Turkey Adventures and the week after

I'm so so so bad! I've been meaning to update this for weeks and its not that I've been overly busy, except for while I was away in Turkey. But somehow I just keep letting the days slip away. I've now been through another Eid here, so more down time (a whole week off... with nothing to do). I was ready to come back to work this week. But at the end of this week I get to fly home and spend 3 weeks in TN for Christmas. I'm in desperate need of some family and puppy time, so it can't come soon enough. Work has been frustrating lately with all the time off, from a society that doesn't exactly have the strongest work ethic... which is to say they look for every excuse not to work. When I'm getting this cynical, I know its time for a break! Even though I just had a small break in Turkey!

Adam and I went to Turkey for 10 days over Thanksgiving and we had a great time. We split our time between Istanbul and the Cappadocia region. Overall I loved Turkey and I can't wait to explore more of it because its such a diverse country. That being said, I'm pretty much done with Istanbul, even at the end of November in the pouring rain it was really crowded with tourist seeing all of the major attractions, just like us. We saw the Blue Mosque, the Agia Sophia, the Topkapi Palace, the Basilica Cisterns, walked around the grand bazaar (ok I really enjoyed that one!), the spice market, etc. We stayed in the tourist section, so we could walk to everything. And the hotels were decent, small, but noisy!! The street we stayed on had construction going on and they literally worked 24 hours a day (SO different from Kurdistan!), at 3 am they had a concrete truck pouring concrete! So we couldn't sleep well and it rained most of the time we were in Istanbul, so crowded, rainy, no sleep, lots of walking (in the rain), means Istanbul wasn't the greatest part of our trip. But it is a cool city and I'm glad I've experienced it. However, the gem of the trip was Cappadocia. We flew from Istanbul to Nevesehir, only a one our flight and got picked up and brought to our hotel in Urgup, where we were the only patrons!

Cappadocia
So Cappadocia is the name of a region in Central (Anatolia) Turkey that is unique because of the kind of stone that is ubiquitously distributed throughout the land. Thousands of years ago, this area was full of volcanoes and lava covered the whole area. This lava turned into a kind of rock called tufa, which is very very soft (can be manipulated with fingernails), so it has been shaped by wind, water, and overall erosion into crazy shapes and patterns throughout the years. Also, harder stone, such as limestone settled on top of the tufa, which creates some of the weirdly balanced columns you'll see in my pictures. The whole place kind of looks like it belongs on another planet or like you're walking around on a sci-fi set. http://picasaweb.google.com/chelseajaccard/CappadociaTurkey# Click on that to see some photos! So we first stayed in a little town called Urgup and stayed in this great boutique hotel that had recently been renovated and it was done tastefully and traditionally. We were the only people staying our first night so it was quiet and peaceful. The hotel happened to be right next to a winery, how convenient! So we went for a tasting and bought a bottle or four. We enjoyed our new wine on the roof top of our hotel with a nice sunset overlooking the bizarre landscape. Everything was in house with this hotel, they provided dinner and breakfast and we hired our tour guide for our hiking tour (which provided lunch) all within the hotel. Very convenient and the owner was really nice and spoke English and really appreciated our business (its low season there, and unlike Istanbul, there really weren't other tourist around).

So our second day in Cappadocia was our big hiking day, we started walking at 9 and stopped around 4. We walked through what they call rose valley b/c there's iron ore in the tufa, so it has a red hue (other places have sulfur and are yellow, etc). It was awesome climbing around in this stuff. Another key feature of this stone is that because it is so soft, it is easily carved out to create living quarters, so in times past people lived in the stone and carved churches out of it. This used to be a predominately Christian area. So you'll be walking and all of a sudden come upon an old church with Frescoes painted on the walls, our guide was telling us that they dated back to the 3rd and 4th century... don't know how true that is, but regardless they're old. In addition, this stone isn't just above ground, its underground too, so back in the day when Christians were being persecuted in Turkey they carved out whole underground cities and lived there to hide. We toured one and while it was pretty crazy to imagine people living there, it was one of those overly crowded tourist things (several bus loads of Koreans were down there at the same time as us), so it wasn't that enjoyable. Plus it was dark and small, the passages between rooms you had to crouch and walk b/c they were only about 3 feet in height. Though still cool to have seen. Anyway, back to the cool hike which we did enjoy. After walking for a few hours we came to a town (sadly I forget the name) where we were to have lunch, but we were early so we got to explore the old section of the city, which was about 100 feet high maybe 400-500 feet wide carved out of this stone, where everyone used to live. It has since been condemned and no one can live there, but the structure is still there and we scrambled up, down, around, through, inside, etc for just over an hour and truly, truly enjoyed ourselves. I know Adam had a few scary moments when he lost footing and was hanging over the valley holding on with one hand... but he saved himself and while I didn't attempt climbing on the exterior walls, I did my share of scrambling as well. It's a crazy place to imagine people living. And if you decide that day that you want a new bookshelf, you just start digging into your wall and viola in a few minutes you have it! Renovations were a snap! :) After lunch our walk continued through more extra terrestrial like landscape (again check the photos link) until we came upon a road where some churches in the rock served as another big tourist land b/c the big buses could pull right up to it. I'm really glad we were able to spend the day walking through the landscape, not be zipped around via bus. Another quiet dinner at our hotel with some more wine from our neighborhood winery capped off a perfect day.

