Found in Translation
One of the best things about this deployment has been the many friendships I’ve developed with the people of the host nation. As time goes by and our meetings have become more regular, we’ve drank more coffee and tea together and gotten to know each other better. The friendship and trust we’ve developed has made our business discussions go by much faster and we find ourselves discussing all sorts of topics.
Part of the reason for the very good friendship with the host nation has been the result of having an excellent interpreter to translate for me. My translator’s name is “David” and I take him with me on all my meetings with the host nation. “David” does a great job of explaining to me the mannerisms and customs of this culture. He’s a very good person and we both like to drink coffee so we often find ourselves at a Cafe discussing the U.S. and world events.
“David’s” father, an Iraqi Kurd, was a General officer in the Iraqi Army during the pre-Saddam Era of the 1950s-60s, assigned to Baghdad. When his father was an Air Attache officer, he was assigned to the Iraqi Embassy in Turkey, where “David’s” father met his mother. “David” also had 3 uncles that were very high ranking officers in the Iraqi Army, two of which were hanged by Saddam, after he took over the country.
“David” has spent much of the past few years working in Iraq as a translator. After a couple of years working as a translator in Iraq, “David” left his company for a safer job and to be able to spend time with his family. He has a brother living in London, a sister living in the United States, and a brother and sister still living in Iraq at this time. His brother and sister living in Iraq feel safe and do not want to leave.
My time spent with “David” learning about the Middle East and Iraq is better than any history class. His first-hand accounts and family experiences are something I’ll always remember and be glad to have had the opportunity to know him. We both laugh about growing moustaches and how it’s a requirement over here in this culture to have facial hair. When we conclude a successful negotiation with the host nation we often chalk it up to the moustaches!
Patrick
Today’s Chuck Norris “fact”:
Chuck Norris doesn’t read books. He stares them down until he gets the information he wants.
**UPDATE**
When I came back from my deployment everyone I talked to wanted to know more about “David”. “David” became very popular with my readers and I believe the great rapport we had was very apparent in my posts. He bailed me out of more bad situations than I can remember and I’ll probably share one or two of those experiences with you during my “Guest Blogger” posts.
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