evainpakistan

2006-01-18T21:28:00.000-08:00

2006-01-18T21:24:00.000-08:00

Today I realize that my time here in Pakistan is running by… so quickly. Nearly 6 months are already left… I started taking pictures of my school children and the teachers… to take them all home!
But mostly I am happy these days, because my dad is coming to visit me!!! Yes!! It’s nearly unbelievable… I remember when we sat together in my home and I tried to explain my parents that I want to go to Pakistan.. yeah, that was kind of difficult, but now he is really coming to see what Pakistan and the people here are like! We have 3 weeks together to travel here, explore Pakistan and visit people! I told everybody –the children, the teachers, the people at work and of course my friends here and at home, that my dad is coming! Plus I decided already what I can wear at the airport to pick my dad up. Really, I am very proud and happy because of that!
Additionally it is my dads birthday today! Congratulations and a happy Birthday, Papa!

2006-01-13T02:03:00.000-08:00

Eid-ul-Azha made us happy and gave us a couple of free days. Three! In the middle of the week! The Muslims celebrate that Abraham, who was sent to sacrifice his own son… but the son did finally change into a goat. So the goat was sacrificed. That is why the Muslims still sacrifice animals today and you saw animals in the last couple of weeks over and over… goats, camels, cows and sheep.

Eid is the celebration when these animals finally get slaughtered. That is why we visited a family of one of my colleagues to see a cow getting slaughtered. It was a bloody experience I can tell…. The men were standing down in the entrance of the house separating the parts of the cow, the women and children stood up on the roof to watch the whole ceremony…Phyllida and me rushed to join the females who than started to decorate our hands with some Mehndi (some decoration and color on the hands that they use here and in India for several occasions)!

Of course we had a lot of invitations to eat, eat, eat a lot of meat! Siri Pai we had for lunch –of course I did not know what exactly that is! But today I figured out, that this is the scull of the head and something from the feet of the cow! I am not sure but I think I better should become a vegetarian! After we finished our visiting-families-and-get-a-lot-to-eat-tour we went around in the car to go to one of our schools. CARE started to collect hides, which is the skin of the animals, to make some money and invest it in houses for the Earthquake-victims. So we visited this school and saw all these skins piled up! In fact, the whole area was kind of a market for those skins… I was asking myself where those things are happening at home –definitely you don’t see it happening in the streets!?

After all this Meaty-Eid I really feel not hungry any longer at all! In fact, I don’t need to eat for the next weeks. And I should seriously become a vegetarian?!

2005-12-29T21:24:00.000-08:00

I spend my Christmas in Pakistan –one that will remain in my thoughts as something really special!
For Christmas my friends invited me to their homes to celebrate this with me. Even if they are Muslims themselves and don’t have the tradition of Christmas! I feel that this is just so great and loving – I can not describe in words.
At work they build up a Christmas tree, which was looking really cute! Below they put some presents for both of us –Annie from England and me! I was so happy about that, never expecting to have that! We sang all Christmas songs together, had cake to eat! It was a great time!!!
Christmas Eve We were invited to Asmas place. We had a good Christmas dinner next to our Christmas flower. The flower was nicely decorated, candles were lighted! We sang songs, gave each other presents and really had a special time! I still feel happy about all this!

The next morning we went to church, which was supposed to start at nine in the morning. So I was kind of feeling in a hurry when we finally left for church at 9.45. As soon as we arrived, we figured out that we were not too late at all! They told us, that they might start in half an hour. The priest is at home to relax. We left for visiting a family and came back an hour later. Finally the service started. Caroline and me were sent up front to sit next to the nuns, which made me feel a bit strange. But still, it was a wonderful service, although we did not understand much in Urdu! The songs are great and just made us feel good and happy. Afterwards all the women came up to us, gave us a big hug and wished us a merry Christmas. We kind of had a hard time to leave that place….

We spend our lunch in the Holiday Inn, where we took a nice Christmas buffet! Annie invited Caroline and me… J Lots of things to eat…. Belly-friendly-growing-guarantee.
Next day we went to Mansehra, which is a place near the Earthquake region. It looks so wonderful their in between the mountains.. that I felt kind of sad seeing all the tentcamps around every couple of hundred meters. We lived there with Zainab’s family with amazing hospitality, that Caroline and I just felt as if being home (Zainab is Hissams Sister, a friend studying in Germany).

In Mansehra we visited the Earthquake victims in a tent as well. This was amazing, sad- something that made me think and will remain in my thoughts. All these children there – looking dirty and sad – but still they were smiling, when they saw us…. We altogether had a wonderful time packed with sad stories. I felt kind of helpless in this situation, but still was it good to be there and talk to them for some time! One lady holding a baby told us, that her mother died after 15 days when she was born due to the Earthquake….