The next day we moved hotels to our own personal cave in Uchisar, the hotel is called museum hotel and it was spectaular. We stayed in the Khandil Cave and it was Adam's Birthday, so we walked around trying to find some lunch once we got there, but again b/c it is low season, nothing was open so we had to walk a long way and poor Adam was VERY sore from his antics the day before. We eventually found a restaurant and the door was locked, but I knocked and they let us in and served us, again we were the only people there. It was a very nice lunch, but this part of town was quiet expensive, oh well. The rest of the trip we enjoyed our cave hotel with our awesome views and expensive food (they had mojitos, for $15 each, we had 4)! One day back in Istanbul allowed for me to find the perfect lantern and then back to Erbil. We had 5 days in Erbil before Adam had to go back to Baghdad and we mostly relaxed and watched movies and ate (and road go carts).

So that brings me up to date, after Adam left it was Eid, and I sat around and did nothing, though we FINALLY got propane for our apartment, so I could cook. Now just have to make it through this work week and then I'm home for three weeks!

I had a special treat this weekend. A coworker left for the weekend and granted me the gift of the keys to his car!! I finally was able to drive myself to the store when I wanted, to the gym when I wanted, etc. It was glorious! Just like everything else here, there are a hundred different stories as to why I haven't been given a car yet, but they all result in my being carless.

Another big development I was also finally able to move into my apartment last night! No more hotel for me! I'm sharing an apartment with two other American women, one civil rights lawyer, one other young professional that just moved here last week to work for the Department of Foreign Relations. We've been working the last few weeks at getting all of the furniture and everything ready. We realized last night a big thing we forgot... propane (gas stoves, no natural gas lines here!) so we can't cook yet, oops! Its nice to finally fully unpack for the first time and feel like I'm in a home. Though I will miss my clothes being ironed for me. :) This now makes the car situation even more difficult because I'm away from my colleagues that have cars and I'm quite a bit further away.

We're busy in the planning phases for some field survey work, which is exciting. But not as exciting as my upcoming week... I'll be in Turkey as of late Wednesday night and will spend a few days there, including yes Thanksgiving in Turkey! :) The photos will be awesome and I will share soon!

The Iraq you never see

Strange things about Kurdistan:

* They don't allow cars older than three years to be imported into the country.

* If you buy a new car, you also then have to purchase (if you don't already have one) a much older car and cut it in half! (they're trying to keep junk of the roads) But you have to show proof of this before they'll give you a license plate.

* The color orange here is really popular, carpets, couches, curtains, clothing... you name it you can get it orange! They must all be VOLS fans!

* This is the one place in the world I've been where Pepsi is more popular than Coca Cola, though they have plants here for both. I don't drink either, so it doesn't affect me much, can we get a Dr. Pepper plant here please?

* There is a full fledged film school here, professionally accredited and doing great work, who knew!?


Just some insights from this week. So last week I had the pleasure of going to a wonderful Christian village, called Bedial. More beautiful scenery along the way, this time there was snow on the distant mountains in Iran and Turkey.
This cross was on top of a small chapel, but as you can see its a bit broken!
This is the head of Bedial in front of the old church. This village was destroyed in Saddam's Anfal campaign, but because the church was of stone, it wasn't fully destroyed like the houses and such. They've since built a new church where they worship, but this one is pretty awesome. No one really knows how old it is... someone said several hundred years... but we don't really know!

I'll post a few pictures here, but you can go HERE: http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2125291&l=4a2d7&id=7413237 and see alot more.



Also I got my hair cut here and its the best hair cut I've had in years!! I love the J&K women's center!!!! I still have a free full body massage and free facial to use at some point before January. :) They've torn up the road in front of and behind the center though and I'm afraid its hurting their business. So many of the business men here want to see them fail, b/c its two women owning a business that caters to nothing but women. So I love supporting them and really hope they're able to hang on! I should be headed there in about an hour... its by far my favorite place in Erbil!

Weekend

Another week goes by! This week was full of work. At one of my ministries we just got a new office building and the internet doesn't work well, so it makes it difficult both to do work and to procrastinate work. :) One of our projects, a building project for a Ministry seems to be getting on track and that's very exciting! It's going to be alot of work, but it'll be a historic project to be involved in!

Today is our official day off and it was pretty low key, but I did go to lunch with a friend to a new restaurant outside of town which had a better view than food I think! They insisted on paying and later were discussing the price in Arabic... I guess they don't know how much I understand... but it was WAY to expensive for what it was and I felt bad, though I offered to pay at the time. Generosity and hospitality here is ubiquitous, even when its ridiculous. The cost of food is one of those unexpected costs here. Salaries are not that high and groceries aren't all that expensive, but restaurant food is exorbitantly expensive! A normal meal (nothing special, chicken, fries, etc) will run you $20-$30. Don't get me wrong there is cheap street food (not cheap by Ghanaian standards, but you can get a shwama for about $2). I don't know how anyone getting paid what the majority gets paid can eat out, much less pay for others!

After lunch we went to a new park that just opened about a month ago and its beautiful! Lots of fountains and waterfalls and bridges and flowers and paths, they did a very nice job. I'll have to go back with a camera. So the company was nice, the landscape was nice and I saw quite a few surprising things at this park. Friday is the most popular day for everyone to go out walking, and everyone appears to be well aware that its see and be seen. Women and men alike are wearing their best clothes (while I certainly was not...), fully made up and carting along the whole family. Or couples were holding hands or arms entwined, something I've been noticing more and more lately... and that I find almost shocking for the area (not bad, just shocking)! However, the most shocking thing came when we were walking out, a young man pranced in fully made up, he had on mascara and tons of foundation and blush... I had no idea it was ok to be that openly homosexual here. He's definitely the first one I've seen here, but to be that open about it really surprised me. Good for him!

