#kurdista

[ahmerinam]

Kurdistan by Kurdistan Photo كوردستان پارێزگاری لە شکۆی خۆت بکە تەنانەت ئەگەر ئەمە لەسەرت بوستێتەوە کە تاقە هاورێت دیواری ژوورەکەت بێت . جبران خلیل جبران . https://flic.kr/p/2mn1tnx

[pfoorg]

[awwchive]

"Unexpected friendships are the best ones" https://www.reddit.com/r/aww/comments/bci049/unexpected_friendships_are_the_best_ones/?utm_source=ifttt

[geekyfrancy]

Francy and Iraq

I have been absent from the internet for a few days now, I am not sure anyone has noticed, since I don't have that many followers, and because it hasn't really been too long, but it seemed like ages to me.

Last week, I got in contact with a teacher, or rather, THE teacher who sent me to China the first time, and she told me she had an English program going on in Erbil (Iraqi Kurdistan) and asked me if I wanted to be part of it. It was too much of an appealing proposition to turn down, especially since I've been trying to get teaching jobs abroad but unsuccessfully, due to my Italian passport. I thought this would show future possible employers that I am serious about teaching English, and also, how many people get to work in Iraq without wearing a soldier uniform? All in all, I was super ecstatic. Within a week everything had been organised, my flight to the ancient city of Erbil, my position in the Lebanese French University, the hotel, everything. I have never seen someone more ready to ship someone off, but I couldn't complain, I needed a job, and this is my dream job: visiting and living in new countries, and teaching English.

I left London yesterday evening, and I reached Erbil this morning at about 3am. The flight was really nice, I travelled with Royal Jordanian, a company I had no idea existed, but that was pretty nice (they had mango juice on board, that is pure class).

-Erbil is where the marker is-

At the airport in Erbil, to pick me up was a colleague, who will leave on Tuesday to go back to the UK, leaving me here on my own, and the owner of the hotel I would be staying in. I am not going to hide that I had high expectations about the hotel, it's just one step above utterly disgusting. The bathroom smelled strongly of sewage/rancid pee, it's not very clean all together, it's just a super 'meh' experience. I fixed the bathroom by leaving the fan on 24/7, which is a terrible waste of energy, but the smell made me want to retch. The water in the shower has been described as 'lukewarm at best', tonight was just plain cold. Having said that, I had a good night sleep, missed breakfast because I over slept, and went straight to the university.

To pick us up and take us to the French Lebanese Uni was this man: Yunise, he works at immigration at the airport, and today has proven to be very nice and helpful. He is also a useful acquaintance to have, living right opposite the hotel, I am told he is always ready to help in any way he can. He speaks very good English and spent the afternoon in the uni with us. The uni is rather small, but very pretty. It looks fairly modern (I'll take photos at some point), it's light and spacious on the inside, with two big gardens. I know it sounds like an advertisement for a property on sale, but I used to live in Saudi Arabia, and so far I've seen quite a few similarities, including the hot weather, and seeing gardens with grass has impressed me. The work today was pretty basic, overlapping with dullness. Since the actual teaching course has not started yet, Alison, my collegue until Tuesday, showed me what I will be doing, all the paper work I need to fill in, and other equally interesting tasks (the sad truth is that I love doing paper work), she showed me the program as well, and it looks very detailed and interesting. I won't hide that I am scared about this all, I never taught university students or lecturers (these will be my pupils), but the classes seem small enough to make this a fairly comfortable experience.

- Image taken from the LFU website - 

I realise that so far I haven't spoken much about Erbil as a city, or about its inhabitants. The truth is that some of it is about to come up, but I have seen ever so little of the city, and I know even less about this area of the world.

I am not going to hide my almost complete total ignorance of this place. I know nothing of it, it is a place that never really came across in my interests, after Mesopotamia I sort of brushed it away. When the war started it sort of brought Iraq back on my radar, but not enough for me to make any sort of research or connect it to one of the first civilization in the world. I guess in a way, this ignorance of mine could be a positive aspect, it is going to make me look at this mysterious place in an objective and curious way. Sadly, I am not strictly allowed to ask questions, or engage in conversations about the regime, or the things that have happened here, somehow I think I will find a way to ask. My uncle pointed out that most people know nothing about this place, and even less have access to it, and I am curious about the way people live and what they have experienced. The reason why I like living in different countries is to experience different cultures, I am not happy just viewing them from afar, I want to know and I want to experience.

[heartdeepika]

Well this is not a question but ... You guys are awesome, i am so happy to find some people who love deepika as much as i do !! ( excuse my english :/ ) . You're the best !

thanks! fans like you make this blog even more great!- Zenab