We visited a school as well – which was good and impressive to get some new ideas. The school belonged to a woman, who build it up all on her own… this really inspired me seeing the circumstances in this more remote and conservative area!
Of course the children are so cute in Mansehra as well!

Happy about a wonderful christmas, full of new inspiration, thoughts and people, that were more nice to me than I could have ever imagined. Thanks to all of you spending this amazing time with me!

To all of you a happy new year and all the best for 2006!

2005-12-22T02:24:00.000-08:00

Money, money, money – is difficult to get. I walked into four! different banks today – each of them had an ATM Machine. In the first bank I was told –wait, we just need 15 minutes. Than the ATM will work. In the next bank I was told: Wait for just 5 minutes – there is just some problem. The lady in the third bank assured, that the ATM will definitely be fixed during the day. It stopped working in the morning! Last, but not least: The next ATM did work, it just did not accept my card! I tried the first bank again –of course nothing was fixed yet –but the time will come when everything will work again, so that I can pick up some money!Inschallah!

2005-12-19T00:25:00.000-08:00

Going on the bus finally is one of those activities that I start to like in this country! Every time you meet nice women, that want to talk to you and give you the biggest smile! Yesterday I spoke to a woman trying out all my new small Urdu-knowledge! Somehow I must have mixed some words or anything… she definitely understood that I am married… than we were talking about her child. She was telling me that she waited long for getting pregnant. Suddenly she started with strange questions like what is my doctor saying about my health?!? I was wondering –what should he say? Everything is ok, I guess?! She asked, why I don’t get pregnant, when I am already 24, married…. And why am I here in this country all on my own? I tried to explain everything again –this time with the help of a medium talented translator riding with us on the bus. Well I hope that in the end she did understand, that I am not married, that I do not have children, that I am happy even without that here in this country all on my own! This lady was so concerned of my age and the fact that I am not married yet J !

2005-12-14T00:52:00.000-08:00

This last week I went to Karachi for an AIESEC-Conference. We, the Lahoris, did go there by train J! So it was my first journey on a train in Pakistan. A great experience. It took us about 18 hours…but since we could lay down and sleep it was alright. I really enjoyed the train stations, where we had little breaks. People in the station were screaming and shouting, trying to sell their food! Somehow funny and enjoyable.
Having an AIESEC-Conference was a good motivation and a good break from real work. The conference itself was very good and amazing as well! We did work hard to have a vision for AIESEC in Pakistan now J! We soon will all be famous after having different television channels there to report about AIESEC…. Discussed a lot, had fun, played drinking games without drinking, did reduce our sleeping hours to a minimum and had a lots to eat! Well, we really had a good time! One day the conference was held at the beach –a great view! On Sunday we enjoyed ourselves at a Sunday Market, where you can basically get everything from shoes, clothes, DVD’s and CD’s, food…. Nice to see! After a lunch on Monday at one of the AIESECers, we already had to go home again…back to Lahore!

So, today I was really happy going back to work, see all the teachers and students again. They had exams, so I could not really do something with them, but afterwards we had time to learn some more URDU! Well, I love going to the schools and being with the teachers!

2005-12-02T23:35:00.000-08:00

A lot of things going on here in Lahore. Actually I had quite busy life – socially and at work. I’ve been to the Worlds Performing Arts Festival, that was held here in Lahore. It’s the biggest festival of this art in the South-East. Different artists from all over the world came over to perform. Of course there was a german girl as well… She did some really strange movements around the stage alsong with a story that did not make sense to me at all. The friends (one from England and one Pakistani) sitting next to me were looking at me with a face of big question marks. I was so sorry to say that I myself did not have a clue of what was going on.

Another show I attended next day. Strange was that this day they checked basically everything on you –we were not allowed to bring mobiles. Too bad that nobody was informed about that before. Later I came to know that this was because of the visit of the President of Pakistan, Mister Musharraf. Finally after some checks we were allowed to go inside the big amphitheatre, where it was held. After a bit of delay Musharraf did arrive and the show could start. I could just see him from far away, did not meet him in person to shake hands or so. Anyhow the show was quite nice, a mixture of different styles, Pakistani as well as performers from abroad.

I attended another Mehndi, a wedding ceremony before the real wedding, which was really lovely. I enjoy the drummers so much, that I decided that I should have those when I once will marry! A teacher invited me to this function, some of my students were there as well. It was so good to see how they celebrate… What I do not understand is that they have these kind of functions in the middle of the week. Of course you come home late and the next day is just hard because of lack of sleep L!

I still love going to the schools. Already now I know that I will miss all the hugs from the teachers that I get in the morning as soon as I arrive, along with big smiles and the offers to join the classes!

This day we just had a wonderful discussion at work about Education and everything along that – because of the nice weather outside we enjoyed sitting in the sun. How good that I miss the cold, rainy winter at home!