Tomorrow a last minute exursion was planned, so I'll actually have something interesting to write about and have new pictures! So expect an update soon!

Long Week

The flight back, though not in business class was not too bad (the food not nearly as good though!). I've been back for a week exactly, but it feels like longer. Not that I had that much work per se, but because time moves slow here, especially when you're sick.

I was lucky enough to catch a cold from the guy sitting next to me on the way back to America, he was coming from Russia. So I caught an Russian cold on the plane, it incubated in America and turned into a sinus infection in Iraq. Very international! Though I'm feeling a bit better now, the cough has decided to stick around.

We finally got the keys to our apartment... but its unfurnished and they haven't approved the budget for the furniture... so I'll be at the hotel awhile longer. I still haven't unpacked from being home in hopes that I won't have to. But since it took two months to get the apartment, we'll see!

It's funny what's expensive here. Today I went shopping with a coworker to outfit our new office with supplies, everything from bathroom cleaner to coffee mugs to tea sets. One of the most expensive items was a little set of 12 miniature spoons to stir sugar into tea glasses, it was 22,000 Iraqi Dinar (about $20). To compare that with something else, the codeine I bought today to help me sleep and take with my cough syrup was 1,000 Iraqi Dinar (less than a dollar)... things that make you go hmmmm...

Adam and I are going on a trip to Turkey for Thanksgiving and I can't wait!!! Turkey is an amazing country and I've wanted to go here for a LONG time! We're only going to Istanbul and Cappadocia, so that leaves alot of Turkey unexplored for later!

The internet was out at the hotel all day until late today... made me wonder how in the world I made it through 2 years in Ghana without even having electricity most of the time, much less anything as fancy as a TV, computer, or internet! How life changes! Though I sure did get alot of reading done in Ghana, so far here I've only read 2 books, a bit off from the two a week I was reading there!

This is a very disjointed entry, full of random thoughts as I came up with them. I guess that's what happens when I have nothing really interesting to share, but wanted to update you all anyway! So Happy Halloween everyone, the only sweet thing I had today was a cough drop and cough syrup... eat some candy for me! (But don't blame those extra three (four, five?) reece's on me Mom!)

Wedding on the Farm!

You'd think it would be easier to write more when I'm in the U.S. with more reliable internet and what not... but man this is a busy place!

So my brother officially got hitched on our property that we call the farm (though there is no crop cultivation and no animals, other than when our dogs are there and a couple thousand yellow jackets). The wedding was Saturday and it was beautiful! The sun was shining all day, the temperature was mild (though it did get cold by the end, that's what giant bonfires are for!), and nothing big went wrong! My brother has been working on the stage for the last 4 months (it was already built b/c he throws concerts from here, but he stained it and tiled it and cleaned it, etc). Here:
We were blessed to have so much of our family in one place to celebrate this day! 6 of my cousins and 2 sets of aunts and uncles stayed at my house, in addition to my 2 sisters and myself. We had a full house, as did my parents with both sets of grandparents and 2 more Aunts and my Mom's best friend. There were only about 80 RSVP's, but there were at least 160 people there! It was a beautiful and unique ceremony, my brother is very into the Cherokee Indian culture and they had many Native American aspects to the wedding, everyone was doused in sage smoke before going on the stage, the music was a Native drummer and his wife chanting, they had their hands wrapped (which is a Celtic ritual I believe). The whole ceremony was perfect for them, the officiant spoke of their friendship and the nature of their souls communing and making a better place for each other and spoke of their music and creativity and it was just perfect for them. (If you can't tell from the photos, my brother is a bit of a hippie and yes the bridesmaids are barefoot!) The flowers were the absolute most amazing I have ever seen in any other wedding in person or in any bridal magazine. Alot of this thing was a family affair and Ashley (my new sister!)'s aunt Teresa did the flowers, my aunt Teresa took the photos, and friends manned the tables and did the sound. The only outside people were the ones taht set up the tent and that brought in the catering. Anyway back to the flowers... I somehow got stuck on 2nd camera duty, so most of the photos I took are part of the "official" photos and I won't get to see until she processes them, so I only have the few I took with my camera, so here's a picture of my handsome little brother with his awesome flower:
I was supposed to cut his hair the day before, but we ran out of time, oh well!

The rehearsal dinner was at my Dad's favorite restaurant, the China King Buffet in Lenoir City! :) Yes that's right the dinner was at an all you can eat Chinese Buffet! But it is fantastic, its all you can eat sushi along with the food. That's right folks, we're classy. :)

There wasn't much traditional about the wedding, other than her dress, which was awesome. I'm going to post all of the pictures I have (not that many sadly) on my picassa page.

It was a quick trip home and I'm going crazy trying to get everything done today before I fly back out tomorrow! It has been fantastic though!

Vienna

The travel has begun and I'm excited to get it over with and be home, but I'm also savoring it for all its worth... because this is the last time I'll have business class for probably a VERY long time! The food, as expected, did not disappoint. My main course was a fillet of beef and while it was cooked more than I would have preferred, it was a quite tasty piece of meat for airplane food... plus the grilled veggies that came with it where awesome! :) I didn't enjoy the red wine pairing with it as much though... should have gone for the champagne, as was my first instinct!

