east west

Who needs TV when you have meteorology?

They're predicting cold weather for the weekend - a force down from the arctic that has no use for sweaters, scarves, or anything else of the sort. Hardened winds that have little mercy and no need for daylight.

Our northwest climate is so predictable, so commonplace - I miss the sense of adrenaline that comes from living in an area with distinct seasons. I miss the run on grocery stores that would inevitably occur each autumn in Virginia, a result of some hurricane slated to make landfall that evening. I miss having to pull off the side of a nowhere road in Ohio, due to the rain that looks like stars as it collides with the windshield, as if we're driving through a galaxy. I miss waking up to a Nebraska morning, the thermometer at negative two degrees and falling.

All of these things, I miss. And I know I'm constantly invoking my Iraqi family, but they're the most non-predictable (read: interesting) part of my life right now. We no longer sit awkwardly at the kitchen table and try to work through verb tenses. Instead, we go straight to the living room to talk. We will learn what we learn - but it will be through conversation rather than through xeroxed copies of archived worksheets. Last night, we were talking, and someone got all excited about something and got on YouTube to show me Hussam al Rassam (the famous singer, of course) giving a concert in Detroit. Then someone else took over and showed me a video of an Iraqi pop star, living her glamorous life in Baghdad, pre-2003. This evolved to compilations put together of famous Iraqi landmarks, set to traditional music. The mood in the living room sobered as we watched another video after video. They're proud of their city. They speak of it with ellipses, each time telling me, "This is the famous University of Baghdad…but…before…. Oh, and this is the City Center….before….".

The last time we hung out with our friends, we also jumped on YouTube, each of us having something to share: Have you seen the PowerThirst video, what about the one with OK Go, you need to see the excited pug, check out SonSeed, etc. Our video searches are geared towards our amusement rather than the fulfillment of a nostalgic need. We get on there to laugh and make fun of ourselves. The Iraqis get on there to be a part of a familiar community and to see land that they will never see again.

No matter how much I miss the meteorological patterns of the Southeast Atlantic, I could go there and experience it any time I wanted. But my Iraqi family absolutely, under no circumstances, can go back to the Baghdad they left behind. The Baghdad they knew before…you know…before all of that happened….

posted by jessica @ 3:34 PM