The Iraqi and Me (Old News)

The Iraqi and Me

On Friday, May 5th, 2006, the most amazing thing happened to me. I got off the metro in Dupont Circle to wait for Jackie to meet me. While waiting, a man in a brown shirt came up to me asking where Pentagon City was. I told him it was on the yellow line. It was clear the man, who looked to be in his early 30's, was a foreigner, I just couldn't say from where.

He sheepishly told me that he didn't understand the metro system. Having lived abroad I sympathized with him. It's tough not knowing the language or what connects to where.

As it turned out though he was from Iraq! I was shocked. Even more suprising is the fact that this guy is on the city council in Baghdad. Apparently, the Department of State is bringing Iraqis to the US in order to learn about democracy.

He told me he had only been in the US for a month and that this was his first time on a subway. I couldn't get over it. I've heard and read about this stuff in the news but never in my life did I ever imagine I would meet someone who dealt with the situation in Iraq on a daily basis. Everyday Bush is talking about the war, bombs are going off, soldiers are dying, Iraqis are dying, and it seems like everything is a mess. Yet, here this guy was in the flesh who had to deal with this stuff everyday. It was strange being so close to a conflict that at times seems so detached and far away. Maybe McInnes is right about war turning into a Spectator Sport

I asked him how life was and he said it was hard. He had been elected twice now to the city council. He joked (I think) that he wanted someone to beat him the third time around. He said the security situation is very bad and that he worries about the the safety of his family and himself. He personally has hired several bodyguards but it looked like he didn't think it was enough. He told me he had trouble sleeping at night he was so worried.

According to him, the electricity doesn't work and the economy sucks but even with the hardship he said things were better than before. I didn't ask him whether he thought the US should stay or go but if I had to infer I would say that he thinks the US should stay.

The man then asked my girlfriend and I thought whether Americans knew that Iraqis lived normal lives. Whether they knew they went to school, had fun, got married, go to work etc...and aren't just people who are caught up in violence and war. I didn't know how to answer that one but Jackie, always the pessimist, said probably not. Although she did stress that we at American are an enlightened bunch who realize that they are regular people. Of course, WE understand.

I think the most worrisome thing to me was the way he talked about our troops. He said he liked them a lot but it was clear that the soldiers there were scared of the Iraqis. I don't know if scared is the right word but, according to the man, the American soldiers in Iraq seem distrustful of all Iraqis. They don't know who to trust and its hard for them to see who is bad and who is good. How could they tell the difference between those who would harm them and those who won't? I could only imagine how difficult it must be for them.

Finally, the man said he was suprised how Americans in the US were so very different from Americans in Iraq. I felt kind of the same, only about Iraqis.

In the end, I left the guy at L'Enfant Plaza and sent him in the right direction. My only regret is that I didn't get any of the guy's contact info or give him mine. It would have been interesting to keep in touch with him. I realize of course that this is only one person's view and obviously he wouldn't be in the government if he didn't support what the US was doing there to some degree. However, what made this so interesting was that it was so genuine. After talking with him I felt like I understood what was going on in Iraq a lot moew.

One last thing, in my Negotiation class we talked about cross-cultural communication. One thing that came up was touching. Until I talked to this guy I didn't realize how much we don't touch in the US. This guy was all over me (not in a bad way) and while I talked with him I realized that North Americans must really seem frigid to the rest of the world. I don't think a minute went by when he didn't have an arm on me or something. It was quite an experience.

Wherever that guy is I wish him well.

(The above was posted on a now defunct blog and I transferred it here)

EL FIN

I decided to wait awhile before finishing my blog. I needed to give myself a little time before I could digest the past semester in my mind.

I would have to say that all in all I enjoyed the semester thoroughly. Besides the bars, the beach, the bodacious babes (I'm a fan of alliteration), it was fascinating to get to live and get to know another culture. Now when I see pictures of Chile, the landscape, the cities, the people, I have something to put in context. Five months worth of memories and insights. Amazing.

When I first got there I knew nothing about the country. I'm not going to claim to be an expert on Chile, all I can say is that from living there is that I barely scratched the surface. Maybe I'm a post-modernist in a sense, truth and knowledge can't really be attained. Without a doubt though, Chile is a country with a lot of depth and complexities that I haven't yet come to fully understand.