I'm sitting in a hotel room in Vienna right now, it's 9 pm here and I'm going to go roam around in a minute, but I'm an Internet addict and had to log on and check my mail and the stock market and call folks to let them know I'm ok and all that jazz. I know, big waste of time when I'm in one of the coolest cities in the world right?? As soon as I finish this, I'm out the door, don't worry!

I'm always struck when I come to Europe about compactness, efficiency, and overall order of things and Austria is no different. Everything is so clean that when you see a small bit of graffiti it hits you like a slap in the face! I also love that you can be going along in a taxi (yes I'll be walking in a few minutes, ok, I just haven't yet!) and passing high rise buildings and gas stations and WHAM you pass a centuries old Church. The tension of modernization and old world seem to fit seamlessly somehow because its Europe!

Now if you'll excuse me I'm going to go *waltz* around the city. (was the emphasis really necessary??) :)

Photos

Here are some photos, I'm going to post alot more onto Picassa (click on one of the slideshows to the left to take you there) in the next few days. My internet is really slow so it takes forever to upload them.

Crossing the Tigris on a military floating bridge

Traditional Kurdish meal, pickles, soup, salad, rice, goat, chicken and rice and almonds, repeated all the way down the floor.

Excursion day.

The entry to the awesome cafe I spoke about a few entries ago.

From the bottom of the deepest canyon in the Middle East.

The waterfall at Gali Ali Baig... its dry season and there's been a drought for over a year, so its volume is really low. This is at the bottom of the deepest canyon in the Middle East,which is in the picture above this one.

These are the steps up to the Citadel, which is the center of Erbil. Its an old walled city that is one of the longest inhabited cities in the world. Right now there's almost nothing in it, only that they keep one or two families living there so they can claim that title... but the whole thing is falling apart and needs to be both excavated and restored.

Homeward Bound

A month has passed already! My brother is getting married on Saturday, so I'm leaving Iraq tomorrow to spend a week at home with the family! Again, reminding me how lucky I am that I took the job with this company and didn't come here with my old company that has so many rules and security and a very strict amount of days you have to be there before you get to leave.

Work wise, its been productive and I'm just trying to keep things moving, which will be especially difficult while I'm gone. It seems the only way to get anything done here is to get in someone's face and bug them. I'll only be able to do that via email for a week.

The plan was to have my permanent housing ready by the time I leave for the wedding, but that hasn't happened. So I'm leaving my things in the hotel for the week I'm gone... hope its ok!

I bought a few souvenirs for folks, but I didn't go overboard since I'll coming home for Christmas as well. One particular item I'm SOOO excited about, but its my brother's wedding gift and Ashley, his fiance might read this... so I'll keep it secret.

Routine

Wow, I can't believe a week passed by without an entry, how did that happen?? Sorry! I guess it hasn't been the most interesting week. I've just been going to the office everyday, still trying to figure out what exactly my job is! The internet at the office hasn't worked for the last two days, and since its the last day of the week, I doubt it will work today. If that's the case I'm going to go to one of my other offices where the internet works!

So this week I officially joined the women's gym here... it is the most phenomenal thing ever! They have state of the art cardio equipment, some weight machines (this is where they're most lacking), an aerobics room, a game room, a huge pool (with diving board!), a turkish bath, steam room, sauna, jacuzzi, a hookah bar, a restaurant, a cafe, and a salon (hair, nails, facials, massages). I never have to leave! It's been so nice the last few days to leave work and go work out and end it with a nice long swim and soak in the jacuzzi! This place is brand new and the owners are still trying to get everything started. Nothing like this has ever existed here, so they don't really know how to run it or alot of the details of a gym or salon. In fact, they're trying to recruit a few personal trainers (anyone interested) to live there (have all living expenses taken care of, plus flights, plus salary), they have to be women obviously. Also they're looking for an aesthetician or two with the same benefits. Anyone interested? Or know someone who would be???

So I guess I should get ready for the work day! I've been here for a month already, its FLOWN by. I leave on Monday to go home for my brother's wedding, which I'm very much looking for wad to!

Also I have soooo many photos I need to upload, I'm terrible!! They're coming I promise.

New Experiences!

Here's what I've done over the last two days:

-crossed the Tigris river
-Saw both Syria and Turkey and could have thrown a rock at either one if I so chose
-ate sheep brains
-ate Pasha (traditional Kurdish dish of rice and sheep liver stuffed into a sheep stomach and boiled)
-stayed in a traditional Kurdish village and was treated like a Queen
-was offered several husbands
-drank more tea and had more candy than I ever have previously in my life combined


Why did I do all of these things?

The past few days and ongoing now is Eid al Fitr, which is the end of Ramadan (the Muslim month of fasting) and it is kind of like a mix of our Halloween and Thanksgiving. There is a responsibility to go visit EVERYONE you know and every time you visit you have to eat some of their candy, cookies, nuts, seeds, bakhlava, etc and drink their tea, sometimes two or three cups of tea. And if you're there around a meal time... then prepare yourself for even more food! (Lamb, rice, chicken, soup, veggies, salad, bread, etc) I feel like after their celebration of ending their fast has caused me to need to fast!

I will post some pictures from these few days on my picassa. On the way back from the village we took the "long way" which was 6 or so hours, as opposed to 3, but had great views of the mountains and allowed us to go to Amadia, which is a town built completely on a freestanding rock, surrouned by even higher mountains. Gorgeous views! Again photos will be posted!

