Intro: A Bite at Something New

“You’re gonna die!”

If those weren’t the words, it was the inference. “You’re gonna die” if you go to Iraq. Well, today I am traveling to Iraq, but make no mistake, almost everyone I told about this trip had this very reaction. And who can blame them? The media has spend 30 years showing us bombed out buildings, terrorist attacks, and dead bodies. Not the green, lush Fertile Crescent pictures from grade school.

But we’re not going to Baghdad, the scene of much of that carnage, we’re going to Erbil, in the northern section of Iraq known as the Kurdish region. It’s run by the Kurdish Regional Government, sort of a state government, and they have a tenuous but working relationship with Iraq.

The next question my friends ask, after they pick their jaw up off the floor, is, do you have to wear a Burka or cover your hair? I’m told told “No”, in this Kurdish city of Erbil you don’t have to wear anything unusual unless you go to a mosque.

But why would you want to, actually choose to, go to Iraq? Well it’s not like it’s a lifelong dream of mine, like going to the Amalfi coast, but once in a while, life serves up a dish “out of the box” that might not come along in this form again, and you kind of feel like you ought to bite. That’s what this is. A bite at something new.

To set the table, I am a board member of Sister Cities of Nashville. Presently, Nashville has nine Sister Cities around the world, and the board determines which, if any, are next, and the respective city governments sign official documents “twinning” the two cities as “Sister Cities”. Many cities have made an outreach to twin with Nashville, and in 2022 the city of Erbil sent a significant delegation to Nashville for such an outreach. I met all of the folks and really enjoyed it. Their governor gave a speech at the Metro Nashville City Council meeting for which he received a standing ovation. Once they showed us the video of Erbil, the oldest occupied city in the world, and invited us to visit, I thought, this would be really cool. I wanted to be a part of this. Jack agreed, we investigated safety/security and all that, and today we start the one day journey as part of a 15 member official delegation from Nashville.

Nashville has the largest Kurdish population in the western hemisphere, and our goal is to determine, despite our large Kurdish population, will various groups and professions, teachers and students, of varying nationalities participate in future exchanges? Is a Sister City relationship sustainable and can it flourish? In our delegation are several lawyers, a doctor, a few business people, several council members, a school board member, and the mayor. They are well equipped to discern in their field of expertise whether their Erbil counterparts will travel to Nashville and vice versa. I see myself as an outlier in this group as I am more interested in whether a mom and dad would send their highschooler on an exchange, or would a typical family consider hosting a Erbil family? Would a slightly adventuresome couple whose kids are grown and gone do what we’re doing and go visit Erbil?

Other admonitions I received are: “don’t wear that cross necklace where they can see it“, “don’t wear any jewelry“, “don’t go out alone”, none of which I feared; the warning that gave me the most pause was “don’t get kidnapped”. If that happens, then the initial  “you’re gonna die” reaction is probably the right one.

So to ease my mind, before this trip, I met with local Kurds and with private contractors and had zoom calls with people who work in Iraq, and my comfort level was satisfied. And yes, anything can happen anywhere, but the general vibe was not only is Erbil safe, it’s basically safer than Nashville. Nashville has about 100 murders a year, whereas the whole KRG region, of which Erbil is one city, had 62 last year. In Nashville, theft is so common we are bombarded with videos of ring cameras showing thieves in action, and it seems every news story is about crime. In much of the Middle East, theft is nowhere near the problem we have here. Culturally, your stuff is your stuff and for the most part they just don’t steal.

But I do have my stereotypes too, and I’m so very anxious to see whether they’re confirmed or shattered: How free are they? Can you get a drink? Can you go sleeveless? How covered up are the women? Are other faiths represented? How’s the food – ahh, good food, a major component of any travel.

So in preparation for this trip, I’ve spent the last few weeks learning a little bit of their language, Kurdish Sorani. There are about eight dialects in Iraq, talk about non-cohesion. I wanted to learn the basics of their language: hello, please, thank you, excuse me, where is the bathroom?, nice to meet you, and how do you do? Well, we’ll see how I do.

But I’m traveling to Iraq today and never in my life did I ever imagine I’d be saying those words. My excellent adventure, my bite at something new, my “you’re gonna die” trip, begins.

(NOTE: Click on the photos for captions...to get back to the blog click outside the photo or hit the back button)

Erbil, Iraq

Chapter 1: What the....?

