The Iraqi Mask of Survival...

"A teacher, a banker. A carpenter, a bricklayer. A secretary, an architect. A computer shop owner, a cell phone shop owner. A taxi driver and a black market fuel seller are the professions that my Iraqi colleagues hide behind. Sam, you read my mind, and its getting scary, cuz that particular subject always intrigued me, and I did ask my colleagues about it before you even mentioned it.

S, the assyrian goddess is an architect by degree. Ever since she graduated she worked in that profession, and so people never really asked where she went every morning, because they presume she is still working for the design company she used to work with. As for her sister, well, she used to be a banker, and now she is a translator here in the GZ, and again, everyone presumes she is still at the bank. As far as what S tells me, the minute they head back home, thats it, they dont leave until the next day to avoid interaction with people, unless they have to go shopping in Karrada. But apart from that, their so called socialising life is spent at home, watching TV. We stopped seeing our friends S said. Its far too dangerous to walk the streets."
NIW