Gretta Goes to the Iraq

seeing as Dr. F and I have not really been able to set up our own expat community event or website yet (I am thinking we have a system kind of like London Linkup or My Merhaba in Turkey), it has been difficult to meet people who are not part of our own little incestuous (not meant to be taken literally of course) university crowd. That doesn't mean that others haven't been more successful than me.

However, I have made some Blog friends! Not many, but a few. Please note the latest addition to the "Meet my friends" column to the right of my posts. I have added Gretta Goes to the Iraq. I like this new blog as "Gretta" (although I have never met her) is practically my neighbor. I can walk to the compound where she lives in about 20-30 minutes (depending on which building in the compound).

Bye Bye to ROJ TV

Yesterday I was shocked.... probably because I don't keep up on the news... to hear that ROJ TV had been taken off the air. All those times of sitting in Batmaz Restaurant watching music videos of female machine-gun-toting peshmerga singing in the mountains of Turkey. All those broadcasts where the cameramen follow so closely behind the PKK rebels that they can hear them breathing and watch as they shoot Turkish military helicopters from the sky (Although more than once I have questioned the authenticity of the footage). I was flabbergasted... but then my friend turned on the TV, switched to Hotbird satellite and looked up ROJ alphabetically. Sure enough - no programming, only the station's symbol blinking on the screen.

I guess it makes sense. Obama has already met with Turkey with the intention of asking Turkey not to block the Nato appointment of Rassmussen... a Dane! Those Danes who allowed the cartoons of the prophet Mohammed (PBUH) to be published in the paper... They are also the ones who allowed ROJ TV to continue operation in Denmark even though they had PPK affiliations.

I guess Turkey was able to prove that ROJ was engaged in terrorist activities... The National posted the story prior to Obama's visit, but I haven't found any news from this week... keep posted. Some diaspora Kurdish sites are petitioning to stop the closure.

Surgeons don't wear skirts

As I was standing outside work trying to flag a taxi home, one of my former students offered me a lift. Her sister, a medical student, was picking her up. I accepted. Her sister, who spoke very nice English, told me that she was hoping to practice medicine in Basra after graduation... but was disappointed that her dream of becoming a surgeon was unlikely to come true. She said that people in Iraq feel that a surgeon needs strong hands (not a delicate or steady touch) to be successful. She has been advised not to pursue that path because even if she is the best surgeon in the region, she won't attract any patients and will ultimately fail. How depressing. Can this really be true?

Baby Shower in Kurdistan for K

The weekend is over and so is K's baby shower... but it was fun. Out of the 11 guests (the guest of honor, the host (me) and 9 others), 5 knew what a baby shower is and only 3 had been to one before. One of the British guests is an artist who kindly (although unfamiliar with the North American baby shower custom) agreed to help with decorations! Please see her lovely carousel mobile! She dropped by the day before to drop off her decorations and join another guest (who was dropping off the cake) for a pre-shower glass of wine. I realized I really miss having female friends who just drop by for a coffee and a chat after work.

Friday morning I woke up to the piles of silt edging its way under my balcony door after Thursday evening's dust storm. I cleaned that up and waited for the delivery boy. Promptly at noon (as promised) the young man from Fairuz Restaurant in Shoresh made his delivery: hummus, baba ganoush, warak inab, tabouleh, fatoush, olives and bread. Finally (at 1:00), the guests started to arrive.
This picture shows the first of the games. Bl is wrapping the piece of yarn she cut to see how close she got to guessing the size of K's tummy.

The photo below shows K trying to stick the pacifier in baby's mouth. Someone suggested we teach this game to the students using their teachers' pictures. I am open to suggestions as to what we pin to the teachers' faces.

We also played a version of taboo (Never say baby), another game where you guess the flavor of baby food and finally everyone was asked to guess how many diapers (good thing I am not expecting as I can't even spell 'diaper'). Then it was time for P's cake and L's homemade (from a box mix - shhh) cupcakes. FInally, K got to open up her gifts, everyone collected their prizes (flowers- growing gifts to remind everyone of K's growing baby) and went home.
Now we are all waiting until the big event so we can get to babysit. And in the meantime, I am enjoying K's thank you gift (a pink rose cutting that is quite happy in my balcony garden) and waiting for own my green babies (herbs) to sprout and grow.