We arrived at the Erbil airport. I was shocked at the passport line. Absolutely every woman was entirely covered, except for her face, and was very overweight. I thought you could wear regular clothes!! And how can they be overweight with all this fresh food they supposedly have??

We were met by Azad, a former Nashvillian and organizer of this whole production, and a handsomely dressed man named Omid, who I discovered was actually a Peshmerga, (Kurdish military). I came to call him my “personal pesh“. We were whisked off in a sleek black car to the VIP reception area where a gorgeous receiving room awaited us. Of course they offered us tea– tea is offered at every meeting and you take it and you either drink it or not but you take the cup that they offer you. The news media had just descended upon this delegation and interviewed the mayor… This was a harbinger of the media attention we were to receive.

So the fact that I was about the only woman in the airport in regular clothes was a little unnerving, not what I expected. That paled in comparison, however, to the armed guards awaiting us as we pulled into our hotel. What in the world have I gotten myself into? As Jack said, you’re glad to see the arm guards at the hotel, but it’s also unnerving that they have to be there.

My initial impression of the city was not of a “pretty“ city. Except for tons of roses at the airport, it was dry, there were old storefronts with wires strung haphazardly, some buildings were half built or abandoned, traffic was chaotic and unordered, and those darn mini-split AC compressors plastered all over the outside of all the buildings are so unattractive. Reminded me a lot of Israel and Jordan. We were in old Erbil, and it showed. There is an ancient architectural treasure here, the Citadel, but so far the architecture did not stun. But our hotel was very nice and our group convened and we started our excellent adventure together with our first Kurdish dinner. The food was excellent and fresh and I loved it! My first “bite” of Erbil was indeed wonderful even though that drive in from the airport wasn’t Chamber of Commerce material.

Check out the pix for a sampling of the typical foods offered to you either in Buffet or family style at every lunch and every dinner.

The VIP reception room at the Erbil Airport. That’s Senator Inhofe from Oklahoma in the background. The plaque says “Friend to the Kurdish People”.

dinner first night of arrival

Chapter 2: Diving In...

Sunday, to the people of Iraq, is actually their first day of work, equal to our Monday. We had a full day of official meetings today, and we were treated so well. Everybody wanted to meet us! We met the governor and his staff, and then the head of the Erbil Regional Parliament. Their parliament building is housed in a former prison where Saddam Hussein imprisoned the Kurdish freedom fighters. Others wanting to meet us were the head of the majority party, the head of the minority party, and the mayor. At each stop, we were offered a cup of tea or coffee. It really began to be quite hilarious, tea every 30 minutes, and I noticed the manpower/staffing it took to serve us! At one point they did serve us coffee because someone had told them Americans prefer coffee over tea. And one staffer sweetened it up a little bit, and it actually tasted good. But for the most part, their tea is as dark as motor oil, sometimes as thick, and is way too bitter and strong for me, even though they said it had pistachio in it. I was thinking maybe some of this tea was leftover prison rations.

So the morning was full of long-winded politicians, welcoming us and our mayor saying how honored we were to be there. (I was actually able to say that in Sorani Kurdish by the way). If I heard “welcome, we are so honored to have you” once I heard it 100 times! In the governor’s office I noticed 2 pretty women, dressed like us, with very striking dark straight hair. Later that day, when I said in Sorani, “let’s go to the bazaar”, their eyes lit up, we hit it off, and from then on we were pals. I would come call them my Kurdish sisters.  

It was interesting to see so many women in government and elected positions. So my first stereotype is busted. Many women are elected to leadership positions in Iraq, in fact, the head of the parliament is a woman. And she defeated another woman for the post! She spoke no English, but her translator indicated that in Kurdistan, there is no sectarian strife. They welcome all sects and religions. This is the story of their history, we would find out later. In fact, many refugees come to Kurdistan, because of their history of religious, political, racial, and national tolerance. The advancement of Isis and Da’esh in neighboring Iran and Syria have forced the Syrians, Turkmen, Iranian Kurds, and Christians refugees into this area of Iraq where they know they will be welcome. Their big problem is young adult unemployment… Kids that don’t wanna work, imagine that, and the refugees drive down wages, imagine that. Their economy is oil based, but they are trying to advance other sources of economic growth: agriculture, tourism, manufacturing. This is one reason they are so very interested in a Nashville sister city.  

