Miscellania from Last Weekend

The drive from Hawler to Sulemania via Koya takes approximately 3 hours. The drive via Kirkuk 2! But although we experienced both routes this weekend, we didn't manage either in 3 hours! So you know about the traffic blockade on the Kirkuk route already, but what you don't know is that at about 2+ hours in (on both trips) we had to disembark and light up the underside of the vehicle with a mobile phone so that Dr. Z could locate the fuel leak and wedge the fuel pipe together tighter! This, and having to jumpstart the car most mornings, appear to be a normal things to do here as he actually took it to a repair shop only to be told, "No problem".

Anyway, this first photo is just a view from somewhere near Koya.

These handsome men can be found outside the park on the main drag in Suli. I would love also to know who they are. And if you are patient, I will try to find the answer and post it as a comment to this post.

Pambette enjoys a private joke with one of her new stone-faced friends.

A photo of Mu only because there are no others of him in the photos of this weekend... and he was significant as he met us on arrival into Suli and took over the driving and guiding for the inside Suli part of the trip.

This last picture is "Moon over Kirkuk". I post it because I am always amazed at how big the full moon looks from here.

Drive by Shooting

A little scared to pull out my camera while passing through Kirkuk... once again... and once again by accident! I put on my telephoto lens and shot pictures from the back seat over Pambette's shoulder through the dirty glass of the Jeep Cherokee's window. (Just to let you know, although Kirkuk has been posted here more than once, it is always an accident when I find myself there - this time being no exception...the only difference is that this time, the driver also didn't intend to go there. We discovered the error when we passed Chamchamal instead of Dokhan).

Our first experience of Kirkuk was a high traffic jam/blockade where we sat hemmed in by lorries and other vehicles haphazardly matted together. Uniformed military personnel let us sit there a while before starting to weave their way among the vehicles slapping the sides of cars to get them to stop or move ahead and untangle the many lines of traffic. Later we found out there had been some incident with American soldiers and some fundamental Islamists and hence there was a curfew on the city which lasted until 5pm... so I guess we waited there until 5:00.

This next photo was accidentally shot. You aren't supposted to take photos at checkpoints. This is the actual Kirkuk checkpoint (the little white booth with the three men in unifroms in front). We had no problem entering Kirkuk. It was as though all the guards in Kurdistan had been warned that there was a red Jeep Cherokee of foreigners trying to find their way to Hawler. At some of the checkpoints they even spoke to Dr. Z in Turkish.

This next photo is of nothing - just the road as you enter the opfficial city boundaries.

At this point, it was starting to get dark and we were really driving too fast to shoot any non-blurry photos, but this one is of a statue of someone ?(Kirkukis, please write and let me know who this is)near the center of the city where you start to pass by the citadel, the markets and streets with little street stalls and... cows!

And this last photo is of a typical scene in Kirkuk. Last time I saw the Iraqi National guards dressed in Ninja outfits manning mounted guns on the back of a truck. This time it was a convey of armoured vehicles - American?

Monday Morning in Kirkuk

"Please can't you tell me if I passed reading? I am going home today and won't be here to collect my marks next Monday..." Many of the students come to us IMMEDIATELY after taking their last exam requesting to know their final scores (as it we could have marked them in the 2 minute gap between collecting the papers and walking to our offices)- scores we don't give out until a week after the exams. So I told D, a Kirkuki, to go home and I would email him his results so he wouldn't have to come back from Kirkuk - a place I have only passed through on the way to Sulemaniya... The scary thing is pictures below (taken today) are of the road I passed through Kirkuk on... and which Mu takes 2-4 times a week... and which I hope D wasn't on today.
85 dead and 180 injured have been counted so far from this morning's triple bombing in Kirkuk. This truck carried one of those bombs. Some of the people who died were those trapped in a bus that caught on fire.
As I can't bear the photos of people, the below photo appears to be of a cow being carried away from the scene on a make-shift stretcher.

