May 7th
Birthday Packing and Travel
Holy cow! I am 29!
My birthday was spent packing and organizing and clearing
out my room for the subletter that will be staying in my room while I am gone. It
was a lot of work. I am thankful for my best friend Jen who, despite the
impending abandonment, came and kept me company and helped me get ready to go!
(Shout out: THANK YOU JEN! You’re the BEST!)
My flight was at 11:55 p.m. My wonderful friend Danielle
gave me a ride to the airport and check in/security etc went though without a
glitch.
I met my traveling partners: Brisa, Michelle and Cooper
(Michelle’s 2 year old son) at the gate.
I made some last minute phone calls and sent some text messages, and
then we were off to begin our adventure.
May 8th
Travel Day
Was spent Traveling… but not the fun kind of traveling… the
sitting for many long hours confined to a small space and eating random food
that is brought to you.
Our flight route was:
JFK > Istanbul >A >Erbil
Our flight took off from JFK at about 1:00 am. We flew to
Istanbul Turkey where there were plates full of yummy samples of Turkish
Delight in the terminal at the store.
Our layover was 4 hours and we sat at a Starbucks and were able to get
an internet connection to check in with family, etc.
We got on the next plane and I managed to switch seats with
a kind gentleman so that the 4 of us could all sit together. We had a short
stop in A_____ where we picked up more passengers and then continued onto Erbil
Iraq.
Tom (Michelle’s husband – who is here for work as one of the
conference organizers) picked us up from the airport and brought us to our
hotel. We arrived at about 2:30 am Iraq time. (7:30 pm NYC time). We once again
had an internet connection – which I was pleasantly surprised about – so I
checked in with my family, sent some messages that I had arrived safely and
posted a picture and status on facebook.
We went to sleep at about 4:30 am – planning on waking up
around 9 so that we could get breakfast and switch our bodies over to the new
time schedule.
May 9th
I was tired, but it still took me a minute to fall asleep.
But when it came to waking up in the morning… my body was not ready haha.
Dispite me setting an alarm for 9am I woke up at 11. I don’t
even remember the alarm going off – if it did. But I was happy for the extra
hours of sleep. Sometimes sleep is more important that food!
Tom and Michelle have both been to Iraq before. Michelle
came a couple of years ago and Tom had been working in Iraq for 15 years now.
So he has many friends and connections with people here.
Checked out of Hotel at 12:00 and went to visit with a
friend who invited us over to their beautiful home here in Erbil. They
have 2 little girls. A 6 years old and the other is only 27 days old! So
cute! And so kind for them to have us over! They fed us a “light lunch” Which
turned out to be a full meal. We had a really nice visit and then had to
continue on our way to meet more friends.
Because Tom and Michelle were both here and they brought
Cooper with them on this trip they had many friends who wanted to visit with
them. We went to a very nice restaurant to meet up.
Some people were getting stuck at checkpoint coming into the
city. The Iraqi citizenship cards are labeled according to where you were born.
Very different from the US - after I lived in NYC for a year I was then
considered a resident of NYC. In Iraq your residency does not change. Because
of this it can be difficult for Iraqis’ to travel from one region to another
even within their own country. Iraqis’ are very weary of terrorists even among
themselves and all are guilty until proven innocent. So our friends were stuck
at checkpoints coming into Erbil – some for an hour others for almost 2 hours.
While we waited at the restaurant they brought out many
little bowels with salad, olives, spreads and the best hummus that I have ever
had in my life. OH MY! So SO good! And these HUGE pieces of flat bread. The
bread is so good too!
We grazed and talked with the first arrivals for about an
hour and a half. Then the rest of our friends came.
From first and second lunch I was pretty full at the point.
The serves started to clear away the food and plates from the table. But then
the brought out clean plates and I said to Brisa… is there more? I think there
is more. Oh boy was there more. The full meal that we had just had was just the
beginning. There was SO MUCH food brought out to our table! Lamb and rice and
Kabab and stuffed onions and stuffed squash, chicken and So much good food! We
ate! A LOT!
After we were sufficiently stuffed we were moved over to a
different table so that the servers could more easily clean off the table. We
were then served tea and dessert of sweet custard and backlava.
We then went with our group to the mall. Everything here is
Erbil is mostly new. Within the past 5-7 years. So it is a great commodity for
them to have a mall here. IT was a very nice one too.
