Viva Kurdistan

another borrowed photo
OK, so I am not sure what to write here... what I am not going to write is an essay on Kurdish nationalism. Instead, to all those living in Kurdistan and members of the diaspora, I say (in addition to 'Happy Newroz'), 'Harbizhi Kurdistan'. This year, like last year, I rode to the first Newroz picnic of the year in a car decorated with two Kurdish flags... and unlike the pinickers' flags from last year... and unlike the Iraqi flags near Erbil airport, there were no gold fringes. Please note, that with the exception of Newroz, I have never ever been in a car decorated with the flag of any nation including my own.

Newroz we piroz be

picture stolen from Lonely Planet
This year's Newroz picnic was much like last year's, except that I had 2 invitations to 2 different picnics which turned out to be the same picnic. I got up late and missed the departure of the people who invited me first (Izzy and his gang)... such a shame. However, it meant that I didn't have to get all dolled up in a borrowed candy pink Kurdish dress. Instead I went with Dr. Z, Pambette, Mu, the owner of Cafe de Paris (the restaurant where I spend the evening before dancing to live music), and one of his staff.
Anyway, we arrived at this year's chosen picnic spot- outside the village where Salahadin lived. There were tents and the musicians from the night before's party were there. Many people were dancing and alas, as we made our way towards the dancers, we tripped over Izzy's party. They were grilling and eating meat and Juan was wearing a green Kurdish dress (which my borrowed pink one was to accompany). We listened to music, ate and then got back on the road home (which was packed with picnickers). This year, I saw just a few things that I didn't see last year: Bedouin men on the hillsides walking in groups and a few solitary guys watching their sheep. Also, I saw lots of swings. I guess they were there last year, but I didn't notice them... all over people had attached ropes looped to trees, a pillow or blanket anchored in the middle and women in their dresses sitting on those pillows just a swinging.

My camera was given to a friend of Mu's today who will take it to Istanbul for fixing... However, I will get pictures from Izzy and Pambette and replace the one from the Lonely Planet.

Treacle Treatment

If you haven't guessed, this post is about "waxing"... so men who are uncomfortable should discontinue reading.

Some of you regular readers will know that I occasionally spend time with Izzy and some of his newspaper crew. Well, recently it has been rumored that Juan, an Arab advertising manager from Baghdad, is an expert at all sorts of salon treatments... Yesterday I met up with her (despite the fact that we share no common language) so that I could verify the truth of her skills. The session started out with me screaming as she tweezed and threaded half of my eyebrows right off my face. They are thinner than I would normally like to see them, but she did a neat and clean job.
Then came the treacle (sugaring). She heated up a mixture of lemon juice and sugar and then as it cooled, she added some water and kneaded it into a ball. She took the toffee ball, squished it onto my wrist and used her thumbs to spread the sticky stuff up my arm. Then she unstuck the end and deftly folded it back bit by bit towards my wrist. Spreading the sugar against the hair growth and pulling it off in the direction of hair growth is opposite of waxing, but I think it hurt ever so slightly less (no screaming). It was neater and easier than regular waxing, needing no fabric strips and no heating. And finally, at the cost of a cup of sugar...

Kurdish Globe Advert Inspires Joy

This little ad means that it is once again possible for me to make travel plans with friends without the fear that my flight will suddenly be cancelled or rescheduled. I will also be able to visit Amy after she moves to London... or meet her in Vienna.

Curb Painting

There is hopefully a picture and some text coming, but in the , here is a good link about the Arab League's visit: http://www.kurdishglobe.net/displayArticle.jsp?id=719D884DFE3B86A4A5B86BC4F1D7F7B3
and other possibly related news: http://www.stratfor.com/sitrep/iraq_car_bomb_targets_sulaymaniyah_hotel

Gold Fringes

One week ago, the item at the top of my wish list was a spangly, sparkly Kurdish dress (complete with sparkly pointy-toed heels and gold-fake will do- jewelry) to wear over Nawruz and all the subsequent picnics and weddings. However, yesterday this wish was displaced.

