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Anne Kate, I saw you mention that you expected to be in Iraq by next MLK day. How is that whole project going? Have you already secured a job that'll take you over there, or are you still talking to various companies, or what? I'd love to know all the details.
Posts: 16059 | Registered: Aug 2000
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I'm still looking. I sort of waited while Brando was sick because I knew I couldn't leave him. I've got my passport renewal sent in and am studying Arabic. I just received a letter of recommendation that my friend Dr. Joey said he'd write for me. I've got my resume updated and I'm all ready to start contacting the various firms who have contracts over there.
Though I have really enjoyed this time off, I'm very excited about going, and plan to find something as soon as I can. The garbage that's going down over there just makes me that much more determined not to let the people peddling hate and chaos beat out those of us who stand for peace and freedom and working telephones.
Honestly, I think clean running water and reliable electricity and mail and UPS and decent mine-free roads and phones and plumbing and public transportation and school buildings with roofs and all that other quotidian boring technological stuff is the very substance of which civilization is made. The Iraqi people have lived under a reign of terror for long enough. They deserve some peace and freedom now.
Posts: 2843 | Registered: A Long Time Ago!
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<laughs> I might buy some over there. But I'm taking a bunch of BedHead Creative Genius gel and just going as me. I figure they can deal. Posts: 2843 | Registered: A Long Time Ago!
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Anne Kate, has anyone told you how great and decent person you are? And brave. Not just for heading to the part of the world with a great deal of conflict, but just deciding to lend your talents and caring to others.
I would say, "Glad to know there are people like you out there," but it's not needed in a group like this. Even so, you stand out.
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Anne Kate, You're my hero!! Please let me know how things go. Rich and I have plans to do something along these lines in about 2 year and I'm anxious to hear how you manage.
[ September 12, 2003, 03:35 PM: Message edited by: The Rabbit ]
Posts: 12591 | Registered: Jan 2000
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Muppet, whoa! Why didn't I ask before on hatrack? I've found teach-yourself-Arabic websites and am trying to learn the basics from there but was told that the different dialects were very different, so I was planning on trying to get a local once I get over there to swap language lessons with me to go farther than that. I understand that translators are in great demand because of scarcity, so definitely I want to learn the language so I can talk to workmen and Iraqi engineers and so on. Unfortunately I do not have a knack for sucking up languages instantly as my esteemed daughter Saudade does, so it's a slog. Any help or practice anyone can give would be greatly appreciated!!!
I am SURE I will still be online no matter what, so of course I'll stay hooked up with hatrack. I'll just be posting at a different time of day. I'll let you guys know how it goes, but don't expect anything like so entertaining a log as Lalo has made for his Costa Rican adventure! Posts: 2843 | Registered: A Long Time Ago!
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Well, as far as I've been told, Cairo is the Hollywood of the Middle East. Movies, radio, etc. are all in Egyptian Arabic. So even if Iraq has three different dialects, they all should know colloquial Egyptian. I've learned that some letters (I'm learing fusha, the written, on top of colloquial EA) are pronounced differently in Iraq than they are in, say, Morroco. It's usually pretty subtle.
Muppet, someone told me that learning other dialects besides Iraqi would just be confusing since they are fairly mutually incomprehensible, but I'm open to whatever works. Posts: 2843 | Registered: A Long Time Ago!
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Will you be doing this for charity, or getting a job with a regular corporation? (Obviously you are doing it for charitable reasons, but that is irrelevant to my question.) If you are doing it for a charity I might be willing to donate a relatively small sum to it, and I am willing to bet that I am not the only one.
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((((((anne kate))))) you'd BETTER be online! or I'll....um..hunt you down and force you to long on and type?
Posts: 3493 | Registered: Jul 2001
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Wow. Damn, Anne Kate. It sounds impressive as hell.
Just to fall into the protecting-male bullshit, what kind of protection are you taking with you? I'd have trouble getting by in Iraq, and I'm 6'3", 225 lbs, and might even be able to pass as Arabic, if I wore enough covering and got a deep enough tan. You're a gringa. From the US, no less. I hope you're packing some kind of protection.
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Divine grace is about it, I'm afraid, such as it is. That and my winning smile. And my ability to order people to behave and have them mind. Thanks for worrying about me, though, Lalo.
Danzig, I'm planning on getting an engineering job with a company who is over there doing rebuilding, so no donations needed, thanks.
It's my plan to work in the future with my church doing development work worldwide. Mostly education and so on, but also humanitarian mission stuff like clean water supplies, and such, as needed. That will be volunteer when I do that, but for now I'm still a working stiff and am looking for a paying gig.
[ September 12, 2003, 11:03 PM: Message edited by: ak ]
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Lalo, dear, I would hire you as a bodyguard if you were up for it and I could afford it. On second thought, I'm not sure we can manage the havoc you would cause on the women's side of the compound.
Seriously, a female is sometimes safe in times and places where a big threatening guy might get shot, but I plan to stay out of dangerous situations as much as possible, of course, at least those that can be reasonably avoided. Posts: 2843 | Registered: A Long Time Ago!
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BYU got federal funding to open up this site. It gave me some cool information, but probably won't be good for someone wanting to learn the language without the text. Everyone agrees that the best way to learn a language is an immersion program, and you're going to one boss immersion program.
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