Now I'm back in Erbil for the rest of the holiday, which is another few days. I have plenty of actual work to do which will keep me busy.

New Friends

While the owners of my firm are here, they've been introducing me to lots people and on Saturday we were able to go to someone's farm outside of the city which is amazing! They've built a beautiful house and pool and gazebo and guest house and soccer field and barn on their farm which is also full of orchards and gardens. One the prettiest and most relaxing places I've seen since being here. We had an incredible iftar (the meal when you break the fast during Ramadan, this family is fasting, I am not!) and after I stuffed myself on their great food, we all sat down around the gazebo and each had our own hooka/sheesha/nargila (they call it nargila here), which if you know me at all, that's pretty much heaven! They do something really unique, they use an actual orange as the bowl and put the sheesha inside of it and attach that to smoke out of, it makes for a really smooth and wonderful flavor. I had lemon mint and enjoyed it for hours! They have a HUGE family and there were people coming and going all night, I couldn't keep up with them all. But they were very welcoming and so very kind! I feel privileged to have met such wonderful people here. They are also the same people that own the Women's Fitness center for the city (which is phenomenal, I'll have a separate post about it later), so I'll be seeing alot of them!

The owners left yesterday and we finished up all of our meetings, now I have a million reports to write. Thankfully, today is the last day of work for 6 days (because of Eid al Fitr, the end of Ramadan), so I'll have plenty of down time to work on the reports. I have no idea what else I'm going to do to occupy my time during those 6 days. There's talk of another day trip somewhere and there's a bowling alley here and go carts, so we'll probably make use of all of those things.

Last night I had dinner at the German restaurant... I've never even eaten at a German restaurant in the states, then I go to one in Iraq! The food was quite good, I had chicken schnitzel and an awesome beer! After dinner we went and walked around at Sami's park. First of all, Kurds LOVE to be outdoors, having picnics, walking, whatever. So the grounds of the park used to be a military fort and the Iraqi army executed thousands of Kurds on these grounds. They decided to convert it into a beautiful park dedicated to peace and friendship and it is a beautiful park, and huge! There are several fountains and two big lakes with paddle boats, kids playground stuff, flowers, trees, paths, benches, a restaurant, several snack stands, an ampitheatre, and a monument. It's really a special place, especially because it is named after the former Minister of the Interior that was killed along with 100 of his friends and colleagues in a bombing back in 2004, his name was Sami, that's why it's called Sami's park. This is where I can see progress in this society. If they can turn tragedy into a such a beautiful place and make it about family and friends and life, instead of death and retribution... that's real justice.

Excursion!

I knew I'd have a hard time keeping up with this everyday...

I've had several fun adventures since I last wrote, so I'll catch you up.

Friday:

We took 6 land cruisers out into the mountains and headed North! We weren't able to go to our original destination (near the Turkey border) because we were warned by security not to... So instead we stopped at several other places, the first being a waterfall at Gali Ali Baig, which is usually really impressive... but with the drought it didn't have much water coming through. However, the canyon it is in is the deepest in all of the Middle East. Iraq has some amazing landscapes! I'll post pictures on Picassa later this week. From here we headed North and UP into the mountains, we stopped at a cave and on the way we passed some Nomads living in the black goat hair tents and lots of sheep and goats! Oh I didn't mention that one of the 6 land cruisers was filled with Peshmerga (Kurdish Army) soldiers who are there as our security! It was good to know that we had some protection, just in case and they were well prepared with AK 47's and handguns and they all had fancy ear pieces and bullet proof vests, I was entertained at least. I got a picture with two of them! :) So the cave we went to, it appears they are maybe beginning to develop it for tourism b/c they're working on putting stairs in, but not yet... it's a steep climb up the mountain to get to it.

Thankfully the soldiers were prepared and had a few flashlights so we could walk around a bit... and this cave was pretty awesome! Now I come from the land of caves, East TN has tons of caves, but there were some really unique formations here! However we couldn't see them all that well. At first there was some confusion as to whether or not we could take pictures, first it was NO, then it was ok, but no flash, then it was ok, but no video. ??? Odd! My flash wasn't really strong enough to get great photos inside of the cave. It was pretty muddy inside and I slipped down a rock once and got my bum covered in mud... We got back into our caravan and headed for the next stop, which was another cave. However, this one was more of a giant overhang with a few rooms off to the side. If you've ever read Clan of the Cave Bear, its exactly like something they would live in. I could totally picture Ayla in here! Though this is quite an important cave, anthropologically speaking. Inside of the cave they found two Neanderthal skeletons buried with flowers... this cave is the very first example of ritual in all of history! Though the cool stuff has all been removed and is in some museum somewhere, though I've been told that they never finished excavating. It was a very peaceful place, once you were inside the sounds just seemed to disappear. I actually left my camera in the car on this one, oops! We ate lunch here, so we spent quite a bit of time enjoying each other's company (a good mix of Americans, a French girl, a Canadian, some Kurds that were drivers, the soldiers, two Dutchmen, and a military col. from the US military).

We wound around a couple hundred more turns and up and down a few more mountains until we reached the peak of a mountain way up in the North, to which we could overlook a border town with Turkey and the mountain behind it, which was Turkey. We took a group photo here and thankfully someone brought a GPS along, so he was able to track everywhere we went, which I'll try to include here, though it missed a whole section where you'll see the green lines (our path) don't meet up.

