Tassweek Time Coming Up

Yeee... it's cold. My feet are cold, my nose is getting cold too. Tomorrow is going to be a big day. We're going to start moving all the rice paddy to the government silos. Hopefully, we'll move it all over the next four days and then all that would be left would be to put aside the seeds for next season and the rice season will be finally over. Of course, I'll still have to finish doing the accounts to figure out how profit was made. I can't wait to find out how much it is. To finally know what all my effort has been worth.

It's been seven days since my New Year's and I still haven't put into practise my new year's resolution which is to read. I don't think I read anything last year except for The Alchemist which I had already read before. My dad wants me to read the book he made about grandpa, but it's in Arabic. Before working, I thought I would have so much more time to improve myself. I imagined farm life would've been pretty laid back, but it hasn't been so. I'm barely keeping up with all that needs to be done.

I spent a week in Baghdad before coming back to the farm on Sunday. It was such a great week. Even though I had some work to do and I didn't get around to visiting a dentist or seeing a doctor about my bad back, I did get the chance to relax and beat off plenty. My dad would call and ask me to work on the accounts but I didn't even give them a look, instead I took the time to see some friends and eat out. Found a place that makes some alright pizzas and sells booze too albeit expensive though.

I was hoping to try to see some of the girls that I chat to online that I had never met before, but that didn't work out simply because the days they had university I had to go out and do paperwork. But I really need to go see a dentist before meeting any of them becaues my teeth are filthy. I'm a bit scared too, because the other day I took Od and his wife to the restaurant and at a checkpoint a soldier asked what the girl was to me. That was strange because they're not supposed to ask that kind of question.

I have to be honest though, one big reason why I had a good time in Baghdad was because I was getting high. I somehow got my hands on some really lame weed. But it was so nice because it was just like the weed I had when I first started smoking when I was thirteen or fourteen in Baghdad. Certainly the best way to end and start a year. Undoubtedly the best thing I've done in a long time. What surprises me now is how relaxed I feel now as opposed to how I was before going back to Baghdad.

The only bad thing about getting high at home was that I was often paranoid that Nahida was going to catch me and make a big deal out of it. She did catch me, she walked into my room just after I had finished blazing one and she picked up all the roaches that I had poorly hid on the window sill. Thankfully she did not make a big deal out of it. Maybe she did appreciate how stressed out I was as Od had suggested to me.

The experience has however convinced me that when I do go on holiday abroad the first thing I have to do is get high.

I think I still have half a joint's worth left, but it's in Baghdad and I'm here at the farm. I'm just going to have to settle for one glass of tequila for now.

Its almost 5 pm and we are still on the road.checkpoint wasnt US.

Still on the same street, haven't reached any checkpoints yet. We're checking out middle aged government employees in a minivan. The jam is pretty much at a stand still. What a crap way to spend the day.

We've been in a traffic jam for 2h n we just want to get home for 1 reason only.all bcuz of a US checkpoint!mind u its new years eve.reporting live 4m Baghdad Oday.

Feeling Exquisitly Lazy

I got back from the plantation yesterday. I was so looking forward to coming here and I'm so glad to be back at home here. Lately, work's been wearing me out and this is the first time I find home empty without the presence of my father and my brother who each took their turns consequently to come and visit. I've been starving for some peace and comfort as well as other things (some of which I still long for). This right now isn't that bad at all though.

I'm sitting on the floor of my bedroom with my back against the wall, sitting underneath the split air-conditioner I had installed during this year's finals. I'm so glad that college is out of the way, but I'm still not sure how glad I am with where I am. I'm glad, I'm getting some great work experience at the plantation and other benefits I've yet to realise but work there is a bitch. What it falls down for me now is whether the profit's worth it and I don't know that yet because I haven't yet finished getting the accounts done.

My room appears to be the cleanest room in the house. I don't ever spend any time in here except to get dressed and sleep. I've got a no smoking rule in it but I've thrown out the rule for the first time ever tonight.

My butt is so numb, my back's been knackered for two weeks. I'm going to try to stretch. I can touch my toes if I bend my knees a little. That feels a little better. Take a deep breath to pause my thoughts.

The Spade is Here

This is taking a while.

Car's Stuck

My car's stuck on the big bump. 4x4 driving is wonderful. I'm waiting for a couple of spades now.

Harvesting

I'm now spending my days harvesting the rice crops. It involves going out to the little plots watching a bunch of guys weigh a pile or rice paddy left behind by a combine harvester, then calculating how much is to be left for the farmer and finally following the cart carrying my paddy to the mill factory where the paddy is dried.

My first harvest with the weighing workers and the combine harvesters was a good experience, everyone around me tried to pull off every trick in the book to rip me off. And what's worse was that the guy who is supposed to manage the harvest and who my dad made my number one adviser let every trick pass. That was two days ago, today however went much smoother.

