Odds and Ends

Our last group shot-bittersweet!

This blog is full of random photo's  I have taken and they are in no particular order. Yesterday (Monday) was another interesting day. This week classes are 6 hours for 3 days so we are busy trying to finish up loose ends-Seems like there is never enough time.  I have a full fledged, stuffy nose, hacking cough cold so my voice is coming and going and I am probably freely spreading my germs (Great).  After class, Sidiq (the driver) took me over to the City Campus -where I was interviewed by a reporter from the Express Tribune, Ali Usman.  The article is below. I hope the link works!

Interview with the Express Tribune

My students swear by Johar Joshanda.  It did help me get through the class today!

Today I woke up with absolutely no voice and felt really crummy. But, today was also a perfect example of Pakistani kindness. Sayeed, the cook, listened to me for about a minute and ran into the kitchen. He came back with a big glass of hot water and salt and motioned for me to go gargle (sweet man!).  Sidiq, Salima's driver heard me say Good Morning and immediately took me to a pharmacy to get throat lozenges (another sweet man).  When I got to school the students made me a hot herbal tea and insisted on helping with class. Salima came after lunch and told me I was going to the doctor (which she arranged). Maryam Hasan took me to her doctor, we waited about 4 minutes, saw the doctor which cost a whopping $7.00 and my 4 prescriptions were less than $3.00 (I keep asking myself why it costs so much at home).  None of this would Maryam let me pay for. One of the things Pakistani's pride themselves on is how they treat you as a guest and this shows. I feel a little overwhelmed by all of this, but really appreciated it.

Right after school I went on a tour (courtesy of Naazish Ataullah) of Aitchison College (a prep school in Lahore).  Maryam is a friend of the family and arranged for me to have the tour and tea with the principal's family. This school is unbelievable and looked like something out of a fairy tale.  Tomorrow I will blog on that because it deserves a page all of its own.

I've mentioned the UPS systems many families have to use here.  These are big battery packs that charge while the electricity is on and when it goes out (as it always does) they power the fans, lights and a few other appliances.

One of the hardest things about using a blog site here is the power shut downs in the middle of uploading pictures.  Your text usually saves, but the pictures (if they are uploading) disappear.  It seems to take an inordinate amount of time to upload as well, but that may be my inexperience showing.  Going to do more research on using Picassa albums!  More random photos below.

You see these fellows  lot in the early mornings.  This is a milkman. Some use the more familiar milk can, but personally, I like the brass pots.

The colors here are one of the things I most want to remember.  This is so not a monochromatic city-color everywhere.

More public monuments.  I have to hand it to the people here.  Every major thoroughfare has some type of public art.

Construction worker maybe?  I still can't figure out how people get the stuff they do on motorcycles here. Ingenuity and necessity at work.  Sidiq, my driver to work, always slows down when we come to interesting things and yells "picture!'  I think he has me pegged.