One thing I can be thankful to MSI (the company I used to work for where our offices are on boats) for must be curing me of my motion sickness! We were on curvy mountain roads for hours and hours and I only got slightly nauseous at the end of the day on a really bumpy and curvy road, but it was manageable. Back in the day I would have been sick the whole time!

We got back to where we were eating dinner around 7 pm and had a nice meal and got back to Erbil arond 10 pm... we left at 8 am, it was a long day of adventure!

Iraq is a beautiful place! Right now its the driest part of the year and they're in a drought so its mostly brown with a few trees, but the views are still awesome. I can't wait to see this place in Sping when everythign is green. There is so much to see!!!

All work and no play makes Johnny a dull boy

As I expected, while the owners of the firm are here, its been really busy! Lots of meetings, lots of reading! I finally got to see "my" office, which is in the same complex as the office of the Prime Ministers, so there's alot of added security, but my name was added to "the list", so I should be ok from now on. It's actually a really nice office, clean and bright, wireless internet, two desks, plenty of space, fresh paint, much better than most of the other offices I've seen! I should get there at least once a week if not more. Though I think initially I'll be spending alot of time at the Ministry of Municipalities, which is our big operation thats in the dumps. The MoM (Ministry of Municipalities) is in charge of all the services rendered to the population (water, sewage, land granting, etc). To the majority of Kurds, THIS is the government, this is who they see and what they interact with everyday...and its a disaster, to say the least!

I'll be working directly with the Minister to help her with some management techniques and to better work with the the team of Western Senior Advisors that we have working on specific areas. By far this is going to be my most chanllenging project. I know that she cares about getting the job done... but she has no idea how to go about it.

Having R and C (the owners) here is great, they're able to introduce me to alot of people that will both make my job and everyday life easier while here.

Yesterday I played tennis with the two Dutchmen on one of my projects and the Minister of Extra Regional Affairs also showed up and I played tennis against him as well. p.s. I'm terrible at tennis! I also recently tried swimming laps in the hotel pool, but it was so small I was getting dizzy doing so many flip turns! There is an all women's fitness center that I'm going to join and they have a full pool and other stuff, so I look forward to that!

I'm having a good time getting to know my coworkers and continue to get settled in here. This weekend we're going on an excursion out by the Turkish border and I'm really excited about seeing more of Kurdistan!

Where the road takes you

I don't know if I've mentioned it before, but overall the driving here is not as terrible as other countries I've been. In fact, its quite orderly and respectful of other drivers... except for this one quirk. There are generally no lines on the road (save the road just in front of the airport) which fits their driving style fine because there are definitely no defined lanes (even when there are lines). The cars all kind of weave artfully between what would be a 4 or 5 lane highway with no regard for maintining a straight line! If you've ever seen the old men at the 4th of July parade with syncronized riding lawn mowers (maybe this comparison will be lost on those not from the south!), it is not dissimilar to that. It will be interesting when I start driving here, you just have to kind of define your space and the larger car wins! And the best is at traffic lights, everyone just kind of jumbles up towards the front, like Ghanaians trying to be the first in the queue for the tro tro. For now it makes me smile, once I'm driving it will probably drive me crazy!

The owners of my firm flew in today, so I am staying at the official government guest house with them for the evening. Tomorrow after breakfast I'll return to my own hotel. It is good to see them and I hope that while they're here we'll be able to figure out my logistical things (driver and car, or a car for me, how to get into all of my offices, getting a permanent phone, etc). I met another high ranking Kurdish offiicial, who lives permanently at the guest house and let me just say that dinner was fascinating! My professor (and owner of the company) has access to some pretty high ranking US officials (think rhymes with nice...) and military men and just listening to "3 days ago when I was sitting with "nice" and "brocker" blah blah blah", in addition, this Kurdish official not only has access to the highest Kurds, but also meets with some of the same high US officals. Kind of amazing!

Even though today was Friday (the weekend here is Friday and Saturday, work then begins on Sunday and ends on Thursday), I feel like I still did alot of work! However, the guesthouse here does not have wireless in the rooms, only in the business center. So when I retire to my room, I might actually get some reading done, since I've been working on "Love in the Time of Cholera" for about a month and half now! A far cry from the 150 books I read while in Peace Corps, but I can't help it, this internet is just such a pesky time sucker!

We aren't in Peace Corps anymore Toto!

Tonight was my first big diplomatic event, the opening of a consulate for Japan in Kurdistan, making it the 13th country with official representation here. Thankfully I had chosen to wear a suit and heels today because I didn't get a chance to go back to the hotel before the event. All I kept thinking as I was sitting there watching the dignitaries do their thing was how different of a position I'm in now than I was while in Ghana. I remember the biggest "diplomatic" event I went to in Ghana was the goodbye of the PC country director and I had no nice clothes, I wore a ripped village dress, as the best I could do, and that was fine b/c nothing more was expected of me. Not the case anymore! I arrived with the Minister of Foreign Affairs and met many diplomats, including the top USAID and the top state dept official here... thank God I wasn't wearing a ripped village dress!! (though I really did love that dress!)

There's not much pomp and circumstance here for official events, they introduce the speakers, they say their piece, everyone claps, they have some refreshments and the whole event, including mingling, is over in an hour. In Ghana, it would have taken an hour to introduce the man who's going to introduce the man who will read the prayer before the introduction of the speaker... and lets not forget the entertainment that has to occur!

