Yesterday's news that NBC, MSNBC, the Los Angeles Times and many other American news outlets are now officially referring to the situation in Iraq as a "civil war" did not seem to phase Iraqi president and PUK founder Jalal Talabani. What the American press names the state of life in his country is of little consequence to him as he deals daily with the sectarian violence that has torn apart his country. The world watches as it struggles to rebuild and waits to see what will come of this volatile area.
Talabani did take a few minutes out of his busy schedule today to surprise one of our very own Oz readers with a celebratory birthday dinner along with several heads of state at his Kurdish home in Erbil. Jen H. was welcomed with the hospitality that is typical of the Kurds, and sat with Talabani and his family for a meal of rice and shila. After dinner, Talabani and Jen met with the press for questions. One member of the Kurdish press asked her how this compared to American celebrations, and she answered, "Well, in America, we are given cars at every birthday, and you did not give me a car. That is different. Your cake is very good though, and I am glad that we could dance. I have missed Kurdish dancing."
Jen flew home on Thursday and was met at the airport by her friends Robert and Angie at the airport in Columbus, Ohio. They will be enjoying another birthday celebration together on Friday evening, though one can only imagine it will not be as eventful as meeting the President of Iraq, Jalal Talabani!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY JEN!!!
5 comments:
Haha!!!
Seriously, though. Mam served you shila and rice? You got robbed. His wife should have been in the kitchen whipping up some Ser u Pe!! Or at least some yaprax and mast aw.
I would take shila as an insult. D-Dawg served you shila and we all know how she feels about you.
and boy, what a FUN time it was!!
the dancing was the best, but i asked Angie not to post the video because Mam Jalal got a little crazy.
thanks for remembering my big day!! :)
Hey Angie! How goes it? Its been a while so I thought I'd stop by and see if you still existed! lol
Rachel - I do still exist. Just kickin it around the apartment! Praying about what's coming up next and getting ready for Christmas...!
What's even MORE fantastic is that yesterday afternoon I returned to my computer to find an IM from a friend of mine (a VERY intelligent friend honestly) asking, "That picture on your blog, is that real or photoshopped?"
I laughed and broke the news that it was a fake, that in fact Jen had NOT had dinner this week with Mam Jalal, though it's her dream to do so.
He said, "Well, that's what I was thinking, but I wasn't sure because it looks pretty real! And I was thinking if it was real that they wouldn't have let you post that on the internet."
I asked Talabani before I posted this. He said it was ok. We're tight like that.
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