An amazing experience

I do not talk often about the work I am doing, but yesterday's event deserves a post. My grant is an amalgamation of all of the projects my Institute has done in the past. Parts of the project seemed pretty straight forward, like work with Iraqi NGOs. Then, there was another component that involved bringing clerics from all different backgrounds from all over Iraq together to discuss reconciliation. When I read that I will admit I kind of panicked. There was no way that I, an American and a woman, would be able to even get these people in a room. Then I realized that I do not have to do it and so I hired a brilliant gentleman who made it happen. Working through our partner NGOs and the Universities we gathered a group of moderate clerics to discuss Islam and reconciliation.

The first step was getting them in a room together and the next step was to get them to talk to each other. Thankfully, they did talk. I learned more in an afternoon about Islam from their discussion then I could from reading any book about it. One of the clerics even made it clear that working with non-Muslims was more than acceptable, which made me feel like less of an outsider. I am looking forward to seeing what happens next.

 

Through the mountains

This morning we left early to go to Erbil for some meetings. As I mentioned before Sulaimaniya is ringed by mountains. The drive out of Sulaimaniya is a relative straightaway with a gradual rise up into the hills. The mountains are a brownish grey with bits of green scrub.

 Most of the mountains look a bit worn, but Azmar mountain stabs high into the skyline. Parts of the mountain  sheared off  years ago and it has a very flat rocky face. Passing through the outskirts of the city cows mingle with gas stations and the houses become a little less grand. The road also passes by one of the U.S. prisons, which looks quiet, but there are still people kept there. Occasionally there are checkpoints and most of the time we get through them easily. Not having blond hair and blue eyes helps. The road starts to rise steeply as we head to Dokan Lake. Here is where we always stop at a the same restaurant to stretch our legs and use the restroom (Ottoman style toilet). It also serves the best homemade yogurt I have ever had. It is thick, tart and creamy. Tearing off bits of flatbread you scoop up the yogurt with the bread. On the way home I'm going to stop and see if they will sell me some to go. A side dish of Ishta and honey with some really strong tea rounds out the meal.

Dokan Lake is not visible from the truck stop, although you can see the Little Zab river (it joins up with the Tigris further downriver)  rolling along gently. There are fish stalls piled high with beautiful fish fresh from the river. After leaving Dokan the road starts to rise steeply and there are many switchbacks. As you are trying to head up the hill, passing the slow moving trucks as you go, there are trucks coming down in the other lane grinding their gears as they downshift to slow down on the steep grade. Then as you crest the top of the hill and look back you see Dokan Lake glistening blue in the distance. Looking forward towards the road to Erbil this is what you see-

 

The scent of the air changes as well once you reach the top of the hill. It almost smells like burning lemongrass. They often burn the grass in order to prevent forest fires. Driving onwards the road dips and curves, but the color changes and the landscape is a sage green. Along the road there are more brick and thatch huts. Often the roofs are covered with a plastic tarp with rocks on top to keep the tarp from blowing away. A lean to is usually attached to provide cover for the donkeys. More sheep and goats are alongside the road and occasionally blocking the way. Wild dogs are seen roaming and foraging along side of the road as well. Often times there are cemetaries in the distance and in one of them the stones are so old and worn it is hard to tell what its purpose is. There are few cell towers or electrical towers and you feel transported back into time.

Then there is a pile of garbage smoking in the distance with wild dogs wandering through the trash and the road widens and you find yourself in bustling Erbil.

Laundry

I put my clothes out to air dry on a rack on the patio off of my bedroom. I went to gather up my clean clothes that are now nice and dusty and a pigeon had pooped on my sweater. Not once-twice. My poor lovely yellow sweater. I'm running it through the wash again and I hope it will come out poopless.

That leads me to, did I ever tell you the story about the guards and the pigeons. This happened before I was here, thankfully, but there are a lot of pigeons that roost in our compound. In fact, in one of the window boxes (for lack of a better word, we cannot for the life of us figure out why these things exist) a pigeon laid its nest. Two wee rats, I mean pigeons, chirped away until they were big enough to fly away and poop on my sweater. So, anyways, there are a lot of pigeons and the guards decided one night that the best way to get rid of them was to shoot them. Yup. Good times.

