Jobs fill your pockets, but adventures fill your soul. So said Jaime Lyn Beatty, (she’s American, look her up). Which just goes to show, she has never lived in Erbil.

At the moment the job is emptying my pocket as I kit out my new apartment. All the things you forget you need. Toaster, microwave, fryer, towels, Apple TV box. Yes I know they’re hardly essentials. Well except for one obviously. You definitely need an Apple TV box as the tv here is dreadful.

As for the adventures. The Chines used the expression, “may you live in interesting times” as a curse. I am coming to know why.

The Move

Moving from the hotel to the apartment was relatively painless. I didn’t have that much stuff to take, not having brought much with me. Which was a mistake in hindsight, more of which later.

I had planned to move out after work, but was cajoled into checking out early morning, which meant carting all my stuff into work. Not ideal. But not that big a deal either, as I was going to get my car that afternoon.

The ‘New’ Car

There was much excitement and a few trepidation’s over the car. Excitement as I like cars, so getting a new one to play with was going to be fun. Trepidation’s as the driving here is quite possibly the worst I have ever experienced. And that’s saying something.

There had been a few delays in getting the car. Too boring to go into, but suffice to say it was a day or two late in arriving, which only built the anticipation. At last, the moment came. It was here.

I was expecting a nice, shiny, new Toyota Fortuna. I got a …. well I got a Fortuna. It was clean. Mostly. Only the odd one or two dings in it and a mere 85,000km’s on the clock. There was a mass of wires hanging out of the dash which confused me at first. Had it been vandalized? Stolen even? No. This was the hastily added driver monitoring system that we all have to have fitted. Driving is probably the most dangerous thing we have to do on a daily basis. Hence, we are all given defensive driving training and have a monitoring system in the car. Break the speed limit and it shoots you, or something. It’s a pain, but I can see why it’s done.

The First Drive

It’s hard to describe driving here. Think demolition derby crossed with whacky races and you start to come close. You have to concentrate hard the whole time you are behind the wheel, because no one else does. People on their phones, chatting to their passengers. In the backseat. People admiring the scenery as they drift accross into your space. I say space not lane as there are no lanes per se. some roads do have lanes painted on them, but these seem to be used as guides and mostly have cars straddling them. Otherwise, the local drivers are incapable of driving in a straight line.

I use one of the main arteries most days. The 100m road. It could comfortably accommodate 4 or 5 lanes each way. As it is, you get 7 or 8 cars squeezing along side by side. Plus parked cars often 2 or 3 deep. It’s got to be seen. And all the time, they are all drifting sideways.

U Turns

Then there are the U Turns. At fairly regular intervals, most of the roads, including the major roads have UTurns. So what would normally be the fast lane becomes a slip road. But because people don’t like queuing, you often get traffic, 2, 3 or even more cars deep, waiting to go around the U Turn. You are going along, jostling for position, driving at the speed limit and suddenly, there is a mass of stationary or slow moving cars in front. Add the illegally parked cars on the inside and suddenly, 7 lanes are trying to funnel through the remaining one or two lanes. It’s fun.

Actually, it’s not quite as bad as that. It’s worse. As a warning and presumably as a means of slowing you down ahead of these U turns, they have installed Speed bumps. For reasons I haven’t yet fathomed, some of these humps are located just after the turn? It’s a challenge.

The Apartment

On the positive side, I do like my apartment. It’s small, compact, but perfectly useable. Comfortable and in a good location. Believe it or not, I have never really lived in an apartment block before. It’s proving an education.

Shopping

I am learning that it’s better to go shopping often and buy a little. My usual habit of buying a months worth of stuff in one go is problematic. Thank goodness there are good lifts in this place. I have to do multiple journeys to the car to recover bags and bags of stuff. I am on the 5th floor, so trouping up flights and flights of stairs would probably kill me.

My supermarket of choice is Carrefour. It’s about the only one there is. At least that I have discovered so far. In the past, just about every Carrefour I have visited, anywhere in the world, tends to be laid out the same way. Whether in Egypt, Indonesia, France or Qatar. I knew exactly where to go for whatever I needed. Not here. Been in two Carrefour’s here and even they don’t have the same layout as each other. Means it takes a little longer to find what you want. It’s not exactly intuitive either as you seem to get random items mixed together. The selection of stuff isn’t fabulous either. Brands I would normally look for are not here where as brands I have never heard of proliferate. Shouldn’t be a huge surprise, but it is disconcerting.

