Topic: Daily Life
Even though I live in Iraq, I don't get to talk to many Iraqis. Most of my time is spent working with other Americans. The Iraqis I meet largely perform jobs, such as janitors, drivers, translators, and administrative assistants, that support my presence in Iraq.

A few weeks ago, two Iraqi women sat down next to me during lunch. Somehow, I stuck up a conversation with them. Both of them were roughly my age (mid 20's to mid 30's). The more talkative of the two spoke English with a charming British accent because she had spent a few years in England as a child. We talked about the problems facing the Americans in Iraq, and oddly she even shared my cynical sense of humor about the twisted world that the Americans have created in Iraq. After lunch, we both went our separate ways.

Although in any other place in the world that would have been enough of a nugget to start a friendship, Iraqis and Americans live in completely different worlds in Iraq, which makes it nearly impossible to have a friendship. Americans live inside walled communities surrounded by armed guards. Iraqis live outside of those walls and have to get home before the evening curfew - before it gets too dangerous. Our worlds rarely cross.

And in other news . . . "allas" is a new Arabic slang word coined in Iraq for a person, usually masked and paid a bounty, who leads a group of killers to a potential victim, such as a Shiite living in a Sunni neighborhood.