Dear Donna

Readers, this post is a reply to the comment left by Donna on the post "the REAL thing in Kurdistan". She asks:

Do you live permantly in Hawler?
I don't live permanently in Hawler, but this is my third year of life in Hawler. The university where I work is in a period of transition at the moment and we all had to reapply if we want to stay on. Hence it is uncertain how much longer I will be here...

Are you from the US?
Sorry... I'm Canadian. However, I was in London, UK when I decided to come here. I saw my current job being advertised in the Guardian and decided to take a risk and go somewhere completely different.

Is it safe or are there any problems there?
It is at least as safe here as it is in London. There have been no life-threatening incidents in the time have been here. Kirkuk, Mosul and Baghdad might as well be in other countries. (In fact, you need a visa to go to Baghdad from Kurdistan now). Problems? That's another story! But as to how the problems would affect you, I don't know. There are problems related to corruption. There is lack of electricity and clean water, lack of good health care, etc. But all of these are slowly improving and I am sure that you and your partner would be able to find solutions for most of the problems you would encounter.

I'd be really grateful if you could give me a message back and let me no what its like to live there...
This is a much more difficult question as I don't know about which aspect of life you would like to know about. I think you can tell a lot about what my life in Kurdistan is like from this blog... but others live different lives. In terms of social relations and work, this has been an easier year for me. My students are lovely and the ease with which I can, as a woman, walk around or sit in a cafe without being stared is getting better, but as far as weather goes... it has been the worst year yet; dry and dusty with lung cramping sand from Saudi getting into every nook and cranny of both your flat and your person.
If you want information beyond this, please send further questions along with an email address and I will delete your email from the post and reply to you in person.

Are there many women from other countries there with their partners?
Foreign women with Kurdish partners? A few, but truthfully, I don't know so many. A couple of our professors have Kurdish husbands, but from the Kurdish region of Turkey. I also know a Dutch woman with an Arab husband, but the other women I met with husbands from Iraq or Iraqi Kurdistan don't live here... all in the EU with their husbands. Of course I don't actually meet a lot of the foreign residents here (not enough time spent at the Edge, the Deutscherhof or Bakery & More), so I am not the best qualified person to answer this question. But I think if you came, you would be able to at least meet enough foreign women to make your stay a little easier.

If you decide to come, let me know as I will definately still be here in May.

Baby food?

"What do you mean, baby food?" asked a student. "Babies just drink milk and then they eat a kind of adult food."(I had asked a student where I might find little bottles of baby food for the upcoming shower).
"Wait! They might have some elite stuff at Nazaa Mall," said another student.

Elite? No wonder I can't find baby food! It has been confirmed that Kurdish mommies don't rely on Gerber.

the "REAL" thing in Kurdistan!

(Photo stolen from Valley's Facebook Album)
Could it really be true that one of the key ingredients in cola (both Pepsi and Coke) is an extract from pig intestines? If true, it is understandable why they were apparently both banned... or at least condemned by some Iraqi Ayatollah in Najaf.

True or not true, it is a fact that in Iraqi cola-drinking history, Iraqis have long been consumers of Pepsi... even when cola import was banned by the regime and they had to smuggle in concentrate from Europe and make "fake" Pepsi. (Although puportedly not as good, it was only half the price).

In any case, cola consumption trends are changing now thanks to the presence of Iraq's very own Coca Cola manufacturing plant right here in in Hawler, Kurdistan... and consumers can know that what they are drinking is the REAL THING. Our business instructor arranged a field trip to the plant so that students could see the kind of organization, planning and the professionalism which makes a business successful. As for me, I think the key to success must be the red caps and Coca cola penguin keychain souvenirs.

Pregnant in Erbil

No, not me! I can't imagine being pregnant here. I know you've all gotten tired of my winging about health care, so instead let me just say that I really admire the two brave ladies above for even being willing to be pregnant here.

The lady in black is leaving to have her baby boy back home in Norway in about a week... and as for the lady on the right, baby shower at my house this Friday! Today I tried to arrange food for the party and the the restauranteur asked me why I didn't just have the party at his restaurant. When I tried to explain what a "baby shower" is, he just raised his eyebrows and stopped trying to persuade me that I also needed a couple of orders of his spicy potatoes. Except for me and the mom-to-be, only 2 of the guests are from North America, so it should be a new and interesting experience for others...