A new culinary delight

I have to admit that the food in this country has been disappointing. The national dish is biryani and kebab. The rice is good, albeit a bit oily, and it is served with a side bowl of beans or okra or apricots in tomato sauce. The best I can say about the side dish is that it is edible. There is a pomegranate sauce that is quite tasty on salad. The morning dish of samoon, ishtar and date sauce is really good. Samoon is like a doughy flat bread and you top it with ishta, which is cream made from water buffalo, and the date sauce is thick and sweet. The only problem is it tastes delightful, but it is high in calories and fat and an hour later I'm hungry.

Then yesterday someone brought in a jar of figs that their mother in law had made. The figs were soaked in some sort of honey sauce. Most of you have probably seen figs at the market and wondered what to do with them. I would advise not buying them because they will never taste like they are meant to. Here you get figs from the market and you crack them open and suck out the insides. I cannot quite describe the taste, but suffice to say one is never enough. All of that tasty goodness soaked in honey made me skip for joy.

This morning I had the honeyed figs on my oatmeal with some walnuts and it was one of the tastiest breakfasts I have had here. Thank goodness for mother in laws!

A new type of diet

I went to bed Wednesday night and I really didn't wake up until Friday morning. At some point the staff took me to the hospital, and I vaguely remember that. I had some type of flu or food poisoning. It is not like any flu or food poisoning I have ever experienced in the States. It just completely knocked me out. The good news is we know from my blood test that it was not typhoid fever. The fact that it could have been typhoid fever is a little scary. I'm lucky. I'm in relatively good health and if needed I could afford to go to a specialist. I am not sure how other people manage. In fact when people truly get sick they have to leave the country. Except that costs a bit of money, which not all people have.

I am thankfully on the mend and I am very grateful because all of our staff were very helpful. It's hard to be sick in a foreign country, but they did what they could to make sure I was ok. I am just hopeful I do not have to experience this again any time soon.

Travelogue interrupted by life

I had no hot water this morning because, as usual, the baji's unplugged the hot water heater. What makes this situation even more frustrating is that one gets in the shower and gets a full two minutes of hot water and then there is none. One would think that I would try to explain to the baji's that there is no need to unplug the hot water heater and the issue would be resolved. Um, no. I tried. Again.

What's the definition of insanity?

Delicious fall weather

When I checked the weather report before we left Sulaimaniya, it said it was going to be drizzly for a couple of days and then the sun would come out. To a person who had only experienced 90 seconds of rain in Duhok, that sounded like heaven. The next morning we all had a bit of a lie in and ate some delicious Turkish yogurt with muesli and fruit and then headed down the hill to get the train into Sultanahmet. We hopped on the train and took it to the touristy area. It was a chilly, grey, overcast day and it felt so good. We went first to the Hagia (pronounced eye-uh) Sophia, which was dedicated in the year 360. It is a beautiful church, that was initially used as such, but in the 1450's it was converted into a mosque. It is quite an amazing architectural feat because the columns are hidden and it is has a beautiful soaring open space.

We then went to Topkapi Palace. We stopped for a hot drink called salep (pronounced sal-hep) that was really tasty, especially when you are chilly. We then went through the harem, which was a mix of function and beauty. The Iznik tiles are stunning and the colorful designs are busy, but the overall effect is harmonious and peaceful. After touring the palace and seeing all of the jewels, we were a bit cold and decided to go to Cemberlitas (pronounced Chem-bur-lee-tash) baths. Being laid out and scrubbed down on a hot piece of marble is one of the best ways I know to spend a frigid and rainy afternoon.

We had dinner plans to meet someone (another mix of business and pleasure) and we went to a place called 360 right on Istiklal. It was a modern restaurant at the top of an apartment building with a 360 degree view of the city. We went to wait at the bar for our table and I looked down and almost fell over. I was sitting on a large piece of plexiglas that gave me a view of the eight story staircase. I felt like I was in an MC Escher drawing. As we finished dinner it turned into a night club and if I was not so tired I would have definitely stayed to dance. That is on the list of things to do next time.