Beth Richards writes from Herat, Afghanistan, where she was recently part of an exchange program helping an Afghanistan University. Her letters provide a rich sense of what it is like to live there.

In her fourth letter home, she describes the city’s main mosque which covers about 3 blocks by 3 blocks.

“One block is a large garden area where people (um, guys) can also walk and talk. The inside area can hold more than a thousand worshippers. There’s a men’s section and a women’s section. Some people go every day. Some go to walk in the garden and meditate.”

Beth Richards writes from Herat, Afghanistan, where she was recently as part of an exchange program helping an Afghanistan University. Her letters provide more than a little glimpse of the culture.

As she reports in her first letter: "This afternoon I saw a woman in a burqa, on the back of a motorbike. Underneath she had on hot pink pants and stiletto heels...so there you go—a place of contrasts."

And then there is ordering tea, simple black tea.  As she writes: "The hotel staff has loosened up enough to practice their English on me. Pronunciation is an issue—for example, there’s a choice of either green tea or black tea; they pronounce the latter 'booh-lach tay.'”