To answer some questions about Christmas here – no it does not look like that at all. You only see lights because people are going to marry. Of course people don’t celebrate that here.. In my hostel, where the wardens are Christians, we decided to sing Christmas songs after our dinners, which would give us the right feeling J As well I find myself singing Christmas-songs on my own… so I’m quite in the right feeling for this celebration coming up soon.

2005-11-12T00:19:00.000-08:00

Drama –play in the Training Center
In CARE they had a nice theater festival where students from different schools attending special English classes did play some role plays. This was really lovely and cute to see…
They tried hard to make the program nice, had amazingly nice costumes… lots of thoughts were brought up, that one can think about in life –religion, education… and the marriage system here in Pakistan.
A couple discussed the plan for the daughter, suddenly they invited the supposed family.. the match could work out was the impression. The son- a little rebel- traveled to Norway, not really happy with parents making a decision for him.
In Norway he met girls, talking about changing their boyfriends on a daily basis. He was getting angry with them.. and hold a speech on Pakistan.. it’s great system, the values, the importance of relations and a strong family, that sticks together… in comparison to Europe, where obviously all these things are not so important from his point of view..

Well, the first minute I was quite feeling strange ..
but thinking about it I realized that everywhere people have their impressions about the “others”- not so good systems…you know what the media produces e.g. about Pakistan.. Anyhow, I realized again and again how important it is to understand each other’s culture before judging.. it’s so much easier to have prejudices - but talking to people can change so much, learning about how the people think and feel, exchanging ideas! I guess this little drama is just a good example for the fact, that this is not happening enough in the world…looking at what is happening around the world….
well I will visit the class soon and start to learn more about their ideas and thinking!

2005-11-03T10:37:00.000-08:00

Feeling great and independant....
On the way to leave the College Complex in the evening. Yesterday we went to Food street – only Anne and me taking a Rickshaw. We didn´t even have to bargain, the driver gave us a nice deal! Going through this food street amazing with all the nice buildings...
We went to a place where I have been before... which is quite helpful –knowing that the food will be ok. People did recognize me, which was quite nice as well!
The food was really great! Additionally and I guess even more important was the hospitality of the restaurant people. They keep a little book for international guests to remember... looking through the pages I found even German guests that have been there. Becaus they wanted us to feel good, we got a desert...:-)

Well today, we were happy about a free day since everybody her is preparing for Eid. We went to a supermarket... this one with a huge mixture and choice. Great! Only difficult was the crowd... like going for shopping before Christmas. Anyway, we got what we planned to.. and will have the freedom to cook a nice meal in the kitchen, since the cook and his crew have some days off for Eid as well!
When we left the building with all our bags, I suddenly got hit from behind. I jumped forward, thinking that somebody wanted to attack me or something like that! Turning around with an angry face it was Adeel, an AIESECer.. .on the way to do some groceries with his mom and sisters! Well, it was nice to meet you, Adeel!

2005-11-01T01:59:00.000-08:00

Caro and me, we took a Rickshaw, bargained for a good deal… We felt a little bit like young teens that do something forbidden, just because we wanted to go for some shopping in the evening. Lucky as we are, we don’t have to ask for permission like the other students. In Liberty (a nearby market) we were running around, looking for nice jewelry… A news reporter creating a report saw me and started asking me questions about my Eid, how I will celebrate it and what I will buy for this celebration. In an Islamic channel somewhere in the US you can see me in a couple of days. And hopefully I will get famous! Finally I found some nice things – I’m getting really feminine here in Pakistan with all the jewelry I bought so far.

2005-11-01T01:26:00.000-08:00

Eid is coming up. That’s quite a happy event marking the end of the Ramzan. For that the teachers from the schools came to our office – they got some presents for this. It’s quite like Christmas. I was supposed to be the friendly lady that hands over the presents – together with Anne from England. Funny was, that I just did not have a clue of what was going on… what I was supposed to do. So I was sitting in the front… smiling helplessly to the teachers. Afterwards I was told that I looked like a little Angle ?!? (Can you imagine that?!?) handing over these gifts!!!