Upon a brief stop in the parking lot of the apartments to pick up Mu, Dr Z and I saw J's "couch surfies" coming towards us lugging heavy backpacks! (Yes, there are people couch surfing even in Northern Iraq). They couldn't get visas for Iran and were headed to the airport to catch a flight to Jordan. Dr. Z magnanimously offered to drop them at the new airport terminal... or at least at the parking lot outside the high-security gates where they could catch a mini-bus to the terminal. WOW! The road to the airport was lined, not with palm trees - my No.1 favorite road-liner, but with the new (although temporary) Iraqi flag. Since my arrival here, only Kurdish flags could be seen in Hawler... but these flags (see above) were not only flags, but flags trimmed with gold fringes. At the gate to the airport, other flags were in evidence; the Kurdish flag followed by what must have been (no time to examine closely) the flags of the 19 nations currently represented at the Arab Parliamentary Union Conference taking place here at the Martyr Saad Conference Center. What do you think would happen to me if I tried to snag myself one of these flag commemorate of the Arab League's presence? (I already have a Kurdish one... the kind you can buy to decorate your vehicle's antennae).

Sudden Summer

Is this global warming or just Iraq? Last week I was wearing my winter coat with the furry trim and this week the temperature must be nearly 30 degrees Celsius!

Maftoul

This is another post for Saffron (formerly known as W. in Tokyo). A while ago, I went for lunch at Fairuz, a newish Lebanese restaurant in Hawler. Instead of ordering the Western dishes popular with locals, I ordered the day's special Lebanese dish, which I unfortunately promptly forgot the name of.

Anyway, it had these little pasta-like balls combined with chickpeas and chicken, all of which had been stewed for 4 hours. Although rather colorless,the flavor was delicate and pleasing (was it allspice?). Anyway, a little search led me to believe those little pasta-like balls were in fact Israeli (or Lebanese) cous cous (as pictured). Anyway, this recipe from Recipezaar souds like it would taste like what I had (minus the tomatoes and the chicken-browning step).

Turkey retreats...

The picture comes from an article entitled Turkey withdraws troops from Northern Iraq, military says in yesterday's Guardian.

Why add the tag "military says..."? Because like all of the news here, none of the information is clear... Turkey says they acheived thier goals and have hence gone home. Others say they left because of US pressure. A US official warns the troops have not in fact completely withdrawn... The Turks give numbers of casualties on both sides, the PKK gives different numbers. Many call the PKK terrorists... And the Iraqi Kurds believe Turkish generals are using the presence of the PKK in Iraq as a pretext to destabilise the Kurdish autonomous area. Well, at least it's clear why my students suggest the topic Turkey is targeting the KRG, not the PKK for an in-class debate.

Roj Recommendation

I am certain that nobody is in need of my little blog to know what's happening these days in Kurdistan (especially since I never write of the political going ons). But as my mother worries when she watches TV or reads the news, I have decided to dedicate a little post to the news. The picture to the right is taken from Radio Free Europe's Feb 22 report of the Turkish army on their way to the Iraqi border to fight the PKK rebels. How does this affect life in Erbil? Students at my institution staged a protest; it took an hour and delayed the start of class by 10 minutes. And every time I turn on BBC World or Al Jazeera International, I can hear international condemnations of the separatist PKK "terrorist" organization. I can see images of the Turkish tanks and helicopters amassing on the border towns. I can also hear the Iraqi, Kurdish and international governments' official responses... about how it is critical that Turkey finish quickly and withdraw in order not to destabilize the region and harm Iraq's territorial integrity. This gives everyone something to speculate about. Life here is sometimes just one big political discussion. (Note that if things heat up, I will post more later).

What you can't hear on every station is what anyone connected to HOTBIRD sattelite can view on Roj TV! Last night, Roj showed footage from the perspective of the PPK rebels hiding in the mountains; scenes punctuated by the loud blasts as they shot at the Turkish helicopters flying by. Then the camera surveyed the wreckage of what could be a helicopter through the tangly vegetation to the audio accompaniment of laboured, possibly frightened, breathing. However, it was not truly clear that the wreckage was recent (no smoke or signs of recent impact, and there were branches and growth over the wreckage). The footage was somewhat like CNN's minute-by-minute on-location news... except that there was a huge semi-transparent Roj logo (see above) superimposed over the entire footage. Was it to stop people copying it and broadcasting it as their own? I have too many questions... Maybe because I don't speak either Kurmanci or Turkish. I wanted to post a link so that you could watch video streaming of recent events and come to your own conclusions. Unfortunately, when I tried to visit Roj, my computer's security system went wild detecting and deleting all sorts of security risks. Anyway, if you can speak Turkish or Kurmanci, I highly reccomend you watch Roj news for a different perspective!

