Weekend Guide for Ex-Pats in Ainkawa, Iraq

Ainkawa, a Christian-dominated suburb of Erbil, is the wedding dress capital of this city, probably the wedding dress capital of the KRG, possibly the wedding dress capital of Iraq, and maybe even the wedding dress capital of the world. If you stroll down the shopping street, the storefronts go like this: Shisha store, wedding dress store, grocery store, wedding dress store, wedding dress store, restaurant, wedding dress store, shisha store, bar, wedding dress store, and then followed by a few more wedding dress stores. Saturday a handful of friends and I are going to go try on wedding dresses, maybe stop by a Lebanese beauty center, and definitely get glamour shots taken. We’ll probably follow this up with some go-kart racing, just to ensure there’s not a total and complete overload of glittery ridiculousness to our day.

Other weekend plans include: Hitting up the usual bar, rug shopping near the citadel, and possibly bowling. Oh Iraq. This is not quite what anyone I know pictures when they think of you.