That afternoon, we got to go to the famous Erbil bazaar. We loved it! It’s fine to meet all these government officials but we wanted to see the people. This was, to me, glimpsing into the REAL Erbil, the essence of the city. Along with the Citadel, this bazaar is their jewel in the crown, their hub, and a cool old building. It is a visual and sensory feast! Jack ended up ordering two custom made shirts for $50. We could’ve stayed there all day and actually planned to play hooky on Wednesday and come back. More on this later. One of the places we went to in the market was a famous café called Mam Khalil (Uncle Khalil). I had seen it listed as a must when you visit Erbil. It was a tiny place with photos covering every square inch of the walls and ceiling. We were somewhat celebrities because the 2 mayors -Erbil and Nashville- were seated together having tea. But a local man chatted with us in broken English and showed us his scars from Saddam. The Kurdish people treasure their freedom, and disliked the tyranny of Saddam Hussein, thus he abused them. You’ve probably heard about how he gassed the Kurdish people, but he also demolished 4,000 villages in the Kurdish countryside. More on this later but this man’s scarred hand was a glimpse into the atrocities inflicted on the Kurds that we were to find out about later in the week. Oh, and they don’t charge you for the tea. We are their guests. Could you imagine that in the states? The other kind of crazy part of the bazaar was the money changing station. ($100= 145,000 Kurdish dinars) There was all this cash money sitting out on a table. No guards, no case with a lock on it, not an ounce of security surrounding this cash money. See what I mean when I say theft is not a problem? The culture is, you don’t steal things.

The other jewel in the crown of Erbil is the Citadel. Erbil is the oldest continually occupied city in the world and the Citadel was the hub of this ancient village. It is 8000 years old. The original structures of the Citadel are under ground, as is so often the case, and some excavation is taking place, but people actually lived in the Citadel structures until very recently. The father of our translator Rekan was born in the Citadel.

The central part of the Citadel has been renovated and is a lovely event space. This is where our welcome party, the dressiest event of our trip, was to take place later tonight.

So to get “dressed up”, remember, you couldn’t wear dresses above the knee and not much skin showing. I had a knee length dress and it was OK, and cap sleeves. We arrived to such a handsome sight: the Citadel had uplighting to define its beautiful vaulted archways and ceilings. The Peshmerga had donned their official uniforms. The local Kurdish women were attired in their beautiful, sequined long gowns, a very dressy tradition that I had seen in Nashville when I went to their New Year’s (Newroz) celebration - even outdoors they were in these long sequined gowns. Many US soldiers from the neighboring military installation (it’s not called an army base for various reasons) were on hand as well as all the officials we’d met earlier, and the Deputy Consul General of the United States, a tiny little lady named Zehra Bell. There was wine and beer, traditional Kurdish dancing and Kurdish music including a drum performance unlike any I’ve ever seen.

We also met a really interesting group of young people called the Free Burma Rangers, an NGO. They do rescue work in war-torn areas, it’s very risky work. But one of them, Ibrahim, had on a country and western shirt, and proceeded to speak in perfect English, because he spent 2 years in Texas. I want you to remember him because this is what he does in his spare time:(see cowboy picture).

That Kurdish cowboy picture may be the coolest picture I have ever seen, and he promised me next time we go back he will take us horseback riding with that group of guys. That is, he will take Jack horseback riding with that group of guys.

more bazaar pix and Mam Khalil tea room

the bazaar was such a visual feast, hard not to take pix of errthing! Jack and Robert ordering custom shirts.

Our first quick trip to the Citadel and its museum

More Citadel pix.

The Welcome Party at the Citadel. That’s my Personal Pesh Omid all dressed up in Peshmerga gear. The drummer was amazing and hopefully I can upload his video so you can hear all the sound that came out of that drum.

Our welcome party at the Citadel was so nice! And dance moves easier than the electric slide!

Chapter 3: Now I Know How Taylor Swift Feels

On Monday, we split up into small groups to visit various professions in Erbil. I went with the group to visit two schools, but first we stopped at the women’s Council ministry. The minister talked about the challenges women face at various levels of their career advancement, the typical hiring problems you might expect, some sexual harassment issues, etc. I was more impressed by her emphasis on their pro- family values. She said there are very few out of wedlock births, so there’s not really an absent father problem. Couples get married, and then have babies. We didn’t see a single homeless person. I’m not saying there’s no problems, all I’m saying is they seem to have minimized some problems that we have let get out of hand.

