Newroz. The biggest day on the Kurdish calendar. I certainly know how to celebrate Newroz back home. Come on! Who doesn't. But here... it was a different story. I didn't end up going to class, so I spent the morning talking to family and relatives who were already having their lunch on some high mountain in Kurdistan. Here, every person came up with an excuse of why they can't celebrate, or they don't have time to go out. So LK, SS and I decided we were going to go to a picnic on a hill as well. Just as we would at home. We also decided to wear our jli Kurdi. In half an hour all three of us were ready to go! In the accomodation and around campus every passer by asked about where we were from-- so it was our chance to do some advertising for Kurdistan. We walked for almost an hour to a nearby park here in Nottingham, the entire way we were listening to old Kurdish songs (new ones too!) we reached a nice hill-top, imagined it was Kurdistan, put out the snacks, the flag, sat down and shared some memories of how we would celebrate Newroz back home, then walked back all the way to campus.
I must point out all three of us had deadlines too.
For the evening, the girls had cooked bryani and yaprax which we shared with few other international students in the common room. What is going to be unforgettable was after dinner; there we were five of us Kurds clearing the kitchen and washing dishes (my talents in the kitchen seems to only be at the sink) we learned a lot from one another. It was all laughter as we taught each other different dialects of Kurdish.
Here we are. Five girls. Each from a different place. I represented the garmiyan area, while LK was from Slemani, AH from Hawler and two others from Duhok. As we would in Kurdistan, right after dinner and washing, we drink our chay wa and spent a good hour sharing the different traditions, languages and way of life in the different Kurdish areas within Kurdistan.
Who would've known. So far from home, we would learn about our own people as well... I guess when you're a twanasazi student every encounter is a learning experience- the most important, as I have come to realize, are those at the kitchen sink.
Today, I missed my father the most, because I know Newroz is the only occassion that he celebrates with all his heart. Today is his birthday, his eid, his New Year, his father's day, mother's day and everything else- so it was only natural for me to think of him the entire time, his voice was the first one I heard when I woke up in the morning....
I must point out all three of us had deadlines too.
For the evening, the girls had cooked bryani and yaprax which we shared with few other international students in the common room. What is going to be unforgettable was after dinner; there we were five of us Kurds clearing the kitchen and washing dishes (my talents in the kitchen seems to only be at the sink) we learned a lot from one another. It was all laughter as we taught each other different dialects of Kurdish.
Here we are. Five girls. Each from a different place. I represented the garmiyan area, while LK was from Slemani, AH from Hawler and two others from Duhok. As we would in Kurdistan, right after dinner and washing, we drink our chay wa and spent a good hour sharing the different traditions, languages and way of life in the different Kurdish areas within Kurdistan.
Who would've known. So far from home, we would learn about our own people as well... I guess when you're a twanasazi student every encounter is a learning experience- the most important, as I have come to realize, are those at the kitchen sink.
Today, I missed my father the most, because I know Newroz is the only occassion that he celebrates with all his heart. Today is his birthday, his eid, his New Year, his father's day, mother's day and everything else- so it was only natural for me to think of him the entire time, his voice was the first one I heard when I woke up in the morning....
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