101 Kurdish Delights; Lablaby and Perda Pilau

After more than a year in Kurdistan, who would have thought that only now (now that I have stopped eating out) that am I starting to discover a wider spectrum of Kurdish (and general Iraqi) culinary delights! This is partly because I am not very good at saying no when invited out... and partly because I am not very good at saying no when people intimate an interest in being invited to my house. This week I ate/cooked my way though the following: After more than a year in Kurdistan, who would have thought that only now (now that I have stopped eating out) that am I starting to discover a wider spectrum of Kurdish (and general Iraqi) culinary delights! This is partly because I am not very good at saying no when invited out... and partly because I am not very good at saying no when people intimate an interest in being invited to my house. This week I ate/cooked my way though the following:

1. Lablaby (dinner at my house); one of my guests - the guest of honor- was from Baghdad, and I noted on several occasions, how much he loved lablaby (Arabic for chickpeas). So anyway, to supplement meat, rice, salad and a Ceylon-style eggplant dish, I found and adapted a lablaby recipe. I replaced boullion cubes with real chicken and will add garlic the next time. The results? My guest said, "I kiss your lablaby!" Unfortunately, I also learned that although big chunks of meat are acceptable dinner food, rice is considered too heavy... and I always serve rice! I learned that when some Iraqis with intestinal problems are operated on, the doctors sometimes have to remove 5kg of rice (which was eaten greasy and partially crispy). Is it possible? At least I don't cook rice Iraqi style.
2. Perda Pilau (dinner out): I went to Haji Mohammed's brother's house... only to get a phone call the next day from H. Mohammed complaining that I haven't been to his house recently and insisting that I come immediately. I couldn't get out of it until I cried. Anyway, his brother served Mosul style kefta and PURDA PILAU! I am not sure if this is Kurdish, Iraqi or Persian, but it was interesting. Pilau (rice similar to biryani) cooked inside a pastry covering (or perda/veil).

Sh*t Storm

Although crude the title of this post describes the climate here these days; both literally and figuratively.

Regarding the literal sh*t storm, it was unbeleivable. It was really much like a sand storm, but wet. I was having dinner with friends in a restaurant and when we came out, the car... all the cars... and buildings and such were splattered all over by what appeared to be incredibly evenly-spaced bird droppings. Ah, the uniformity of the patterns of chaos! It was only yesterday that I managed to clear that same pattern off my windows. The Bangladeshi workers on the garden paths laughed to see me half hanging out of my window extending my window-cleaning rag as far as my arm could extend. The rest of the picture window had to settle for water squeeze-shot from a 2 liter plastic water bottle. (I am on the 4th floor). I wanted to post a picture of all the cars covered in sh*t, but unfortunately, my new camera is already broken - a couple of the metal prongs that feed into the memory card broke off.

As for the figurative sh*t storm, it describes the social climate at my place of employ at the moment... but I am unfortunately not really at liberty to discuss the sh*t that has been flying around, both by word-of-mouth, in paper form and via the internet.

My Kurdish Valentine

Photo credit goes to Botan, one of my students (the tall pretty one in the short dress).

Valentine's Day is certainly different here in Kurdistan. I arrived at university to find the cafeteria rearranged: tables moved to the sides of the room; space cleared for dancing. Heart-shaped ballons declaring, "I Love You" trailed tinsel from the ceiling. The ANd not only was the room decorated; many of the female student population were attired completely in red and black (or red, black and white) and there were even a couple of sexy red dresses! (Is this permissible in Hawler?)

Mostly boys danced with boys... or showed off hip hop moves on their own, but a few women who had returned from overseas got up and wowed/shocked the crowd. I danced briefly with Tf, but mostly, I was just eager to get upstairs see which students would show up in class... All but 2 or 3! They were the ones responsible for the music and the entertainment program (yes, there was entertainment). I am not sure why, but every "entertainment program" put on by students involves cross-dressing men (very Shakespearean). All three of the men above are from my class, so you can image the fun I have on a daily basis at work. I don't know the woman, but love that she decided to get into the act and dress as a man! No double standards here.

PS. I want to thank those nice boys who gave me (and the other women in our class) flowers, real or plastic.