These photos are from Mu's friend Mu, who for some reason was working from my house for part of today - a journalist receiving photos from Kirkuk via the internet and giving live interviews over the telephone. I am almost too scared to watch the news because the death toll climbs hour by hour (I guess it will reach 200) and some of the photos received from Kirkuk were too gruesome to mention or post here. Reading the news doesn't offer much food for optimism. Instead of the news tonight, I will read D's essay on the Arabization of Kirkuk, Article 140 and why he believes it should be implemented without delay.

Interruption - Truck Bomb

Yesterday's truck bomb interrupted more than our classes -as the loud boom shattered the silence, rattled the building and caused the corner classrooms (2 sides of windows) to flex- it also interrupted 2 years of relative peace in the city of Hawler (Erbil).
After the blast at about 9:00 am (which caused a variety of reactions from students and teachers in the building), my students made some predictions as to the possible cause of the now smoking area (viewable from our windows) in a desensitized kind of fashion... and then we resumed lessons. About 10 minutes later, we were instructed to return home so that the University could check for damage and (consider policy for such events?)


This picture was taken via a student's cell phone from the roof of our building. (Note that shirt worn by man in the picture is NOT typical - this must be one of the workers from 'North Kurdistan') The source was just outside the Ministry of Interior.This created some panic as two of our students are empoyees there and apparently there was to be a meeting yesterday morning meaning that we could assume that 100% attendance was required. Luckily, our students' safety was quickly confirmed by a couple of cell phone calls.


This second picture is of one of the buildings damaged in the blast... Note the brown bits on the right of the building. These were granity-type tiles which used to cover the entire building. Another building - the ministry guard's building - was completely demolished. Windows were blown out in some of the buildings in the immediate surroundings, including one in our administration building... even though we were probably about a half kilometer away.

As it turns out, the explosives were on a truck filled with cleaning products. But as to the reasons behind the blast or the people responsible, it seems the speculations of foreign news reports are as good as local speculations... The explosion which killed 19 people and injured about 80 (maybe more as we still don't know about those trapped under the rubble) corresponded with Dick Cheney's visit to Baghdad (and the usual violence there) and also with the killing of 4 Iraqi journalists in Kirkuk. In fact, so far, the news of this item seems to have been downplayed although it was being the first for some time in this part of Kurdistan. Some students mentioned that although they personally didn't believe the attack was Al Quaida, the anti-terrorism committee is/was based in the Ministry of Interior building and there were purportedly prionsers of the extreme-Islamist persuation held there.

In any case, it is work as usual today!

The trip to Sulemaniyah

So after a lot of stalling, on Tuesday night I finally decided that the following morning (9:30am) would be the time to take my mother to Sulemaniyah. Unfortunately, after stalling on the decision-making, 'Monica' also decided to stall... Seems we left lights on her control panel on and sapped her poor battery of all energy, meaning that Ha (trusted driver/security personnel?) had to go for jumper cables. After jump-starting, we had to drive the cables home and return to New City just one more time to pick up my forgotten mobile phone. I am so glad our university driver was not the driver for this trip or I never would have lived down yet another instance of me leaving my cell phone somewhere.

Anyway, the drive was good... past the slatey multi-colored 'badlands' on the way to Koya, the furry hills that look like grass superglued to sand dunes and 'mountains' that looked like a strong wind has blown a dusty carpet into slanted ridges (pictures coming)... and on to Dokkan. How unexpected to come across a lake there... even more unexpected was for H to jump out of the SUV, yell at a man in a motorized rowboat down near the water and ask him to take us for a ride. We half climbed, half slid down for a quick whiz round the lake before continuing on to Suli for a dinner at Komelayeti...

Dinner was also strange as, although recommended by D, we were not really welcomed at the restaurant. I think it was a private club of some sort although the menu was not extensive (nor was the food particularly good). However, it was cheap and finding it was quite the adventure as it was hidden in the middle of the dark Azadi Park and as the name presented me with a mystery to solve. Just the name alone was met with great hilarity from H (note that he is Hawleri and not a Suli-resident) who was unable to explain to us the meaning of this Kurdish word. he was quite unwilling to believe it could be the name of a restaurant and I had to get a hotel staffer to convince him.

Now it is Thursday and I am about to go for dinner with Mr. S (and I wanted Chinese) at the infamous Revan - the restaurant that (when in Suli) Mu goes to as religiously as he does the fake Sheraton in Hawler... Anyway, today's fuller program to be posted soon.


