August 15, 2021

Celebrations everywhere!  It seems to be marriage season here and we were able to catch a few photos of some Kurdish and Muslim brides.  Their dresses can be colorful and beautiful or white with a Muslim twist.  Here are a few examples.

Wedding guests in Kurdish celebration gowns…

Yet another bride... Their makeup is always flawless...

The happy couple...

Yet another bridal couple... though this young man wasn't very happy that I was taking their picture.

Another bridal couple though this bride lacked a bit of enthusiasm...

A few more interesting guest outfits...

Bridal couple and guests...

For my birthday we explored the main park in Erbil... this park area used to be a notorious army base of Saddam Hussein and many Kurds were tortured here and killed. With the downfall of Saddam, the people were happy to take it over and make it a beautiful area in memory of those who had suffered there. It is one of the largest parks in the Middle East. 

For my birthday we sampled a Middle East buffet restaurant... the largest one we have ever seen with food from the Middle East as well as other parts of the world. Here we are in front of it. These restaurants look more like hotel fronts than restaurants. 

Well we didn't actually celebrate the visit of French President Macron but the Kurdistan Government did... the streets were lined with French and Kurdish flags and big welcoming billboards like this one.

Here is a proud Kurdish grandfather dressed traditionally taking a stroll with his grandson.

This is a celebration picture the day we received our Kurdish residency visas. This gentleman is the lawyer from the Barzani Charity Foundation who worked with the government to secure them for us. He said he had done hundreds of these and personally delivered ours to us as he had never encountered a couple whose background investigation and paperwork was so clean... and he just had to meet us in person and take his picture with us. We were surprised and honored!

And this is my last celebration picture... my Syrian Kurdish neighbors who came to sing Happy Birthday to me with their cute Kurdish accents.


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