My dad left about a week ago. But before that he did get me to wear the traditional local tribal dress and on the first day that I wore the dress I saw a wild hawk as I was driving out of the farm. I'm told that now that I've put them on, I can no longer take them off. I can still take the dress off when I go back to Baghdad and beyond fortunately. I guess I'm coping with it quite well. I've never had to wear the dishdasha before and my biggest complaint about it is that I can't take full strides when walking with it. As for the head gear, it stays on most of the time unlike the abaya which keeps falling off whenever I get out of the car.

The other thing my dad tried to do for me before leaving was finding me a wife. After a couple of no's. He found a distant relative of mine which as far as he was concerned was good enough. We went to their house for lunch. The girl popped into the living room to show herself, she was so shy and then left shortly. After she left my dad without any consideration for my opinion brought up the subject of an engagement period for the two of us to get to know each other. When we got home, I had a talk with him telling him that I wasn't interested in her, but he asked me to give the girl a chance for his sake so I went along with it.

What my dad didn't realize was that a failed engagement was a very serious issue for a girl's reputation, something that I myself didn't know until I told my friends about what had happened, but then again my dad doesn't always care for social conventions. When a week later, the family came over for lunch at our house the dad took me to the side to ask me to give him some assurance from me that I was truly interested in marrying the girl after I sit with her alone.

So the girl and I sat on the swing in the garden and asked each other questions about each other. I think the silliest question she had for me was whether her skirt which was mid-shin length was too short for my taste. I asked her if she read books, and I understood from her that the only books she reads are books about Islam. And then she somehow is convinced that she's open-minded and modern. I'm not saying that a person that reads books about Islam is necessarily not open-minded, but that's all she reads! She must be comparing herself and her family to some super-orthodox Muslims. Then we went inside, and my dad was now talking about buying the engagement rings the next day and doing the engagement ceremony a few days after that.

Later that evening after they had left, I called the dad to delicately say that I wasn't interested saying that I couldn't make my mind up after just talking with her for an hour or so, but I failed at delicacy when I told him that I wanted a wife that would go to a nudist beach with me. I didn't know that this guy was going to repeat everything I said to his family, which made it quite awkward when I later spoke to his daughter much later in the night. His daughter wanted to understand the situation from me. She herself was reluctant to get engaged so quickly and didn't say anything much different from what the father had to say except that at the end of the call she asked me what if we would delay the engagement to which I responded with a long pause and then a no.

After all the calls ended, I went downstairs to find my dad awake and told him of what had happened. My father had been so excited about the whole affair and after hearing the news he looked so disappointed. He understood that the father had unfairly cornered me into giving a decision which I guess is cool because that means as far as my dad's concerned I did give it a try. To that my dad added that I don't want a head-scarfed girl. I responded to that by saying that some head-scarfed girls are quite cool, which is true. But generally speaking he's right and I wish he'd had figured that out sooner.

He concluded by saying that he can't find another girl that he she was the only one left and that it's up to me to find one but insisted that he approves of her family. I don't think he's really given up yet. Now though, he's changed his tune, saying that I'm too busy with work to deal with marriage.

I hope my harvest is more successful. What sucks about this harvest is that it takes over three weeks to go through and throughout this whole time I'm stuck here and can't go back to Baghdad. I wonder if the paper work for my new car is ready. It wasn't the last time I was there, but there's not much point in calling them unless it rains in which case the harvest stops and I can go back to Baghdad to pick it up.

My First Harvest

This cheerful chap is the first farmer I met on my first harvest a couple of days ago. I can't remember his name and I forgot to write down how much he harvested by hand. I think he counted 60 bowls each of which are supposed to be 12.5 kg. Amazingly Fozzy does remember me telling him about it, and he remembers the guy's name and the total harvested: 61 bowls one of which I told the farmer to keep. The 60 then gets split evenly between the two of us.

Train Station (Fixed)

On the way back from a government office, dad and I toured the main train station that was built in the fifties. They have a line running down to Basra. It's an impressive building compared to more recent constructions. It's nice to imagine it what it would've been like back then. Something's wrong with the light meter in my mobile's camera.

(The following was appended later in the day)

I just spotted this article in the International Herald Tribune, and it talks about a new service running through Baghdad starting from the station I went to today. While my dad and I were there, my dad asked a couple of guys strolling past the platforms (neither were officials or of the sort) what services were running, one didn't know anything and the other mentioned the Baghdad - Basra line that includes bunkers but didn't mention the Baghdad service mentioned in the article. You'd think there ought to be some kind of big sign alerting people of a new route. But then again, with my poor Arabic skills, I only read things if I focus really hard.

Train Station

On the way back from a government office, dad and I toured the main train station that was built in the fifties. They have a line running down to Basra. It's an impressive building compared to more recent constructions. It's nice to imagine it what it would've been like back then.

