I’m in Erbil!!

This is an amazing and fascinating place. I have not seen a single western fast food restaurant or traffic light that works, but I have seen people sweeping and watering down their walkways and sidewalks. It is a clean city.

Here are some more highlights.

We landed in Erbil and the doors to the plane opened at exactly our scheduled arrival time 2:50pm, a testimony to German and Austrian transportation punctuality. We haven’t been on time since, but that is ok.

Barkley and I arrived at our hotel at the Iraqi Institute for the Conservation of Antiquities and Heritage. It is a research center and not (as I was expecting) a museum. It sits below the Citadel, which is a 6,000 year old series of buildings, forts and houses and a World Heritage site. Yes, six thousand years old. Erbil is claimed to be the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world.

We met academics from Rome, Belgium and Southern Illinois University who are also staying here. They let us know that having “shower shoes” is a good idea. (We went to an Adidas store and got some for $10.) Apparently, shower plumbing is kind of hit and miss everywhere. For those of you worried about toilet paper, there is plenty of that here. But the toilets are generally holes in the ground.

We then went to a briefing at the soon-to-be U.S Consulate in Erbil. We met with our State Department Liaison, the head of the Kurdish Parliament’s Civil Society Committee and the de-facto U.S. Consul General. The “Consul General” (who is technically called a “team leader”) gave us a fascinating run-down of the history of the region — from the famous religious leaders of all faiths who came (and died) here, to various small religious sects that still exist here, to the architecture and the long history of “civil society” organizations in the area. I am hoping to be able to retain and report more of what he said when we have dinner with him tomorrow night.

So far it looks like I will be able to be connected to the Internet, but the bigger problem may be power. I hear it goes out regularly, although I have not seen it yet. .

It is getting later so I will just add a quick story about Abdullah, our driver from the airport. He asked if we were German, English, Canadian or American. When we told him, he almost ran over kid on a motorbike because he was so happy. He said: “I am not standing here, we not driving here, without American. You save my life, my family life.” It felt good.