Featurette

Camera crews, journalists and photographers are a common sight around the school. For them, ANIM represents an unexpected chance to tell an inspiring and uplifting story about a little music school for boys and girls...in Kabul. Who wouldn't jump at the opportunity to tell that story. A few weeks ago CNN visited ANIM to shoot a special about the school. Check out this interesting featurette about the role and importance of music education in Afghanistan.

Riots and more

As you know, the entire Muslim world has been thrown into chaos. Despite the facts that have come to light about the filmmaker, (he is an Egyption, not Israeli or American, with a shady past and a criminal record) the riots have only intensified. There have been demonstrations in Kabul over the past few day, which have cause all sorts of unrest. In fact, there was a security lock-down at the school yesterday and we were not sure whether we would be able to get home at the usual time.

A family crossing the street

Fortunately, life at the school continues as usual. After months of not having a cello teacher, my students are working hard and improving quickly. On the other hand, my double bass students, like me, continue to be bewildered by the instrument. I have also started assisting two of the other faculty members with their music theory and ear-training classes. Ultimately the plan is for me to teach a class or two of my own.

Working with the young string ensemble

 I was asked to write a little about the food. Unfortunately, there's not a whole lot to report. The one staple of the Afghan diet that seems to accompany virtually every meal, is a frisbee-sized, fluffy, circular piece of naan. It's actually delicious and perfect for soaking up juices, shoveling food and even wiping your mouth. We have a cook at the school who makes lunch for the faculty and she cycles between Afghan baked beans, macaroni, an eggplant dish and rice. Unfortunately, I have not been able to eat out very much due to the security situation, but I have visited a few expat restaurants.

Afghan naan

Driving in Kabul is truly an experience. There are no lanes, dividers, stop signs or stop lights. Very few of the roads are paved or well-maintained and the rest resemble motocross race courses. In addition to the chaotic flow of traffic, there are herds of shaggy goats, donkeys pulling carts, men on bikes and motorcycles and crowds of pedestrians strolling among the cars. One thing is certain though, Afghans are some of the fiercest and nimblest drivers out there.

A street scene

 I want to thank everyone for your interest and support! Please let me know if there is some aspect of the life or work here that you would like me to address in future blogs.

ANIM, beginnings

The suicide bombing on the 8th (mentioned in my last blog entry), claimed the lives of several children who hung out in my neighborhood. I actually met one of them, Khorshid, the day before the attack. There was simply no way of knowing that this beautiful young girl would be senselessly killed the very next day. My heart goes out to the families and friends that lost loved ones. This is a powerful article about the kids whose lives were forever changed by the attack.

A Kabul view

Another view

I just finished my fourth day teaching at ANIM! The kids are absolutely wonderful. They are so eager to learn and hang on my every word like it's pure gold. Speaking of words, I am picking up more Dari every day, but my vocabulary is still pathetically limited. Today, I needed to count to ten and only made it to six. Sad. I have five terrific cello students and two bass students. Given my limited experience with the bass, it's an exciting challenge to simultaneously learn and teach an instrument. The challenge is especially daunting due to the fact that one of my students wants to learn jazz bass; jazz is something I definitely have no business teaching. I am also in charge of leading a young string ensemble consisting of ten adorable young violinists, violists and cellists. After the ensemble, I coach a string quartet made up of four young Afghan girls.

ANIM students waiting for the morning bell

Another exciting development is that I will be helping the ghichak teacher, Murad Zarabi, create the first ever ghichak method book. The ghichak is a bowed, two-stringed, Afghan instrument. He wants the book to resemble a western-style beginners technique book, with Dari and English. It's a fascinating project and I can't wait to see what we come up with.

Playing ghichak with Murad Zarabi

I have been so struck by the warmth of my Afghan students and colleagues. Indeed, Afghans are some of the most cheerful and friendly people I have ever met. I am constantly saying hello, returning smiles, shaking hands, giving and receiving enthusiastic pats on the back. Even outside of the school, I am making new friends and am greeted with smiles and handshakes. After only four days I have made friends with virtually everyone at the school and have started several running inside jokes. It's a welcome change from the social landscape of New York. During my time at Juilliard, I struggled to have a healthy social life and to make good friends, and as a result, I lost a great deal of self-confidence. I never expected it, but being here has allowed me to reclaim that lost confidence, to open up, and to rediscover a more loving, generous side of my nature.

Two Days Off

I have had two days off since I arrived in Kabul on the 6th. There is no school on Fridays and today is a national holiday for the military and political leader Ahmad Shah Massoud. In preparation for "Massoud Day," flags banners and posters with his face are put up literally everywhere. He is a fascinating, controversial figure and definitely worth reading up on.

A view from a Kabul street

Yesterday I went out with two wonderful colleagues from the school, Derek Beckvold, the saxophone teacher, and James Herzog, the trumpet teacher. We visited an expat cafe/restaurant for brunch then did a little shopping. On the way home we met a young Afghan girl from the school. She reported to James that her fifteen year old sister was soon to be married. We were all quite stunned by the news. The young girl, on the other hand, nonchalantly accepted the fact. We mentioned it later to some Afghan security guys at the guesthouse and they said, "Yes, well why not?"

The interior of a famous bookshop in Kabul

This morning we got news of an attack. The reports started pouring in. Each source offered a different account of the event. The body count, the details about the attacker and his methods, it all varied from source to source. I could hear sirens in the distance and the sound of helicopters. In fact, we had been warned the day before, that due to the controversial nature of "Massoud Day," there might be a Taliban strike. Needless to say, the rest of the day was spent inside. I attempted to practice to get my mind off the events of the day, but the thunder of helicopters eventually drowned out my attempts to play.

My first real day of work is tomorrow. I need to lose myself in my work at school so that the chaos of Kabul will become background noise. All I can do is teach, everything else is out of my control. More about the school and my young cellists soon!

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!