Welcome to Sulaymaniyah

I have arrived in the land of the Kurds!

Angèle and Florence welcomed me at the airport with open arms, quite literally, they had their arms in the air cheering on the other side of security as I was passing my last checkpoint. *High five*! I did it! 

Life in Kurdistan is honestly nothing like I pictured it would be, or rather how it is pictured in the news and media. I feel so safe here! Okay, it might be because we have a bodyguard following us everywhere (more on him later) but the people are so welcoming and kind, the food is delicious (salt, sugar, and lots of oil... my kind of diet) and the whole area is so intriguing, we can see the snowy Iranian mountain tops from the sunny streets of the city of Sulaymaniyah.

Picture time!

This is the view we have from our apartment:

 Absolutely stunning, the sun hits the streets and casts an orange light on the city. The building next to ours (seen on the right) is still under construction, which is becoming a problem in Kurdistan as not enough funds are going into construction so there are a lot of abandoned sites and unfinished buildings. Crossing our fingers for this one...

More views from the apartment. Beaut 💯


So back to our bodyguard situation...

We are truly the most blessed in the world to have upon us an angel as security. Or should I say, a guardian angel (heh).
Mohammed drives and follows us everywhere, so lucky for him (but mostly for us) he gets to join all our exciting excursions. He's a very patient and wise man, but he also knows how to get wacky and crack a joke or two, some good knee slappers if I may say so. Ah yes, grand times with Mohammed, and much more to come. We will be joining his family for dinner tomorrow, after we cook with his wife to get some essential Kurdish cooking tips.

So anyway, what is it that I am doing in Sulaymaniyah for three weeks? Glad you asked.

Florence, Angèle's mum, works in collaboration with Kurdistan Save the Children (http://www.ksc-kcf.org) and introduces art programs that allow children to participate in projects to help them communicate through drawing, painting, and creating. For three weeks, we will be going to three different sites and coordinating projects involving mural painting and building restorations to not only make these centers more appealing to the eye, but also to encourage community involvement amongst the children.

We are hitting up these three locations:

1) The Educational Training Center for Children with Special Needs

This hits really close to home, which is why I'm so thrilled to be part of this project. This center hosts children with special needs, amongst them autism. It really amazes me that a place like Kurdistan finds the resources, during a time of economic distress, to provide care and attention to these kids. I applaud them.

We will be working with the children on painting the walls around the building according to their own vision. As some of you may know, my little brother has autism, and I always see him use art as a way of expressing himself in spite of his verbal deficiencies. Hopefully, I'll be able to bring some good inputs into this project and I can't wait to get started.

2) IDP Camp: Displaced Iraqi Refugees

The takeover of ISIS has displaced many families, forced them outside their homes and into more secured areas like Kurdistan. We visited a camp with Arab Iraqi refugees and got a chance to interact with the children as well as some of the men (no women in sight...unfortunately *sigh*). We will be painting a few walls with the children to brighten up the camp and make it more child friendly.

3) Cultural Center of Bazian

We're kind of the Xzibit of Kurdistan and going for a "Pimp my Cultural Center" look where we're going to repair the cracks and repaint the entire building. Our plan is to encourage community involvement to have children paint the black band with colorful motifs and drawings. "Yo dawg, I heard you like fresh paint, so I pimped up your exterior facade with flowers and farm animals." (Excuse the extreme early 2000's reference)

We went through all the children's drawings to select which ones we will chose to enlarge. *The chosen one*

All righty, that's pretty much it so far. Lots to come in the next few days!

PS: Eh heh, sorry about not posting daily, it's honestly been a pretty eventful past couple days, but Angèle and I are beyond excited to share with you what's coming up!! So many pictures and a few videos, so stay tuned!

You guys, I did something bad...

Today's the day! My boyfriend Nicole (pretty much) drops me off at LAX and I'm on my way to Kurdistan.

I board the plane to Doha and of course I get middle seat for this 16 hour flight... Then, an old couple walks over to my section and starts fussing with the flight attendant about not having their seats together. The old lady was not messing around, "I'm canceling this flight and going home!"

Being the good samaritan that I am, I offer my seat to the old man so he can sit behind his wife, instead of the other side of the plane. I walk over to his seat 12K, and would you look at that: window seat *scooore*!

I'm jamming my music and enjoying the elbow room, when the plane takes off.

That's where it gets bad: no one is sitting next to me, making 12J vacant. So here I am, not only with elbow room but a full extent of leg room, seriously about to spread my body and roll all over that free space. All while the old couple is sitting not together, plus the old man has middle seat.

Should I walk over and switch back with them so they can sit together? Well honestly I would have, but there was this cute little old lady in the aisle seat on 12I who could barely get up and she was sound asleep so I figured I would not bother her just so I could get out.

*GASP* The old lady gets up to pee, giving me an obvious opportunity to do the right thing and switch back.

........

Yeah, but it's a 16 hour flight and I'm really feeling all that extra space, I'm practically in first class at this point, when does this ever happen?? Once in a lifetime opportunity.

I'm just gonna pretend to be sleeping if they do come around and see me taking up two seats. Which I definitely ended up having to do, because those little ol' folks had to stretch their legs and walk around. Fake sleep for the win!

So yeah, not exactly going to hell for this, but definitely will have to explain myself at purgatory.

Besides this insane story, I made it to Doha! Waiting 20 hours until my next flight. But worry not, I found a lounge chair and am camping out here until tomorrow morning.

Next stop...Sulaymaniyah!

T-1 Departure

2016: so far so good.

I finally moved down to Los Angeles after living with my parents and brother in a cozy two bedroom apartment in San Francisco. Not that I didn't enjoy staying on the couch for three months, but it's so nice to get out of there and live on my own in LA. Well, almost on my own, I'm sharing a house with five other strangers. But hey, at least everybody gets along. Plus, I live only 10 minutes away from work, I got 99 problems but traffic ain't one (heh).

Ahh, the city of Angels, I know a lot of people have this horrible perception of LA but I have to say I get so much adrenaline just walking around in the sun (and by walking, I mean driving mostly), looking up at palm trees as I'm cruising the streets, and soaking in this amazing vibe of positivity and aspiration all around me. Just having a grand ol' time and keeping myself busy at work.

So just as I'm settling in, GG gives me a call from Amsterdam. Little recap, GG stands for Gel Gogs, short for Angèle Goguely (not that anyone ever called her Gel). Homegirl is finishing up her internship [*round of applause*] at Travel Bird. Being the free bird that she is (pun intended), she decides that her next steps will be to continue her travels before committing to settle down in a work cubicle.

So where is her next destination, you ask? No other than the Land of the Kurds! What do you mean? Kurdistan, that's what.

So why Kurdistan? Mama FloFlo, aka Angele's mother, is residing in the Kurdish province of Iraq. 

But wait, best part in all of this...GG asks me to come on board. My response: all aboard! With my ride or die partner in crime, I'm off to Iraq on the biggest adventure of my life. I can't believe it. I'm leaving tomorrow and I could not be holding in a bigger batch of mixed emotions: anxiety yet excitement, and fear yet overload of joy. I'm a mess, but I am so ready for this!! 

Stay tuned for the ultimate reunion......... 

Next time on Marie in the Land of the Kurds: Marie takes the plane...to Kurdistan...and stops in Qatar...for a 20hour layover...fun times!