Far less interesting but yet another of Kabul's oddities, I got a haircut ($15) at the Kabul Health Club, where a few of the summer interns are staying. To give you an idea of how odd this is for Kabul, see the website:
And a (somewhat idealized) picture below (from their facebook page- yes they have a facebook page):
Hmmm, let's see if I have any other pictures to make this post somewhat interesting:
Ok, so some of you have likely read (as I have) The Bookseller of Kabul. The book was initially meant to focus on the "Bookseller of Kabul" (Shah Muhammad Rais) and his Fahrenheit 451-like struggle to save books from the Taliban. It ended up being an exploration of the horrors of life as a woman under the Taliban and of the perverse evils witnessed in the bookseller's home. The bookseller in turn sued the Norwegian woman who wrote the book, and wrote his own version of events. So a tumbled mess. The point- this is a picture of me at the Bookseller of Kabul's bookstore (where by the way, the book is not sold). We met his son (hopefully not the horrible one from the book....) who told us how much he loves communism and was helpful in sending postcards and finding maps and Dari books. PS- you should have all gotten postcards- apologies if Afghanistan swallowed them.Finally, sitting in the TV room at Roshan Village, I ran across a most horrid creature- so hideous and so fast that these are the only pictures I was able to get of it. When challenged with a magazine, it made a face that I can only compare to the Predator when Arnold pissed it off. Anyone who can tell me "what the F" this creature is gets 27 points. It looked like a scorpion mated with a spider, and then was consumed by its own offspring. The fuzziness of the pictures is not that I am quaking with fear but rather that it moved incredibly fast, as you might expect from devil-spawn. Don't scroll any further unless you are prepared to have it haunt your nightmares:
you should be ashamed of yourself. i've broken out in hives from the images, but to aid in the quest for the twuth....
ReplyDeletei think it's a camel spider?
http://www.camelspiders.net/
"myths" about them:
1. Camel spiders can move at speeds over 30 MPH, screaming while they run.(actually fact)
2. Camel spiders can be as large as a frisbee.
3. Camel spiders venom is an anesthetic that numbs their prey.
4. Camel spiders can jump three feet high.(while you watch tv head resting on Roshan's armrest, bout 3 ft.)
5. Camel spiders get their name because they eat the stomachs of camels.(also fact)
6. They eat or gnaw on people while they sleep. Due to the numbing effect of their venom, the victim is unaware until they awake.
Ha ha, I am sure this is Mansur. Who else would have such playboy confidence? He is also well nourished as the firstborn should be.
ReplyDeleteOsne seems to be somehow mad on Mansur, perhaps there is something else she knows but didn't write, or maybe she's not quite fair
Great book is general! Poor Sultan / Shah thought Osne would appreciate his liberalism, but he became a victim of her human right obsession. Perhaps, he couldn't go any further without becoming a joke for other men. This is too funny.
Also, Osne is terribly beautiful by any standards. Middle Eastern people are also obsessed with blond hair. How did it work to observe live while being so attractive?