From:  Bob Keith - Cool Dadio Media - Dahuk, Iraq, 2:00 p.m., Friday, 20 October 2006

 

  I thought it might be interesting to show a typical Internet cafe in Northern Iraq.  This cafe in these two photos is not as rough around the edges as some here, but their system is very slow to bring up Web pages. 

 

  The fellow on the right behind the counter was taken to Norway at nine years old in 1992 by his family to escape the war here back then.  He just moved back to Dahuk last year, now as an adult.  The other guy in the picture is his brother who runs the cafe.

 

  The term "Cafe" around these parts does not mean food.  If you are lucky, you can find a cooler of soda pop in the lobby of these Internet "cafes."  You have to get used to serving yourself.

 

  Then completely opposite of the serve-yourself Internet cafes, there are the street shops of various businesses and products.  In those the clerks (99.9 % of the time men) follow you around and watch you make your selections. A friend of mine I used to work with down South used to call that kind of thing back here in America, "someone look'n up-side your head."  Not a good feeling for Americans.  I don't believe they think you are trying to steal something, but rather it is just a cultural habit to participate in the product selection. Often while they wait for you to make up your mind in the selection process they will smoke, and/or cough, and sometimes talk loud to someone else near by, all this while standing very close to you.  I bring this up because these things don't seem to happen in other countries I've been to where women are often the clerks.

 

  This part of the world is a total man-world affair, and the lack of feminine detail and demeanor everywhere is blatant evidence of that. Now I understand there is a war here and feminine ornamentation is low on the priority but the non-militarized areas of Turkey I saw were the same way.  At night after say 5:00 p.m., the streets are packed with men shopping; sitting in sidewalk chairs and people-watching; chain smoking; talking loud; clearing their throats and spitting; and, generally doing man-things that would otherwise be relegated to the man-palace in the garage or basement in America.

 

 I do not believe it could be much fun to be a women traveler here, or must it be much fun for a woman to live here in the Middle East I have seen anyway. Perhaps I am missing the point, but it is sure contrary to the female-inclusive cultures I am used to in Viet Nam, Germany, and America. 

 

End of message.

 

Bob Keith - Cool Dadio Media


    - These are the two fellows from Dahuk mentioned above.  Notice their leader Brazani is
 ever present on the wall.  Also, notice the Kurdistan map conspicuously omits the rest of
 Iraq.  Photo by Bob Keith, October 2006 -


 - The same Internet cafe in Dahuk. Photo by Bob Keith, October 2006 -