neurotic Iraqi wife
August 13, 2008
Grilled Prawns Ala Turkish Spit...
It felt as if I was on one of those Sex and the City sets except we are three friends not four, and we are all married not single all sitting in this cozy coffee shop in an upscale area in Dubai sipping yummy lattes and gossiping about all the people we know. Both of my friends are pregnant, one with her second child the other with her third and both are my childhood friends. I just loved sitting there listening to their stories about motherhood and life in general. I didn’t feel odd or bored what so ever, on the contrary for the 3 hours we were there I was taken to a point so far away from Baghdad and my own reality.
As HUBBY picked me up to go back to AD I was extremely disappointed that the time flew by so fast. He asked whether I had fun. “Oh my god HUBBY, I havent had so much easy fun in a long long time. It was great to see them after all these years”. And it definitely was good to see them. I cant even remember when was the last time we actually met up. Ever since they moved to Dubai and I went to Baghdad it became abit difficult to have our lattes together.
In a few weeks time I too will end up like them, no, not pregnant, but a simple house wife. Yup, I have spoken to my Boss and we both decided on a date that’s suitable for both the company and myself. They need me to train someone and so I need some time to do that not that my job is complicated, in fact its very simple but needs a lot of attention to details and consistency. When my friends asked how I felt about the decision, I simply said ask me when Im back here. Yes it is definitely going to be difficult to adjust to a normal life and leave behind the people I got so accustomed to, but at the same time I think its time to move on. To move on and start afresh and this time unlike the last one, I am in fact ready.
So yeah I will be back here spending some quality time with family. I am abit apprehensive for not finding a job before I leave, but I guess I will start looking once Im ready. When I informed the whole family about my decision everyone was just in shock. It took them a few seconds to register what I was actually saying and then the whole room broke into sounds of clapping and people Yaaaaaaaaying. Lol. Hmmm, I didn’t know I was missed THAT much.
We came back from Turkey a week ago, and it was great fun. Istanbul was just breathtaking. Would definitely go there again, as for Bodrum, well that’s a long story which I will keep for another post. All I can say, we were taken for a ride, a big one too! At the same time my perception of Turkish people has changed. I used to think they hated Arabs, but everyone we saw and talked to were extremely friendly and more so when they found out we were Iraqis.
There is this famous Café in Bodrum called the Bodrum Café, we sat there for dinner as we were meeting my brother in law and nephew there. One of the waiters asked “where you from? Spain?” We laughed and said no, Iraq. “Ooooooooooh, Iraq, Iraq good but very much war, America bad. America evil”. Hubby and I looked at each other and so I said to the waiter, “Hmm but if we said we were Americans, you would say “Goooooood America, nice America”” The Waiter laughed sarcastically and walked off. “Umm HUBBY, I think I probably should have kept my mouth shut cause I think Im gonna end up with Grilled Prawns ala Turkish spit” Lol…
The Prawns did eventually arrive, so did HUBBY’s paella which he barely ended up eating because the darn thing was filled with so much chilli. HUBBY loves chilli, but umm not to THAT extent. I think the waiter told the chef “Zey are Iraqis, bad Iraqis make zer food spicyyyyyyyy, very spicyyyyyy” hehe. I did have my Grilled Prawns though. Grilled Prawns ala Turkish Spit…
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As HUBBY picked me up to go back to AD I was extremely disappointed that the time flew by so fast. He asked whether I had fun. “Oh my god HUBBY, I havent had so much easy fun in a long long time. It was great to see them after all these years”. And it definitely was good to see them. I cant even remember when was the last time we actually met up. Ever since they moved to Dubai and I went to Baghdad it became abit difficult to have our lattes together.
In a few weeks time I too will end up like them, no, not pregnant, but a simple house wife. Yup, I have spoken to my Boss and we both decided on a date that’s suitable for both the company and myself. They need me to train someone and so I need some time to do that not that my job is complicated, in fact its very simple but needs a lot of attention to details and consistency. When my friends asked how I felt about the decision, I simply said ask me when Im back here. Yes it is definitely going to be difficult to adjust to a normal life and leave behind the people I got so accustomed to, but at the same time I think its time to move on. To move on and start afresh and this time unlike the last one, I am in fact ready.
So yeah I will be back here spending some quality time with family. I am abit apprehensive for not finding a job before I leave, but I guess I will start looking once Im ready. When I informed the whole family about my decision everyone was just in shock. It took them a few seconds to register what I was actually saying and then the whole room broke into sounds of clapping and people Yaaaaaaaaying. Lol. Hmmm, I didn’t know I was missed THAT much.
We came back from Turkey a week ago, and it was great fun. Istanbul was just breathtaking. Would definitely go there again, as for Bodrum, well that’s a long story which I will keep for another post. All I can say, we were taken for a ride, a big one too! At the same time my perception of Turkish people has changed. I used to think they hated Arabs, but everyone we saw and talked to were extremely friendly and more so when they found out we were Iraqis.