Being in the school still feels great, although the students in the school get quite funny with me. I wanted to make them reading poems that they wrote on their own… just in one class. There were these quiet students that were a little bit afraid. So I said “ohhh please –come on” (like in AIESEC conferences). Lucky as I am, I got support from the whole class. That somehow was working and finally these shy girls started to read. Suddenly they wanted me to do some funny stuff as well - I started doing Icebreakers with them, still not sure if that was a good idea, they love those! … Anyhow, this “ohh please” is now going around the school whenever the girls want me to do something (Icebreakers ?!?) with them. It can get loud and besides that quite difficult to leave a class room without doing something funny…

2005-10-28T23:46:00.000-07:00

Looking for an accommodation here in Lahore is certainly very different from what I have learnt so far… yesterday we went on a little tour for Anne. She is an English volunteer living with me in the College, but needs to move out until Sunday due to the lack of rooms. That’s why we – according to Pakistani standards – started looking for something shortly before the time is getting quite urgent. One room is already found, but to have a little choice we went out in the afternoon again to look at some more places.
Our colleague, a funny man, did go with us.
So we ended up visiting all of his old friends or places that he was living at in former times, asking for a little room there. The first friend was quite angry, because he did not hear from him for about 6 months – at least this friendship can start all over again after exchanging the lost numbers…the next step on our route was a catholic place – a hostel was supposed to be there. The first question we have been asked was:
“Are you Christians? Are you seriously religious?” Mr. Jelani’s answer (our colleague) was that we of course just came out of the church! This place was made for nuns….
After some more quite interesting and nice places, we went home, deciding that the first room is the best catch. Besides, Iftar was coming soon so nobody would give us his attention, since shortly before that everyone is preparing for breaking his fast.

2005-10-21T22:09:00.000-07:00

Being in the school, I more and more feel like a student myself again and learn a lot. The books in my school teaches us about traditions in Pakistan, about culture and festivals. Or about religion. I figured out, that many students find some of these things really boring, since they heard about it already for many times…. And for me some things are brand new. Being really exited, I told the students how lucky I am, being back with them in school! I guess they find it quite interesting, that I did not study the Koran yet, that life in Germany looks quite different, that we have different traditions and cultures.
Besides that, I get to hear quite often that I got really healthy since I am here in Pakistan. I think it’s a really friendly expression for telling me that I got a little fat. What can I do? Stop eating is really difficult, since the food is just too good here in Lahore. I started jogging now every morning around my college. Sometimes I meet the cooks daughter, we started playing soccer together. That’s quite funny – I never did that before very often… and now at 6.30 in the morning!

2005-10-18T22:41:00.000-07:00

Amazing – helping hands in Pakistan after the earth quake

The last days, everything around my organization was dealing with the earthquake. Meetings, organization of fund collections, coordination, phone calls...everybody in a hurry.
I was amazed by the help people are giving to those that are victims of the earthquake. It feels as if everybody is trying to give his very best to build up the destroyed areas again. Everybody gives something… money, food, medicine, clothes and of course prayers.
In my organization they started to collect funds in the school. And this of course makes a huge change… in my school they did collect so much things!!! Thinking about the fact that there are 180 schools, 100.000 students - it definitely makes a difference. I am so proud of all these little children and their families that share what they have…this help is just amazing. They give their little pocket money to support and contribute. CARE, like many other organizations, build up a camp in the destroyed areas, they make plans and want to support the affected areas in building up homes and schools again.
Driving around the streets in Lahore, there are many, many stations to collect funds.
It makes me think… what can I do? What can we all do? I realize the power we have, the many things we can do! There is so much we can change- let’s just start!

2005-10-10T01:04:00.000-07:00

Earth Quake
It seems to be a wonder that nothing did happen to us and the people I got to know so far here in Lahore. When the earth quake happened I was just in the school. It suddenly started shaking, I felt kind of dizzy and did not realize what was going on until the teacher and children were making me to sit down on the ground.
Than suddenly I was thinking that we should get outside the building but for some reason I could not move… not knowing and understanding what exactly was going on.
I was amazed by the students reaction of the earth quake. They all started to pray and seemed to be very patient. After a couple of minutes it was silent again and the earth stopped moving and shaking around. Only afterwards I exactly started to understand what did happen. I want to say thank you therefore that nothing did happen to us… let’s think of those who need support these days.

2005-10-04T12:29:00.000-07:00

Pakistan – what am I doing here?!?
Well that’s an interesting question I was asked many times so far. I am here in the country as the first AIESEC trainee of AIESEC in Pakistan!!! They now exist for one year and do great work so far!

Pakistan is an amazing, challenging, interesting country with its culture and religion – so it definitely was a very good idea to come here. And it is not what the media tells us Europeans about it… people are very very hospitable and friendly.

I am working in an NGO (non-governmental-organization) called CARE (Cooperation for Advancement Rehabilitation and Education) that is active in the field of education. They build up and develop schools in and around Lahore. I am working in the Teacher Training Center that this organization runs for the development of the teachers and their teaching skills. This is quite interesting, many things can happen in this area to improve. I work together with teachers to train them, support them, give them feedback. This is in many parts very challenging, because often there are even the simple basic things missing.

Education is quite a big problem here in the country. Illiteracy rate is very high at about 50 %. Government does not support it very well. There is not a good working school system like we have; not every child has the chance to go to school. Richer people send their children to private schools, poor people often don’t send their children to school at all. The government schools are in a very bad shape…so CARE tries to give children of every kind a chance of education.

