This post consists of zero actual photos, therefore I will only be using memes and gifs.
Woohoo!
Besides working on mural paintings, we are taking time off for ourselves and advantage of the many activities offered in Sulaymaniyah.
So much time in our schedule for extracurriculars!
So much room for activities!
So much room for activities!
1) Monday night improv class
There are a few NGO's here in Kurdistan, so a good variety of foreigners can be found. On Monday nights, a group of them gather for improv night! And we know a friend of a friend of a friend's cousin who invited us to join.
Angèle's mum, Florence, couldn't remember the name of the guy who was in charge of the event. She claimed it was Scan. Must be a Scandinavian.
We arrive. "Hi I'm Stan!"
Not gonna lie, we were all nervous about improvisation. Florence was rusty on her English, I was still extremely jet lagged (arrived the night before), and Angèle hates acting. Who's idea was this...?
After all, we had a great time!! Lots of laughs, and we got to meet all the Americans and Europeans in the area. All of them. There's so little of us in Sulaymaniyah that we can all fit in a room.
However, improv is still as tricky as we anticipated. And then, some people were so incompetent it made everything so much more painful than it had to be. For example:
Angèle's mum, Florence, couldn't remember the name of the guy who was in charge of the event. She claimed it was Scan. Must be a Scandinavian.
We arrive. "Hi I'm Stan!"
*Chuckle*
Ah yes, a stand up American guy!Not gonna lie, we were all nervous about improvisation. Florence was rusty on her English, I was still extremely jet lagged (arrived the night before), and Angèle hates acting. Who's idea was this...?
After all, we had a great time!! Lots of laughs, and we got to meet all the Americans and Europeans in the area. All of them. There's so little of us in Sulaymaniyah that we can all fit in a room.
However, improv is still as tricky as we anticipated. And then, some people were so incompetent it made everything so much more painful than it had to be. For example:
I tell them: "What a beautiful day. Look at the flowers."
They say: "Yes! They look delicious, let's eat them."
Duuuude work with me here!
2) Spa!
No. Spa day! Sauna, jacuzzi, steam room, massages, and most importantly, zero paint.
No. Spa day! Sauna, jacuzzi, steam room, massages, and most importantly, zero paint.
We've been getting up everyday at 7am to work on the murals. One rainy day, since it wasn't good weather painting conditions, we headed over to the Grand Millennium Hotel Spa Lounge.
I got a sports massage, and I don't even do sports! Ha, fooled them good.
Also, turns out that our masseuse, Mariam, is also our yoga teacher! So we saw her the following day in yoga class (spoiler alert).
The hotel is really impressive, especially in the middle of Sulaymaniyah, only tower in sight. The top of the hotel is a moving restaurant. We wanted to check it out, but you need a card key to go upstairs, makes the guests feel important or what not. Whatever, don't even care, it's stupid anyway.
I got a sports massage, and I don't even do sports! Ha, fooled them good.
Also, turns out that our masseuse, Mariam, is also our yoga teacher! So we saw her the following day in yoga class (spoiler alert).
The hotel is really impressive, especially in the middle of Sulaymaniyah, only tower in sight. The top of the hotel is a moving restaurant. We wanted to check it out, but you need a card key to go upstairs, makes the guests feel important or what not. Whatever, don't even care, it's stupid anyway.
We went to Mariam's (masseuse) apartment where she holds private yoga lessons. It felt so nice to get back into yoga, it's going to motivate me to start again in LA. Watch out world, here I come.
He really makes it look easy. DOWNWARD DOG IS IMPOSSIBLE TO DO.
Must. Touch. Heels. To. Ground.
Screw it, tippy toes it is.
4) Church
Lol jk, it was actually an interesting thing to do in a predominantly Muslim country.
First things first, I'm not religious. I know very little about religious processes and this was my third time at mass. So honestly, I could have attended a mosque and been as lost as I was in this Catholic church.
But let's go back to the fact that there's a Catholic church in Sulaymaniyah. We did our research before attending, and we found out that the pastor of the church promotes peace between Muslims and Catholics by preaching love for Muslims and acceptance of their religion. Very inspiring and progressive thinking if you ask me.
So even though mass was in a total foreign language and we didn't understand anything, it was nice to gather with the Sulaimani community and share this experience with them.
And best part of it was that we got to dress nice and wear our yeezy's (since our boots are covered in mud and paint).
That's pretty much it!
Now, back to paint...
Lol jk, it was actually an interesting thing to do in a predominantly Muslim country.
First things first, I'm not religious. I know very little about religious processes and this was my third time at mass. So honestly, I could have attended a mosque and been as lost as I was in this Catholic church.
But let's go back to the fact that there's a Catholic church in Sulaymaniyah. We did our research before attending, and we found out that the pastor of the church promotes peace between Muslims and Catholics by preaching love for Muslims and acceptance of their religion. Very inspiring and progressive thinking if you ask me.
So even though mass was in a total foreign language and we didn't understand anything, it was nice to gather with the Sulaimani community and share this experience with them.
And best part of it was that we got to dress nice and wear our yeezy's (since our boots are covered in mud and paint).
That's pretty much it!
Now, back to paint...
killin the game with these gifs 10/10
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