DUST

And now 9 days after the picnic, I am STILL ILL! On Thursday evening, there was another incredible dust storm... one that had me vacuuming, sweeping, mopping, wiping up dust all Friday, all the while inhaling it. Now 2 days later, I can see that there are still traces of dust where one mopping wasn't enough, but it can wait. Now to see if I can hire someone to come and beat and vacuum both sides of the Kurdish rugs, mop again and clean the dust off the windows - both inside and out. No thanks to Saudi for the dust... and thank goodness I am not IN Saudi.

University Picnic

It is now Thursday, 6 days after the University picnic and I still haven't recovered... the dust storms don't help - cold and wheezy, it is a big effort every morning to get up and drag myself to work... but perhaps not as much effort as it was last Friday to get to the university campus by 6:30am to board the buses bound for Dinarta. Of course the students were late and we didn't set off until nearly 8:00am and the students who encouraged me to wear jilki kurdi decided at the last minute NOT to wear theirs... but all in all, a good time was had by most...

The boys below are the musical entertainment for one of the 5 stops on the way to the picnic area - the last one - the stop where the drivers realize they are lost and have to turn the huge unweildy buses around on a dirt path high on mountain with the back end jutting out over a drop on point 2 of the 3 point turns.

After arrival at a picnic area (not the one the planner had been planning - we couldn't find that one), each group of students unloaded their provisions and set out to lay their picnic area. The boys below invited me to share in their picnic lunch of chicken shish... They wanted the perfect spot, for which they decided to cross streams and climb up and down hills... not an easy task in my impractical sandlas and jilki kurdi.In the photo below, Dilshad fans the fire with a paper plate. Although it is a picnic food, I have been told many times that really only women like "dolma" (a stuffed vegetable dish), so my group had just olives, vegetables and lots of meat for grilling...

The picnickers next to us consisted of a more mixed group, past and present students, male and female, Kurdish and Arab... Below Chrissy and I pose with the women.

The men are too satiated to stand! Dolma, biryani, other rice delicacies, fruit, soda and more litters the tablecloth...



And at about 4:00 pm, we teachers leave early for the long drive back to Erbil.

Jazz, Books and Tiger Prawns come to Erbil

After Thursday night's Jazz therapy, the fun continued... making this a relatively good weekend! No dust storm to make staying inside watching English cable from Saudi and Dubai the only option. In the early afternoon, Tu and I went to the bookfair... which was pretty disappointing again this year. After 2007, the International publishers and distributors pulled out on principle. Why come and sell one copy of a few books only to find hundreds of photocopies of those titles everywhere in the bazaar a week later? I bought nothing but a cookbook from a Beiruti book seller. Then in the evening, Mu, Tu and I all headed to the 9th floor of the fake Sheraton for dinner.

Oh, wonder of wonders! In a dry (of large bodies of water - not of alcohol) land, we were promised monster-sized crustaceous treats from India... if the storehouse in the basement would let us have them. They did! And after a bit of salad and bread, we each received a plate- each containing 4 of the largest grilled prawns I am sure Hawler has ever seen. This picture is stolen from the internet and is not even as large as what we received... The Sheraton is apparently experimenting with the transport - if they can fly greater quantities from India to Dubai to Erbil and sell some of them off to Supermarkets here, they will continue to stock them. My fingers are crossed. I would even promise to buy them regularly (if I could be sure they would be cheaper than the approximately $50.00 they cost to order at the Sheraton).

Jazz Quartet plays Kurdistan

Yes, really! Jazz ambassadors, Alvin Atkinson Jr and the Sound Merchants on their tour to bring Jazz to the Middle East, got to visit the lovely city of Erbil/Hawler! And guess what... (you will never believe it!), Hawler got top ratings in terms of venue... It was at a hall at the Ministry of Culture (I will pu the name here when I remember it). Truly it was not bad! Although the concert started more than 30 minutes late, the audience truly seemed engaged, hooting and clapping, toe tapping and head bobbing. How great to hve the opportunity to do something in the evening other than watch cable TV or work!

