Isn’t there something wonderful about going home? For me it’s one of the best things about the holiday season. But after living in Iraq for several years, home has come to mean a lot of different things. Now, it’s often the place where I am not. When I’m at my parents’ house “home” is the [...]
There are candles lit in the living room, the wind is howling outside and we had a snow day last week. Were it not for the constancy of baklava and old men in huge pants, I could think I was in the US. (Though, honestly, my city in the US has baklava and big pantsed-men in spades.) This [...]
"Yek hazar, yek hazar, yek hazar!" This is what you’ll hear if you go shopping with me in Kurdistan! Being shouted loudly by a man or young boy dressed in traditional Kurdish clothes, or by a recording being blasted out over a loud speaker, blaring in your ears… Yek hazar means one thousand. One thousand [...]
The vastness of Kurdish hospitality floors me. If you go to someone’s house they give you the best food, the best seat, and make you eat everything until you don’t think you’ll be able to move. They aren’t satisfied with you being at their house for an hour, you should be there for three… minimum. [...]
Sometimes people ask what we do when we aren't teaching in Iraq. Here's one team member's day visit to a village. I got the text on Viber, "I am driving out to my village to get my mom back I was wondering if you would like to come with me.” I had been wanting to [...]