Since my other long term international work experience was Ghana, you'll find me comparing alot of things to that, my apologies if you don't find that interesting!

I can't wait to do more work with the DFR (Department of Foreign Relations), I'm kinda into this whole "diplomat" thing!

My American bosses come to town tomorrow, so I'm hoping some of my logistical problems will be solved (allowing me access to my main office, securing a car to drive or a driver, figuring out cell phones permanently, more defined working conditions, etc). Plus I just really like them, they're fun people to hang out with!

I can't even describe how welcoming the Kurds have been, how many of them love Americans, and are doing everything in their power to accomodate me and make my stay here comfortable. And on that note, I'm going to start my weekend (Friday is Saturdy here) with a nice sheesha and get some sleep... all the while remembering how drastically my life has changed since being a care free Peace Corps volunteer in West Africa!

Intersting sites

There are so many new and interesting things here everyday... but today one of the best was experiencing the government "bank", which really isn't a bank at all, its jut a facility for bags and bags and bags and bags of cash to come in and the same going out. Literally while I was there for about 20 minutes, workers hauled in like 2o bags of money, when I say bags I mean stacks of money roped together and packaged, its about 3 1/2 feet by 2 feet. Each bag (though its Iraqi Dinar) is probably the equivalent of a couple thousand dollars. Anyway so government workers collect their pay this way and this is also how government agencies get their operating budgets. Everyone brings in a slip, they hand it over to the teller, the teller hands them a bag of cash and they walk out. Now the amazing thing is what happens just outside the door of this bank. This money (both in and out) is being transported in regular cars, trucks, taxis, etc. Tons of money in plain sight, but no one ever steals it! Its the craziest thing, because I know that if a petty criminal in the US knew that money was being handled this loosely they'd have found a way to steal bundles by now!

In other news I got my sim card today, so now I have a cell phone and will be able to tell what time it is since I don't own a watch.

I also went to my old company's compound tonight and met some folks, man am I glad to be here the way I am and not stuck in some compound like they are!

And of course it is hot here, though its cooled down a bit I've been told, the high is above 100 everyday, but its so dry I don't even sweat. A great thing about Erbil is that though its a developing city, it doesn't smell bad!! Hooray!

Day One at Work

I didn't think I'd update this thing everyday... but so far I have! So this morning I went to the office of the Ministry of Municipalities, which is the biggest of our projects here. There are 4 advisers that are American and Canadian and I spent the day with them learning what they do. It is remarkable to me how much Erbil looks like a mix of Kumasi (infrastructure wise) and Tamale (environment wise), only with Arabic and Kurdish writing everywhere. Lots of concrete, lots of incomplete buildings, lots of brown, lots of structures all close together. However, the roads here are quite nice! Overpasses, underpasses, functioning circles and traffic lights and the driving isn't nearly as crazy as Cairo or even Accra for that matter.

The advisors have 2 cars between the four of them, so they've been driving me around so far. Tomorrow I'm going to the compound for my old company to see what its like there and see more of the city.

My biggest lesson of the day was the lack of efficiency in the Ministry... which is not surprising. I took a tour of the hotel this afternoon and there is a nice pool in the basement, I'm going to try it out tonight, its not really big enough to swim laps in, but if you swim the diagonal without flip turns it will do! :) They also moved my room today so I could have a bigger one, the amenities are the same, just more floor space, now I can do Turbo Jam in my room!

Home for now!

I made it to Erbil! It was a relatively painless ordeal (thanks Business class!), but total I was only traveling for about 17 hours total. Sometimes it used to take that long to get from my site in Peace Corps down to the capital!

I haven't done much since I got here, thankfully I was given "VIP" treatment and was immediately picked up off the plane and whisked into a nice lounge and sipped tea and got on the internet while they processed my passport and got my luggage for me! I'm telling you, they are spoiling me here! I felt very well taken care of and when they finished with everything they loaded my bags in a car and drove me to my hotel. That's where I am now and since getting here around 4 pm local time I've just unpacked, showered, eaten dinner and relaxed. There is a movie channel and I've been 1/2 asleep watching it for awhile! There is wireless internet at the hotel, but it won't work on my mac, thankfully I brought two computers!

All that I've seen of Erbil is from the airport to my hotel, and its very brown! There is a definite attempt at greening with palm trees and plants, but it can only do so much, there are also fountains along the main roads which are nice. I'll hopefully take some pictures soon.

I have no idea what's expected of me tomorrow, but I guess I'll find out soon enough!

My first adventure in Business Class!

My first adventure in business class….

