TSR Iraqi Society

a freshie is someone who has 'newly' arrived. there's going to be the village girl who never went to school, but the majority are educated and independent, i'm not sure where you have heard this propaganda from, and most importantly, why

I guess you haven't been through the process yet because you'restill some time away from marriage.

Basically,you have to rely on family contacts then just go to her house, sit down and talk for an hour or so, then decide if you want to have more meetings.

It's basically like interviewing.

ah...well, my personal definition of "freshie" is more to do with the person, how they carry themselves, are they educated, well mannered, etc. etc.

how long they have "arrived" matters little to me

methinks I may need to change the word I use to describe it.....freshie seems to no longer be correct

nope, you don't need to change the word you use to describe it, its just i'm introducing a time scale based judgement on using 'freshie', rather than using the word judging by how they carry themselves/education etc. Its just there's only so many times i can listen to people talk about how freshie's sit at home, pop out babies and gossip.

It gives the wrong idea of modern iraqi society.

after all, we are trying to convince the world we're normal...

hmm...methinks I have a better chance of winning the lottery and finding oil in my back garden that we do of convincing the world we are normal....

hmm...methinks I have a better chance of winning the lottery and finding oil in my back garden that we do of convincing the world we are normal....

maybe not the world just yet (........baby steps), but you'd be surprised by how many people are actually quite educated and don't greet you with that awkward 'ohhh... iraaaaq' reply when they find out where your family are from

(soz to butt in, like. me and my friends often have convos regarding this - about how we're sometimes embarrassed to admit we're from iraq because of our perceptions of other people's perceptions of iraqis)

not sure if this has been posted on here before but anyone seen this?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-FwqB3MNE8

i like admitting i'm from iraq, just to bask in that awkward silence. I get a kick out of it.

maybe not the world just yet (........baby steps), but you'd be surprised by how many people are actually quite educated and don't greet you with that awkward 'ohhh... iraaaaq' reply when they find out where your family are from

(soz to butt in, like. me and my friends often have convos regarding this - about how we're sometimes embarrassed to admit we're from iraq because of our perceptions of other people's perceptions of iraqis)

haha reminded me of this



and this

nah, can't explain it. i've embraced british culture a lot, without even really trying - i've grown up with it and feel very much british.. but also don't deny my roots, i know i'm iraqi and i did grow up in an iraqi household. so whenever i'm telling somebody i'm iraqi and i'm faced with that awkwardness, to me it says 'you are iraqi, i am rejecting you from british culture, you probably don't have the same sense of humour as me/etc, we are probably very different different people with very different backgrounds', when really i know we're not all that different.

but lol, i'm glad you can bask in the awkwardness. it's a skill i need to attain.

so you probably don't have an accent then, and perhaps you may rarely get asked 'where are you from originally though'.
I like the way you accept both the society around you and the traditions you were brought up in.

the whole awkwardness is more with how you perceive the other's view of what you just said. You may be mistaking awkwardness with awe....
Not everyone strikes lucky being born iraqi...i mean we're such interesting people, its an instant conversation starter.

i get asked quite often (my name kinda gives it away), but yeah i don't have an accent. but you're right, sometimes i think the awkwardness may be what i'm perceiving - this is what me and my friends often end up agreeing with.. that it's probably our perceptions a lot of the time. because obv, we are awesome people

i get asked quite often (my name kinda gives it away), but yeah i don't have an accent. but you're right, sometimes i think the awkwardness may be what i'm perceiving - this is what me and my friends often end up agreeing with.. that it's probably our perceptions a lot of the time. because obv, we are awesome people

How so?

Were you born in London? Generally, people who live in the west and have been there as kids don't have accents. My sisters and I certainly do not have an accent, but my parents do : ). Actually, when we were visiting in Iraq, we were told that we have an accent in Arabic (although I think my Arabic is great). People asked us if we were "foreign" lol.

Shhhh...


Shokran for the invite habibti.

Dolma and klecha coming soon as promised, guys...

I'm waiting for this klecha still...

obviously! lol
we don't have a happy medium with iraqi pride do we? We're either paranoid about being iraqi, or overly rub-it-in-your-face iraqi. But like you said, we're so funny, it doesn't matter.