2005-10-03T23:57:00.000-07:00

In the village
At the weekend I had the chance to go to a little village about 2 hours from Lahore. This was absolutely a very good experience. We did go there early in the morning… I ahd to get up at about 3.30 a.m.! Life there just starts when the sun is rising and the day ends when the sun is going down. We arrived there at about 6 o’clock and first visited a family. They gave us to eat and drink… At that very moment I missed a good coffee, I was quite tired after getting at that time!
Leaving that family we went to a village. That was very amazing and friendly. As soon as we entered, people came to show us around. Directly we’ve been invited for a lunch at ones place… very hospitable and kind. People there live very simple and easy in mud huts together with their animals. This is just unbelievable until one doesn’t see it with his own eyes. During our visit little children were following us, they seemed to be very exited about me being that white. I found it very peaceful and cosy at that place. No rush, no hectic. So I hope I can go there once again for some more time!

2005-09-30T01:38:00.000-07:00

Colored – an Indian tradition ( I will find out the name of it J)
Yesterday there was a function in the college I am living at. I was invited to this so I went there. It was made for the new fresh students that are living in the hostel of the college. I did not know what to expect, but I was told to get on clothes that can get dirty. OK. At the entrance I was given a water pistol. And about 10 minutes later I was sprinkled blue all over my body and clothes. Additionally they threw with some stuff around that Is grayish, but feeling like sand. Very funny. All students were running around like crazy having different colors in their pistol, which they could fill up at some bottles on the edge of the place. And of course they threw around with these colors. It kind of reminded me of the days when we were finished with school. After this action and the finishing of all the colors there was time to dance. Of course I didn’t know most of the funny songs, I could not adapt that easily with the dancing style of all these girls, but we had a nice time.

School Prayers
Another function was going on in the school this morning. It’s kind of a welcoming for the Rahmazan. All the school has been decorated with cottons. On the ground of one floor they had all cloths. On these the students and teachers where sitting. It looked really pretty! Than they started with their prayers. For this they all covered their head in the respect of god. It was really nice to be part of this, although I could not understand what they were saying. Unfortunately I had to go very early, so I missed the part with the food.

2005-09-27T00:46:00.000-07:00

Experiencing Food street
These Lahoris are quite crazy. Yesterday some friends showed us another food street. I am wondering how much more of those streets they have here. I’ve already visited two other food streets before. We were sitting on benches in the middle of the street, they have many restaurants like that (like Cafes in the streets in Germany..)… After having a huge Dinner, my belly was quite full J! We had some typical bread (rogni naan) together with some chicken with sauce… so goood!!! But of course this was not enough, afterwards we did walk to the best Ice-cream-parlor in Lahore. There was big huge crowd… as if there would be Stoppelmarkt! It was really tasty, so a real reason for the crowd!

Missing Home
Today I have the feeling that I really miss some things from Germany: My friends and my family. I miss the blue coach in our living room. Listening to music while sitting together having some chat. I miss the fresh air back at home. Running around the lake in the mornings. I miss German bread, chocolate, fresh good salad… sometimes I’m starving and I’m missing all these nice things, although the food is really delicious here. Lahore is even famous for eating. These Lahoris don’t eat to live, they live to eat. So they make me eat all the time. That’s what suits me really good! But I was told that my belly came out in the last weeks…unfortunately.

School Visit
At the moment I’m visiting schools in the mornings. This is really exiting and very interesting. The students get really exited when they see me, so the concentration is all gone when I enter a room. The children in class two were freaking out. The teacher made me sit at her chair… but then the control was lost. The students ran up to me, brought their copies, so that I could check them. Others came to me with their books and read to me what they have just learned. And you cannot imagine how sweet these little children are !
In another class 6 the teacher was absent, so I just started to interact with them. They had the chance to ask questions about me. At the beginning they were quite shy, but than they wanted to know everything. About my family and friends (I had to give them all their names and write them down on the board, so that we could read those out loud together!), my hobbies, my studies, Germany… we had quite a good time. Surprising was that all the students made notes of everything I told them!
In the break I felt a little bit like being a famous politician. The little cute students all ran up to me, wanted to shake my hands and wanted to know how I am.

Rescourse Park
Next to my sweet home here in Lahore, there is a big huge park. Families go there in the day and evenings to have a little picnic, to take their rounds walking or jogging. It’s a huge big area, I forgot the many hectars it has. I started going there from time to time ( I mean, I live in this place for the last week J). There are also some cafes, where I can sit than and have a coke or some tea (of course no alcohol!). But it’s really nice and comparable to those beer gardens we have back in Germany!
The other day I’ve been there with these two little girls from the family I lived with before. They came to visit me J. We did go to this park, had a nice picnic in the grass, had some chat in a language mix of English, Urdu and hands. And all of us were really happy. I just bought them a bottle of sprite and some biscuits. I’ve never seen girls in their age being so happy about such a little thing. It’s just amazing and not really possible to describe this feeling of happiness we all had together. For them it was a real big thing because they might not be able to afford something like that!

