The First Entry

Dear Friends,

Welcome to my blog! This is the very first entry in what (I hope) will be an exciting and interesting account of my adventures in Kabul teaching cello at the Afghanistan National Institute of Music, or ANIM. At first, I was hesitant to create a blog, however, friends, family and acquaintances showed so much interest in what I'm setting out to do, that I decided to make my writings accessible to anyone and everyone.

I'm writing from the airport in Istanbul, where I have been camped out for nearly ten hours. Only two more hours to go, thank god. Unfortunately, you can't get to Kabul on the same airline without a significant layover. It was total pandemonium getting off of the plane. The visa line and passport control line were snaked around each other and there was no way of telling where to go. I received a lot of confusing directions and ended up waiting in all of the wrong lines.

Jagged mountains appear through the clouds as we prepare to land in Kabul

It's now 3:45am and I'm finally boarding the plane for Kabul! Incidentally, I met a wonderful British family in the shuttle on the way to the plane. It turns out they are a very musical family and are moving to Kabul to teach music, in additional to doing other humanitarian work. I am very excited to get to know them once we have all settled down.

View from the roof of my guesthouse

After landing in Kabul, I was picked up by William Harvey, the violin professor at the school. We drove to my guesthouse where I dropped off my luggage. The streets are unmarked and it's essentially a free for all. From there we visited the school where I was able to meet my new cello students and most of the faculty. Everyone is warm, open and cheerful. After eagerly anticipating my arrival in Kabul for months, it was so wonderful to finally meet everyone and to visit the school. Back to the guesthouse to unpack and to get settled. More news, updates and pictures soon!