Iraqi-born blogger Sahar Gabriel is accustomed to living on the edge in Baghdad. But two months ago she moved to America, where she's joining a long line of job seekers. Sahar Gabriel shares her impressions of her adopted homeland with anchor Lisa Mullins.
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LISA MULLINS: I'm Lisa Mullins and this is The World. 23-year old Sahar Gabriel was born and raised in Baghdad. In recent years, she worked there as a translator for the New York Times. Two months ago, Sahar moved to America on a refugee program, and now she's writing a blog about her impressions of the life in the U.S.A. We asked her to read from a recent post.
SAHAR GABRIEL: I've been here for more than 10 days and I still have not come to understand the American spirit of friendliness, especially amongst themselves. The concept of strangers having a whole conversation from a "Hello,†or "Is that chowder soup you have there?" is just fascinating. I take a step back and observe this phenomena of almost instant cordiality. Strangers don't swap recipes in elevators or go on about their children in a Target counter line, at least not where I come from.
MULLINS: Sahar Gabriel says that she left where she comes from because working for the Americans can still get you killed in Iraq.
GABRIEL: It was not an emergency like someone was holding a knife to my throat, but it was going to happen. It was something inevitable. It's part of working with people who are not Iraqis or foreigners, and there it just comes with the job.
MULLINS: So then you ended up here and you wound up in Michigan. How come Michigan?
GABRIEL: I have family and relatives here and they asked me to come here.
MULLINS: And there's a big Arabic and Iraqi community in parts...
GABRIEL: Yes.
MULLINS: ... of Michigan as well. So do you feel pretty much at home?
GABRIEL: Yes, I feel like I've never stepped out of the borders of Iraq.
MULLINS: Are you serious?
GABRIEL: Yeah, I swear. There's this particular neighborhood, it's Dearborn where the signs are only Arabic going there from bakeries to family physicians. It's like walking down on Rashid Street. I swear.
MULLINS: In Baghdad, you mean?
GABRIEL: Yeah.
MULLINS: Which is where you grew up. So that's really funny but I notice from your blogs that you have noted some of the real differences since you got here. We're always interested in finding out other people's perceptions of America and clearly you have noted them in your blog. Give us some of the things that you found most surprising since you've landed here.
GABRIEL: One thing that actually disappointment in many ways is to find that there are roads that are in bad condition here in Detroit and I did not expect that. I wouldn't think that in the United States, the most powerful nation in the world, would have bad streets. I would expect that in a third world nation like Iraq but not here.
MULLINS: Especially in the car capital of the world, Detroit.
GABRIEL: I know. The good things and some things that really wouldn't surprise me. I mean, I get really happy when I get these phone calls from universities and colleges that are trying to counsel you and guide you for an online education, and it's only because I accidentally was browsing the Internet and expressed some interest in those universities. For me it's very exciting a university that is pursuing you to pursue education. I think it's very exciting.
MULLINS: Because this is the kind of thing you think wouldn't happen in Iraq but, of course...
GABRIEL: No.
MULLINS: ...you would be doing this at a price. I mean, they want you to pay some tuition, I assume.
GABRIEL: Of course, but still I mean, the enthusiasm that they target those students it's amazing.
MULLINS: What else have you noticed, Sahar?
GABRIEL: In America, the traffic is awesome.
MULLINS: Awesome, meaning?
GABRIEL: It's so orderly. The other day my sister and I were crossing the streets and this car wants to turn right, and it waits until our feet actually hit the sidewalk until it goes, and I'm just smiling to myself. I'm like, "Wow. That's great. That's awesome."
MULLINS: So, what are you used to?
GABRIEL: In Iraq he would curse, yell, honk, and then maybe drive in your direction.
MULLINS: You mean target you like drive as if to scare you?
GABRIEL: Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah, yeah. We're not used to traffic in Iraq a lot. Iraqis don't have patience for that at all.
MULLINS: Well, I don't want to disabuse you of any good notion of American drivers, but I want to warn you that that can happen here in the United States. Just to prepare you, all right?
GABRIEL: All right.
