“It’s like living in Kabul.”

Of course, thanks to the war on terror, most Americans are now familiar with where Kabul is (Afghanistan, for those who didn’t know). Well, this quote is from my language teacher, Olga, as we were talking about the past 2 plus weeks in Tver. She ought to know, as she lived in Kabul for a year during the early 1980’s, teaching Russian to Afghanis. As an aside, this is a bit of a crazy story, which I will only mention briefly. In the 1980’s, there was the big Soviet/Afghani war. Well, as part of the old USSR’s strategy, they wanted to help bridge the communication gap between the two peoples. So, Olga (who was married at the time, and had a child then, I am pretty sure) was told that it was her patriotic duty to go there for a year. Either there or Cuba. But since, as she said, the weather in Cuba is unbearable, she chose Kabul (I, myself, would think that living in a WAR ZONE might be even worse than hot, hot Cuba). Olga has told me some of the stories of living there, as well as shown me some pictures. Very interesting….

Anyways, back to her quote. Over the past month or so, but especially in the last two weeks, almost every night has been filled with fireworks going off. A few times they have been done by the hotel next door, but more often than not, they are just done by locals having fun. Indeed, it is not hard AT ALL to find and buy fireworks. The grocery store that we normally go to sells all types, including several that would be banned in most US states. Some nights (and days for that matter), it is only a bit sporadic, but there have been a few nights were it has sounded like bombs going off (hence the quote).

Ironically, on New Year’s Eve, at midnight, when I expected the fireworks to be going off en force, as they would be in the States, it was absolute quiet. I was disappointed, that is until 12:15, when everyone emerged from their houses (having drunk their celebratory champagne) and began to unleash a furious fireworks assault, that lasted well into the wee morning.