Visiting Lahoris!
In the evening I had the pleasure to visit Gerd’s relatives. Visiting families here is really nice, you always have to eat, of course. We sat in the sleeping room, the whole family on this one big bed… in this case there was a couch additionally to sit on. I also got to know the grandmother, who is a nice old lady. After a couple of minutes I was told that I am a good girl – that was a good judging J! But there also was a little girl, she ran away from me. She didn’t really want to get in contact with me.

2005-09-21T00:08:00.000-07:00

Amazing day

Yesterday was really great. At work I’ve been visiting a school which was really different from the schools I visited so far. This is because it was a CARE-owned school, not one of the government schools.
When I entered a classroom the students stood up and welcomed me saying: Good Morning Teacher, how are you? Than they started singing a song for together with activities (I love those) – so I started singing one on my own. I earned a big applause, which was just amazing.
The students were able to ask me some questions about Germany, my impression of their own country, they told me about their lessons. This was impressing, since the students in the other schools could not really speak English very well.

Back at my workplace, the teacher training center, I attended a meeting which was far different than the others I’ve been part of so far. Very well structured, focused, everybody concentrated. Compared to what I saw so far this was amazing.

In the evening I was able to experience the hospitality of the Pakistanis once again. I’ve been out with Gerd and his uncle. His Uncle is really funny, made me try Milkshake and the best Ice-Cream of Lahore. Afterwards we bought some food. Drove around the streets, which is a really funny and enjoyable things because of all the chaos.
His Uncle asked me when I spoke to my parents the last time – since two dayts seemed to be too long for him he called them up again and spoke to my mom: Hallo Mama, wie geht es dir? She was a little amazed, but happy about the invitation to Pakistan that followed. I really had a great day once again around these wonderful people.

2005-09-19T01:30:00.000-07:00

Ausflug unter Deutschen
Heute habe ich Gerd aus Vechta getroffen. Da sein Vater ja Pakistani ist, die Familie zufaellig in Lahore wohnt, Gerd zufaellig gerade hier zu Besuch ist, seine Mutter zufaellig aus Holzhausen kommt (aus diesem kleinen Dorf von 500 Seelen komm ich auch), wir uns irgendwie kennengelernt haben - lauter Zufaelle – haben wir uns jetzt mal hier in Lahore getroffen. Ist ja mal ne Abwechslung, sonst sieht man immer alle nur aufm Stoppelmarkt.
Wir waren bei so einem Schrein, wo irgendwer Beruehmtes und Prophetisches– zumindest fuer einige Muslime hier- begraben ist. Dort waren viele Menschen zum Beten. Sie kommen besonders wenn sie gerade ein Problem haben. An das Grab von dieser Person binden viele dann ein Schloss, damit sich das ganze irgendwie loest und wenns dann soweit ist, dann nehmen sie das Schloss wieder ab.Fuer mich hat auch eine Frau gebetet, weil ich ja so weiss bin tut das bestimmt gut. Auf jeden Fall hat sie mir ein langes Leben und uns (?) viele Kinder in den Schoss gewuenscht. Uns, weil sie wahrscheinlich dachte, dass Gerd und ich bestimmt verheiratet sind.

Bus fahren
Ganz schoen stolz bin ich auf mich! Zum ersten Mal hab ich ganz allein eine Fahrt mit dem Bus angetreten. Das war sehr spannend. An der Bushaltestelle gibt es natuerlich keine Zeiten oder so. Man stellt sich einfach hin und wartet bis der richtige Bus kommt. Und irgendwann ist er dann da. Gestern war er ganz schoen voll. Das Praktische daran: alles ist schoen getrennt nach Maennlein und Weiblein. Nur dass ich das irgendwie verpasst hab und mich auf die Maennerseite gestellt habe.
Gluecklicherweise machte mich der Geldeintreiber freundich darauf aufmerksam, so dass ich meine Position schnell korrigieren konnte.

Weinschmuggelei
Irgendwann bin ich dann mal angekommen. Zwischen all dem Schweiss kam mir die Fahrt ganz schoen lange vor. Aber die Leute haben mich freundlich angestarrt.
Abends war ich dann mit ein paar Freunden in einem schicken Restaurant… bevor wir da mal angekommen sind, fuhren wir lange durch die Gegend. Ich hab mich die ganze Zeit gewundert wo wir ueberhaupt hinwollen. Nun ja.. irgendwann stoppt unser Auto, Tori sagt.. “now look” …dann kam da ein Mann ans Fenster, die Scheibe dreht sich runter, eine Flasche Wein wird hereingereicht, Geld wandert zurueck. So funktioniert das also - schnell und unauffaellig. In dem Restaurant haben wir dann die Flasche abgegeben und sie wurde uns zum Essen serviert. Dafuer muss man natuerlich die Leute kennen und regelmaessig kommen.Es hat wirklich koestlich geschmeckt und wir haben uns praechtig unterhalten!

