Anyway we discovered that there was a bunch of stuff that we needed to get for our trip and so went off to one of the local markets to pick it all up. i was in charge of the shopping list, never a good thing as I’m usually way to interested in just looking around and taking pictures of everything going on around me (which should keep you guys happy as it means i now have more to show you!).

The shops were filled from floor to ceiling with beads and ribbons and threads…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Again it was so hot that even the back of my legs were sweating enough, for me to feel it dribble down and soak into the material (lovely image huh!)

we didn’t manage to find all the threads that we needed and after going to three different shops to try and find what we needed we gave up and came up with another plan! Find the fabric we needed and let Rashid scout for the threads in Ralwapindi. Off to the Fabric store, now anyone who know me relatively well should know i am in love with fabric, all types, all colours, all textures. I’m like a kid in a candy store! So when someone like me walks into a store like this…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

you can imagine my reaction.

The boys in the store were rather amused by me taking pictures of them and the store but as long as no one objects its photos like this that i love. the white area the the boy is kneeling on is a shoes off area, to keep the fabric clean if it opened out. all the floors and pillars of the room were stacked up with fabric. The shop assistants so helpful, pulling out all the rolls we pointed at even if it was just if we wanted to see what it looked it up close. 

This man upon discovering that we were English pulled out a file and showed us all these letter that he had written or had been sent to him, one from our ex-prime minister (i tried to look impressed by this but suspect i failed).

The power as per usual was out for the area so the huge window at the back of the shop had been opened and you could see out over the entire market area.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Anyway more to add soon, just taking a bit to long to try and organise them and get the to fit on the pages. think when i get back off this trip I’m just going to put up a few picture only posts and do a quick summary of them! I’m apologising now because im not going to be able to put anything up over the next week or so, but im sure you’ll understand that there’s not really a lot of wireless points in the mountains or the desert.

All my love you back home, xx

This is my work place…

Not the most exciting place in the world to work, but it has air conditioning! Boy oh boy do i love the air conditioning, when its so hot outside that you do nothing but sweat all over and go bright red, the air conditioning is the only thing that saves both me and georgie from completely melting.

 

Anyway more about my work, what i get up to when I’m meant to be doing it. At the moment its all go with preperation for our workshops. we’re working with about 5 designers to create some really interesting pieces, and my job while im over here is to make sure that all the pieces are finished to a high a standard as possible and to work out the costing for all the pieces. Feels a bit like i’ve been thrown in at the deep end of things, with Georgie, Seher and Rashid looking to me about costings and is the finishing of the pieces correct? how can we improve them? trying to think back to the one term of my course where we covered finishing or the project on companies and how to work for one!? eeekkk.

So, so far i have written a report on the craft fair we attended, and written up all the products and their information from how long it took to make the product to how detailed it is and eventually how much it cost to make it and how much they were selling it for. All so we can compare it to the prices that we’re hoping to achieve. Oh and tidyed up this set of shelves, the board on top is from one of the places we’re going to

Along side all this paperwork georgie and i are working on some of pieces. a bed set which has a cross stitch design of flowers and french knots in a beautiful array of pinks and whites. just a small problem with them, well actually a few small problems, the women have been using biro to mark on the designs, even thought they have been given and told to use chalk or pencil. Unfortunately this has ruined the work that they’ve done, its no longer sell-able. so they must be re-done, but the colours the designer wated is no longer available so georgie and i must come up with a soloution by the time we go up to the north (Hunza and Gilgit). our other little design thing is workng for a well known london printer, who has sent over some of her pieces and wants them to be turned into floor cushions and other things (the things being left up to us to decide what they should be) so Georgie and i are designing the cushions and a throw for a sofa.

There’s is just so much to be done and with little direction from our boss (Seher) a lot of the work that we do is self directed, and not always correct. We are trying and i guess that’s what really counts, that and to keep smiling as much as possible. Ah and a quick intro to two of our office regulars…

 

OK. So its Sunday and the end my first weekend here (i don’t count last weekend because i was asleep for most of it), and quite a few things have happened, more than my average weekend in the UK. But I’ve put them all together so forgive me for the overly long post!

Saturday – we aimed to get up for 10/11 but it kinda turned into 12. Seher called us and asked us if we wanted to join her and her friend who were going to see a movie in Rawalpindi, the city which is basically joined to Islamabad.  so we met at Sehers and got a taxi together, and just as we got into the car it started to rain, just a light drizzle. As we reached the motorway it got heavier, and heavier, and heavier, and heavier. to the point where the road almost started to flood! we couldn’t see out the windows of the taxi, the wall of rain was so heavy, and then it started to hail and rain. people were sheltering under anything and everything, and any dip in the road was like going through a ford. So all in all the most exciting trip on a motorway I’ve experienced.

The film was a Pakistani film with subtitles, set in the south of the country near one of the areas that we work with (Miti, i still can’t pronounce it correctly). Anyway a quick summary of the film, nice village, in desert area. small boy from village wonders over the border between Pakistan and India and gets arrested, father follows to try and save the boy and also gets arrested, both thrown in to prison. Boys mother thinks they are both dead and goes into mourning. Boy and father in jail for four years almost released but mix up in names. Another four years go by and finally boy is released but not the father, emotional scene, brought a tear to our eyes, boy finds mother. Emotional reunion. explains real story, father released soon after, happily every after. Roll credits.

Then lunch, back to Sehers friends house for lemonade (which they make with salt over here, doesn’t really taste nice) but she had a really nice family, we were invited back just to watch TV if we want. Then we went back to Islamabad and did a bit of shopping in the scary market where all the men just stare at you. This time it wasn’t quite so bad, i didn’t notice it so much. I bought my 2nd Shalwar kameez and like the first i just love it, promise to show you it soon. But by then both Georgie and i were so tired we decided to head back to the hotel.

