The kids made room for us to lay out and refold the glider. A mosque is in the background at one end of the polo field. A school note: generally kids have school about 4 hours in the morning, go home for a couple hours, then go to mosque for 2 -3 hours of religious education. Actually, the Sunnis call their prayer hall a mosque; the Isamailis call theirs a jamatkhana. Students and teachers have told me the schools here include both sects. Anyway, these kids (age about 7 -15) were on their way home from school and were well-behaved for a large group. The teenage girls looked at Brad, talked among themselves, and blushed. 
One said to me, “You have a very beautiful son.” Then they all blushed some more. Brad would just as soon not have the attention, but he smiles and handles it well.Speaking of schools. Inayat had asked us to visit his school. This morning I did. Actually visited two schools.
The first is a private primary school called the Space Era Model School. It was started 2 years
ago by Amin, a 31 y/o guy we met at the internet place. Classes are mixed gender, with the lower grades being about equal boys and girls. Nice class sizes, about 12 – 20. The lowest grades have few, or no, desks. Two classes are meeting outside. The kids seem attentive and diligent. The highest grade, about 10 y/o is about 2:1 boys to girls. I make brief visits to several classes. 
In each class the teacher introduces me, and I say a few words about being happy to be here and that it’s good to see everyone working hard. Amin interprets. The kids listen and seem interested. As we leave the students are getting back to work.The next visit is to Inayat's school, a public high school with about 300 boys and 40 girls. There are many private schools in Booni, including a girls' school less than 100 meters from Inayat's school. People have told me that many private schools are affordable, so it’s hard to know the reason for the gender imbalance at Inayat’s school - and I forgot to ask. It's obvious that many girls of all ages go to school because before and after school the streets/lanes/paths are crowded with students in their uniforms.
Inayat teaches Koran, Urdu, Pakistani history and English, but not science or math, which are the only mixed-gender classes in his school. We visit 3 classrooms, and I speak for a few minutes to each class, introducing myself, mentioning Brad, and telling why we’re in Booni, and also telling how friendly the Pakistani people have been. There’s time for questions, but few are asked.
One question is about the difference between Pakistani schools and those in the US. Some seem surprised to hear that in different clothes most of them would blend in at a US school. My answer leads to telling them that Pakistani schools obviously do a good job, because when we call a computer support line in the US, that call sometimes goes to a call center in Pakistan. My answer does not address differences in wealth. One girl whispers a question the teacher then asks. “Are girls allowed to wear face scarves to school?” The 10 girls in class are sitting together, and all are wearing face scarves. Hmmm. What is the right answer? Mine was something like, “I think so, but haven’t been in schools to know.” It was followed by telling them that Islam is growing in the US, but most Muslim women seem to wear head scarves in public, not face scarves.
A senior boy asked what purpose it served to spend your time paragliding. That's a reasonable question, but it felt critical or at least judgmental. It certainly couldn't have been me feeling defensive. It took a lot of nerve to ask, and as with all the questions, I thanked the student for asking it. My rambling answer was that Brad had worked for 7 years as a wildland fire fighter, and he simply wanted to take some time off to do something he loves. It was hard to gauge the reaction of the students. Anyway, it was an interesting experience for me – provoking thought then and now.
Over the next few weeks students from each of the schools would come up to me on the street and thank me for coming to their school.
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