Beanz don’t mean Heinz

No Heinz’s baked beans here. No Wheatabix. No Schwarz spices and no Bisto granules. You can get equivalents. But, well they’re just not the same. The bread is a bit naff too. I like toast. I bought a sliced loaf, stuck a couple of slices into my newly acquired toaster and waited as the delicious aroma of toasting bread filled the kitchen. After a few minutes, up popped 2 slices of beautiful golden loveliness. Armed only with a knife and some slightly salted butter, I lovingly tried to thickly spread the yellow stuff onto the toast. Only for it to disintegrate into a thousand tiny shards. It’s so thin and insubstantial, the bread, it’s impossible to toast. I do however like the flat breads, but again, it’s not the same.

Bottle Shop

Of course, an essential for any successful long term assignment, is finding a reliable source of booze. I tried looking in one or two beer shops and frankly, was beginning to dispair. Heineken, Efes, Corona. That was about your lot. They also had dozens and dozens of assorted whisky, non of which I had ever heard of. Not a good sign.

Fortunately, a kind and compassionate colleague took me to The German Bottle Store. It’s like a home from home. They also have the usual beer suspects, but enhance it with a selection of rather pleasant German beers. I like the Schwarzbier. Dark, not stupidly strong and very tasty. They have a good wine selection and whisky I recognise. I even found both Brockmans and Hendricks Gin. So life isn’t that bad. Shame about the tonic water however, still, every silver lining has a cloud.

Domestication

Wifey won’t recognise me when I get home. I am becoming very domesticated. It’s scary.

For example. I got in from work last night and first activity was to dry and put away my breakfast dishes. Then I put some washing in. I prepared and cooked some chicken for tea. Ate said chicken. Washed, dried and put away tea things. Took out the trash. Then ironed a couple of shirts before finally putting the tv on. What has happened to me???

I mentioned this to wifey last night. Her advice, have a beer then liberally throw a selection of socks close to, but not in the washing basket, odd towel around chairs, beds etc, leave a pair of jeans in the middle of the bedroom floor and hide the Hoover. I’ll be back to normal in no time.

Could be wrong, but I think she was trying to make a point. Will have to think about it.

Emergency Clothes Trip

I am partly having to be neat and tidy and making sure I keep on top of my laundry because I simply didn’t bring enough clothes with me. I definite;y got my priorities wrong. 3 suits, 12 work shirts, but only 2 T shirts and a jumper. Ironically, the people I del with rarely wear suits. I am a tad overdressed for everything.

As it happened, I had to go to Dubai last weekend. Oddly, having been pleased to get away from Dubai, it was quite pleasant going back. Arrived late on Thursday night, got everything I had to do done by Friday lunch, then indulged in a bit of retail therapy. I am now the proud owner of plenty of pants and socks, casual shirts, jeans, polo shirts and a selection of sweaters. Sorted.

Also went back to the Black Tap on Friday evening. Another excellent meal there and tried more of their craft beers. As it was Burns night, I even indulged in a wee dram. Or two. Possibly three. It all gets a little vague at this point. Suffice to say, I think I enjoyed myself and felt suitably rough Saturday morning.

From the hotel, I walked to the local grocery store and stocked up on gravy granules, bacon and ham. All the essentials. After check out it was a trip to the airport and here I am back in sunny Erbil. Or dull gray and rather wet Erbil.

Photography

I like photography. I brought a camera here with me to augment my actually very good camera in my phone. But as am struggling to find anything to photo. In fact I am so caught up with nesting here and becoming domesticated I haven’t even tried to look for subjects.

But I am hoping to change that. There are some interesting, historic monuments around. I m going to try and make an effort to look beyond the day to day. It’s amazing what you can find if you look. Watch this space.

And finally, I have joined a gym. I am losing weight and getting fit. It’s still a chore at the moment, but I am at least getting back into the groove.

Despite my gripes and groans, I think this could be a good move. I do miss wifey, small and the the other lifestyle inhibitors. But I think we can make this work and get a lot out of it. I live in hope.

And on that note, my first rotation home is only a few weeks away. It’s going to fly by. Then the real benefit of my new rotational assignment will come into its own.

Can’t wait.