I think I'll have to go abroad again to truly understand. When I first got there Prof. Ramirez told us Chile was an 'island', meaning that due to geographic features, mountains in the east and desert to the north Chilean culture developed in isolation from the rest of Latin America. This to some extant explains why they are not as gung ho about the regional integration projects and why they have a tenacity for creating thousands of slang words for foreigners and Spanish speakers to gnaw their teeth at.

(I still wonder what FOFEAR means? I guess I'll have to go back and ask...)
But it will be a lot easier the second time. I have friends there now, I can ride the metro, ride and survive on el micro, consume my weight in manjar, make an empanada like a pro (well I know how to do it, in practice it might turn out differently...as Anna can attest), give directions in Santiago, sing Victor Jarra songs at a pena, know the difference between bilp and pap, and on and on and on...

It's hard to explain what I learned in Chile. People ask me all the time, and I give the usual ''oh my spanish is a lot better, it was so much fun etc, etc..."

But there was something more, something I can't quite explain...Cachai?!

Another day down

I bought a pack of cookies for 299 pesos today which is less then 50 cents. Everything with sugar in it here is so cheap! I need to get out of here before I blow up like a balloon!

Finished History

I finished my history class today. I did my final presentation of on the theology of Padre Hurtado and it`s relation to Liberation Theology. Padre Hurtado was the guy who founded El Hogar de Cristo which is one of the largest charity organizations in Chile. Interestingly, he`s due for sainthood next year, he`s already been beatified so I guess he he´s pretty much got all of the honors a catholic can get.

He did a lot of work with kids and was really important inthe non-profit, charity sector here. They actually had an article in the newspaper today about how the Catholic Church was passing out pamphlets to kids here to teach them what Padre Hurtado did during his lifetime.

The story about how he founded Hogar de Cristo is quite interesting. The story goes that one day a man in the street in rags, with an acute case tonsilitus came up to him asking for refuge, unable to help the man Padre Hurtado was shaken. The next day Padre Hurtado was talking with a group of women and spontaneously he started talking about how many poor and children with out homes were wandering the streets of Santiago. The women were so impressed that they gave him money, land, and jewelry to help him found Hogar de Cristo.

After that Padre Hurtado spent the rest of his life helping the poor and he became a local hero.

Goat

My host dad made goat the other day, chivas in spanish. It was a little tough but it had a nice flavor.

Last Night

I crawled into bed at around 5AM last night. We went out for sushi and then to three bars in Provedencia. We started at Budapest, a bar in Bilboa. Next, because my friends, locked in their American ways, decided to go to an Irish pub. Which I am against just because I think we´re in Chile in order to meet Chileans and experience their culture, not Irish culture.

But at least it was fun. We actually met Irish people, funny meeting Irish people at an Irish pub in Chile. They had very nicely sounding accents and were just a riot to listen to. Apparently, Irish people adapt well to a pub environment.

With sayings like --I´d burst into flames if I went into an English pub-- which is about the most appropriate thing said last night. And the rest should be forgetten by humanity and never brought up again.

Interestingly though, one of the fellows there was half-Irish, half-Peruvian. He wasn't a fan of the Chileans and was there on business. Apparently, there is a lot of racism in Chile against Peruvians. That wasn't suprising to me though, I've heard many here say that Lima is a dirty, ugly city. Additionally, in the Plaza de Armas, there is the Peruvian corner where the migrants sit and wait for work. It seems here, Peruvians are like Mexicans in the US.

Ah Choo

Apparently, Chileans don´t say ´god bless you´ or ´gazuntheit´ or even salud. I talked about with my Spanish professor today and she said that it recently became rude to say it. It's baffling how a country of 15 million people can come to a decision like that.

After my Pobreza and Desarrollo class I went with Mark and Ryan to the Pre-Colombian Art Museum near La Plaza de Armas. It cost 2.000 pesos which was kind of steep compared to the other museums that only cost 600 pesos. The museum was very well run with interesting exhibits although it was kind of small. It only had one floor.

The exhibits had a lot of pottery and statues. Apparently, that´s what they did back then. Interestingly, they also had an exhibit on pre-colombian textiles which was different. Apparently, there are a number of ways to stitch alpaca wool together depending on whether you want to make clothing, tablecloths, or carpets.

I came back around 4PM and had my host mom´s stew waiting in the fridge which I gobbled up. There was also some mint chocolate laying around which I nibbled on. She´s been taking a cooking class on chocolates which I would say is working out in my favor.