electricity

Apprehension... I feel it just before touching the door handle of the bus before going to work in the morning, before shaking hands with a person who has just approached me... or in fact, before touching practically any electrical appliance. But not because I abhor going to work, meeting new people or using electrical appliances, because I still haven't become completely used to the frequent shocks you can get from these activities.

Sparks Fly

Photo by Lesley
Last month, a number of us at the university were invited to a member of staff's wedding. It was a weeknight evening and many of were happy to attend what turned out to be a rather spectacular and not-so-typical wedding (in my limited experience). It was special in that the hall was not the usual cement hall with men on one side and women on the other, but a spectacularly decorated place with mixed seating. The bride and groom made an impressive entry along a red carpet lined with sparklers to the tune of Pachabel's Cannon in A. When they reached the dance floor, the music stopped and "the Lady in Red" (or was it "when a man loves a woman"?) came on, the couple slow danced, and then the music changed back and they continued to their stage at the front. The couple then sat for photos (more typical) but before people got up to greet them, people (again of both sexes!) were already out of their seat and on the dance floor - two lines; but separated not by sex, but age... one of the circles was all children.

Empty Nest

I am sad to say that I let so much time pass before posting, that most of you won't even know that that I had a border in my balcony barbecue pit until you read this post. Mu was walking in the bazaar when he saw some boys pulling out the tail feathers of a poor little creature with an injured wing. Of course he yelled at the little boys who handed over the bird. Mu caught a taxi back to my place ignoring the driver's puzzled glances... He must have thought Mu was pretty hard up to contemplate pigeon pie.

Anyway, Mu made it a little nest using paper, dried leaves from my Yucca plants and fed it water and bulgur from little Turkish saucers (don't worry, they remained on the balcony... no amount of bleach would convince me to reemploy them for tea service). Many people, including Pambette's mom who was visiting from Greece, came to visit. Most were not quite so enchanted as P's mom with Mu's "Kurdish pigeon." Truth be told, I was also not so pleased to be harboring a "flying rat" (as my mom affectionately calls pigeons). Anyway, late last week, Mu took the little thing to the animal hospital where it will stay until it recovers and then be set free. (My attempts to medicate the wing failed as the bird ate the medicine off and deposited 2 days worth of bright green presents all over my balcony). My only regret at the bird being gone is that I didn't take the photo that I promised Pambette's mother (as my camera is still broken). However, a little Internet searching for an Iraqi pigeon with brown throat markings and a slender black beak led me to the picture above of a laughing dove. I hope the wing has mended and Mu's laughing dove is laughing somewhere happier than the hospital.

BREAD

Photo by Pambette.
Yesterday I received a comment on my blog asking for photos... and a message in my email inbox complaining about my lack of blogging activity. Well, somehow it seems that my will to blog decreases significantly when my camera is out of action. Anyway, pictures have been promised and should be on the way soon. In the meantime, here is a photo taken at New City Turkish restaurant of sesame-adorned bread (of a particularly delicious variety) made just for me by a baker "Fred" who used to work at our university's cafeteria. Such a shame he is no longer there as it means we also no longer have lamacun on the menu.

At Dar Es Salaam's ATM in Iraq, you can...

Deposit Cash/Cheque/Bank Correspondence, Conduct transfers within your own accounts, Make Third Party Payments within Dar Es Salaam Investment Bank Iraq, Withdraw up to IQD 1,500,000 per day, Obtain a mini-statement, Request a cheque book...

At least this is what was listed on the bank of the slip that came out of the ATM... YES, the ATM! This may seem a silly thing to post, but to say that a place like Japan is a CASH SOCIETY is to have no comprehension of what things are like in Kurdistan! Should you be have been stuck in Kurdistan with no cash anytime last year, you would likely have to rely on the kindness of strangers to help you across the border to Turkey to a bank machine or a reliable place to receive a Western Union transfer. (Austrian Air, which wasn't in operation for part of last year, of course does accept payment in credit, but this was the exception rather than the norm).

Now the options for the terminally broke are growing! On April 5th, I successfully withdrew IQD 300,000 (the maximum amount for withdrawal at one time) from the Dar Es Salaam bank machine located between Iskan street and New City Shopping Center in Erbil! The second attempt at withdrawal failed (and I was unable to test the statement on the back of the slip that you can withdraw up to IQD 1,500,000 dinar in one day). And if you live in Kurdistan and this is good news to you, I can give you the further information that HSBC in London charged me GBP 1.89 for this service and exchanged the money at a rate which I would estimate to be Interbank rate + 5%.