Chaos
Nun ja, heute ist irgendwie Chaos angesagt. Meiner Gastfamilie ist heut mal in den Sinn gekommen, dass sie ja morgen nach Europa reisen wollen fuer drei Wochen. Deshalb soll ich ausziehen und mich am Besten mal schnell darum kuemmern. Mmh. Gleich schauen wir uns ein College an, wo so was wie ein Internat ist. Nur fuer Maedchen.Ich hoffe es gefaellt mir da ?!?!
Die andere Sache ist die Konferenz, die ich morgen chairen soll. Diese Woche ist denen eingefallen, dass sie das Ganze besser dieses Wochenende mache. Nun ja. Also, was ich festgestellt habe ist, dass ich unter Stress ganz gut arbeiten kann. Das funktioniert alles irgendwie besser.

Moving again
I moved out of my place within about 30 minutes. I didn’t bring that much stuff so I was quick. But than I had to say good-bye to these little girls that are living with that family. They go to school and work at that place. This gives them a great opportunity, because they might not have that possibility going to school at their home place. But still they have a tough time working all day long, not having their mom around, even not being able to call them. That’s why we really build up a good relationship very quick and I guess I started to be a big sister for them.

After work we hang out together, I talked a lot with them, although language is quite a problem. English, Urdu, Hands. I really felt so bad moving out of that place just because of these girls… I liked them so much. They told me – no, you cannot leave! Please don’t! We will miss you! You cannot imagine how sad all of us were. We just started to cry and hugged each other, when I left. I told them not be sad, but I myself was very sad to leave those girls. I told them that I will visit them whenever I can. These moments were so intense and so touching. I’m sitting here and cannot even put it into words. I learned so much from these girls. They were telling me about their life, about their home, about their feelings. They improved their English during these couple of weeks – it’s amazing! I’m so proud of them doing such a great and hard job!

We are planning to have a dinner together. Nazreen, another servant at that place, who is also really sweat and gorgeous, invited all of us. She wanted me to get to know her family. I’m really happy about this and I am looking forward to see the girls and Nazreen again this week J .

First Youth Development Seminar in Pakistan!!
Actually the AIESECers in Pakistan had their first National Youth Development Seminar! This of course I could not miss J!
Being at an AIESEC-conference felt soo good after such a long time J. Being around AIESECers who are really so committed! Being part of AIESEC in Pakistan!
The conference was just awesome. Thinking about that AIESEC in Pakistan is so new. Just one year. These people are so motivated and so inspiring. They are just proud to be an AIESECer! I had the chance to get to know all of them, talk to them. Many of them I did not see yet, because they were all gone to IC 2005 or You Can.
Of course I did all these nice things like “Baerenjagd” with them… it was funny to hear them repeating my german words.
The most inspiring moment for me was when everybody in the closing shared his challenge, his dreams for AIESEC for the next year. Just amazing! They have so much potential and commitment! I guess that I will have a good time together with them as long as I am here!
I could tell so much more.. but I guess that would be just too much J!

New home
My new place I really cute! It’s a College only for girls. I stay at a Guest house. The area is really nice, very green. Many young students running around.
There lives a French girl with me, who is also here for 6 month working at a law firm.
I have my own room and bathroom. There even is a balcony, this will help me to get more practice in kite- flying… I can stand on the roof there! And I don’ have a curfew, which is really great! It’s not sure if I will stay there, but we will see. It’s good to be more independent now. I also can practice to wash laundry with hands –yeah- this is gonna be funny!

2005-09-08T04:26:00.000-07:00

Finally I made it - I have my own blog now :-)
Jetzt muss ich nur noch mit dem Schreiben anfangen!
Gerade isses alles nicht so dolle.. ich bin nämlich krank. Fieber, Halsschmerzen. Ja, die ganzen Klimaanlagen und dann die Hitze da draussen - kein Wunder!

2005-09-05T10:07:00.000-07:00

Arrival in Pakistan
Everything is so completely different here than everything else I saw before in my life. So – where should I start. Maybe at the beginning.
Quite nervous I got out of the plane – it´s so very too hot here! And that in the middle of the night!
I was just hoping that somebody will be there to pick me up. But when I came out of the airport hall – everything I could see were hundreds of people –mostly men - standing there in their Shalwar Kameez and all look alike. I don´t really see any person! But there.. a sweet girl in a red shirt! This must be Asma! She is waving at me – and I was so happy to see her! She was there togehter with her dad to pick me up!
We drove home to their place. I was supposed to stay with them fort he first couple of days! After having a nice breakfast, a good conversation, we all went to sleep – Asma was so exited that she didn´t sleep the night before I was coming!

