Secret Santa in June

        For Lydia's birthday last week she wanted to have a secret santa-esque scramble throughout the bazaar. Nine of us pulled names and set off in pairs to find a gift under 2,000 dinar or about $2 for our partner. I drew Josh/Joseph/Joey and Lauren (my walking partner for the afternoon) drew Esther. Now, Esther is currently mastering Kurdish so getting her gift was easy. Once a English/Kurdish dictionary was purchased we were off to figure out what to get for Josh. After a long search I ended up getting him an neon green phone cover. All of our phones are identical so this gift was not as lame as it sounds. When we all met back up it was time to exchange treasures. 

Lydia got me a necklace with some bling.

      At first glance, this is just an awesome necklace in the shape of Kurdistan. But then when you realize that on the necklace is the Iraqi flag instead of the flag of Kurdistan you realize that this necklace is implying that Kurdistan should become a part of Iraq and not be independent like it desires so strongly to be. Upon learning this all involved feel terrible for buying and owning the necklace. All the atrocities that have happen in Kurdistan were because Saddam's Iraq wouldn't let the Kurds be their own people or have their own nation. So the symbolism behind this necklace is incredibly insulting. The only reason we even found out was because I pulled it out to show Kurdish guy he reacted very strangely and Lauren noted the flag difference. Thank goodness we noticed at all.
       Nevertheless!!! The afternoon was a success!!! Everyone went home with gifts and smiles which was the main goal the whole time. All for the love of Lydia.