First Impressions of Bosnia: Part 2-Dinner in Sarajevo
"Can I sit here?" the man asked, standing over me while I was eating my lamb sandwich. "Sure," I said.
I was surprised to find out that the man was an Iraqi business man selling noodles in Bosnia(his biggest competitor is Ramen!). When he first told me he was Iraqi, I tensed up, but he actually grew up in Dubai and loves Americans.
"Americans, they are good people inside. You have a bad government sending all those soldiers over to Iraq to die, but American people are good. " He began to tell me of all his business ventures: his chicken farms, his hopes to buy land in Serbia and put Muslims to work, etc. I watched, fascinated, as he took gigantic bites of his greasy sandwich and continued to talk as if he did not have a small mountain in his mouth and occasional saliva dripping down to the table.
As he told me about his young wife and kids, we moved quickly into a civil disagreement after he stated his desire to take a second wife who was Bosnian. "I need a son with Arab and Bosnian blood to run this end of the business, " he told me. "How is your wife going to feel about this?" I asked him. Finally he stated: "What can she say? The Qu'ran allows it! Besides, is it better to have a girlfriend or a wife?" He looked expectantly for my answer, and since I was thinking with an American mind and he was thinking with an Arab Muslim mind, I had no response for him. We then moved on to arguing about whether it was better to keep it a secret from his wife or not. "It's better if she doesn't know so she won't get hurt; I love my wife very much!" He insisted. "How is she going to feel in 10 years when she finds out about your second family?" I answered.
In the end, we were joined by his Director from Bosnia, and they gave me their card and told me if I needed any help in Bosnia, to give them a call.
Note for the Reader: I certainly did not plan to get in this particular conversation nor would I particularly advise such a conversation on one's first night in a new country.
I was surprised to find out that the man was an Iraqi business man selling noodles in Bosnia(his biggest competitor is Ramen!). When he first told me he was Iraqi, I tensed up, but he actually grew up in Dubai and loves Americans.
"Americans, they are good people inside. You have a bad government sending all those soldiers over to Iraq to die, but American people are good. " He began to tell me of all his business ventures: his chicken farms, his hopes to buy land in Serbia and put Muslims to work, etc. I watched, fascinated, as he took gigantic bites of his greasy sandwich and continued to talk as if he did not have a small mountain in his mouth and occasional saliva dripping down to the table.
As he told me about his young wife and kids, we moved quickly into a civil disagreement after he stated his desire to take a second wife who was Bosnian. "I need a son with Arab and Bosnian blood to run this end of the business, " he told me. "How is your wife going to feel about this?" I asked him. Finally he stated: "What can she say? The Qu'ran allows it! Besides, is it better to have a girlfriend or a wife?" He looked expectantly for my answer, and since I was thinking with an American mind and he was thinking with an Arab Muslim mind, I had no response for him. We then moved on to arguing about whether it was better to keep it a secret from his wife or not. "It's better if she doesn't know so she won't get hurt; I love my wife very much!" He insisted. "How is she going to feel in 10 years when she finds out about your second family?" I answered.
In the end, we were joined by his Director from Bosnia, and they gave me their card and told me if I needed any help in Bosnia, to give them a call.
Note for the Reader: I certainly did not plan to get in this particular conversation nor would I particularly advise such a conversation on one's first night in a new country.
posted by Melody at
2:16 PM
2 Comments:
"I certainly did not plan to get in this particular conversation nor would I particularly advise such a conversation on one's first night in a new country."
perhaps your plans and God's are in slight conflict.
i am loving these writings... and am enraptured with your encounters.
this is a wondrous adventure.
keep writing. keep listening.
you are loved and prayed for.
By
Dakota House , at 7:37 AM
I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall!!!
By
ga, at 11:02 AM
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