Living with Asma and her Dad!
I have to say: The homestay at Asma´s place was a real great experience, they did show me a lot of things and made me feeling great being in a new world! We had a lot of conversations on different topics like the culture of Pakistan, the religion, traditions. They explained me so many things, that I felt good and prepared after nearly a week for a quite different world! And it was just amazing to feel the hospitality of Asma and her dad! So – Thank you very much!!!
They just took me around and introduced me to family and friends... Every place we went, we were offered a drink – and You can not go before having a drink! This is Pakistanian culture!
We did go for shopping, experienced the traffic system ☺ , visited the tyre shop to get a wheel check, bought fresh chicken directly from the place where those chickens get slaughtered (this was really bloody!). I saw some markets... and learned to bargain in Urdu! Well, I still need some more practice.

Shopping
In a supermarket of Asma´s cousin I was shown every place – the offices, the stor rooms... I´ve never seen that before. And all the time I was thinking - here are so many people working, everything is so small and tiny... The meeting room was a liitle place under the roof – about 2*2m, maybe 1,50m high...
We also went to some places to buy kurtas (long traditional shirts) and Shalwar Kameez (the traditional dress) – There were much more Colors and variety than we have at home! So – you see the result in the pictures!

My first Shalwar Kameez
After getting measured at the stitcher and a couple of days of waiting, my first Shalwar Kameez was ready! Many clothes are getting done here by the stitcher. It´s cheaper than buying the clothes ready! And the stitchers are really quick – it takes about 2-3 days only!
The Shalwar Kameez is a traditional clothes that people wear here. Women have a dupatta with it – a very long scarf that is –at least for me- difficult to handle. This is to cover your breast – and if you have a belly.. you can also cover that!!

Kite Flying
Asma´s dad also taught me everything I need to know about Kite Flying (Drachenfliegen). This is a tradtional hobby in Pakistan, in Afghanistan and also India. So, people are standing on the roof of their house or somewhere where is enough space flying their kite. This looks really good and quite funny. In February there is a kite festival going on – this must be a real interesting thing, since the Kites are fighting with each other. The lane is made of some glassy stuff, which means that when two lanes meet each other, one will get cut and the kite falls down.

My way to work
Yousaf is my driver. He brings me to work and drops me back home every day. He is a multitalent – making also breakfast for me every morning. He is taking care of me and my daily portion of food ☺!
I told him already that I can make my breakfast really on my own. I guess he doesn´t believe me!
Well, my way to work is quite interesting. I see new things every day. Some things are funny, some strange, some quite shocking.
Shocking are all the beggars that are running through the chaos of cars, motorbikes and bicycles. There is this one really old man, who has lost his leg. He stands on a stock at the edge of the street – waiting for people that maybe provide him with some food?
Driving through the streets you see many children or adolescents that have to work.. maybe you see them on a little wagon with a goat or an „Esel“ carrying around all different kind of things.
Funny are those „Car lifters“. In Germany we use those vehicles to transport certain things like palets. Here they just take them for cars. So if you have just parked your car in the wrong space, they take it somewhere.. and you don´t know where it is. But I heard that the people will tell you once you are back looking for your car!
The other day I saw three men sitting on one motorbike, in their back they had a horse on a lane. Too bad that I didn´t have my camera with me.
To sum up the traffic: It´s just a big chaos!

At work
The people at work are really nice and friendly. They drink a lot of tea and have many breaks through the day to socialize. There is a lot time to discuss many things – eg. Culture, religion, food and so on.
I guess that their plan is to make me fat – every morning they get me a bag of chips! My colleagues are also very concerned about my marriage. So they will look for someone I can marry... but I said thank you!
One day, I was asked how my husband is doing ?!? He was shaking his head, when he heard that I don`t have one! I told them – well at home I am responsible for myself, I live togehter with my friends, not with my parents for the last five years. Even if I´m going to marry I am responsible for myself. They were really upset and concerned about me... and thought I might feel bad about this situation because I have no one who is taking care of me. Religiously, here the father is responsible for the women and after marriage the husband.
I am working for an organisation that is called CARE. There vision is to provide every person with quality education. They build up schools and try to improve the teaching quality. Every child should have a chance to get educated. The government does not really take care of the education – thats why many children in poorer families don´t have this chance.
CARE now offers 100.000 children the chance to go to school, they have about 200 schools running. I guess that much more children would go the school if there would just be the possibility.

I´m located in the Teacher Training Center as a trainer for the teachers. This is really challenging, because the system just works completely different... at the moment I´m learning to be very patient dealing with all these differences.