Mom (after we convinced her it was safe to get out of the car and approach the edge of the 'cliff') with Ha overlooking the city of Koya! (Yes, we went via Koya - not Kirkuk)!

Dokkan (note man with boat at the edge of water)

View of man from inside boat...

Ha on mobile phone (to Mu or his wife?) while skirting lake in boat

Building on hill (belonging to Talibani?)

Accidental Tourist in Kirkuk

(This post is also about the weekend before the one that just passed)

Although bursting with stories when I first got back to Hawler on Saturday, the 10th of February, I didn't manage to write it all down; about the coffee shop in Zagros mall where WOMEN were sitting on their own and drinking cappuccino, about the authentic Chinese restaurant (where subsequently Mu. now goes when he is there for business and Br has had his students take him), about the fact that there were only 5 hours of electricity per night in the motel and only a trickle of cold water from the bathroom showerhead... and most notably about the ride back to Hawler via KIRKUK!!!

Yes- somehow the road seemed straight and the journey too fast seeing as the 'safe' road from Sulemaniyah to Hawler bypasses Koya through the mountains and has a number of hairpin turns. Most people prefer this 3 hour journey to the straight 2 hour one that necessitates passing through Kirkuk. The driver was quite cocky and insisted that he was Peshmerga and knew all the right roads to take. He took me through Kirkuk as if we were touring famous sites at a vacation destination: On the left, please notice the Citadel, and now to the right is the bazaar (Would you like to stop - it's much cheaper than Hawler's) and those three menacing looking guys dressed in black poised over machine guns in the back of the truck - just Iraqi police! Seeing as the one with his pointed over the cab of the truck even had a black hood with only a slit for his eyes, perhaps you will understand why I didn't feel as calm as the driver.

Fortunately, we exited Kirkuk shortly after our police sighting and the driver spent the rest of the drive teaching me the Kurdish names for everything we passed; ker (donkey), cher (cow), bisin (goat), mar (sheep)...

Closer to home - US raid on Iranian diplomatic mission

On the 11th, Hawler (Irbil/Erbil) made the news- Not Mosul or Kirkuk, but this very city. It's just unfortunate that making the news seems only occasionally a good thing... And it is unfortunate that news was about a US raid and not of a Hawler local winning a Nobel Peace Prize (or even something trivial like the very first working ATM to be installed in a supermarket... Hawler really does seem to be developing quickly. D-who loves Sulemaniya- says that Hawler has caught up to and surpassed 'Suley' in terms of development).

Anyway, back on topic... Information on BBC suggests that the building didn't have diplomatic status, but Iran has lodged a complaint (no doubt) to Iraq's foreign ministry. Resident experts believe that this will blow over without any kind of real backlash, but it does make me anxious for tomorrow when I will be privy to predictions from outside the complex. I am hoping that some who have more knowledge about this incident than me will post information, predictions and comments here.

Ala: difficulties of Western thought

Being smart isn't always enough, and being outspoken may be too much. Getting accepted into a UK university wasn't so hard for Ala. Although purportedly not truly understanding what IELTS was all about, she traveled to Jordan to sit the test as there is no IELTS center in Iraq. She received a 6 point average. This followed a 98% score on her final English exam in high school. Ala was noticeably proud of her acheivement, but clearly felt the need to explain the sting she felt at not being able to gain any recognition in her hometown of Kirkuk. Although top of her class, awards are not given to Kurdish students, especially ones whose fathers have been executed by the Iraqi government.

Now as an assistant lecturer in political science at Sulemaniyah University, Aya still hasn't managed to find acceptance or satisfaction. She descibes education there as a continuation of the Baathist rote-learning received in school. And for those who don't excell at recitation but still wish to pass, money or letters from high-ranking government officials are given to professors. She feels isolated on campus from all but a couple of American professors who encourage her although others have suggested that ideas from abroad are not applicable in the Middle East.

As for me, I am curious what those Western ideas were, but she says she thinks the University of Kurdistan offers a way forward; awarding for merit, critical thinking and problem solving. I hope this is true, but so far the methods for planning and developing this huge project are far from Western.