Happinez

Saint John NB is getting a facelift! It's a cause for much celebration and "Happinez" (http://www.happinezwinebar.com/happinez/). Last night I went with my mother's cousin's daughter and her husband to a little wine bar- yes, you heard me right (St. John actually has a wine bar)- in the heart of downtown SJ. (The owner can't be local)... Anyway, it was lovely! They had collections called "flights" in which they put 2oz of 3 similarly priced wines with complimentary tastes in three small glasses. I was surprised to taste wines so good in a place where...

Let it snow?

It is the 29th of January and today is the day I leave for London via Halifax and it is unfortunately snowing again - unfortunate because my mother is terrified of driving in the snow. It snowed the evening of the 27th and all of yesterday morning and now it is snowing again. I have decided that the next time I visit Saint John, I should really come in summer as I won't have to deal with my mother's panic when we are in town (an hour's drive from home)... and I won't have to worry about my flight being delayed and not making my connecting flight.

passe-partout

Passe-partout (păs-pär-tū') is not just the name of a guy who travelled around the world in 80 days, but is (according to Answers.com) a border, such as a mat, that is used to frame or mount a picture. And the reason I write about it on my blog is because it is just one more of the items that cannot be purchased in Kurdistan. I have had a request to bring in 50 sheets in chic colors. This seems a mundane thing to write in my blog, however, if the price is within my budget and the weight within my luggage limitations, the end result of this purchase will be an exhibition of work by an Iraqi cartoonist... the follow-up being something definately blogworthy!

Christmas in Canada

Just a few photos from the Kingston Penninsula...
Mom's front door (and my reflection)
This is the view through the window in the woodshed - where Nanny Mac stood to hang clothes on the clothesline between her house and Georgie's. Now that Mom lives here, she has installed a dryer and doesn't have to wait for the snow to stop before doing laundry.
Another view of Georgie's house... It reached 7 degrees Celsius and the snow was starting to melt. Both this house and Mom's are typical KIngston Penninsula farm houses surrounded by acres of land... but Mom has been working hard to remodel the insides to meet safety standards; no more cooking by woodstove, etc.
...And Chintz the cat- "Santa" even visited Chintz - she can perform backflips if you taunt her enough with a toy attached to a string.
And this is Mom on Christmas morning opening her gifts.

Airports, Vending Machines & Photo Booth

In case you were worried, I am posting to say that I arrived in Canada in one relatively unscathed piece.
The trip from Istanbul to London was uneventful. I met a government minister from Hawler in the airport who tried to tell me how wonderful life in Hawler was; how very democratic, what a wonderful environment to do business in etc etc. This made me think of poor Mu who was as that very moment was wrestling with that "democracy" somewhere in Hawler. I tried telling this minister about some of the things I observed in my first year in Hawler, but he was incredulous and basically figured I was full of ****. Maybe. But then again, he could have been wearing those rose-tinted glasses so favored by many of the returning diaspora (He was on his way to his nice home in the UK). Please understand, I don't mean this to be disparaging... just to say that we have to set out the facts as they are. Kurdistan is opening up and there are some great opportunities/challenges, but the rules are still far from transparent.
I then arrived in London where I spent about an hour trying to contact a London friend via an airport payphone. Finally I gave up and bought a SIM card from a vending machine (ah how I have missed these small conveniences) and managed to contact that friend (good news as it meant I didn't have to sleep in Heathrow Airport). Even better news was that I also managed to talk to Mu in Hawler just as his 3-week long struggle had come to an end and he was celebrating with Dr. Z and Pambette. Relieved, I was able to leave the airport (and with it my stress) behind and spend a comfortable night at my friend's house.
Now I am in Canada at my mother's house and have just about gotten over my jet lag. I should be posting pictures of snowy Canadian maritime winter scenes, but the truth is, I haven't been out taking photos... much too cold. Instead, I have been playing with my mother's cat, fixing my ticket (seems I was booked to return to London the 28th of Jan instead of the 28th of Dec - a problem since the ongoing flight to Istanbul was for the 5th of Jan), reading novels, playing backgammon and wasting time on my mother's new computer. All these photos were taken with "Photo Booth" (a new Mac application? The webcam is built right into the screen!). And in between photos, I managed to fix my Air Canada ticket and arrange to meet friends in Istanbul on the way back. If I am lucky, I may not get back to Hawler until after the planned Jan 5th after all...

All flights to Istanbul cancelled

I guess this is what happens when the US doesn't raise any objections to to Turkey flying into Iraqi airspace to hunt down the PKK. So last Saturday, although I had planned to fly to Istanbul on Sunday and had just arrived in Sulemaniya at 10am, I found out that Laveen wasn't flying, turned around after lunch and came the 3 hours back. So sorry to the two Canadians who had accompanied me there. I got home, had a nap, packed my bags and set off towards the border by taxi at 11pm.

Now it is late Monday night and I am in Istanbul. I arrived yesterday at about noon. Tomorrow I fly out for London. But I had time for the following:
A trip to the Grand Bazaar...

... where I shopped for Christmas presents.

A few photos of Metro station tiled walls; This is Kabatas.

