HW 34: Riverbend talks about Gold and Tea

Riverbend explains the custom of evening tea in Iraq on Saturday, October 18th. 2003.
I never realized how important tea was to Iraqi families. Riverbend explains that they drink tea, “with breakfast, they drink tea at midday, they drink tea in the evening and often drink tea with dinner” (Riverbend 109). She explains that tea is very important to their culture, and they always set time aside for tea time, where they all sit down together and drink their tea while talking about, “blockade, war strategies, bombing, and politics” (Riverbend 109). Riverbend also explains how there is a specific way of making tea in which there is a 3 step process. (Riverbend 108). I wondered why tea time was so important, and Riverbend answered that question by explaining, “tea is so important in Iraq, that it makes up a substantial part of rations we’ve been getting ever since the sanctions were imposed upon the country” (Riverbend 109).Another informative post I read that Riverbend explained was the role of gold in family savings in Iraq. She wrote this Thursday, October 9th. 2003. I found this post very interesting! Riverbend explained that when the money fluency was fluctuating the Iraqi’s would buy gold since the prices of gold would stay the same, this way when the family was in need of money, they could sell a little bit of their gold. (Riverbend 100). Specifically, “gold is a part of [their] culture and the roll it plays in “family savings” has increased since 1990” (Riverbend 100). Riverbend also explained that when the American soldiers invaded houses, they would take the gold and were surprised that the Iraqi’s have gold. The truth is that, when two Iraqi’s get married-regardless of religion-the man often gives the woman a “mahar” or dowry, composed of gold jewelry. When a couple has a child, the gifts are often little gold trinkets that the parents can sell or keep” (Riverbend 100). I found this very interesting that gold was used to almost save money in a sense, it is a very good idea, and very informative.