Wednesday, January 6, 2010

The Iraqi Neighbour at the Berlin Market
















The spaces we occupy in our lives.


I met a man from Iraq this past Sunday. He was working at a Berlin Market where I also sell my photos every Sunday. As soon as I saw the delicious assortment of Baklava and the lovely steam eminating from his teapot, I knew I had to speak to him.

We spoke during the most of the day and helped each other out with change. When he had to go to the bathroom, I sold his wares and likewise.

He told me he lived in Germany for over most of his life, about 15 years. Untypically, he spoke accent-free German and was married to a woman to Iran. Almost all of his friends are German and I can see he has integrated himself into german society (which is not an easy thing to do, more on that in a future post).

At one point, I thought he turned to me and said, "Ich muss pinkeln" which means "I gotta piss" so I told him "Viel Spaß". Suddenly, he ripped a piece of paper and threw it on the ground. I noticed a persian rug and he bent over to pray towards Mecca. I felt embarassed.

Afterwards, I apologized to him and told him what I thought he heard.

He was not upset. Share

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