Asa and her family were most gracious to invite me to their Big EID celebration. This holiday is held 70 days after Ramazan and like EID from previous blog (held at the end of Ramazan) celebrates Abraham's great belief in God's will and obeyed by nearly sacrificing his only and much loved son Isaac. Big Eid, from what I could determine, is a time of family gathering and celebration so I was quite honored to be invited. It was also the first opportunity for many in Asa's family to directly interact with "normal" Americans, Americans not armed to the teeth traveling in full body armor and armored vehicles. The above picture is of is Asa and her Mother prior to the luncheon, a social time which I thoroughly enjoyed.
Asa's mother was not too thrilled that a guest help prepare lunch; however, I was so very excited to learn about preparing Oshak. Think dim sum with ground lamb, parsley, garlic and other spicings. A spicy yogurt sauce is then poured over the stuffed noodles. Here I'm pictured with Asa's sister and her 7 year old son who took a great liking to me, needless to say he had me wrapped around his little finger in no time. They all got a charge out of my ineptness in making these dumplings; however, recognized my great skill (in my mind anyway) toward the end. No table or countertops, the food is prepared on top of a table cloth on the floor. My legs were cramping something fierce.
This large room Asa is most graciously sitting in serves as family and dining room. Most Afghan family homes do not have furniture as we know it, they use only pillows to sit on as you can see in this picture. Isn't she stunning? You already know how competent she is.
The food, oh the food. It was all amazing. They do not do courses of food but serve everything in one setting which I find much more cordial and keeps the women sitting through the entire meal. Served? A delicious bean soup, salads, jasmine rice, lamb chops, the Oshak which I helped prepare, and various spicings (spicy) to add to the foods. Oh my, I ate waaaay too much and only wished I could eat more.After lunch, other members of the family came by for a visit which proved very entertaining for all of us. They were mesmerized sitting in a room with two Americans who proved most cordial... a great opportunity to demonstrate what Americans are truly all about. Americans not armed, covered in body armor and invading homes. After the visit, I concluded the importance of such gatherings and believe current coalition policy on social interaction should be changed. I've attended many formal events with the Afghan elite at the various embassies and sadly aware of coalition members interacting in illegal bars and houses of prostitution; however, it is social events like this one which will have greatest impact on a lasting peace. It's been over 10 years since we've been in Afghanistan and we must adjust our policies if we are to have long term impact.
Sadly, when we arrived via taxi (also prohibited) and then departed we had to maintain a very low profile as we did not want the neighbors seeing Asa's family hosting coalition guests. The Taliban truly are everywhere and they particularly hate Hazaras (Asa's tribe), many of whom were slaughtered when the Taliban initially entered Kabul. Further, it was against our rules to visit with Afghan families. Sadly, I can only tell these stories now that I am out of the mission. While this appears to contradict my previous push for policy change, I believe greater interaction inside Afghan society (restaurants, shops, homes) would lead to this behavior becoming the norm thus negate the threat on either side. Understand, the threat will always be there.
UPDATE ON ADVENTURE: I will be home June 1.
