The week before the journey to Istanbul, Turkey and Iraq

The week before the journey begins is full of meetings at work planning for the summer STARTalk programs in Persian and Turkish and for a shorter Chinese program for students in grades 3-5 at Barnard Elementary school and the Riverview Academy. The cameras are ready; I have an older Sony videocamera and a Canon G10, a very powerful digital. I have been planning the interviews in Modern Standard Arabic, Iraqi dialect, Kurdish, Persian and Turkish to be recorded for didacticizing upon my return. While there I am scheduled to speak at the three main universities, Duhok, Salahaddin and Sulamaniyah Universities and with economic developers in the Kurdish region. I hope to visit K-12 schools too.

We fly from San Diego to Chicago to Istanbul on June 3 for a few days of tourism. There is so much to see in this great city of 13,000,000 that I despair even now of missing so many sites that I have dreamed of seeing during my lifetime. I will at least see Topkapi Palace and the Harem, the Hagia Sofia and the Blue Mosque. I know that the brief time there will draw me back for a more extended stay.

The friends with whom I will be traveling are: Hosein Maronesy, Mr. and Mrs. Robert Yae, who will travel on the same flights. Two English teacher: Darlene Farnes and Nancy Boyer will travel first to Germasny and Uzbekistan before arriving in Duhok to teach English and to improve the TOEFL program at that University. We are guests of the universities and the Kurdistan Regional Government. We will prepare the way for a delegation of two scholars and human rights workers that will follow in July and a delegation of South Korean businessmen looking for investment opportubities in the region.

I will update this blog as frequently as possible and will include photos.

Peace,

Norman