Sunday, January 25, 2009

The Garbage Bar

"It's very romantic," insists Mu, regarding the place he took visiting friend for a beer... a place he affectionately calls the Garbage Bar. "The moon... garbage... beer."
Romantic indeed! Ideas about romance vary from culture to culture. I mean, there are people here think it is romantic to follow the woman they love and snap photos of her with his cell phone, behaviour many of us might consider to be "creepy stalking"... or to injure themselves to demonstrate... what? How painful love is? Or to send love texts hundreds of times during the day and night...
But in any case, regarding the Garbage Bar, I will withhold judgement until I can go... and I will try to get a new battery recharger in the bazaar so that I can photograph it for you. In reality, it is a place where some locals (reportedly primarily Muslims) go to drink unseen. They buy their alcohol in Ankawa, mix it in plastic water bottles (I save mine for a Chaldean guy whose uncle has an alcohol shop who collects bottles to give to customers on their way to the Garbage Bar), head to the Garbage Bar (a deserted street on the edge of Ankawa) where they park, drink and throw their bottles onto the garbage heap.

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