House of Curiosity...

Natasha has been asking me to write about the situation here.

Several events were canceled last week because of all the rumors circulating. The main problem in this place is that they never tell you what is REALLY going on. People hear things here and there, and feel they are compelled to fill the gaps. I know one thing though; things we hear are not exactly very good.

Last week they put more security around our compound, I personally did not like it much, for two reasons, first it means they are really worried. Second more security draws attention that there is a compound here. I’d rather it stays hidden. I am happy we live in a very small compound.

I can feel the panic here, several people stopped sending their kids to schools (it being the end of the year is actually the stronger reason) many of our friends left, some of them for good. They just believe no money is worth losing your life for, which is true.

But life goes on, most of us are trying to live as normal as this place offers.. which is not much! Do the events affect us? Yes they do, we no longer go to drink coffee at a cafe outside (which was the highlight of my stay here), and we no longer go to the beach on Fridays. When we go out with sevgi, we make her cover her hair, because she is the only one who does not have Middle Eastern features.

What is sad about all this is that nothing in these acts are religious. God does not want people do things like this, in the first Islamic wars, the prophet used to say don’t touch people who are in involved even if they belong to other religions, don’t touch property, (houses, cars, lands…etc.) don’t touch trees or plants or animals…

These acts have distorted the picture of our religion, made it look violent and inhuman, while in reality, like any other religion, it is NOT like this.