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!