Waynee?

I think Waynee is the way you say "Where am I?" in arabic. This is where I am...


This is my grandmothers house, where my father and his family stay. Mama'ouda lives on the first floor and Baba's family stays on the second. They live in Adeliya and this is where much of the extended family comes on the weekend to have lunch together. It seems like the house is always receiving and hosting get togethers. These past couple nights have been pretty busy with family members visiting from Bahrain and Iraq. My uncle (Emi) Mahmoud was in town, it was my first time seeing him this trip. It is always nice seeing him but I did not get too much of an opportunity to talk with him unfortunately. Also visiting is Mama'ouda's sister Maha. She is visiting from Iraq. She used to live in Southern Iraq, Naseriyah, and in Baghdad, but currently lives somewhere in Northern Iraq where things are much quieter and safer. She moved out of Baghdad about 2 years before the recent occupation and war. My father explained to her that I participated in protests against bush and his policies and she seemed pleased. She said to him that "Bush and Saddam are the same person." While things are much quieter where Khalti Maha is my father related a story to me from her about how the US dropped bombs in her neighborhood. The missiles struck each of her neighbors houses on either side of where she lives but luckily her home was not harmed. It turns out the the US was responding to an 'insurgent' who had fired a missile at US forces.

In the picture, the building on the left is our family's Diwaniya. This is the official Alnouri Diwaniya where my father, his uncles, his brothers, and all their male children, get together to bullshit, talk politics, schmooze, and keep up with the family news and biz every week. It is also a place where I feel really awkward being the only guy dressed in a suit while just about everyone else is standing around in Distashas. This is a place where I am often asked "what, you dont speak arabic?" and "do you know who i am?" Yeah, its awkward...its kind of like those Christmas reunions but every week..minus the presents.


This is the street I live on. ...its my street. Its named after my great grandfather who was a pretty important religious figure in Kuwait. Hopefully I will have more on him later. I thought I was named after him but my father explained that he actually named me after the street.


To be fair though it is a nice street. It has its own Mosque, literally just down the street from where I am staying, and its own little soccer field. Pretty sweet.

I would like to add more pics of the house soon but the weather has been really overcast and dusty these past few days. Not very good for up close pictures. More soon I hope. To be contin