A land of liberty

Is an ordinary day for a teenager different in Sweden than it’s in Iraq or Turkey? Well I’m about to find out. I have interviewed Nafi, he’s a 19 year old Muslim that comes from Iraq. He has lived there for eleven and a half years, then he and his family moved to Turkey where he lived for 5 years before he moved to Sweden.

A usual day:
The biggest difference between Sweden and Iraq is the freedom. In Sweden everything is free. For example the school offers more education methods in Sweden but the schools also require that you take more responsibility. In Iraq students follow an education plan and there are no exceptions. You never have to ask the teacher what to do that’s always clear to you. In Iraq you start your school day at seven o’ clock and come home for lunch at about one o‘clock. You also study on Saturdays and Sundays. Friday is the only day when you don’t go to school. In Iraq you study from the first grade to the sixth grade then you go to the university. In Turkey where Nafi lived the last five years before he moved to Sweden, his school was divided into two groups one group started school in the morning and when their school day was finished, the other group started late in the afternoon.
After school you hang out with friends, the things you do in your spare time are the same as in Sweden.

Religions and weekends:
Even though Turkey and Iraq are two countries with a lot of different religions, Nafi declares that there is no hostility between people of the different religions, but he has noticed that religion is more important for the Iraqi people. On the weekends people don’t go out and drink as much as they do in Sweden and parents keep a closer eye on their kids in Iraq than they do here in Sweden. They don’t want them to be out on the streets late at night, maybe because it’s safer here in Sweden.

Food:
In Iraq people eat much bread, but apart from that they eat pretty much the same food as we do in Sweden. But not everyone, as a Muslim, Nafi can’t eat ham, but he can eat meat if it’s butched in the right way.
Nafi told me about an Iraqis specialty he ate much in Iraq, it was a dish called “Briani”, and it’s a mix of meat (not ham) rise, eggs and some sauce.

Nafi told me that he likes it here in Sweden, here is everything you can ever want but he thinks it’s cold here. It would be better if the temperature was higher. He told me that in the winter in Iraq the temperature is ten degrees Celsius at least, and on the summer it can be up to sixty degrees Celsius. Now that’s a real summer.

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Writers: Jonas Blomström (sp07-44@park.se).
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