High Tea in Mosul

Noor and the boys will visit today and will stay till the end of the week. On Tuesday someone planted a bomb three houses away from where Noor lives and the explosion caused major damage, all the windows broke and the children were hysterical. Noor was slightly injured by flying glass but didn’t need stitches to her leg. I have taken some time of from work so that I can be with them and hope they can have the chance to relax. 
Dohuk has a feeling of forboding, you can sense the tension as if they are waiting for something to happen. Any car from Mosul is stopped and checked and there are many police on the streets. I went to the souk to do some shopping on Thursday and it was empty which is strange because it is always crowded. I hope this is not a sign of something to come.

Pauline

Dohuk is peaceful. Last week I had lunch with an American lady who works for three months every year in Zahko teaching English. We had a very nice time at the new Lebanese hotel. We met many people who worked for an oil company from Canada and to my surprise a man from Blackburn, a town not far from my hometown in Lancashire. Really when you think  about it the world is small. 
Mosul is not good at all and I wish Noor and the kids were out of there. The little one had his second birthday at the end of July — time just flies, it seems like yesterday I sneaked  into Mosul to stay with Noor, something that I would not do in these times. Noor told me there had been a lot of trouble in the area where we lived,there is a campaign of ethnic cleansing – two brothers were killed for not leaving , the situation is very bad. 
Pauline

Dohuk is very peaceful but also very hot. Mosul has seen many killings in the last week and the surge of violence is on the rise again. It always seems to start at this time of the year when the exams are taking place. I wonder sometimes if the students have an axe to grind about the exam results , Whatever it is it just never seems to end. 
Noor and the boys are here and it is utter chaos – I took two days’ leave and I am very tired and I don’t know how I am going to get through the week. The apartment just looks like a bomb has it it and Jamal is just about pulling his hair out! I am considering taking them to stay in a hotel for a couple of days. 
We had planned to go to Turkey to a conference for a week but they told us we must go to Mosul for an interveiw to apply for visa, so we will cancel. I will not go back to Mosul the risk is not worth it. 
Pauline

The weather here is starting to heat up and once again it is affecting me – I feel drained half of the time. Mosul was bad last week with many policemen being killed, but my friend told me that the last few days have been quiet. This could be good or it could mean once again that these people are regrouping somewhere else.

Noor and the boys will come this week. I haven’t seen them for such a long time because Jamal has been taking his exams and she didn’t want to bother him. Work is going well – I enjoy it very much and it gives me the chance to meet a lot of different people from different backgrounds. I feel as though I have been reborn. Again!

Pauline.

Nothing much happening in Dohuk at the moment, work progresses very well. My friend from Mosul came to stay over the weekend and we spent most of the time shopping. On Thursday we went to the new Lebanese hotel for lunch with another of my friends who lives here in Dohuk. The food was very nice and it gave us a chance to catch up on the latest gossip. News from Mosul is not that good  –two car bombs on Wednesday causing many deaths and injuries, also someone killed the Dean of the Agricultural College last Monday and it looks like things are starting to go back as before. I was afraid of this happening and many people thought the same too. I think this situation is here to stay and it will take some sort of a miracle to solve it.

Pauline

I am keeping busy at work and four evenings every week I teach in the training centre. My time is taken up with many topics — not like before when I was just at home and often trying to occupy my time until someone came home! My friend will travel from Mosul to stay with us just for the weekend, so I am going to take her for lunch at a new Lebanese hotel that as just opened across from the Turkish supermarket. I have not been myself but many people say it is very nice.

Mosul seems to be calm but incidents are starting to occur in other parts of Iraq  — this is always the case as when you clear one place these people run and re-group somewhere else. This is a very big problem, one that I really don’t think there is a solution for and I think it will remain for a very long time.

My friend who works in the university here in Dohuk travelled to Syria last week. She sent me an email saying she was having a hard time with the American Embassy in Damascus. She has been invited to a conference in America and she really would like to attend but she told me the staff at the Embassy were very rude and not helpful at all. She says nobody wants anything to do with Iraqi people, as if we are being punished for the doings of other people, most of them not from Iraq.

Pauline

Today sees the opening of the Training Centre which belongs to the University of Dohuk. Yesterday I paid a visit to help select students who wish to improve their English language skills. The building is situated on top of a hill in the grounds of the university where you can view all of Dohuk - it is so breathtaking that I just wanted to stay there. I will work four evenings a week trying to help people to improve their conversation skills. I am looking forward to working there very much. Mosul still has some restrictions: there is a curfew from six at night until six in the morning. Many people have been captured and my friend told me Mosul for once seems to back to the way it was, and of course she hoped it would stay this way for good. Noor and the children are fine but will not visit until Jamal has finished his exams.Pauline

Every morning on my way to work I pass a fruit orchard  and each time I pass I see the stages of a flowering pomegranate tree. Two days ago it was just the dark green leaves but yesterday it was just a mass of scarlet flowers. The tree looked like a red ball. When we travel to work how many of us really appreciate the nature around us? Dohuk is so beautiful with mountains and small waterfalls but most of us just take them for granted.Mosul is in complete lock down which started on Saturday I am in contact with family and friends and their main concern was not to run out of food. No one is allowed out of their houses and therefore no shops are open, no bakers are working and there are no emergency services. People have no idea how long this operation with take, some say up till next week, so for now Mosul and the surrounding villages are cut off from the world.

Pauline

Again the weather is very dusty and it has started to bother my chest. The job is going very nicely and I am enjoying it very much. The staff are treating me very well and I feel safe and secure. Mosul is also very peaceful but you don’t know if to take this has a good sign or not. Last Monday I had the pleasure of meeting an English lady who is from London working in Irbil. She works at the university there, lecturing librarians on the best and most economical ways to establish libraries. We had a good natter about all sorts of things and I really enjoyed myself. On Thursday it was a holiday here and we treated ourselves to a new plasma screen TV — it is so nice I feel I am at the cinema; the sound just seems to be coming from everywhere. It is really beautiful and I just want to watch the films all day long.Pauline