winter wonderland

You may have heard on the weather report that K*bul has been experiencing some amazing weather lately.  Being folks from Tennessee and Mississippi we’ve only ever experienced mild winters.  Last year while we were home for Christmas, Tennessee had one of the first white Christmases that I can remember.  I know its happened before in my lifetime, but I hadn’t remembered any like last year’s.  But back in K*bul we are sitting at 6,000 feet above sea level which gives us more opportunity for snow.  Each year we’ve been here, we’ve endured colder winters than we were used to, but people would say that it was mild.  Embracing my southern roots, I thought it was freezing, but I didn’t share that with the yankees at the dinner table.

Though this year has been different.  Astoundingly different.  When we landed back in January the city had just experienced its first snow.  There was still snow on the ground as we rode from the airport to the compound.  It was very refreshing to see the mountains covered in snow.  It is good for the city when we get snow, because as the snow melts throughout the spring, the K*bul river gets replenished with water.  So snow in the city is a great thing…unless…

If we got to spend some time with you this summer or winter break, you probably caught on to the small detail that our school is out of money.  The US*ID grant that we received this September basically paid the landlords and bought some school supplies, but it didn’t leave us with any extra.  I mention this only because a snowy winter is GREAT…when you can afford it.  When we arrived back in January the pipes in our house were frozen.  After the maintenance team took a torch to the water tank (which sits outside on the roof), some of the pipes were working.  But, God is still good…and we survived our first few nights back in a cold, waterless house.

Pretty much the only source of heat in the house and classrooms comes from kerosene heaters.  So we have one heater in the living room and it heats the living room.  Our bedroom which sits next to the living room has stayed between 30 and 40 degrees because there is no heat in it.  You can see your breath in the cold air in the bedroom.  My bathroom which is next to the bedroom has ice that forms on the wall every night.  Then during the day as the sun heats the windows, the ice melts and water falls onto the tile floor in the bathroom.  So the bathroom has a sheet of ice on the floor and wall.  The kitchen had no heat until a few of weeks ago.  So when we first returned, the olive oil was frozen.  I looked it up and it has a freezing temperature of 32-37 degrees.  So as long as the olive oil was solid, I knew the kitchen was between 32-37 degrees.  Thankfully we got a new heater for the kitchen, so we’re able to keep it a little warmer.  And praise the Lord, the school can still afford to buy the kerosene to keep the heaters going.  PTL!

Yes, I know you are wondering….how to you use the bathroom when the pipes are frozen.  Well…I didn’t know myself until it happened to us.  You get a big bucket (like a large 20 gallon trash can) and find a water pipe that’s working.  Then you fill it up and carry it back to the house and put it in the bathroom.  Then get a scooper to scoop the water and pour it into the toilet bowl to flush away anything.  Then you get another scoop of water and run it over your hands in the sink to wash your hands.  Luckily the staff of the school will get the water and bring it to the house or school.  Its just crazy that this is how we use the bathroom in the school buildings.  Thankfully we have been extremely blessed that we’ve only had to use that method just a couple of times at the house.

Ice, cold, and snow do crazy things to homes and school buildings which is why the Afgh*an schools are not open right now.  They will start school after Nawruz (New Year) in March.  They will hold school until the end of November.  So their long break is in the winter time, because they can’t afford to heat the buildings in the winter time.  (I wonder if they have the right idea with this situation.)

But, I don’t want to sound like I’m complaining, but really I have nothing to complain about.  We have so far stayed healthy through this whole winter season and its been a beautiful winter.  It’s hard to realize that this is the most snow that I’ve seen in all my life.  We have had snow on the ground since we landed in January.  Everyday I walk by the snow piles I think of my aunt and uncle who live in Minnesota.   Is this what they experience every year?

Every week when it snows the city gets so quiet.  You don’t hear the mull*h saying the call to prayer, you don’t hear the city buses honking their horns, you don’t hear construction work.  Everything is quiet.  It’s made me appreciate the stillness and peace of the winter season.  This is a season for hibernating, resting, and relaxing.  So when spring comes we are ready to spend every minute of the day alive and blossoming.  I have loved the winter wonderland that we’ve lived in.  Even with all the hardships of the season, it’s still been a season of joy and rejoicing.  Here are a few pictures from around campus.  Hope you enjoy.

Category : daily thoughts, pictures
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