The Bold and the Beautiful - Kurdish Women from the Diaspora

In the last few months (OK, half a year), I haven't been posting a lot, but plenty of new commercial venues have opened here... and a few have shut (primarily restaurants), a few more construction sites have sprung up and a few have become semi-completed ghost towns (or playgrounds for neighborhood children).

One of the new venues, J&K Women's Sport Center (more to come later - experiences here definately warrant at least a couple posts on this blog), is the setting for this post. Yesterday, I went to J&K after I finished teaching to participate in one of the rather lame aerobics classes they hold there in the afternoons. But when I arrived, all the shutters were closed and there music had already started (classes here NEVER start early... or on time)! I opened the door planning to take my space, but instead of the regular crowd of aerobics-goers (a bunch of women who really just make a less than half-hearted attempt to follow the instructor and then stand on the spot for most of the class), there were three rather sexily-attired women gyrating, shaking, undulating and twirling individually to the music. I apologized and went to leave, but they invited me in to exercise/dance with them. Curious, I entered.

I later discovered that all three were Kurds living in Europe - Switzerland, Sweden and the Netherlands, and that two of them (the former two) were singer/dancers and Dashni, the Swedish one, was also a model. Dashni was very friendly and attempted to teach me a couple of belly dance moves that she purportedly learned from watching Shakira videos (I don't believe it, I have never seen Shakira do belly rolls like that). Anyway, I was impressed with how friendly and down to earth she was given that so many people here of even dubious "fame" have egos of a size impossible to live up to (I suppose there are people like this everywhere).

I looked her up on YouTube and discovered although I know that she can really dance, her videos- like almost all music videos in the Middle East region, focus on her "assets" and have her posing and rolling around more than dancing... (note that there are a few of the Shakira + bellydance moves somewhere sandwiched in the middle of the following video)



The woman from Switzerland, Loka, was a tiny little thing. I didn't really talk to her as she didn't understand a lot of English, unlike Dashni whose English was perfect. But Loka too was on YouTube; however, her clips seem to be more representative of local music programs than regional music videos.



The last women, the Dutch Kurd, is a businesswoman living right here in Kurdistan, and while she is not a singer dancer, her bellydance moves were also impressive. All three were hosting a private party to encourage local women to dance and enjoy life...

Miscellaneous Lebanon

And now I am back in Hawler, but I already miss Lebanon... and not just the sushi! On my last day, both D and I (separately) discovered a bunch of lovely cafes where it is possible to sit and enjoy a superb cappuccino while reading a book undisturbed and un-stared-at. The one below is not in Beirut, but in Baalbek.
And I already regret that I didn't make more time to explore quirky shopping venues. The one below is triangular-shaped; two glass and steel walls and one constructed to blend in with the ancient sites (stone walls studded with cross-sections of marble columns... not visible in photo).
It is nice to be able to walk safely in he evenings around atmospheric and historic churches and mosques...
To visit ruins and hill/mountaintop views (unfortunately this one is of the not-so-beautiful Tripoli)...
And finally, I really really miss the seaside!

Soap!

So what did we buy in Lebanon? Soap, soap and more soap! When in Beirut, we laughed when J told us about the Soap Museum in Sidon... but after reading about it and the Audi family in his inflight magazine, we decided to go and found that it was actually really interesting.
But in Tripoli, the seeming important of soap was even greater than in Sidon... Below is an abandoned courtyard in an old souk where you can see old tools of the soap trade just sitting there...
The photo below shows soap shavings. What you can't see is how strongly fragrant these shavings were... It was impossible not to go in and purchase some soap. I brought some from this shop which was scented with Jasmin... I wanted to send this one home with a gift for my mother, but when I unpacked my bags, the friend who was with me absconded with the jasmin soap.

Later in Tripoli, when we finally returned from the trip up to the castle and were trying to find a restaurant, we were grabbed by a lady who took us to her family's soap factory. Of course I bought a couple of cakes of soap, this time pine-scented. The photo below is her husband who is busy shaping the marbled soap balls that Tripoli is famous for.

