesday, July 04, 2007

Good news!

Alan Johnston is released!!!

News of global demonstrations in his support was a source of comfort to him, he said.

"There were demonstrations from Beijing to Buenos Aires, Beirut to London to Washington and you know I could feel how much the Palestinian people were feeling that this wasn't right and how much support there was for an end to my captivity," he said.

Sunday, July 01, 2007

Attorney General woes

Public Health Ministry, AG bicker over employees' arrest
KABUL, June 28 -(Pajhwok Afghan News)-The arrest of two Public Health Ministry employees has sparked a row between two government organs here.

Abdullah Fahim, spokesman for the ministry, told Pajhwok Afghan News on Thursday the attorney-general had kept two ministry staffers in detention for five days without documentary proof of their involvement in any wrongdoing.

"The attorney-general's office (AGO) has kept the two detained despite bail bonds furnished by the ministry for their release," the spokesman claimed.

This act on the part of the top judicial officer has caused a rift between the ministry and the AGO, according to Fahim, who the blamed the AG for acting emotionally and against the law.

Ahmad Samir, secretary to the AG, said the bail application of the two ministry staffers had been referred to court. The employees, the secretary claimed, had misappropriated $70,000 from a project for the elimination of pye-dogs.