Houses...

While there are numerous apartment blocks in the city, Kurds much prefer a single family home and that should be as large and as ostentatious as possible! In addition to large families, Kurdish children do not leave home until they are married. The concept of 'going flatting' either alone or with friends is just 'not done' - no matter how old you are, you stay at home until you marry. Even if you move to another city for study or work, you are expected  to live with family no matter how distant. Only as a last resort do you live in a flat.

It is also very common that one of the married children will continue to live with and care for their parents, hence the desire for a huge house to accommodate everyone.

Moreover Kurds do like to show off, so houses are frequently very showy and ornate.

All houses are protected from the street by a substantial wall and open through a gate into a courtyard, no matter how small. Many houses have small gardens or a least a few shade trees or a vine-covered arbor. The ground floor is often heavily protected by grills and solid doors but my guess that this is as a precaution against civil strife as personal crime such as burglary is uncommon here.

 House prices here are high. One of the reasons is that people do not trust banks to be financially sound (and who can blame them) and therefore are very reluctant to keep their money in a bank. So the obvious place to invest is in property which of course, is a favoured investment for New Zealanders as well. Either that or the money is under the mattress.

Earthquake

There have been a number of small earthquakes here over the past few days. The largest was 4.5 and was felt as a gentle shaking movement, though it was a bit more severe on the Iranian side of the border.

Time for a date

If there is one thing New Zealanders associate with Iraq, it is dates. However, the familiar half dried woody fruit available in NZ supermarkets bear little resemblance to the large luscious fresh dates now flooding the market now that it is date season.

Fresh dates are just amazing - soft creamy rich but not overly sweet, there are many varieties and locals have their clear favourites. Some are stuffed with walnuts (also now in season) or coated with sesame, but most people just eat them plain.

As with so many other things there are several date speciality stalls in the bazaar.

An odd choice

In some restaurants here you are ocassionally offered a choice of chicken or rooster! Rooster is considered much tastier and being an older, bigger bird, it cooked for a long time in a broth. Surprisingly rooster is pretty good as long as it has been cooked properly - it is much more flavoursome than chicken, though a little stringy.

One person's weed

As they say a weed is just a plant in the wrong place. Well one weed has certainly found a happy home here in Kurdistan.Taking pride of place in the planter boxes either side of the main gate to a house, I noticed this plant earlier in the year as the owner was tenderly watering his garden.

Over the years I have fought numerous and unsuccessful botanic battles with oxalis, only to now have to admit that it actually looks very pretty.

Crime

Chaos and violence are the common picture of society in this part of the world, but day to day life in Kurdistan is radically different.

Serious crime is very unusual here. When, in the course of the encyclopedia project, I asked if there were Kurdish serial killers, famous murders or major bank robberies, the answer is a very bemused but firm NO. Of course there is crime, but it mostly very minor and serious crime is likely to be a dispute over land or a family conflict.

Recent NZ crimes such as the rape of an 87 year old,  a one month old baby bashed to death and a couple of tourists robbed in their camper van are incomprehensible to Kurds. And Roast Busters is just plain inconceivable here for a least a dozen reasons.  

I never hesitate to walk anywhere at night even if the street lighting if not great. Bag snatchers, pickpockets and shoplifters are unheard of and I have never seen anything approaching a fight. Apparently last week a couple of shots were fired in an incident of road rage, though I find that hard to believe. Shop keepers and restauranteurs don't cheat you, though of course the airport taxis are a pack of rogues like every where in the world.

The stuff left outside shops over night is mind boggling. This photo is of furniture shop that was closed for Friday. The sample furniture is actually moveable making it very very easy to steal, but no one even touches it. When I pointed out to a friend that in NZ it would be stolen or smashed, he just asked 'Why?'. Why indeed.....

One guy was telling he that his mother lost the key to the front door and never bothered replacing the lock. It has remained unlocked for over two years. 

One of the contributing factors is that alcohol is not central to social life and it is very rare to see a drunk, even though alcohol is freely available and cheap. 

With increasing internal Arab migration, dirt poor Syrian refugees and increasing numbers of Iranian migrants, it is doubtful if things will stay that way, but right now this city is one of the safest places I have ever lived in. 

Reassurance

Everywhere around the city army personnel guard key buildings, road intersections and important landmarks. Most of the guards look very bored, play on their cell phones and one guard even sings - not just humming a tune, but full out singing - I think he must be in a band. However, I have had real doubts just how effective they would be in a crisis. Yesterday I found out.

Wandering back down Salim Street I was directly across the road from the PUK headquarters when a car came to stop right on a no-parking zone next to me. The car was really old, probably driven by an Iranian or a Syrian, but the three guards outside the PUK sprang immediately into action.

One guard dashed across the street, while the other two quickly moved into position to cover him. Within a minute he had the driver out of the car and frisked him for weapons and bombs and within another minute he made the owner open up the boot, bonnet and all doors to check the car for weapons or bombs (they make the driver open all the doors in case they are bobby trapped). Satisfied that the car was not a threat, the guard still made the guy push his car down the road - not quite as bad as it seemed as it was down hill.

I did feel sorry for the poor skinny guy whose crappy old car just broke down in the wrong place....

Later it did occur to me that if the car was a bomb, I was really a bit stupid to just stand there gawping at the drama in front of me. Had that car exploded, I would have been scattered down the entire length of Salim Street.


