Part of the Joy

Well it has been a while since I have written anything about Iraq. So I guess it is time for me to do so. Lately I have been dealing with a good deal of locals. I have even got a cell phone that I use to call primarily other people I work with and Iraqi contractors. I like working this closely with so many contactors, engineers and government employees. There is one problem, and that problem is:

ahmed hio mshr

What exactly is “ahmed hio mshr” you ask. I wish I could tell you, but I can’t. Not because it is some classified, if I told you I would have to kill you thing. No, the explanation is much simpler than that. I honestly have no idea what it means. These exact words “ahmed hio mshr” appeared in an e-mail I received a few days ago. They were the only words in the whole e-mail, “ahmed hio mshr”. That was it the entire body of the e-mail read:

ahmed hio mshr

What? It doesn’t make sense. It is clearly not English, but it is also not Arabic. It is something that meaning to someone, or they would not have taken the time to e-mail it to me. On top of that I have no idea who sent this e-mail. The problem is that everyone I have met in Iraq has a Yahoo account. They all, for the most part, use some variation of their name as the Yahoo ID, as do most people. The problem with this system is that when you meet like 5 Mohammed’s in a week, and then you get an e-mail for Mo_hamMan2081@yahoo.com there is no way in the world to tell which Mohammed just sent this to you. I wouldn’t try that e-mail by the way, even though I just made that up, I would bet a dollar someone uses that address. What should I have expected when I give my e-mail address to a good number of people who don’t speak English, and tell them if the need anything just send me an e-mail I will do what I can to help them. So next time you feel lost or confused about a situation, just think at least no one just asked you to “ahmed hio mshr”. So to close, I will quote a very kind salutation I received in another e-mail, and say:

“My you be blessed my darling to have warm regards.”