The "Walking" Club, Ankawa

It has now been almost 4 months since I have left the country, exercised, or discovered any new social venues. Hence I jumped at the chance when a student from Ankawa invited me (and Tf) to the Ankawa Social Youth Club. OK, I am not really a 'youth' but apparently, all ages of 'Christian' (I interpret this as non-Muslim - read on) people are welcome there... especially after hearing about the existence of an exercise room there!

In Erbil, as you probably know by now, there are not many places where people can congregate and socialize... especially with the opposite sex! However, in Ankawa, there used to be something (translated from Sureth) called Walking Street. In the evenings (Thursday and Sunday), people went there to walk and meet their friends and perhaps even spot the love of their life. This kind of 'meat market' is something that would be permitted in parts of conservative Hawler; hence, fearing mischief from some more hostile Islamists, the walkers have recently moved indoors into a former sports club.

The Club: So the club really was just in an old brick/stone jail-like building flanked with a courtyard surrounded by a high wall topped by an additional wire fence (to keep soccer balls in or harmful objects out?). And there they were... the walkers - walking in twos and threes arm-in arm and pacing from one end of the yard and back again like prisoners on an exercise break. I joined in with my student just to experience the 'thrill' and indeed it was a bit odd! People stopped to talk to us and I even ran into another student (who you may know from this weblog as Belly dancer).

At about 10pm, everyone simultaneously tired out and moved into the cafeteria to sit around and chat. Apparently, while it is permissible to tease friends you have spotted 'on dates' here, it is an unwritten club rule that the information of who is seen with whom stays within the walls of the club... a very wise rule all considered (although I have not heard of any honor washing among the Chaldean community). Anyway, I didn't use the exercise room which turned out to be very poor, but Tf played and beat a local guy (the DJ from the Edge- that story to come later) at table tennis.