Life without sewing? It demands something else by way of diversion to occupy the time. To wit:
1. work
2. work
3. gym aka PT
4. work
and more of the same.
Not much time for the internet, either. And the bandwidth is woefully slow.
One of our diversions is the weekly bazaar at the edge of the base. It's open for a mere 3 hours once a week, and provides a welcome high point to the week. It's staffed by local men and their sons - like the charming young man above, who sold me one of the plastic-encased spiders for my own boy who's probably the same age. We never see any Afghan women or girls - they're completely invisible, er, absent. More's the pity.
The other diversion takes a little more work than just spending money, but it does involve money as well: fundraising runs. One of the ones I participated in shortly after getting here was to support the young fellow's school. Note, my dear lady friends, one and all, that this is a boys' school. Literacy Illiteracy rate for women in this neck of the woods runs to 90%. Yes, that's correct: nine adult women out of ten can't read or write. A dismal number of girls get to go to school. I wish we could all get together and do a fundraiser for a local girls' school, don't you?
And now for the toy: like my ride? Just one of the big toys for the big boys (& girls) I work with here. Don't I just look like a military tourist? This is the only bit of green for miles and miles of here.
Happy sewing, everyone!