Then probably the scariest night we have had so far happened. I was up watching the X files (i find it kinda comforting, if a little scary) and i got a call. It wasn’t from reception or Georgie or even someone at RSPN. It was some guy, who didn’t speak a lot of English, but spoke enough to try and hit on me over the phone.  i told him where to go and put the phone down, and spoke to reception and requested that no more call be put through to my room. What i didn’t realise was that after he tried to talk to me he started calling Georgie and she got pestered a lot more than me. Both kinda freaked out, neither of us really slept. The morning came around and we both went down to reception and put in a complaint, a little shaken. Both the managers were very supportive and made the changes we asked for. We both decided that we really just needed to get out of the hotel and take our minds off it all. So we went to our local spa, ha ha! i had a manicure and Georgie went for a pedicure, we made a new friend, girl from California studying to be a doctor who gave us her number and said to give her a call if we needed any help, or just wanted to meet up. Then we went to the cafe on site, and had the best western like food we’ve had since arriving, mmm..steak sandwich.

After a bit of book reading and such we decided to head on back to the hotel pick up a few bit and try once more to get our Sim cards. so to ‘Jinnah super’ we went and after a lot of faffing around and questions being asked we got our Sim cards!!! so i now have my Pakistani number (available on request, not that i expect anyone to call). I then bought some sandals because all i brought with me was trainers and walking boots, not good for hot sweaty feet! and then the DVD store!! ha ha the greatest treasure trove yet. almost every single DVD that you could ever think about from the Pink Panther cartoons (which i will be buying!), to CSI any of the series, all the latest movies i.e. the Dark Knight, wanted, Sex and the City the Movie, the X Files Movie, 27 Dresses, Kung Fu Panda, you name it they have it. Oh and all the music albums you could want. definitely coming back with a decent selection, so if any decent movies come out while I’m away, someone please let me know! each disk is roughly 100 rupees each, not quite sure what that is in pounds, but hey its still cheaper than the UK!

anyway after that we went back to the hotel and i snuggled up and watched sex and the city before drifting off to sleep.

a terribly disorganised morning meant that our car arrived early, i couldn’t find my boarding card (which im supposed to hand in to head office) i forgot some material i took back to the hotel to sketch, my purse (left in my bag from the night before), my camera and to drop off some pillowcases which need stains removing, and i almost left without Georgie because the driver tried to persuade me that she was ill and wasn’t coming to work that day. We were planning to go off to a craft exhibition but a meeting of Sehers meant that it had to be pursponed. So with no computer, no internet, and very little to do Georgie and i decided to make friendship bracelets for each other! i know weird, but when there’s very little to do, you just make your own entertainment! 

When the day was over we went home and all i could think about was having a nice long bath, writing up my day and climbing into bed, unfortunately i wasn’t so lucky. i was just about to climb into my hot bath, when i looked up at the light and saw small rodent like shape move over it. Oh joy a rat. A rat in my room!? i quickly pulled on my clothes and rushed to georgies room. It took three calls to recepetion to get any kind of response and then i had to go down stairs to explain what a rat was in urdu. Georgie ended up having to do an impression of a rat to get it across to the guy manning the desk. I was all for just doing a drawing but hey it worked. It didn’t appear again and they couldn’t find it so i went back to my room and decided against a bath and climbed into bed. No more rat. Oh and it rained, not just British rain but a heavy foot of rain in about 20 min, with thunder and lighting! and before you ask no its not warm rain i tested it.

Love to you all

OK so I’ve skipped a day, I’m writing this today not yesterday when i should have posted it. I didn’t really have time to write anything last night because for once my formula worked you know the  (no more tears + good nights sleep = productive and happy Claire!). i actually had a good day yesterday, one that made me think that i actually might like this experience. Work was as slow as per usual, every question needing to be asked at least twice before something gets done about it, but for lunch Seher (basically my boss) suggested that we go to the local bakery to get some lunch. Apparently its going to be one of the very few places that is open during Ramadan (something i had completely forgotten about) when they fast from sunrise to sunset each day. We walked into the place and they had things like real bread, so i can have Bovril! and golden syrup cake, cream cakes, honey almond cake, and all sorts of other things. I ordered a couple of samosas and a vegetable roll, which were really quite delicious and then a doughnut that really wasn’t very delicious. i think I’m beginning to get it now, western food here is nothing like western food back home, it looks similar but can taste very different.

Anyway the day rushed on by and we went home Georgie and i were thinking about going out around the local area again but Seher said that because her brother and best friend were in town that she was going out for dinner and we were welcome to join here. Of course Georgie and i jumped at the opportunity, but it meant waiting till at least 9pm to get picked up. 

We arrived outside the restaurant and walked in through the main gate, on the other side there was a small garden with peacocks and rabbits just roaming around, (once again i have no proof as daddy you were right i need a small point and shoot sometimes! but hey my fault). Seher introduced us to her brother, best friend and a few others who had joined us for dinner. we sat and ordered from the most hilarious menu, all of the dishes were named, things like ‘Muntis’ little sister out does her’, ‘melt in your mouth dumplings’, and ‘I’ve gone to heaven soup’, Georgie was really tempted to take photos of the menu, but felt a bit too much like a tourist. The food was absolutely amazing, completely worth they hype that Seher had given it, but again the chicken soup was mixed with tomatoes (think its a Pakistani thing!)

anyway all in all a really nice evening, still need to catch up on a bit more sleep but, its getting better!

(Oh and I’m learning how to say a couple of things in Urdu i can count to five and say thank you and do both sides of saying hello, don’t think i’ll be able type it at all though!