Helina Blogs

I was honored and respected by a friend when she invited me over for dinner to have a taste of the most traditional Kurdish meal in Kurdistan; the “Sar-u-pe.” "Bloody me," I said to myself, "a head and legs?" Well, duh! This is what Sar-u-pe translates to in Kurdish. I joined the dinner table and sooner than later I was frightened to see them hammering the head of the animal hoping to break through the skull and grab a taste of the brain. I was more frightened to see the eye-ball falling out of the socket and grossed out to see them chopping up the tongue of the animal.  The picture says it all To the side, they laid out a few platters of intestines, nicely filled with a mixture of rice, almonds, spices, etc. The tripe was chopped into pieces and were turned into little pockets filled with the same rice mixture.  The intestines filled with rice mix pockets of tripes filled with mixture of rice, almonds, spices, etc.  I did have the courage to join the...

Enjoying the back view of Akre The idea of writing this post came to me after I skimmed through Martha Stewart’s blog, “The Life of a Busy Wife”. I found a post on her blog where she goes on to talk about the reasons she blogs. So, my dear readers, have you bothered to think about why I blog? Here are some questions, followed by my answers to them. 1. If I could sum up myself and my blog in one paragraph, what would I say? I am vocal, a ball of energy and rather jumpy person, who bounces around from one station to another, from one topic to another and from one thing to another. I am an academician and am so committed to my students and work. I am dedicated and faithful to those around, and would be there for them 100% even if I may not agree with all their actions. I like to call myself a “busy bee”. I always have to be doing something. I think that my blog comes off like this too, although I know it does bother people that I jump from topic to topic. What can I say; I like to k...

Studies reveal the average time off in European Union countries is now 34.4 days, compared with just 25 in the US. Overall, employees in Lithuania are entitled to the greatest amount of paid leave, with 41 holidays per year. France and Finland come close in second, with 40 holidays a year. What about Kurdistan?  Just in the month of March, the average time off is 20-25 days.  Ramadan of this year, work hours were cut down by 2-3 hours daily for the whole month. Why? Because of fasting. Following Ramadan, a whole week was granted as a holiday for the feast of Eid il-Fitr. Two months later, another 7 days were granted for the Eid il Adha holiday, followed by the 1 st  day of the Islamic Calendar and the 10 th  day of the Muharam. All these days are sacred days; therefore they are considered holidays.  My dear reader, Kurdistan is the only region in the whole world that practices 3 new years; Nawruz, January 1st and the first day of the Islamic calendar. ...

The Start of an Academic Year in Kurdistan,  Students hanging out in the college yard before class starts As you walk through the bazaars and along the streets here in Kurdistan, you will see parents with their kids, busy buying school supplies, sewing school uniforms, and getting ready to have whatever it takes for a successful academic year. College students are also busy buying new clothes, thinking of how they should dress and what to expect out of their courses this year. As for myself, I am a lecturer and being brought up in America, other things are of bigger concern to me. I am worried more about the expectations students have of me. I am worried about the first day. What should I expect? I called every friend I have to explain my worries about the first day of teaching. Will they understand my English, I asked? Will we have a nice professor-student relationship? Will they respect my class rules and regulations? Afternoon traffic in the Duhok city The first th...

A picture showing how an individual is allowed to sell medications without having to have a proper pharmacy attire on, name tag or a pharmacy technician licensing 1. What are the requirements for storing medicine? By law, every medication has to be accompanied by a package insert. All information regarding storage content is contained within the package insert. All retail drug stores should abide by this package insert for the storage requirements of the medications.  Some medications require to be kept at room temperature, while others require being stored in a fridge. 2. In Kurdistan, we don’t have specialized stores for keeping medicine, what are the consequences? When the medication is stored under improper environments, the medication is considered adulterated and not good for the use by the public.  Some of the consequences of adulterated medication are loss of efficacy and stability, shortening of the medication’s shelf-life, etc. 3. Is keeping medic...

“Liberty is the only thing you cannot have unless you are willing to give it to others.” -William Allen White Building a Mosque at Ground Zero has been one of the most heated topics in the media lately. Before writing this article, I sent a questionnaire out to my American friends and contacts to simply ask for their honest opinions about this Ground Zero Islamic center story. Here are some of their reactions: “There is no reason to oppose building a mosque (or anything else) at that location which is, afterall, two blocks from "Ground Zero" where innocent people of all religions died.” “Ever since they coined the term "Islamic terrorist", there is no distinction between the two.” “A terrorist is a terrorist!! They come from all walks of life, all religions, all races, countries, and genders. Don't judge ALL for the sake of ONE!! By not allowing a mosque to be built WHEREVER, they're taking all of the sacrifices that occurred in the American Revoluti...