And finally these are the mug shots of three guys arrested after the Hawler bombing last month. They are all Arabs from Mosul and I have to say
they do actually look like terrorists.

Sunday at St Youssef's

It has been a while since I have been to church, but having been to more than a few mosques, I thought I would try the local church especially since it is less than 100 metres away. St Youssef's Chaldean Church is just a few years old and was built to accommodate the growing Christian community who fled to the safety of Kurdistan particularly after the horrible bombing of the Our Lady of Salvation Church in Baghdad in 2010. Chaldean's worship in the Eastern style but recognise the pope as the head of the church and the parish has two churches, St Youssef's and a much older and smaller church in the old part of the city. 

The entrance is patrolled by an armed guard who checks bags to prevent any nonsense, though there have been no attacks on Christians in Kurdistan.

The interior is much the same as any modern church, though the religious images are distinctly eastern in style. What is startling is that the congregation of around 100 is largely women, which takes a bit of getting used to in this male dominated society. There are altar girls as well as altar boys and at various points women take readings and lead the service.

I attended an evening mass which is in Arabic whereas the morning mass is in Kurdish, but church services are fairly predictable and easy to follow, though I did have to reacquaint myself with the pungent smell of incense. We are so used to hearing the word 'Allah' in association with Islam that is strange to hear it in a Christian church. Mind you the Polish word for God is Bog and that is much odder.

As  everywhere in the world, children fidget and are told off, and teenagers look so bored...

As a reward for attending, the departing congregation are treated to a large soft date, coated with sesame seeds and stuffed with walnut - yummm

The rains have come!

Just before 7pm last night, a huge electrical storm swept over the city from the north west. I could see it coming as I hurried along Salim Street trying to get home in time, but suddenly hail and rain ripped out of the sky. I took shelter in a bus stop  and of course the guy next to me offered a cigarette and wanted to chat. As it turned out he was Kurdish but has lived in the Netherlands for the last 18 years and had married a Dutch woman. He was actually flying back later that night as we chatted in away in  combo of Dutch, English and Kurdish.

Meantime the street had turned into a foaming torrent wiping away six months of dust, grime and cigarette butts (general the streets here are very clean, certainly compared to Turkey). Provision for stormwater is minimal so the streets just become temporary streams, though fortunately Suly is hilly so the water drains away quite quickly.

As the storm past overhead with brilliant forked lightning flashing through the air, the power goes off. Unperturbed we sit happily in the bus shelter chatting away while the relentless rain continues to fall.Within half an hour the torrential rain eased off and the air had cooled considerably. We make our way through the dark streets which is no easy thing. The pavements here are 'variable' and rough to say the least and Kurds love large shiny tiles which are treacherous in the wet, but that is just part of living here so you take that all in your tentative stride.

This morning the sky is overcast and grey, but the green dome of the Hussein mosque now looks clean and the trees seem much happier.

As Eddie Rabbit sings 'I Love A Rainy Night' 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebt0BR5wHYs

Shaswar Abdulwahid - Slemani's own Len Brown.

Nothing new under the sun! In Kurdistan as in New Zealand......

Sulaymaniyah was aghast! Shaswar Abdulwahid, the controversial owner of the Wusha Media group was shot and wounded in a drive by shooting.

Not a shy man, his television station NRT was known for its out spoken views and comments and immediately journalist and intellectuals jumped to his defence, loudly condemning the shooting as an attack on the freedom of speech.

Ummm well, not quite. As it turns out Mr Abdulwahid has philandering habits and it was an outraged husband taking the pot shots and not an enemy of the people.

He was not badly wounded.

Happy New Year AH1434

Welcome to 1434!!

The first year in the Islamic calender was 622 AD when Mohammed fled from Mecca to Medina known as Hijra. The Islamic calendar is call the Hijri Calendar and this year is AH1434 or in latin anno Hegirae.

So party on.....

Oh I got the year wrong - it is AH1435, but I am sure you knew that

Zinood al sit

Just around the corner from me is a small unpretentious Arab pastry shop. They don't have wide selection, around 10 to 12 items, all pastries including the ubiquitous baklava which I personally find far too sweet.

People come from all over the city for their speciality Zinood al sit, loosely translated as 'lady's wrist'. This pastry is very simple, a delicate creme custard in wrapped fine thin pastry and then baked in large round trays. Neither the custard nor the pastry is overly sweet and you can eat them hot or cold and believe me it is easier to eat a lot of these in one sitting especially since they only cost 4500 dinar ($4.50) for a half kilo box

Happy New Year again!

This coming Tuesday (November 5th and Guy Fawkes Day) is a holiday for the Islamic New Year and is just one of three New Year celebrations in this part of the world. Somehow I don't think it very appropriate to have the traditional boozy party on the eve of the Islamic New Year.

The next New Year is the Calendar one for January 1st, but the biggest party of them all is Newroz on March 21st when everyone gets at least three days holiday to celebrate.

Yazidi Temple,  Lalish, Kurdistan

There used to be a fourth New Year holiday for the Yazidis, but the government decided that four was just one New Year too many and dropped that. The Yazidi religion is a curious blend of Zoroastrianism, Islam, Christianity and Mithraism and is mainly confined to the north western corner of Kurdistan.