On the way to the mall Abu Choopie asked me “so your friend
(Brisa) is Mexican- where are you from?” He knows I am from America- but he
wanted to know what my origin/background is. He said that I looked like I was
maybe Russian.
Abu Choopie had brought presents for Tom Michelle and Cooper
– but did not know that Brisa and I would be there as well. He scolded Tom for
not telling him that he was bringing us as well. At the Mall he insisted on
buying us a gift and got us all perfume to take home with us.
We sadly had to part from our friends because we had a 2.5
hour drive ahead of us to get to Duhok.
Now let me tell you something interesting about Iraq. There
are no maps here. Tom said in the 15 years that he has been coming to Iraq he
has never seen a map- and whenever he asks for one people just give him strange
looks or laugh and say they don’t have them.
I am sure that you can also imagine that the Google car has
not had the chance to drive around here and map out all of these little roads
either. Even if it had there is no 3/4G or data here to make Google maps work
anyway.
It was an interesting reminder to me about how we are so
dependent upon internet and wifi and the implications of living in a culture
that is. And what happens when you are taken out of that culture and put into
one that not only does Google and my harry potter dot not exist – but there is not
even a paper map to direct the way. I am amazed at the effects of having a
dictatorship and corrupt government! The way that power is controlled is in
large part through information. If the people are not informed well then they
do not have power. Maps = information. Wow!
Traveling for me is often a reminder of how very privileged I
am and how much I have in my life – and this is just on the very top layer of
things that you can see. I have an amazing place to live with access to clean
water, plentiful food, nice clothes, a beautiful home, etc. I have access to
every modern convenience that is available and the means to acquire all that is
needed and much that is not a necessity at all. I have a very comfortable and privileged
life!
Then there are a lot of things that aren’t as apparent or
easily seen as the color of my skin. I have a fabulous education that I have
always had access to. There is also my religion and the great blessings of
having faith and the gospel of Jesus Christ in my life. My family and their
health and safety is another huge gift.
Freedom! I have a HUGE amount of freedom in my life!
When I really sit and ponder upon this and all that I have I
realize that I have very little to complain about.
This life is what we make of it! If I look for the bad and
have a negative attitude then that is what I will constantly see in life.
Sickness, sorrow, war, ugly, sadness, depression, etc.
Why? Why would I seek that out? Yes it is there – present,
in our daily lives. But why is it that we choose to see it so much!
The scriptures say that there is opposition in all things!
Which means that even though there is much darkness and bad in the world there
is an equal (if not greater) amount of good and light as well!
Iraq has seen a lot of the bad… Everyone’s lives here has
been directly impacted by that bad. But already in the short amount of time
that I have been in this place I have met some wonderful people who despite the
negative impacts of evil – they smile, they laugh, they live good and full
lives – and they give. I have been treated so well!
When I travel I love learning about the people, cultures,
customs and traditions of where I visit. I also like to observe the
similarities as well and compare and contrast the life that I know to the new
ones that I encounter.
I am sure that this will be a theme that I circle back
around to. And as I sit here and ponder and write I realize that this is
another reason I am blogging. It helps me to process my experiences and
thoughts as well as share them. So really at least right now, this is more for
me than anyone else.
So… Maps! There are NO maps! That’s where I left off to go
skip into the woods to contemplate upon my privileged lifestyle.
Aside from there not being any maps the roads are not
necessarily marked very well either. Tom has made the trip many times from
Erbil to Duhok but this is actually his first time driving it himself. We
wanted to leave earlier so that we wouldn’t have to drive in the dark, but when
you are the guest and people want you to stay and spend more time with them it
is really hard to break away.
We went in the direction that we knew was toward Duhok. And
we even saw a sign “Duhok à”
Alright here we go… we are on our way… but then there was a fork in the road…
no markings… so we went Right and kept driving. Eventually we were circled back
around into Erbil. We had just gone in a big circle. Great… lets try again.
We took another road back out of Erbil again and saw a sign
toward Duhok… oook! Lets get there! Michelle puled out her iphone to the
compass feature. Just in case… Yes! We are headed north! Just as long as we
don’t go south! We are doing well.
I got out my iphone too. Of course roads do not go in a
straight line to certain directions – at the same time my compass said we were
traveling West and Michelle’s said we were going North. Hummmm….ooook… sure… Well
if we combine both of our compasses we are going north west, which is still the
right direction! Ok! We continued to drive.
The streets were small… we were not on the main road that
Tom was used to. Toms said, “Well there
are 2 ways to get to Duhok, one is longer than the other… we may be taking the
longer way.”
