Thursday, November 15, 2007

HW 34: Tea and Gold

After reading Baghdad is Burning I have found a new appreciation for gold and tea in the country of Iraq. Let us first start with gold, for Americans gold is a sense of status or how much money you make. But in Iraq Riverbend explains how gold is like paper money for Americans. See the Iraqi Dinar began losing value and was not reliable to have as a means of money for Iraqi’s. Riverbend explains the only solution, “people began converting their money to gold-earrings, bracelets, necklaces-because the value of gold didn’t change” (Baghdad Burning, 100). Now the American troops will confiscate these gold items because they did not think that Iraqi’s could own these fine items. Another part of the reading that interested me was the evening tea ritual that takes place in Iraq. What amazes me is how seriously they take their tea, and how Americans may insult them with our customs. “Iraqi tea isn’t a simple matter of teacups and teabags. If you serve ‘teabag tea’ to an Iraqi, you risk scorn and disdain- a teabag is an insult to tea connoisseurs” (Baghdad Burning, 108). They have a very extensive way of making their tea, which for us Americans would seem pointless but to them it is important. When tea is served, there is no light talk; they speak about real issues and politics. There is always time for tea also, no matter if there is bombings going on a couple of miles away they will still sit down and have tea and talk about the issues at hand.

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