MinnesotaMel

July 4th celebrations- 2008

The Community Liaison Office did a wonderful job of bringing July 4th celebrations into the palace for us this year. The mission was given a day off to celebrate Independence Day, and not on the actual day because it landed on a weekend day for us here in Baghdad. I volunteered to assist with escorting the vendors who were coming in for the Bazaar. I admit to having a dual motive, partly to give back to the community and partly to get an advance look at the items they were bringing in for sale.

The goods filled a full store room from top to bottom, and my job was to stand guard and make sure that the vendors only moved their goods from the storage room to the Bazaar space along the designated corridor. The vendors numbered about 15 Iraqis, and one could tell they were excited to get their goods out and into the cash carrying hands of everyone in the palace. Trolley after trolley of rugs, silver goods, pashminas and paintings trundled along the corridor to be setup and admired. The vendors laughed while they worked, even though it was sweat inducing heavy work.

There was a ceremony and various people made speeches. And then the doors to the bazaar and game section were thrown open. The military MWR (morale, welfare and recreation) group had lots of games set up, and the prizes were fun Embassy Baghdad gifty items. But most people spent the majority of their time bargaining and shopping. My roommate and I were immediately lured into one of the rug vendor areas. The vendor had a fabulous silk-wool rug hanging in the back of his space, and it was trully one of the most beautiful rugs I have seen in a long time. The pattern has a name, but I don't remember it now. I do, however, remember the price...it could be mine for only $2800. YIKES! As my differential and danger payments have ot actually hit my bank account yet, and I am still paying back my pay advance, I am thankfully not feeling flush enough with cash that I could be talked into that price, no matter how deeply I had fallen in love with it. So instead of that masterpiece, we continued to dig through the piles of carpets of varying colors and quality levels and finally located the best deals of the day. The vendor was quick to point out that despite the fact we had chosen synthetic silk, machine made options, they were good quality ones from Iran. And the prices made us happy. My roommate bought a matching runner and 6 by 9 rug in lovely golden shades. I bought a runner in shades of red and a 5 by 7 rug in shades of blue. Mine are both now on the floor in our common area of our apartment, and our feet sing each time we walk along the silky softness of them. And I have the business card of the vendor, should I ever decide I cannot live without the masterpiece rug.

We ended the day by volunteering again, initially to help in the check out process for the military Eagle Cash, and then later to once again watch the takedown process. The vendors had had a long and successful day, but still had a mountain of goods to store again until they could come the next day and take them away back to their shops. It is tough to speculate how much the vendors earned in that one day Bazaar. One MWR staffer commented that at a previous bazaar one vendor had told him he had made almost $150,000 in the one day of sales. I don't know if any of them reached that same level in this bazaar, but based on the number of people who left the bazaar with bags full of pashminas and arms loaded with rugs, it is conceivable. Just another Economic Development project sponsored by the USG...and one that really added to my morale.

posted by MinnesotaMel @ 5:02 AM