April4
Our cook, Zeki, invited us to the wedding of his sister. Only three of us went, Marjorie, Valerie and I attended on this Friday afternoon. We drove through town, down narrow and dirty streets. The van stopped at the end of a long corridor, of which the sewage drainage flows in the middle. We were welcomed by Zeki’s male family, about 10 of them standing there, all dressed up. The men escorted down the corridor, through a few small doors, the smell of sewage in the air. Arrived at the family home and taken into a small room, where the typical setting of nuts, raisins, fruit and drinks were placed on the floor mat and red cushions surrounded the food. Here we sat, then shortly some of the family, women and men, joined us. As they did not speak English, Zeki had to translate, through the usual pleasantries and curious questions. Zeki’s brother befriended me and spoke of how much he wanted to get to Canada to study in school and can I help him. It was around this time that we learned that the French Ambassador to Afghanistan was also invited to the wedding. Zeki’s father is the chef for the French embassy. The women and other members of the family then left us. It was just the girls, Zeki and his dad and I. Then the door opened and 2 big men in black uniforms, carrying rather large black machine guns, came into the room, looked at us, then around the room, smiled and left. Val, Marj and I all looked at each other…the Ambassador has arrived. It was about 10 minutes later that he (Jean) actually arrived. He was a tall man, grey hair, dressed in an expensive suit and looked very diplomatic. He came with his interpreter and 3 body guards. I stood up and introduced myself, he spoke English, I was happy. He sat down on the cushion next to me. There I am….still can’t believe it, sitting on the floor, next to the French Ambassador, in a small, plain private room in a traditional Kabul neighborhood. He asked where I was from, and he knew where the Yukon, as his brother used to do geological surveys in the Yukon back in the 1980. We talked briefly about the wilderness, cold and dark winters and how he wished to see it sometime in the summer of course. At this point lunch was served. Seemed like endless plates of the usual special Afghan meal; rice with raisins and carrots, beef, chicken and spinach. The girls spoke French with him and he enjoyed that. He asked why I did not speak French…how embarrassing. He told Zeki’s father that he bought them some DVD’s on cooking, where Zeki thought he said DVD’s on cleaning and thanked him. We all laughed.
After the meal, he asked to see the bride, who was with all the women on the other side of the house, he had a gift to give her. Normally this is not allowed, but he was the Ambassador. So, I used the opportunity to follow him to the other side to get a glimpse of the bride. We arrived and some of the women covered up right away, others did not, they all had so much make up on…way too much and looked liked painted dolls. There she was in a small room, packed with other woman. Her make-up was very thick also, she looked sad. The Ambassador gave the gift, the interpreter translated, she did not smile. And in a flash it was over! The Ambassador and his entourage then left, I managed to get a photo just before he left.
Afterwards, I sat outside, among some of the men. Many came around to stare at me, as they were most curious, but could not speak English. The music (traditional Afghany) was playing, as I sat, I tapped my hands on my knees to the music. Others took that as a sign that I wanted to dance, which I did not. There were persistent and eventually got me up and in the mud, I danced with some of the men…it seemed like everyone stopped to watch me. This is when Quasimodo appeared. This hunchbacked man, rather unkempt appearance with black teeth wanted to dance with me, in fact loved to dance…and so he did. No sooner had we started dancing Quasimodo is dragging me to the other side of the area where the women are, and others are applauding me. I am thrown into the small open square and continuing dancing with Quasimodo, while all the women watch on and probably in shock…as I was in shock also. The Zeki appeared and danced with me also for a few minutes. When the music stopped I escaped back to the other side of the yard to many claps and cheers!! What a crazy and memorable moment that was!!