Morning Jam

Drunk on the River

At a restaurant, literally sitting on the river with Od and my dad's friend who hasn't been in iraq for half a century. The old man had me drink nearly half a bottle of whiskey earlier, way more than my low tolerence to alcohol can handle.

Birthday Dinner

And that's going to be our dinner tonight.

Shopped for Booze

I just escaped from home, bought some 70 bucks worth of booze, and arrived at Od's house. We're going to drink the Smirnoff Black. It's not often Od would drink. But first we got to go shop for stuff.

Happy Birthday Me

First thing I'm going to do is take a look at some previous birthday posts. Last year I was boozeless. I've got a glass of tequila next to me now. Cheers. I got the new laptop and car that I was moaning about last year too. Three years ago I was whining about not having K here to do the barbecue and no he's not here damn it. I also spoke of frozen Orange juice and amazingly enough I've got frozen juice in the freezer. But I've now learned to just put the frozen stuff in a bowl and to eat it.

Here's a creepy looking thing I spotted outside the plantation house.

Test

I got a new Sony Ericsson phone (K800i) and it's got this mobile blogging feature and amazingly it works!

Must Sleep Earlier

It's been a long time since I've posted hasn't it. These days, I don't get much to myself. My dad came for a visit a couple of weeks ago and he's been doing my head in. Every few minutes he'd call me either to fix something up for him or to have me listen to one of his lectures. Some of his lecture are however quite useful. He talks to me about how I should run the farm and how I should act in front of others. The most recent note was to not suck my own blood in front of the people at the plantation because it's considered filthy and religiously forbidden.

I've been watching how he deals with farmers that don't do as they're supposed to. He uses a technique that involves gathering a bunch of farmers together intimidating the one at fault, having the others agree he is wrong and then have that one admit he is. And then dad would take some kind of decision that could involve receiving assurances from the elder farmers or forgiveness in light that the one has admitted he is at fault.

Some things don't change, even though I'm waking up at around eight in the morning my dad still complains that I wake up too late.

Back from Erbil

And I'm back home. I've been more or less stuck in front of the television ever since. Not much good on either. I really need to think about finding a solution to this couch of mine, it really isn't that comfortable.

Erbil was a good break. Everyday I'd wake up and then struggle to wake up my even lazier cousin Shin (that means blue in Kurdish and not his real name) to start a quest for breakfast. We'd usually end up going to a Lebanese fast food place and one time we went to a Lebanese restaurant and got drunk on home-made Arak. Afterwards we'd sometimes go play billiards because he likes it so much. He'd also beat me at it. I had a snooker table in my house, he shouldn't be able to beat me.

His mum and sister Zard would then come back from work. Zard's friend would then come pick us up and we'd go out to restaurants and I'd stuff myself with so much food. There were days when my belly was protroduing way too far out. It was a challenge for me to stuff myself with all the foods that I've missed. Sadly though, they didn't always get the orders right. At one place I ordered a milkshake and got some balls of icecream with some syrup at the bottom. At the end of the one week I spent there, the winner of the best dish there was the crab salad at Bakery And More.

We went bowling a couple of times, the first time I lost miserably to my cousin Zard who was blessed with beginner's luck. We also went karting a couple of times and in the last couple of races were beaten by a girl that had taken lessons. The karting was amazing fun though. Except that the second time I went I was a bit drunk and that kind of spoilt the fun for me.

I paid a visit to one of my relatives that had moved to Erbil because of the security situation and because he got some good rent off of his house here in Baghdad. He's an old guy and it was good to see him in good spirits. He was a horse racing addict and now the old guy tells me he spends his time making bets online. He tells me that everything's really nice in Erbil and that the people most of all are very nice. The only complaint he had was that of greedy and dodgy doctors. A lot of doctors had moved from Baghdad to there, and I guess they no longer worry so much about their reputation and care more for the money.

It's quite unimaginable to imagine you're still in Iraq over there. There is so much business happening there. The government's leasing and selling off big plots of land to real estate developers for cheap and in so doing so are creating many jobs. And unlike in the rest of Iraq, there is a sense of political stability in as there are two major established political parties.

I met a Kiwi woman there that works as an education consultant for the Kurdish government and she's got a programme that involves getting children with special needs around the region into mainstream schools by putting special teachers along with them in the school. To think that the government there is actually going so far as to seek foreign expertise is wonderful.

It might feel that the parties are like some kind of modern day mafias that get a cut out of every big business deal and not always operating as fair as it should be, but on the other hand it's being done in such a manner that people's lives are improving and the people do feel optimistic.

I was expecting to get license plates for my new car as soon as I get back. Now the showroom is telling me that it's going to take much longer than thought and that there's no way I'd get it before Eid and not in time for my dad's arrival because the paperwork is taking more time than expected. My dad's going to be very disappointed not to ride the new car in front of the folks at the plantation.