Somehow another month has slipped by since I last posted a blog. How does that happen?! I’m not sure where to start, so I’ll just tell you about one of my days a few weeks ago when I experienced a lot of new things. First of all, in the morning we all went to the nearby Kurdish city of Halabja, where went to a museum about the chemical attack that occurred there in 1988. In a single day 5,000 Kurds were killed by Sadaam as chemical bombs were dropped on the city killing anything that was alive, including people, sheep, goats, birds, and even trees. We saw so many pictures of people who had been out doing their daily activities and died right there from the chemicals. It was so sobering to see. There is a very famous picture of a father who had been trying to shelter his baby from the chemicals, both dead on the street. The crazy thing about all this to me is that it was so recent. So many people are still affected by this tragedy. The Kurds really have such a sad history, and I think that is one of the reasons they are so quick to find reasons to celebrate now!

When I got home from this I went straight to a Chinese restaurant with some of my Kurdish friends. None of them had been to a Chinese restaurant before,
and none of them had used chop sticks before. I had so much fun teaching them how to use them, and even more fun watching them try. I was actually pretty proud of them for trying something new, because it doesn’t seem like trying new things is exactly the Kurdish way.


Later that evening I had the opportunity to go visit a hospital here for the first time. I realized as I was sitting in the hospital, being slightly horrified by the conditions, that this was my first time in a hospital outside of the United States. I realize Iraq is a developing nation, but I was very surprised by what I saw there. In the room I was in there was blood splattered all over the ceiling, from who knows when, that nobody bothered to clean up. That’s just one example of things I saw there that would never go over in the States. Hopefully there will be improvements in their system in the future.

Fast forwarding to more recent events: On July 25th there will be a big election here in Kurdistan. The fact that they get to vote is a big deal for them, and many have begun the festivities already. In fact, if you go on the main street any evening from now until the election there are tons of cars and people waving flags, beeping their horns, sitting on the roof of their car, etc. all to advertise for the party they want elected. It’s kind of intense. My friends drove me around for an hour in this mess in their Jeep, and it was quite the experience. There were even lines of SWAT-like police officers trying to keep things under control. I have two videos on Facebook of this if you’d like to check it out. Unfortunately, the videos don’t quite do it justice. There has been a little bit of violence on the streets of people getting into fights about which is the better party, but if I stay out of that mess I don’t have anything to worry about. We are hoping the election process in general goes smoothly. I’ve heard some mixed expectations about the event, so you can hope with me that it will be peaceful. Either way, no one expects anything like in Iran to happen, if you were following that election on the news.


Another important event that happened here, which you probably saw on the news, was that the U.S. Military pulled out of all the cities and towns across the country. They’re not completely gone, but they now have a much smaller presence here. In Baghdad there was much rejoicing and celebration on the streets because of the military leaving. However, up here in the Kurdish region of Iraq they had the complete opposite response. The Kurds have been relying on the American military presence for their safety and security. My friends are very worried about what may happen to them without the military here to keep things under control. They’re worried that the conflict between the Shiites and the Sunnis will get out of control, and they’re worried things could become similar again to how things were under Sadaam, with the Kurds being oppressed.

Just to update you on my teaching: I spent another two weeks teaching new groups of professors while the students took their exams. This time my professors were from the college of law and education. I had such a good time teaching them this time around. I was really surprised with how much I could enjoy them. Today we started teaching students again, but in a whole different style than we were before, because school is out for the summer and our classes are all mixed up. I’m a little frustrated by the lack of organization related to this, but sometimes I have to let go of my American drive to be organized and efficient. We will be teaching them for three weeks, stopping on July 23, because then everyone must go back to their hometown for the election. Then I have some time to relax and enjoy my friends, and then my time here is over for now. So sad.


Additional Note: I have recently been congratulated numerous times on the amount of weight I’ve gained since I’ve been here. Thank you Kurdistan and your bottle of oil in which you cook all your rice.