Blue Mosque

The Blue Mosque, otherwise known as the Shrine of Hazrat Ali, and Rawze-Sharif in Farsi, is one of the pinnacles of Mazar-e-Sharif. It is one of the reputed burial places of Ali, the cousin and and son-in-law of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). It is this building that gives Mazar-e-Sharif its name - which means "tomb of the exalted".

You have to take off your shoes at the entrance, and no, not the entrance of the actual shrine, but the place itself...we came at noon and were practically skipping on the white stone floors because of the heat. Other than that, it is a magically beautiful place. We weren't allowed to take photos of the inside, but this little old man who made dua for everyone and read Quran saw my camera and how I was dying to take a picture and he said to me "quickly take a few pictures" I looked around and the other elder men nodded in approval and I quickly took some pictures. Those are the orange stone pictures below. I secretly took a video as well... I'll see if I can upload that later on.

Also,  if you do decide to go, make sure to have lots of change on you because people will be asking for money.

Afghan Public Schools

In Kabul, my aunt had connections at a local elementary school for girls and boys. We took a little trip there to see the classes, kids and teachers and we were guided quickly through the school.

However, from what our eyes could see, a few things were apparent, 1) There was a lack of classrooms/seating space 2) The education being taught was extremely basic and in some subjects, in particular English, many errors were being made on behalf of the teachers - who might I add were probably not even qualified, some had just completed grade 12 and 3) They were in need of help and funding even though they were a much better off public school than most others.