Back in Beirut - March 25

On my last day in Beirut, I just ran around (camera-less) doing all those last minute things that were as yet undone; J and I went to the National Museum, I did a little shopping in Hamra and then joined D for dinner - last chance for sushi for a while (ah... salmon sashimi, grilled eel, salmon roe temaki, miso soup...)

The few photos below are from our first days in Beirut:
This first photo is taken at the beautiful American University of Beirut... Wow! Now this would be a lovely campus to work at. Below is J appreciating a Banyon tree on the campus.
The two photos below are taken at the corniche near to where our hotel was... On our second to last night, we rounded the corner to see the famous pigeon rock, but again... no photos... Sorry.

And last photo is of the inside of a church on the AUB campus where J and I went on our first night in Leabnon to see a cello/piano concert. I am waiting for the day when I can do this in Erbil.

From the Road - March 24th

As I didn't take any photos on the drive back to Beirut, where we again drove around and around (trying to find a mall we had passed on the way to and from Byblos) until finally dropping off our bags at the hotel and the car at the rental office, I would like to share instead a few photos from our week on the road taken at different spots along the way.
The above photo was taken outside our hotel in Tyre before heading into the mountains which eventually defeated us and sent us back on our way towards Beirut and Byblos.
Windmills! If I ever go to Lebanon again, I will skip MacDonald's and KFC and head instead to the Wooden Bakery, which is apprently Leabnon's only local franchise. Bakeries in the past in Lebanon all ground their flour with windmills!
Just before getting turned back to Beirut, we came across the Beaufort Castle, a castle or fort used by the Crusaders in the 12th Century, but well off the beaten tourist trail. We couldn't even find this site in the Lonely Planet! According to Wikipedia, during the Lebanese civil war this castle was held by the PLO, which used the castle to fire rockets into northern Israel.

I wasn't sure if I should post the photo of the offensive wall illustration below(sighted near to the Israeli border), but I don't want to give the impression that Lebanon is free from troubles. Noting racist and extremist ideas that exist here in the more remote and less affluent parts of Lebanon make it clear why the soldiers at one of the checkpoints in this region didn't want us to continue traveling on the road close to Israel (and subsequently told us we had to go back to Beirut and approach Baalbek from there). Truly it seemed this region, unlike Beirut and most of the other lovely and somewhat liberal cities and towns we visited, was supported by and supportive of the Hezbollah... Yellow Hezbollah flags and pictures of bearded men and even one of the Ayatollah Khomeni were displayed everywhere here... stark contrast to the lush green hills and beautiful valleys.
And finally, a visual description of the kinds of meals we ate while on the roads... somewhat different from the Lebanese mezze and seafood delights we enjoyed in the towns. While Kurdistan hasn't yet been infiltrated by American fast food franchises (only fakes - a Ma Donal's in Sulemaniya and perhaps soon the K [for Kurdistan] FC my colleagues are thinking of starting in Erbil), I realized that truly the fakes can't be much worse than "the real thing". Unfortunately for J who kept telling us to look out for Hardee's, we didn't have time or the opportunity to stop at one.

Chateau Ksara... & Anjar - March 23

On March 23rd, we got off to a little bit of a late start as in the 30 minute chill period- the one after breakfast and before taking to the roads, we discovered that the movie "The Shining" was on... something we had seen the start of in our hotel rooms in Tripoli, but couldn't stay awake for. (Of course I was the only one who had never seen this classic before). After the Shining, we drove out of the valley and visited the oldest of Bekkha Valley's (and Lebanon's) winery - now no longer Caves du Ksara, but Chateau Ksara.

After our tour of the winery (which was only in recent times sold by the Jesuits who discovered the natural caves formerly used by the Romans under the establishment - an environment perfect for storing wine), we were pretty hungry and headed to Anjar- lunch before ruins. Now largely inhabited by Armenians who escaped from Turkey during the genocide, Anjar is famous (with respect to food) for trout which the Armenians have farmed. (PS. The owners/managers of our hotel in Zahle are also Armenians who escaped from Diyarbakir in East Turkey - now a Kurdish stronghold. The youngest of hotel employees have never actually been to Diyarbakir however).

