"Inshallah" from Jase

Inshallah. Roughly translated it means "God willing." Even more roughly translated it means "waiting for something to not only fall in my lap but slap me in the face." Big part of the culture over here.Things just don't move as fast. There is no reason to rush anything because, in their minds, Allah will provide everything in due time. You might have seen on the news Iraqis who don't have homes. They had homes 4 years ago, and now they don't. Leads most people to believe that they don't because evil Americans must have bombed their homes. Not so much. Many have fled their homes to evade the insurgents who are setting up Islamic states which have no tolerance for anyone breaking their fatwahs, or laws. Once we come in and run them out of town, some return to their homes and some don't. People who have fled other areas, you would think they would move into these "free" homes. But they don't. Their families are living in the streets, with shelter available, and they continue to live in the streets. Why? Inshallah. They believe that God will provide them with a home. Well, there's a free one, right there, but they don't take it. They want a new one. Sometimes, they won't take it because they are Sunni, and it was built by a Shia. Don't get me wrong, the average Iraqi is good people. They are very much a product of their society and culture for the last 100 years though. They are used to hardship and death. It's been part of everyday life for them. They are reluctant to listen to us because, for so long, we were the enemy. Commies are bad right? Why? Well, they're not us. It's the same thing, but we're the commies to them. The bad 10% do everything they can to ensure the good 90% stay wary of us. They are also a very proud and loyal people. The problem is that they are loyal to different things. Some to Iraq, some to Islam, Sunni, Shia, their tribe, their region, their cleric, to Arabia, whatever. And they all want to be represented equally in the government. How can you equally represent a region of 2 million people and a tribe of 200? I hope we can make enough progress here to at least have the ball rolling when Washington gives up on us. It's much easier to maintain something than it is to create something. We are creating over here. Tell me why, immigration reform has been a topic for at least the last 10 years, but we still have nothing new. Yet, to invigorate an entire countries infrastructure 4 years is taking way too long? We made our bed, we need to lye in it. A very complex bed. One you can't just roll out of. There is only one right side and many wrong sides. Will we find the right side? Inshallah.

Other things that are different here. The light switches are up for off and down for on. There are a myriad of electrical connectors here, so the power strips are made to accept them all. Only problem is if you bump it, it will break connection long enough to reset your clock or whatever. Some Arabic tv channels show American and British shows. But, they are a few seasons behind or so. Some were even cancelled after one season. Why would they pick up a show that got cancelled after one season 4 years ago? Most of the movie channels so the edited for tv versions, complete with the fade to black for a commercial, but they still show them commercial free.

I'm very much a part of "they" here. You know, "they have a plan,"" I wonder what they are doing." I'm pretty low on the they pecking order, but I'm they nonetheless. It's different. I'm used to being a "you." As in, "you go do this, it's what they said to do." It's the difference in trusting what you are doing will work, because they said it would, and hoping what you have come up with will work. I don't get to come up with much because I'm still a pawn, but I try to help when I can.

That's about it for now. I love hearing from all of you, so keep the emails coming.

Jase