MULLINS: And now, one of the things that you've been doing since you've been here is applying for your first job here. Now, let me ask you this first. I mean, you were a translator for the New York Times. I would think that having the language expertise that you have it would be pretty easy for you to find a job here. What's it been like?
GABRIEL: You would think so, too. I thought so, too. But the thing is they read the resume and they say, "I'm impressed. I'm quite impressed but right now the market is really down."
MULLINS: Which it is. I mean, lots of Americans...
GABRIEL: It is, yeah.
MULLINS: ...can't find jobs.
GABRIEL: It is, yeah.
MULLINS: Have your friends given you much advice? Because I know when you first touched down here in the United States, you had a set of expectations. I mean, for one thing I know that you were so happy to find out that it was raining. How come?
GABRIEL: Well, I don't know if it's something conscious or subconscious but coming from the north and in Iraq in a place that is very known for its hot weather, rain is always a good sign.
MULLINS: Unlike the way Americans would see it.
GABRIEL: Yeah.
MULLINS: All right, I know that you were told, you were kind of tipped off from some of your Iraqi friends about things that you would learn about Americans and the American mindset. What are some of these things?
GABRIEL: Well, they said that they would target you as a terrorist and they would conclude that you are an Arab so you must be a terrorist or something like that.
MULLINS: Who told you that, your friends who were already here or had not been here?
GABRIEL: No, in Iraq.
MULLINS: What do people want to know about you or about Iraq? What do they ask you?
GABRIEL: Okay, honestly and I was just telling that to my sister the other day, I haven't had a real conversation with an American native until now.
MULLINS: Seriously?
GABRIEL: Could you believe that?
MULLINS: I can't believe that.
GABRIEL: Well, I know.
MULLINS: How's it going? Are you nervous?
GABRIEL: Now?
MULLINS: Yeah.
GABRIEL: A little, yeah.
MULLINS: But you're doing so well. I mean, have you not wanted to seek out Americans to talk to or you're just kind of still feeling your way?
GABRIEL: Of course, no, no. I mean, of course, I would like that a lot. I mean, it's important that you have the right attitude when you reach a country that is going to be for quite a while your home if not forever, and I'm totally open to that culture and then the traditions and everyone in there.
MULLINS: So as you open up to this culture then is there a particular mindset that you have? I mean, something that you realize, "Okay, now I'm in America, now I have to fill in the blank?"
GABRIEL: I would say I've prepared myself very well. So when I came here, there was very little that could shock me.
MULLINS: What kind of things do you read or watch?
GABRIEL: Oprah, The View, Good Morning Show on ABC, the Late Show with David Letterman, I think, right?
MULLINS: Yes.
GABRIEL: Books, I would say John Steinbeck. John Steinbeck is pretty much my favorite. So I read most his books.
MULLINS: Well, you're getting an interesting view of America from David Letterman to John Steinbeck.
GABRIEL: I love the diversity.
MULLINS: You love the diversity, which is...
GABRIEL: Yeah.
MULLINS: ...I think one of the reasons that you're as successful as you are. One of the things that you write in your blog is that home doesn't necessarily mean the geographic spot you were born in.
GABRIEL: Yes.
MULLINS: So where is home now?
GABRIEL: I still don't know. I don't think it's something that you are born knowing. A lot of people sort of inherit that feeling from their fathers, moms and their families, but for me it was really never like that. Iraq is a very great place full of potential, a great place to make memories. I mean, I've had a lot of memories in there and family and friends, but the thing is I really never felt at home with all the extremists and the fanatics and there's some religious movements.
MULLINS: So since home is still a question mark, where home is, do you see yourself possibly making it here or do you see yourself as someday returning to Iraq?
GABRIEL: I think it's too early to say that. I really don't know, but I am very open minded to this experience, and I'm wanting to take it fully and not miss any minutes of it.
MULLINS: Sahar, thanks a lot.
GABRIEL: Thank you.
MULLINS: Sahar Gabriel was a 23-year old Iraqi who worked as a translator for the New York Times in Baghdad. She now lives in Michigan. What happened at activist Aung San Suu Kyi's home still to come on PRI.
transcript
Sahar Gabriel's blog