This excerpt from The Other Side of the Sky assumes a certain level of understanding about the geography, history, current events, and way of life of the Afghan people, including Islamic religious practices, that readers may not have. What examples of unfamiliar vocabulary, geography, history or current events, and the Islamic way of life might have presented problems for you (or other readers) to hinder a full understanding of the text? What explicitly stated details helped you draw inferences from the text so that you could better understand it? Write a brief informative/explanatory essay to explain how you figured things out in the text. Cite specific evidence and vocabulary from the text to support your writing. Use transitions to clarify relationships among your ideas, and conclude with a statement that supports the information and central ideas in your essay.