I felt like a country bumpkin at first, I didn’t know how to lower the seat, where to find the TV or the tray and I just watched what other people did for a while! But now 8+ hours into my first foray into business class, I never want to go back! Is it really worth the extra thousands of dollars?? I don’t know for sure, but I definitely enjoyed it and ate better and slept better than I ever have on an airplane before. Though I packed a barrage of things to do in my carry on, it went into the overhead compartment and never came out, so no books, no soduko, no finishing my address book… instead I watched a movie (while eating a two hour long dinner, more to come on that) then slept until they gave me breakfast! Normally I’m not the biggest fan of airplane food, I’ve been known to leave it sitting and to go for a granola bar instead. However, Austrian Airlines did not leave me disappointed. The “chef” came out in his big white chef hat and French accent (real? I don’t know) and handed out the menus, I was already overwhelmed! So here’s what I had: We were first given a starter of rolled ham with cream cheese inside and an artichoke covered in roasted red peppers, plus I started having a nice Riesling at that point too. Soon came the appetizer and I had a smoked salmon tartar with a potato cake and asparagus. It was divine, and looked beautiful too! The other option was a seared beef salad. Next came a small helping of pea soup, and I know there are haters out there for pea soup and I used to be one, but this one was good. Next came my main course, because of my aforementioned ambivalence towards airplane food I decided to go the vegetarian route and had the linguine with buffalo mozzarella and a red sauce with pine nuts (other options were a rack of lamp and swordfish brochettes). It wasn’t too heavy and really hit the spot, along with this came a salad and tomatoes and some really great herbed bread. Needless to say I was already full, plus happy and full of 2 glasses of wine. Then came the dessert tray! I had a small piece of cheesecake, which though was not up to the quality of my sister’s, was quite good; this was followed by a glass of dessert wine. Just enough wine and food to help get me settled into sleep mode, and after I figured out how to adjust my chair to sleeping position (full layout folks!) I put on my little provided eye mask and slept with occasional wake ups. While sleeping I had an unsettling dream that the plane was going down and the cabin was full of smoke and that we had to land on an interstate in Germany… yet everyone was fine, just scared. Thankfully that was not the case and after another round of food after waking (this time I had an omelet with goat cheese and basil and tomatoes, not so good and potatoes, which actually were good and a fruit mix which hit the spot. I think I was still full from dinner so I only ate the fruit and a few bites of eggs). I feel like I’m writing a yelp review of Austrian Airlines business class! ☺ My love of yelp lives on, only through my personal blog! For a girl that had not even been on a airplane until she was 20, I feel like I’ve come a long way in the flying world. I love that I did not need my usual distractions while flying because I was actually able to sleep (it was an overnight flight). I’m currently waiting to board my flight to Erbil and will give another update once I actually arrive to my new home.

Getting to know you...

I had a great meeting with the Minister last night, I think I am truly lucky and blessed to have the opportunity to work for him and for the Kurdistan Regional Government at such a critical time in their history. The Minister is a hard worker and has risen from the working class to a Ministerial position, a very hard thing to do in a society based on name and tribe, and he has neither. He is absolutely dedicated to the cause of the Kurds and sharing their story with the world. I hope that I can be a benefit to his goals.

For those that don't, know, here's a little bit o' history on the Kurds, they are the largest ethnic group in the world without a state and have been persecuted for generations. Most notably, under the Saddam regime, with the destruction of 4,500 villages and the gassing of Halabja, where over 5,000 civilians were killed. The fact that they have a functioning, democratic, progressive society now is a testament to their fortitude and strength in character. It has been mentioned many times that Iraqi Kurdistan can be a model for the rest of Iraq and that is absolutely true, if only the rest of Iraq (well really the gov't) could accept that. But they see the Kurds as uncivilized mountain people and to follow THEIR example would be a huge hit to their pride and honor...

I'm sure you'll hear me talk alot about pride and honor in the next year+ because its what makes the Middle East go round!

There are amazing things going on in the Middle East, especially in Iraqi Kurdistan, that you never hear about b/c the media is as prone to lobbying as politics... and those that don't want these stories to be heard, make sure the world doesn't know about the gem of the Middle East!

p.s. Kurds LOVE Americans because they realize that without our help in setting up the Northern no fly zone, Saddam would have continued to obliterate their society. They are forever grateful to us and admire our form of government and society!

Well I didn't mean for the post to turn into a lecture, oops!

Plans change!

Today was supposed to be my big day of leaving the U.S. and flying away! However, plans change, as they usually do with this job and I'm staying in DC for the rest of the week and flying out next weekend. A week in a hotel, not my idea of barrels of fun, but there are a few bonuses for sticking around a week...

However, yesterday I met and had lunch with Kurdistan's minister of Foreign Affairs, who I will eventually be working for. He is a gracious, practical, and hard working man and I'm very excited to work with him in the future. We had lunch at Capital Grille, wow it was nice! Definitely a meal I could not afford on my own! The wine was perfect, the steak was excellent and the sorbet was one of the best I've ever had! Can't get used to meals like that, but it was nice to experience it!

Just found out that one of my dogs, Penny Lane has been very sad since I left and keeps hiding under my bed. Poor puppy I wish I could take her with me, when I come back for Joey's wedding in October the real puppies will have gone to their new homes. I can't wait until I stay in the US long enough to live in my house and have my own dog!

If you're in DC give me a buzz I'll be around all week, with not much to do!

Countdown

Word of advice: don't ever buy a house the week you are getting ready to leave the country for an extended amount of time. Not a good idea, no matter what anyone tells you!!

If I can make it through this next day, then I'm pretty sure there's not much the Kurds could throw on me that I couldn't handle.

So I bought one of my Dad's houses that wasn't selling, of course I got a great deal... but loans and insurance and moving and family drama on top of preparing to move to Iraq has proven to be quite stressful. I'm still not a coffee drinker, but my chai tea consumption has risen considerably.

I will be leaving TN Friday, meetings in DC on Saturday and flying out of Dulles Sunday night. I have two nights in Vienna, rough I know. Then on the 10th I fly into Erbil to see my new home for the first time!

I want to use this blog as a place where ya'll can keep up with me in case I get too busy to send out emails! I'll also be posting pictures here, so I hope you enjoy.

See ya'll later!