The two schools we visited were just delightful. The first was a grade school. We walked into a music class, and they played a song for us. We introduced ourselves, they asked some questions, and all of them spoke perfect English and were perfectly behaved. Then the chaos started: When the class was over, we were attacked like we were rock stars! They were so excited to have us visit them, it really was amazing....maybe they don’t have too many visitors. I had a throng of 20 or 30 girls around me, asking me for my autograph, thrusting pen and paper in my face, and I autographed as many as I could. I don’t know who they thought I was….but they told me how pretty I was, how they loved my eye makeup, and would I sign a note to them. (I think it was the colorful pink dress and pink pedicure they liked, if I had to guess.) Now I know how Taylor Swift feels (except for the $1B annual revenue) to have throngs of screaming girls around you!

That afternoon we visited a high school, a public -private partnership school. Again, the students spoke perfect English. This school was established by a Lebanon International series of schools expressly for the children of martyrs, this is, for the children of either victims of genocide or war. And this is the first year the application was opened up to non impacted- families. They were raring to participate in an exchange with Nashville high schools and come to America and eat hamburgers! And their headmistress not only served us tea, but dolma that she had made!

We asked the administrators and principals of these schools what was their biggest problem? They both said, space. They don’t have enough room. It wasn’t drugs, gangs, guns, depression, social media, bullying, suicide, ADHD, etc.

That evening we were invited to a wine reception at the Consulate General compound. This was a walled off section of the city, and we had to go through a lot of security to get through the gate.  Normally, a consul general is a standalone building, but in Erbil, they basically rented about three city blocks in a residential area, so it’s a collection of individual homes fortified all around. BUT, scheduled to open about a year from now is the Erbil CG building, a standalone building, and it is going to be the largest Consulate General structure in the world, covering 50 acres. Two of our group (former mayor Bill Purcell and councilman Robert Swope) toured it, and said it was fantastic. The United States State Department is counting on this area as an important ingredient of their Middle East policy.

A lady named Povis Barzani was there, and she is credited with being the instigator of the whole Kurdish migration to Nashville. Her family was a refugee and was befriended by Bill Derrick, the Father Ryan coach, who gave them a place to stay next door to his home. If you have any connection to Father Ryan, you know who Bill Derrick is and you probably had a Derrick in your class. Ms. Barzani is my age and grew up practically as a sister to Ann Derrick, classmate and fellow basketball teammate at FR. Small world kind of story to run into a classmate’s friend in Iraq!. Sidenote: Bill Derrick is also credited with breaking the racial barrier in sports in the South. As Father Ryan’s basketball coach, he set up the first interracial basketball game. Big stuff and a man with quite a legacy.

I must take a moment to tell you about the American Deputy Consul General in Erbil, Ms. Zehra Bell. We also met her security team headed by Marc Smith, a handsome man with chiseled muscles you could see under his tailored suit. It was a little hard to talk to Marc, I guess when you’re in the security business, you don’t really chitchat very much. It wasn’t until about five hours later, at dinner, that he ended up giving Jack his contact information because Jack was interested in his source for cufflinks! Also, his daughter is in pharmacy residency in Nashville at Tri -Star hospital. Of course we invited him to stay with us if he visits her. Erbil is one of only a handful of American foreign Consulates where no family members are allowed to live, so your family is not with you while your on an Erbil post. How’s that for a warning sign? In fact, the official US state department warning sign is “Do Not Travel“ to Iraq in general. They have all begged the state department to change their travel warnings about Iraq to list the Kurdistan section as “Safe To Travel“. That would go along way towards changing the mindset/stereotype of this part of the world.

They are all on one year contracts. Zehra is going to Paris next, where her husband is able to join her there. Mark is going to Georgia (USA), and two of his guys were headed to Haiti and Budapest.

The US Consul General treated our entire group to an incredible dinner at the Erbil equestrian center, where those who wanted could actually ride horses. It was, for Jack, the tamest horse riding experience he’s ever had! Could you imagine Ibraham riding a horse like this?

Forgot to add this earlier, this is from Ibraham, and THIS is the kind of horseback riding we’re (meaning Jack) gonna do next trip! I think this is my favorite photo in a long time, love the action and the scene and those nostrils! Have you ever seen anything like this???? This is Kurdistan!