Chicago: Day 1

Managed to film one of the new refugee Assyrian families the nite before I left NZ, left 4 hrs to pack up the house and my bag. Ada had to help me pack and we arrived at airport 5 mins before check in closed. She is to be praised for her calm. Flights were ok, long queues in LA and I lost a tripod in transit but it's turned up ok. So tired when I got here I slept in my clothes with the lights on. Hotel is nice, but not good for transport so I might move. My contact in Chicago is Peter who runs an Assyrian news website that has been tracking the violence towards Assyrians in Iraq. But he also teaches dance, is a software developer and classically trained musician, so multi talented, incredibly bright and I have to nearly run to catch up with him when we walk anywhere. He reminds me of the Assyrian activist I met in Beirut: kind, ascerbic, intense. I wonder if it's cultural. We talked and talked and talked about Assyrian stuff. I left my net book in NZ which is a bit crippling, so he kindly took me to an Apple store where I bought this iPad. Not sure what's happening tomorrow. He just said "We'll talk".