Before coming here to Kurdistan I stayed a week with some wonderful friends in Bahrain. I had a really great time and thought that it had been a good way to have a gentle introduction to the Middle East, a chance to get over culture shock and jet lag before Kurdistan!
While in Bahrain I met people from Saudi Arabia and talked to others about it (Saudi is just twenty minutes drive over a bridge from Bahrain), and I thought wow yes Bahrain is definitely a gentle introduction (I didn't have to wear black). But since coming to Kurdistan I am not so sure. It is cooler here then Bahrain, I haven't seen any women in Burkas, or men with head scarves, people on the street are super friendly, and the buildings are, i think, less foreign looking.
I think on the surface and in the city, Kurdistan is less strange to me then Bahrain was. I have only seen one soldier and one road block on the way back from the film today.
Yes we went to see a Kurdish film. The delegation doesn't officially start until tomorrow so today is chill out day. One of my team mates from Norway/USA knows a Kurdish film maker whose movie was premiering in Sulemani today. So a few of us went to see it, after checking that it had English subtitles.
It is a great film about two brothers with dawarfism who are trying to get to a football (soccer) game in Barcelona for the sake of love. It is called El Classico, after the football game. The producer told us he wanted to tell a story that seemed Norwegian but had a Kurdish Heart. He sold his own house to make the film and it has been nominated by Iraq for selection in the Oscars. We also got to meet the two stars of the film, which was very cool, and it felt like a privileged to be able to hear a Kurdish audiences reactions to it also (Laughter and tears).
The film was a good example of daily life here. Although parts were exaggerated it showed how amidst the chaos that we in the west see on the news there are people living their lives just like us. There was one part that really struck me as an example of this. The brothers arrive in Baghdad and start going through checkpoints. They are trying to get Spanish visas, they have no weapons and are on a tiny quad bike. The soldiers/police quiz them and each check point has a another thing they want to do. There are sniffer dogs, explosive detectors, mirrors checking for quad bike bombs, they are patted down then strip searched. it seems ridiculous and may have been exaggerated for comic effect, but is also true. These people are trying to live normal lives in a mine field of obstacles.
One of the Kurdish CPT workers here was telling us about the company he used to work for called MAG. They, among other things, cleared areas of unexploded mines after ISIS has left. Isis leaves behind millions of these dangerous traps. He told us the story of a family who moved back into their homes after ISIS had retreated and they checked their front door, nothing. They opened the next door and the next and the next and it was all fine and then one of the children went to use the bathroom opened the door and the whole house exploded.
So yes this is a dangerous place but it also runs with the normal rhythms of daily life. For example today is the beginning of Eid holidays commemorating the sacrifice Abraham was going to make of his son Ishmael (In the Bible it is Issac but the Koran tells it slightly differently). Our neighbors son was all dressed up in a tux and in a sort of reverse halloween he gave us chocolate, and tonight a neighbor has given us some lamb. So we all find a way to live and find hope amongst the tragedy.
While in Bahrain I met people from Saudi Arabia and talked to others about it (Saudi is just twenty minutes drive over a bridge from Bahrain), and I thought wow yes Bahrain is definitely a gentle introduction (I didn't have to wear black). But since coming to Kurdistan I am not so sure. It is cooler here then Bahrain, I haven't seen any women in Burkas, or men with head scarves, people on the street are super friendly, and the buildings are, i think, less foreign looking.
I think on the surface and in the city, Kurdistan is less strange to me then Bahrain was. I have only seen one soldier and one road block on the way back from the film today.
Yes we went to see a Kurdish film. The delegation doesn't officially start until tomorrow so today is chill out day. One of my team mates from Norway/USA knows a Kurdish film maker whose movie was premiering in Sulemani today. So a few of us went to see it, after checking that it had English subtitles.
It is a great film about two brothers with dawarfism who are trying to get to a football (soccer) game in Barcelona for the sake of love. It is called El Classico, after the football game. The producer told us he wanted to tell a story that seemed Norwegian but had a Kurdish Heart. He sold his own house to make the film and it has been nominated by Iraq for selection in the Oscars. We also got to meet the two stars of the film, which was very cool, and it felt like a privileged to be able to hear a Kurdish audiences reactions to it also (Laughter and tears).
The film was a good example of daily life here. Although parts were exaggerated it showed how amidst the chaos that we in the west see on the news there are people living their lives just like us. There was one part that really struck me as an example of this. The brothers arrive in Baghdad and start going through checkpoints. They are trying to get Spanish visas, they have no weapons and are on a tiny quad bike. The soldiers/police quiz them and each check point has a another thing they want to do. There are sniffer dogs, explosive detectors, mirrors checking for quad bike bombs, they are patted down then strip searched. it seems ridiculous and may have been exaggerated for comic effect, but is also true. These people are trying to live normal lives in a mine field of obstacles.
One of the Kurdish CPT workers here was telling us about the company he used to work for called MAG. They, among other things, cleared areas of unexploded mines after ISIS has left. Isis leaves behind millions of these dangerous traps. He told us the story of a family who moved back into their homes after ISIS had retreated and they checked their front door, nothing. They opened the next door and the next and the next and it was all fine and then one of the children went to use the bathroom opened the door and the whole house exploded.
So yes this is a dangerous place but it also runs with the normal rhythms of daily life. For example today is the beginning of Eid holidays commemorating the sacrifice Abraham was going to make of his son Ishmael (In the Bible it is Issac but the Koran tells it slightly differently). Our neighbors son was all dressed up in a tux and in a sort of reverse halloween he gave us chocolate, and tonight a neighbor has given us some lamb. So we all find a way to live and find hope amongst the tragedy.