Green Babies

Coming soon...

Midnight Call to Protest

Early this month in a familiar institution, something happened which was quite extraordinary. A particular event was to happen that had been scheduled since mid-way through last year. However, the night before- or rather in the wee hours the morning of- people were called up and told that the event would not be happening. The reason for calling off this event (without notifying the event organizers) was that the participants were being called to take action against something not related to the event itself.

After the fact, it was discovered that those called to take action did not have the opportunity to discuss this demonstration or decide whether it was in their best interests... In fact, it seemed to be entirely orchestrated by a body outside the group that was organizing itself to take action. Politics here confuse me.

Beef Biryani with Substitutions

Ingredient substitutions for all the things you can't get here is par for the course in feeding your cravings for foods not available in restaurants here... I have never cooked so much in all my life! Follows is my recipe for biryani cooked in the pressure cooker:

1. Marinate a pound of sliced steak in salt and yogurt.
2. Grind together about 2 sliced hot chillis, some ginger powder (no fresh available), 2 cloves of garlic, about 1.5 T of dried mint and (as there is no fresh coriander) some coriander seeds, powder and/or other dried/fresh nicely scented green.
3. Pour about a half cup of olive oil 2-3 large chopped onions, 4-5 cardamon pods and a pinch or 2 of cinnamon in the cooker and fry until golden.
4. Add the ingredients you ground in step no.2 and 2 medium tomatoes and fry a little longer.
5. In a separate pan, fry the beef... just a little.
6. Add the beef and 2-3 cups of basmati rice (uncooked). Add just under 1.5 cups of water for every cup of rice and cover.
7. Cook for 5 minutes on high, then turn down heat and cook 5 minutes on low.
8. Let pot cool, stir and serve with a salad made of tomatoes, onions, fresh coriander (ha ha) and green chillies.

PS. This is very aromatic, but the recipe at Recipezaar with cashews and pistachios also looks good! Maybe next time.

Silver Lining

Someone's in the kitchen with Dinah... Someone's in the kitchen I know...
Oh, wait... It's ME! Life sure is sad when the highlight of your week is buying a pressure cooker! But indeed that was the highlight of last week. Mu helped me find one in the market that was made in Germany (in the hopes that it would not explode upon first use) and luckily, it did not! My biryani (although I added too much water and cooked it a little too long) had exactly the flavor I was hoping for.

Funnily enough, the above photo was part of a Hawkin's ad campaign entitled Silver Lining. (Perhaps saving time by using this cooker was the silver lining of being a surburban housewife?). I stole the ad from a blog called Isn't Life Terrible where it illustrates a letter from Hawkin's to Dinah (the model)expressing regret that the product has been recalled due to a few explosions, and as Hawkin's is now out of the pressure cooker business, mightn't she be interested in some underwater exploration equipment.

Trapped in the dark

... in the lift! Truthfully, being stuck in an elevator is not so scary... for the first 60 seconds, but after that, the complete blackness in that small space seems stifling. After 2 minutes in the dark, I heard some voices and started hollering, but the voices, which were speaking in Kurdish, ignored me. I could hear them retreating when suddenly I heard a familiar voice speaking in English. It was Pambette's voice from 3 floors up telling the staff that someone was trapped in the lift.

It turned out that the company that runs this complex forgot to stock up on fuel for the generator and decided to turn off all the electricity until they could get some more... (I wonder how many other unsuspecting people were trapped in elevators in the other 13 buildings - not so nice as they left the electricity off for 4-5 hours). I am lucky P managed to catch them before they left the building.

Thursday Night

This Thursday, I didn't join Vin at the Edge... and I didn't stay home alone watching TV or pretending to work. Mu and Pambette made dinner plans... and picked my house as the location. Mu came over to cook lamb chop stew. Didn't know there was such a thing, but it was delicious.
But before dinner was cooked, a mystery guest arrived. Tf had unfortunately locked himself out of his apartment and had to climb over my balcony to his own. But not to worry, he made it safely and came back with "the bar". Last week he stocked up in Ainkawa on all sorts of spirits).
And finally Pambette arrived with all the sparkling coversation and drama.
After Mu had just made us eat the second large helping, Dr. Z arrived just in time to see us clean our plates, but not to fear... plenty of Halal sausages and eggs. After this, he began the dancing. "Opa!"

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.