Ramin wake up! My mother says,
I wake up in my room in Kabul, I see the weak winter light filtering into my dark room from the open curtain window. I hear the voice of the milk vendor shouting ( shir bigire shir) outside the street milk for sale!
The milk vendor is a nomad woman who sells milk on the streets early in the morning by dipping the 1 cup ladle into a steel bucket she fills, a glass jar of milk costs 10af(10cents).
Oh I don’t want to buy milk I don’t want to go to school, I hate school!
I close my eyes again.
Ramin wake up Ramin! It is time for school my mother is now in the room now telling me not to go back to sleep “wake up my son you will be late” my mother says.
The milk vendor has gone up the street she is far away and I barely hear her voice.
I have no choice now I have to get up, and get dressed.
I am still sleepy going to the bathroom which is outside on a 2nd story porch I put on my cold slippers which are out side and the freezing water which I wash my face wakes me up.
My mother prepares parata (round shape thin bread cooked in oil) and a glass of hot green tea.
After breakfast I take my school bag and I start my motorcycle to go to school.
Lots of kids are going school by foot and we don’t have school buses and many walk hours to get to school.
“Open up your bag” the security guard at school demands. He is checking the bags and also pockets for cell phones and others sharp things which are not allowed in school.
Bringing cell phones, sharp things, ipods or mp3 players, camera, fancy t shirts and pants, long hair, and wearing jewelry are prohibited in school, physical punishment ( hitting with a big stick on the palms) will be given to whomever breaks any rule in the school.
After parking my motor cycle, I go to auditorium which every morning all students and teachers must be present for chanting some verses of holy Quran and singing our national anthem, then each class with their first period teachers are going to their classes.
On the way from auditorium to class everyone is trying to get earlier in to the class to grab a seat, because in a class of 55 students there is 25 or 30 chairs and those who are bigger and powerful usually get a chair and others are left standing or sitting on floor and some students are sharing their chairs with their best friends. After taking the attendance the teacher asks for home work and grades the homework and for those who are not doing their homework there is a big stick to punish them.
And after each period the teacher is leaving the class and the other teacher is coming, and we remain in the same class the whole school time .
After the last period the bell rings each class is walking in a straight line following their teacher until the gate of school.
After school I work the rest of day in our shop, a small motorcycle shop, helping my brother selling spare parts, and sometimes cooking lunch for them.
Lots of kids after school are working for survival of their family, most of the kids are not able to attend school regularly and they work.
I am feeling my self lucky that we have a small shop that I am working there, lots of people are working out side in cold freezing weather, sometimes it is good when it is snowing because they can work by sitting under umbrella, otherwise it is really hard, working when cold freezing wind is blowing in your face and hands, that is what they have to do they don’t have any other option.
We closed the shop in the evening at 6 pm because after dark people try to get back home soon, for security reason, most of the shops are closed after dark in Kabul city, you will see people are rushing and waiting for long time on a bus stop to catch a bus, to go home.
you can’t easily find a bus there are lots of Town Ace (small wagons) that work on transporting people from one part of the city to another, technically there is space only for 8 passengers on each Town ace car ( small wagons) but people seat up to 16 people.
Lots of people can’t afford to pay for taxi, unless they have an emergency or they are with their family and kids.
After sunset you can hardly drive in the city because of pollution and dust in the air, you have to have really powerful lights on your car, some people put extra lights on their car.
Fancy powerful lights, different voices of car horns like ambulance siren, police car siren, barking of dog or shouting voice are common and fashionable in these past 5 years.
Distance from our shop to our home is only 7 kilo meter, which takes us sometimes more than 40 minutes to get home because of traffic.
After getting home the first thing I have to do is go to bakery which is right in front of our house to buy fresh bread, and fresh vegetable and yogurt from the small street shop.
For the past 5 years we have electricity only during night from 7 pm until 12pm sometimes until
5 am.
My sister and my sister-in-law cook the dinner my brother and father watch the news on TV, my mother sits in a corner of the room watching them and, counting her tasbeh( like a Rosary) and chanting her prayers from the Holy Quran after finishing my homework and studies, I watch tv or sometimes listen to music.
During the dinner we all eat together by setting all in a circle on the floor, which is our family rule that we should all eat together. I ask “ why is the rice so oily?” sometimes “why is the rice so dry and it doesn’t have oil in it?”. This is the way I tease my sister and all family joins with me to tease her for a while then we all laugh and keep eating.
Our living room is designed with sitting mattresses with the pillows around the room and carpet in the middle we eat, drink, and sleep on the floor, which usually all afghan families do the same.
“Ramin do you want to drink tea now or later” my sister ask me, Afghans drink tea a lot before food and after food, my mother and brother drink at least 10 cup tea each after dinner.
I don’t drink tea a lot I hate drinking tea too much it makes me more lazier than I am.
After eating dinner and drinking tea my father falls asleep early and we all sit in front of TV watching a movie or a TV show.
Everyone is falling asleep slowly and going to sleep one after the other, my mother and I sleep last because we double check the door is closed or any window is not opened for security reasons.
“Ramin go to sleep son tomorrow you have a lot to do you seem sleepy.” My mother says.
“ Mother wake me up please tomorrow early” I said to my mother.
My mother says laughing at me “ you always say the same thing in the same way and I keep shouting at you in the morning and you are not waking up.”
I go to bed and think of tomorrow that I am having the same day.
Oh I don’t want to go to school anymore, I don’t want to work too much, I just hate doing the same thing all everyday.
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