We did have some phone numbers of people to call of people
who know the area better- but we had no way of even describing where we were…
and with no vantage point there was no reason to call and worry our friends. So
we just continued to drive in the right direction.
We saw some people sitting outside on a porch of a reception
hall area. We pulled over and Tom asked for directions. He arranged with a taxi
driver that was among the people to drive to a town that he knew better so that
then he could get us the rest of the way to Duhok.
The taxi driver took off and we followed behind. We figured
that he wouldn’t get too far ahead of us cause if he lost us then he wouldn’t
get paid. After a bit he pulled over and got out of the car, we were a little
confused because we thought – there is no way that we are there yet. He looked
at the car and the tires and said to us, “Coming! Coming!” He then jumped back
in his car and took off again. The roads were (obviously) unfamiliar to us. And
very familiar to the taxi driver- so he was very comfortable with driving fast.
He pulled over again, asked if we were ok, and tapped on the odometer on the
dashboard and waved saying “Coming! Coming!” Jumped back in his car and
continued on. There were many speed bumps in the road and the taxi driver knew
where each of them were, but once again, we did not. We followed at our slower
pace. The taxi driver stopped probably 5 or 6 times to try and encourage us to
follow him faster. “Coming! Coming!” he would say and wave us on. We got to the
town that was very familiar to Tom, paid the Taxi driver and we were good to go
the rest of the way to Duhok on our own.
We stopped at a Mosque to use the bathroom and I gave Brisa
the run down on using a squatty potty. Yay! First squatty potty in Iraq. Going back again to my privileged life – yes
I love and prefer to use western toilets over squatting. But I do know how to
use the squatty potty if I need to.
Our 2.5 hour drive turned into a 4ish hour drive. It was a
little adventure. We arrived at our hotel
There was some screaming and crying from baby Cooper (who is
almost 2 years old) but all things considered – he has been doing pretty well
on this trip.
May 10th
We had breakfast at the hotel – bread, laughing cow cheese,
boiled eggs, Greek yogurt and honey.
We then had some time to relax. This was nice cause I had
time to catch up on writing these blog posts.
When we were all ready to go we drove over to check out a
day care canter for Cooper to stay at while we are at the conference this next
week.
Tom then brought us over to the university and showed us a
bit of the campus and the convention center where the conference will be. It is
a beautiful facility! We then went to the cafeteria and had soup, chicken and
rice for lunch. The women at the university dress so beautifully! Long dresses
and high heals, I said that I felt under dressed cause they look so nice. Tom
said that this is when they “get out” and pretty much the only time that they
really socialize with the guys. Otherwise they are pretty segregated.
There has not been a census in Iraq for years but they are
guessing that it is 60% women and 40% men. Which is a little strange to think
because women do not have a public face in Iraq. You see many men out and about
but very few women. The women will be out shopping at the market, but mostly
they stay at home.
After lunch we stopped by the market and got some fruit and
veggies for dinner and then went back to the hotel. Brisa and I ventured out to
the Bazaar. What a beautiful market!
The locals are so friendly and helpful. They stare a lot,
which makes sense… they are not used to seeing a white blonde American girl
walking down their streets and through their market. Iraq is a lot like my
experience in India in that way. Actually lets be real… it’s a lot like my
experience in Harlem in that way as well… Haha
Iraqi people are used to seeing Americans here on military
assignments – in full uniform. So to see Americans here in civilian clothes as
visitors it is very different for them and our friends even expressed to us
that it is special.
Tom was telling us about a friend of his that lives in
Baghdad who is very proud of her city! I think that a lot of people feel that
way- no matter where you are from. We like to be able to have visitors and show
people around our home, etc. So what would happen/how would I feel if the home
that I am so proud of becomes too dangerous or a place that is feared and that
people wouldn’t want to come to and visit. That is a reality for many people.
At the Market we got things to bring back to the hotel and
make dinner. Our hotel rooms are actually suites that have 2 rooms, a living
room/sitting area and a kitchen.
Back at the hotel we hung out and made Cooper dinner. Then
put Cooper to bed and Michelle cooked while we all sat in the kitchen and
talked. Tom came “home” from working and said – “oh look! You come to Iraq and
now you are doing what Iraqi women do! Sitting together in the kitchen and cook
and socialize.”
Ha- its funny cause this is the same thing that we would be
doing in NYC.
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