MY FIRST PERSON THAT DOES NOT LIKE THE USA
I was so excited to meet this guy I ran right to the internet to publish this in my blog.
There is a guy in my Hotel that does not like the USA and wants to go home.
I have been in Iraq for about 2 weeks, and this is my first person to encounter that does
not like the USA and shows it.
I stopped in the lobby of my Hotel to sit with my friend the owner of Shereen Palace.
He could be manager, but he seems like the owner. He knows about 5 words of English
and I know about 5 words of Kurdish. But we sit together daily and share a Tea.
He is a great guy.
He is a good host and invites people to sit down, shakes their hands and make
them at home. He is about 65 year old is my guess.
Well, I to go and sit down with him. There is a man sitting already with him.
The owner waves his hand in a very small way, but the staff immediately takes
care and brings me a Chi or Tea.
No the guy looks at me hard and says,
"What you do?"
This is good English in this country. Just the minimal number or words.
I say,
"I have webpage."
Then I say,
"Tourist."
He nods his head, and acts like he understands.
I have not had anybody understand the word "Webpage" yet, so
I know he is full of it.
He ask me where I am from, and says,
"Texas."
I say,
"Indiana"
Pointing at an imaginary map in the air.
I point at Chicago and say,
"Chicago."
I point at an imaginary mapy in the air at Detroit.
Lots of Iraq people in Detroit, so they know this place.
I say,
"Detroit."
Then I point in between and say,
"Indiana."
He is nodding his head, and is not the kind of person to admit he does
not understand, and being that I already think him a complete
[email protected]#$H24
Why would I care?
He still wants to know what I am doing.
I say,
"Take photos."
To be polite, and being my friend is next to me, and he is talking
wih the gentleman, I figure I should ask him,
"Where from?"
He says,
"Baghdad"
I say,
"I go Baghdad."
He shake his head and says,
"No good"
Then the clincher.
"Because America."
I am thinking... hmmm. Let me describe the guy.
He is like a fat policeman from Mexico that wants a bribe.
Arrogant and obnoxious. Probably has a little...?
But this guy has on the white typical south Iraq dress.
The long type shirt. Now this is not a pretty sight.
He must weigh at least 300 pounds.
Unshaved and red eyes, like his blood pressure is up.
I sit and drink my Tea.
This is a no win situation, so who cares.
He talks with the owner, and says,
"Go back America."
I say,
"Why?"
He stares. I wish the owner could have understood, he would have died
of embarrassment for this mans actions.
I ask him,
"Why Erbil?"
He says,
"Global Oil."
It took about 5 time of making him say this before I was sure I understood.
He works for Global Oil.
I was tempted to say,
"Are you up here to blow up the pipelines?"
But he was a soft target, he has big chip on his shoulder and was fat.
I made him repeat,
"Global Oil"
Let me tell you this. People from Baghdad and Arab are not really welcome
in Kurdistan. The let them come up, but I am sure they watch them closely.
The Arabs and the Kurdish have a long term dispute.
They are uncovering mass graves in Mosul right now of the Kurdish people
that Saddam killed. So this guy was suspect.
Well. I waited around for quite awhile. Just to let him know that...
But I was excited.
There has been no clear opinion, even in Mosul of people that do not
like the USA. This is the first.
There was 2 ex soldiers that said,
"Bush Shoe." But nobody says anything about the USA.
So I met my first.
Well... Global Oil?