There is this famous Café in Bodrum called the Bodrum Café, we sat there for dinner as we were meeting my brother in law and nephew there. One of the waiters asked “where you from? Spain?” We laughed and said no, Iraq. “Ooooooooooh, Iraq, Iraq good but very much war, America bad. America evil”. Hubby and I looked at each other and so I said to the waiter, “Hmm but if we said we were Americans, you would say “Goooooood America, nice America”” The Waiter laughed sarcastically and walked off. “Umm HUBBY, I think I probably should have kept my mouth shut cause I think Im gonna end up with Grilled Prawns ala Turkish spit” Lol…
The Prawns did eventually arrive, so did HUBBY’s paella which he barely ended up eating because the darn thing was filled with so much chilli. HUBBY loves chilli, but umm not to THAT extent. I think the waiter told the chef “Zey are Iraqis, bad Iraqis make zer food spicyyyyyyyy, very spicyyyyyy” hehe. I did have my Grilled Prawns though. Grilled Prawns ala Turkish Spit…
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10 Comments:
add one more to the Yaaaaaaaaying crowd!
but how do you know that you won't be pregnant? remember that no method is 100% bullet proof.
Congrats NIW, I think you're doing the right thing at the right time-ish. I'm sure living a normal life would seem "weird" in a way for some time after years of living in the land of the tortured souls. I'm sure you have talked to your hubby about doing the same and in many ways I'm kinda sure that his countdown of staying in Iraq has started as well. I'm also sure you have learned a lot and have come across a lot of good and ruthless people and you will have lots of stories to tell to your children one day Inshallah.
HELLO LUVLY NEUROTICA &FAMILY BACK TO ABU-DHABI HHHHHMMMMMMMMMMMYES YOUR FAMILY HAS A RIGHT TO SAT YYYYYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA IT IS HIGHT TIME TO RETURN TO MDEL OF A SOCIAL STRUCTURE THAT SHOULD DEPICT THE FUTURE FOR IRAQ AS WELL NOT TO MENTION THE LAND OF PRAWNS &SPIT, HAS A MODEL SOCIAL STRUCTURE IN COHESION WITH THE THE ARABIAN GULF ECONOMY SHOULD BUT ALL ,SPELL THE RIGHT RECIPE FOR IRAQ SO MAYBE COMING TO OUR REGION HERE ,AS YOU SHALL BE JUST UP THE ROAD FROM WHERE I AM !!!!&LOOKING AT THINGS FROM AN OVERALL PERSPECTIVE MAY GIVE YOU AN INCENTIVE TO PERHAPS PUBLISH A BOOK OR CREATE AN ALL IRAQI COMMUNITY FOR THE PROMOTION OF A FUTURE FREE ENTERPRISE PROSPEROUS IRAQ ALONG SIDE THE LIKES OF MAYSOON AL PACHACHAHI & DR.HALA FATTAH & AYAD ALLAWWI & ABADI ABADI & FAMILY :)SIMPLY LOVELY DARLING ALL THE BEST OF MERRY JOLLY GREETINGS TO READ OF A LOVELY HOLS THAT YOU HAD &KINDEST OF REGARDS WWW.BFBS.COM OLAFF:)CHEERS
Ha ha that was funny! A la Turkish spit...
Hi NIW, welome back... please tell us about baghdad now? they say it is better now.......
Great wishes for your new future NIW. I'm predicting we'll hear about a change in that whole baby thing within the next year (wink wink;) Solo
I hope the best for you and your HUBBY in the future. I think alot of your readers are happy that you are off to do the 'normal' life, if there is such a thing. And I hope you know, that when you don't write something here, for extended periods of time, we wonder if you left the planet. At least once you left there and you don't write, it will be that you are having to much fun to vent in our direction.
If you're your own Boss more power to you.
Lol Tib, I know I am not. And why are YOU yaying???
Thanks Leo, Inshallah. Im not sure if I will be able to get back to normalcy, but I will try for I have no other choice...
Hey Olaff, definitely!!!
Akinoluna, I tell you that prawn dish was really yummy :)
Alaa, yes thats what everyone tells me. But explosions still take place. We dont hear much about kidnapping. Killing though is again still happening. I cant say its 100% safe. But people are definitely going out more...
Hmm Solo, dunno...Lets just wait and see...Hopefully by next year things will start to happen...
Hey WH, left the planet without a BANG??? You must be kidding :)
EM, Wowwwwwwww, this is the first time you wrote something I actually understood!!! woohooo
By unmasking the sacred power of your feminine? C'mon whose responsibility is that? Many praises from my ashes*Sarcasm*. Growing a larger heart, undoubtedly a friend? Maybe no one helps you relate? Seldom a Boss will teach equality. Leaving a placeholder localized as a superior namely a "Boss" reminds our heart we individually suspend powerful emotions without dependency. Just as the application of your human intelligence does not impress as it does suspend climax above madness. The work in itself will clumsily secure chaos embarrassingly necessitating reverse engineering as progress. It's like your fixated on a waiting game satisfying destruction and addiction. Collaborate with my finer points expecting tyranny? You can be your own Boss when you have systematically thought of everything witnessing you. You then conceive this witness as pinnacle creation. Is it screw empathy when the climate forces us to breathe like the livestock? We hung a working class hero like yourself expecting praises, the reality of a mass murderer. Your Dictator rests and you take care to progress. Melting people with chemicals disregards the responsibility of your origins. tsk tsk. Smelting the unclean Earth like we imagine these irking improbabilities. Probable we claim independence sating the insecurities of our childishness. You didn't ask to be impressed. Save me the triumph of your analysis. or, or I'm pretty and I desire to be regular. I'll drink myself average! They stole my drink. Then I'll secure intelligent madness and god rest them when they take that away!No witness. To an infant the Earth is clean. The sacred power of our infancy. A finer part of everything. or we can kill the children? I don't work there! Oink Oink it's us the Americans!!! Someone better talk to the witness of creation. She's fat and old whatever, she's not half bad, alright. I vote she doesn't attack! Bossy people man.
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