In the 8th century, Aanjar or Haoush Mousa (farm of Moses) was a Umayyad stronghold... a kind of capital of the Isalmic empire (before it was moved to Damascus). As you can see from the photos below, the ruins are really well preserved. The inhabitants of the city in the 8th Centiry were really resourceful as there is evidence of them recycling stones and columns they discovered from past empires and surrounding sites.
As we wandered around what was once small shops, we noted that this site was really primarily just one MASSIVE shopping mall... Our Naza Mall in Erbil looks pretty humble in comparison. However, the walls still standing in the picture below were part of a palace wall...
And the final picture (below) is Byzantine mosaic from a public bath house.
So long Anjar - back to the Hotel Monte Alberto for the final night before heading back to Zahle.

Onward to Baalbek - March 22

After two failed attempts, we finally made it to Baalbek... We drove back to Byblos after the Cedars and stayed the night (see photo in below post of sunset over Byblos harbour). The hardest part was just getting onto the right road out of Beirut... we must have driven around the city for about an hour. Finally, while consulting the map trying to see how many more kilometers to Baalbek, we saw the incredibly impressive ruins just sitting there off to the left hand side of the road. We stopped the car and a group of hawkers came running to the side of the car trying to sell us old coins, tesbit (prayer beads) and Hezbollah T-shirts. Finally, we made our way past them and into the ruins.
While there is much to be said about Baalbek, I can't find the words... nor did I find the write up in the guide books to be much more than a description of what the site must have looked like long ago. An area with Christians (or Maronites to be exact) and Muslims, the explanation of the pagan religious practices once observed here were not ignored... (I mention this because here in Kurdistan, even the museum in Sulemaniya does not dare suggest pagan origins of any site or artifact or label the ancient discoveries accurately - is it shameful to label a small statuette as a mother goddess figure? Additionally, it seems many Kurds living here do not see the Assyrian ruins discovered in their hometowns in any way related to them). 

In any case, this is not the case in Lebanon: It recongnizes the trade with Egyptians and others and the influences on life... and even those improtant exchanges in much more recent history - like when Sultan Abdülhamid II of Turkey and the German emperor Kaiser Wilhelm II visited together in 1898. I recommend you view the photos below and then just look up the history if you are interested... 

Beautiful temple of Bacchus pictured above. J, who had visited Athens in his past travels, said that the Parthenon would be completely overshadowed by this site... the only advantage of the Parthenon being that it is on a hill and looks nice illuminated at night.

And above are the largest columns ever discovered... absolutely huge... And amazing... Each contained holes in the base, which were used to insert triangular irons bits which were expanded inside and used - with the aid of pulleys and ancient "cranes" to hoist the columns. Amazing what people accomplished in the past. The buildings at this site were never completely finished, but each took about 200+ years to build. The huge columns were part of what was once the Temple of Jupiter.
And finally, after struggling to avoid the touts and hawkers, we decided NOT to stay in Baalbek and sip drinks in the foyer of the Palmyra Hotel, but to backtrack to Zahle and sleep in the Hotel Monte Alberto with its kitsch revolving restaurant and funicular to summer terrace and enjoy the above view of the valley watched over by a monumental statue of Santa Maria perched on stair-cased pedestal high on a hill.

Becharre & the Cedars - March 21

Hometown of author/poet/artist Gibran Khalil, Becharre was the first stop after Tripoli. We skirted the Qadisha Valley (which apparently is studded with monasteries and shrines to various saints cut into the sides of the mountains), and arrived to breathtaking views from the top of the mountains.
To the left is the huge bust of Gibran at the museum built in his honor and housing his tomb.
Above is a Phoenician tomb and monument which I actually didn't hike up to (but Dirk did). I was (as usual) too busy trying to find a rest room... which incidentally were clean and had paper in all locations in Lebanon.
Above and below are the Qadisha Valley which resounded with the sound of church bells, not as in Tripoli with the call to prayer.
And finally, we reached the Cedars... a popular ski resort and home of the last of the ancient forest of Cedars represented on Lebanon's flag.
After lunch and a bit of time playing in the snow, we headed on to Baalbek... only to be turned back... AGAIN! This time, not by soldiers at a checkpoint, but by snow. The roads (which were clear all the way through the mountains to the Cedars were completely snowed in and for a second time, our attempts to drive inland to Baalbek were foiled!