Posts by Eli

There are some things that we take for granted in life. This includes what year it is and what day of the week it is. Here in Afghanistan we are celebrating the Muslim calendar that welcomes the year of 1387. It’s kind of cool to flip things on its head and think about time being…

I know this post is long coming, but better late than never! James & I enjoyed a lovely R&R in Switzerland after five months apart. We met in Zurich and enjoyed a couple of nights there. Wandering around the city, looking at museums, enjoying bratwurst and sunny days.We then headed to Vaduz, Liechtenstein for a…

I couldn’t help but share this report from the United Nations on the maternal mortality rate in Afghanistan. I thought the most interesting factor is that there are 25 times more deaths due to maternal mortality than there are security related deaths. It goes to show that despite the unstable security environment in Afghanistan, there…

Just a reminder of why I am here and the impact that study abroad programs have on the Afghan Faculty members who participate. This is recent feedback on how the Singapore participants, that I accompanied in January, are doing. All of the participants are shocked at the contrast between Afghanistan and Singapore. They are amazed…

I’m now officially addicted to Picasa, the google picture management software & web application. I didn’t blog all weekend because I could stop putting up photos. I’ve managed to get almost all of my photos up since 2002. I have a few chunks of time randomly missing and unfortunately don’t have our professional wedding photos,…

I’ve learned that Afghanistan was once considered the Switzerland of Asia. Then relatively stable, centrally located, plenty of places to hide money, and beautiful mountains. Unfortunately they are missing the fabulous chocolate and the clockwork government. Add both of those and Afghanistan might just pull it together. I thought folks would like to see the…

Reflecting upon my last post, I wanted to clarify the why in all of it. I visited my 41st country, Qatar, on Friday and got a brief taste of a place that would otherwise be a place on a map or a country my colleagues work to reform the education system in. While I certain…