SNOW!

Today I went to the marketplace to buy some kitchenware (almost all of the quality cutlery provided by the university has snapped in half). It was bizarre... Everywhere I kept having men on the street bumping into me as they spun in 360 degree circles recording the view of taxies and shoppers surrounded by big fluffy flakes of falling snow. It was the first time since I have been here... I came in the fall of 2006. Apparently there was snow in 2003, but it did seem a novelty for most of the people in the marketplace.

Nothing better than the real thing!

I wish some of the local corner stores had better refrigeration for their dairy products and eggs (especially in the unbearable heat of summer). However, if you can provide the proper space for advertisement and sell enough Coca Cola and to warrant it, the company will provide you with the best refrigeration to be had in these parts!

..and yet another wedding...

On Saturday, I accompanied Vin to Salahaddin for yet another wedding- this time the wedding of her friend, a member of the Kurdish diaspora in Sweden to his distant cousin here in Kurdistan. Unfortunately, it seems she wasn't able to leave the country with her new husband without first having a reception in Kurdistan (perhaps to prove to everyone that they really are married?) I imagine there will be another gorgeous ceremony in Sweden.
We sat in our plastic chairs on the edge of the spare concrete basement-like wedding hall with our coats on; it's colder in Salahaddin. These women; however, had other ways of keeping warm. They danced around the hall to the never-ending Kurdish wedding dance tracks until the men, on the other side at the plastic tables, finished eating. I take it it was the women and children's turn next, but I'm not sure as we left before that happened.

Floor 4/3 - Elevators or "Apples and Pears"

British or American? Stairs or Elevator... directions to my flat differ. If you want to walk, think British because the floors as you go up the stairs are labeled with the ground floor as G and the next level up as 1. I live on what would be floor 3 in the UK, but if you enter the lift (I mean elevator) think American as pushing the button for floor 4 will take you to the level labeled 3.

I would love to live on floor 11/10 as the view is better, but in truth, it's probably better not to have to take the elevator. If the electricity suddenly goes out, you will be plunged into darkness and then when the electricity comes back on, the will be a violent jerk as the elevator resets and takes you back to the first floor. At the university, the elevator actually has kept several people prisoner for much longer periods. Some of the female students had to be rescued by some young male students who pried open the doors with a crowbar and ruined that elevator forever.

In the kitchen

Really I am aware that I live in a surreal bubble in the heart of Hawler... I know it's not fair that I have brand new appliances, hot water and electricity.... but I am taking advantage of this to finally learn how to cook. Last year, I bemoaned all the things I couldn't get in the supermarkets here... and they are numerous!But this year I am determined to learn to cook with what's available! Last year I was afraid to touch/cook meat (unless it was neatly cubed free range chicken breast or wild salmon...), but this year, I am learning to deal with bones! For example, I can now make buffalo wings and this week I learned how to use the rotisserie attachment in my oven and made my first ever rotisserie chicken - so much more FABULOUS than ones in the stores(and so easy)! I also discovered that you can MAKE sour cream (completely unavailable here) by combining one part melted butter to three parts yogurt. And I have started baking (thus the need to have 3 eggs in a bowl at the same time...) Strange how all the yolks are different colors. Does anyone know why that might be? They were all in the same carton.

Next on the agenda are lasagna, banana bread and maybe even date squares (although I don't personally like them).

24-hour electricity?

Hundreds of electrical wires weave around electric poles, knotted intricately, tasselled ends dangling... They wind from houses and other structures, tangling together lattice-like... or on occasion (as in this photo) they stream like a wiry waterfall from the side of a building. Unfortunately, unlike Mam Jalal's lucky in father-in-law whose grave receives 24-hour-a-day illumination, the average family wired to these weavy webs gets only about 1-5 hours a day. I suppose one could argue that at least they don't have to be dead to get it! (Although I could probably safely surmise that all the living relatives of the ruling clans also get unlimited wattage).

I will be on the lookout for the latest Kurish Globe as I believe there is an article by Pambette on her interview with the big man of the Ministry of Electric himself.

doves land at the marketplace

One day just before the winter break, I was wandering through the market with Dr. F (we were on our way to our favorite falafel stand) when we happened across this incredible structure that hadn't been there only a day before. I wonder if just fell from the sky or was assembled eslewhere and placed strategically by a new magical ministry - Perhaps the Ministry of Public Art and Filling Empty Spaces? (There are at least 27 ministries here. How many is normal?)
One of my students says the symbolizism of a hand clutching a dove is lost on him and he misses the days when this space was occupied by a chaikhana (tea shop) where he and his classmates used to spy on their teachers as they drank tea.

prison

text is coming...

Back to Business in Erbil

I am back in Kurdistan! And instead of 14 days old, these photos are only 4 days old...I arrived in Istanbul on the evening of the 5th and made my way to Tizianna's bf's house in Beshiktaş slightly before midnight. We chatted a bit and then went online to buy me an early morning flight to Diyarbakir for the next morning. Unfortunately, I set my cell phone to Iraq, not Turkish time and arrived at the airport before 5:00 am instead of before 6:00. It took ALL day to get to Erbil, but at least my friends made it easier (Dr. Z and Pambette were waiting in Diyarbakir and Mu at the border).

And since being back, it was right back to work with the first few nights taken up with meetings re: stuff that is Mu's business and not my business to discuss here... Pity. But I can post pictures of the night that Izzy, Pambette, A, Mu, and Dr. Z were all at my house for dinner.

Pambette, pictured with pipe cooked some lovely lamb and also made salad and yaprak (stuffed vine leaves). Mu did most of the other cooking: veggies in lemon and garlic, chi kofta and pirzola (lamb chops). I only had to deal with dessert.









And this is Izzy, showing off his strength... to an olive.














And A who brought some lovely baklava.















And finally the antithesis of the portraits - Pambette's feet.

Living the Good Life in London

After my Dec 29 flight from Saint John to Halifax was cancelled, my second cousin Sue kindly offered to drive me 5 hours through a blizzard to Halifax so that I not miss my flight to London. I arrived exhausted, but fully ready to enjoy big city life... two days in Istanbul on the way to Saint John was just not enough.

The above picture was taken at S's friend E's house... Grrr kept the champagne flowing and we enjoyed a mellow evening eating gourmet nibblies until midnight when we went out to set off/watch fireworks.

On New Year's Day, I went to Covent Garden to meet friends who are usually in Paris over the winter holiday(see Jan 2007). We gathered before dinner at the Nag's Head... The guys in the picture; however, are not friends, but just some drunk guys from up North having a little fun with the blow-up sheep Dolly handcuffed to one of the guys' wrist.

And this is Sol enjoying dessert at a Brasserie in Covent Garden. It was her husband's sister's husband's 50th birthday that brought everyone to London to celebrate. The family lives in London, Dubai, HK, etc... (I hope to visit Sol at her home in Dubai next time).

On Jan 3rd, after clearing up some paperwork at King's College, I met Au, former classmate. We had some cheap food and a glass of wine at the International. She introduced me to this place... and the cheap cinema (Prince Charles) around the corner in Leceister Square.

And this last picture is a picture of the International because I don't have a picture of the Korean restaurant I went to with Mika or of Yash, Christina, Sarah x2 and I at the cafe in the Curzon Cinema.