Working in America

I had a nice visit with my Iraqi friends on Friday. The husband recently found a job. He's doing maintainance at a retirement living community. It is a great job for someone who is just learning English. He gets along great with his boss because he works harder than the others. That's no surprise. He had fled to Syria for two years before finally being able to come to America after his life was threatened in Iraq. He was unaware that he was getting paid, and he showed me his direct deposit slip. We were a little confused about where it was deposited because they do not yet have a bank account. We realized that he had been paid on a debit card that he had not yet received. His supervisor had asked if he had a card yet. I'm so excited that he has found full-time job. The pay is not much, but it is a great start.

I knew that Muslims normally visit the mosque on Fridays. He told me that he was not able to go because of this job. However, in Iraq, people typically are off of work on Friday and Saturday. Previously, before the invasion by the US military, Iraqis only had one day off of work, just Friday.

Molly and I visited with the family for a couple hours. The wife served us dates and shanina which is a salty yogurt drink. I drank this when I lived in Turkey. I guess this combination is very popular in Iraq.