Shopping and a 3D movie (how retro) at Kanyon shopping center.

I will be sad to leave tomorrow if only because I have a long journey ahead to get to the middle of nowhere Canada (sorry Mom), but I return on the 5th of January. Who wants to make a bet that the Istanbul - Erbil flight scheduled for January 6th will also be cancelled?

Nechirvan on Nechirvan Street

Picture from www.Chris-Kutschera.com

"Who is this HOT guy?" you (or someone somewhere) might ask.
He is the reason I yelled at a beret-wearing AK47-toting guard yesterday. I had a very important meeting with some officials set for 10:00am and of course at 9:50 and a 10-15 minute taxi ride from my destination, I ran into difficulties. I stepped out from the drive to my apartment onto the main street when some of these camoflaged guards used go-away doggy finger gestures to tell me to get out of the street and back into the drive. I stepped back and impatiently shifted from foot to foot waiting for some sign that I could go out and catch my taxi. In the meantime, traffic kept accumulating in the drive from the apartment, of course every white SUV filled with men all staring at me with amusement and those looks that might indicate that they have never before in their lives seen a woman! One of them seemed so intent on talking to me that I stepped closer to his car and he informed me that traffic had been stopped so that Nechirvan Barzani (the guy in the photo and prime minister of Kurdistan) could pass. Shortly after an entourage of BLACK (not the usual white) SUVs with tinted windows passed and I was finally allowed on my way. Nonetheless, although completely unreasonable, I was so frustrated at being stared at for nearly 10 minutes that seemed like an uncomfortable eon, I yelled at the guards for making me stand on the side of the road where I could be treated like an unwitting zoo specimen.

On Flying from Erbil

The below article was published on AUgust 27, 2007. When I returned from my summer vacation in Istanbul, I was so overwhelmed with being back in Kurdistan that I forgot to write about the shock I experienced when I discovered that Austrian Airlines had discontinued service to Erbil! Sigh... Although perhaps a selfish sentiment, I feel rather put out by this now that winter vacation is soon upon us here at the university. Rather than being able to book a reasonably-priced and reliable trip out to meet our respective connecting flights home, we are left with rather less attractive options:

1. Bite the bullet and fork out $900.00 US to take Royal Jordanian to Amman and book onwards from there.
2. Fly Inshaallah Airlines to Istanbul, Dubai or Frankfurt and cross our fingers that the flight actually goes on scehdule and meets our connecting flights.
3. Go overland to Turkey, somehow get to Istanbul and fly out from there.

It has been rumored that Austrian will be back in Erbil as early as February 2008. Too bad that it will be just a little too late... (I am planning to go home via option 2).

Statement: KRG and Austrian Airlines optimistic flights will resume | Iraq Updates: "The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and and its airport authorities are in discussions with Austrian Airlines, and all are hopeful that the airline will resume flights between Vienna and Erbil. The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) was informed by Austrian Airlines on 25 August that it has decided to temporarily suspend flights between Vienna and Erbil International Airport. Austrian took the decision following an alleged incident at Suleimaniah Airport reported by the pilot of Nordic Airways, a Swedish charter airline, earlier this month. After thorough investigation, the KRG has found no evidence of foul play at or near Suleimaniah Airport. The Erbil International Airport authority understands Austrian Airlines’ concerns that led to its decision, even though the alleged incident took place at another airport and KRG investigations have found no evidence of foul play. The cities of Erbil and Suleimaniah and their international airports are peaceful. Security in and around both airports is the KRG’s highest priority and is maintained to the highest degree. The KRG, Erbil International Airport and Suleimaniah International Airport are in discussion with Austrian, and all sides hope and expect Austrian Airlines to continue to operate its very successful and popular flights to Erbil. Meanwhile flights from Dubai, Istanbul, Amman and other cities to Erbil and Suleimaniah have maintained their regular schedules."

Saffron and Lemons

Grubbying up the crisp first page
Welcome to a brand new blogger's brand new blog. So, what to do with this spanking new cooking notebook? The possibilities are endless, but perhaps I'll start grubbying up the pages with a small self-introduction so we can get to know each other a bit. My name is Saffron and I am a greedy eater and hoarder of cookbooks. There, it' s said (g). My twin passions are world music and world food. Preferably authentic and preferably together"

The above quote is taken from the brand new blog of my friend and occasional leaver-of-comments on this blog (some of you will know her as W in Tokyo). I am so excited about this blog as W in Tokyo aka Saffron will be writing all about food! I will note this blog in my sidebar so that if you were thinking of cooking wild rice, pomegranate and proscuito salad this weekend and ALAS you forgot that there is no proscuito available in Kurdistan, you can leave a comment on Saffron's blog for advice. She has taught herself all the finer details of all sorts of food (like how to make certain veggies less bitter and so on), she knows how to cook gourmet on the cheap and is likely also a master of substitution as the Yokohama/Tokyo area didn't always have the wealth of exotic imported foodstuff it boasts now. Furthermore, she loves Middle Eastern cuisine and has a treasury of cookbooks intended for the exact types of ingredients available here. I hope all of my friends here in Kurdistan who like to cook will become good friends with Saffron. You can find the blog by clicking here!: