We were excited to get to Turkmenistan – as Isaac had heard what a strange and secretive country it was.

And Turkmenistan did not disappoint. Founded by nomads, under Soviet control for decades and now just getting out form under the rules of an ego-centric dictator, this central Asian national is indeed interesting and unique!

While freedom was promised after Soviet rule ended in 1991, the existing president Saparmurat Niyazov – calling himself Turmenbashi – remained and recreated the country in his image taking over the executive branch and suppressing the media. He also built 80% of the buildings in the capital, Ashgabat out of marble, named a city after himself and, renamed the months after his family. After his death in 2006, a new president Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov took over but has still continued many of his strict policies.

Here are some more interesting facts on Turkemenistan

• 70% of the country is covered by the Karakum Dessert
• There is a natural gas crater in the Karakum desert that has been burning since 1971, after a Soviet scientists tried to burn it after  their equipment collapsed into it
• Turkmenbashi removed all hospitals outside of Ashgabat (thinking it would bring more people to the capital city), however rural hospitals reopened under the second president
• The average temperature range is from 57-61 F but in the Karakum Dessert it can reach up to 122 F, and in the south, it can reach -27 F

For more information on Turkmenistan, check out Isaac’s awesome PRESENTATION.

FOOD

The food was what you would expect from central Asia – stewed meats and rich flavors – and delicious indeed. Thankfully there is a website – One Turkmen Kitchen – which has loads of recipes for Turkmenistan cuisine. So this made our receipt search much easier!

Dinner

Dograma – This is soup that a Turkmen original – only found here and eaten on special occasions. Basically its flat bread soaked in soup. It was meaty and tasty, and the bread alone was good too!

Pilaw – This is a more commonly eaten food in Turkmenistan, though the surrounding countries have their own versions as well. Its basically rice pilaf with meat cooked in a pot. And this turned out surprisingly well and not dry at all! The rice was moist and flavorful and delicious! Will definitely make this again!

Breakfast

Gutap (and we tried the butternut squash version as well) – We had trouble finding what is typically for breakfast in Turkmenistan, so we just went with this tasty street food treat of stuff fried dough. We had both a meat and vegetarian version and both were pretty tasty.

Watermelon – Turkmenistan is know for the melons its grow and once was a large exporter of watermelons. Watermelon butter is in fact a typical condiment in this country! We just went with the straight fruit.

CULTURE

Turkmens people have a traditional long robe dress similar to other western Asian countries, but what makes them stand out is the hat or headdress. Called a Telpek this large puffy white or black hat (that almost resembles an afro) has been worn for centuries by Turkmens and still is part the traditional look today! Apparently large puff is specially designed to keep temperatures regulated to be cool in the summer and warm in the winter!

We decided to make one of our own, but, um, with just paper, glue and cotton balls. It didn’t turn out too bad, but I don’t think it provides much when it comes to temperature regulation! (And note the – err – similarities between Eve and the current president of Turkmenistan..ha!)

Next up is U – and we will be headed to the Middle East!

FOOD

I think everyone in our family would agree Slovenia was probably one of the best countries for food but it was easy when you combined the heartiness and creaminess of eastern European food with bold tomato-y flavors of its boot shaped neighbor.

Dinner

Breakfast

Palacinke – These were delicious and everyone enjoyed them! Somewhere between crepe and pancake with just the right sweetness and topped with plain sugar or jam and homemade whip cream. Yum! Another one, I think we will be making again!

CULTURE

Slovenia has its own form of Mardi Gras, the celebration the leads up to the start of Lent before Easter, called Pust. But they have taken it further, especially in its oldest town Ptuj, where they celebrate Kurentovanje. This is a pagan festival that celebrates the beginning of spring and end of winter with the Kurent monster scaring away winter. And the festival involves 100s of people dancing around dressed this big furry creature.

We learned more about Kurentovanje in this video (The Biggest Carnival in Slovenia) and we also decided to make the paper flowers worn by the Kurent. Here’s how we did it:

Kurent Flowers

• Cut out teardrop/petal shapes of colored paper
• Glue the tips of the petal to a straw, wrapping them around the straw
• Add a few more layers of petals
• Paint the straw green
• Cut different color strings and glue them around the top of the straw

…We had lots of fun and filled our bellies full of goodness in Slovenia. Next we are off to central Asia for T.

After many, many months off (building a tree house, making macarons, coming to terms with virtual school) we are FINALLY back in action with R, heading to our favorite topic of “random African Country.”

But actually Rwanda – a country the size of Maryland with the population of Pennsylvania – has quite an interesting history and culture. And there is so much more to it than the genocide that killed a shocking 800,000 Tutsi people (5% of the population – at the hands of Hutu extremists) back in the 1990s. Rwanda has an early history of a thriving Tutsi monarchy and German and Belgium influence. And today Rwanda is a one of the safest and cleanest countries in Africa and is a growing tourist destination.

Here are some more interesting facts we learned:

• Most of the country is more than 5,000 feet above sea level.
• Rwanda’s Virunga Mountains are home (one of only two habitats) to the endangered mountain gorilla.
• Once a month Rwandan citizens must participate in a service project to help the country.
• Sixty percent of Rwanda’s parliament is female, this is the highest representation in the world.

…And for more information on Rwanda, check out this awesome presentation Isaac put together: RWANDA SLIDES.

FOOD

Like other central African cuisines, we expected lots of beans, greens and a soft dough-like fufu. And Rwanda did not disappoint. Though, Isaac declared it was much tastier than some other African countries we’ve sampled!

Breakfast

In Rwanda corn is king (unlike many other neighboring countries where cassava or cocoyams are the staple!) So that means corn porridge for breakfast – with sweet potatoes on top. However we could not find any specific porridge at the African grocery store, so we just cooked up some corn grits. I like the different sweet/savory taste, Isaac liked it with brown sugar on it, and was not a fan.

Dinner

Apparently in Rwanda they usually only eat meat once a month, so we decided we would choose such a night and have grilled spicy chicken brochette along with other traditional items

Ugali – This their corn fufu -a soft ball of dough they dip in stews. And this is by far my favorite fufu – kind of tastes like an undercooked corn tortilla.

Isombe – This is a stew of spinach and cassava leaves (which we found at the African grocery store). But it has a lot of peanut butter in it (and Isaac thought we should have more,) which really gives it a different taste. Not our favorite but not bad.

Brochettes – Delicious! We loved the spicy tomato marinade grilled with simple onions and peppers! We’d definitely make this again.

CULTURE

This was a easy choice as music and dancing is an key part of most Rwandan celebrations. The dance they are know for – which always bring the different ethnic groups together – is actually two dances, accompanied by drum:

• The umushargiriro or cow dance, performed by women
• The intoreor or dance of heroes, performed by men

We watched this VIDEO on the history of the dance and then made our own wigs (one out of ripped yellow liner fabric and one is an old skirt that had fringe) and tried our hand at it. True to the dance, the boys spent lots of time choreographing their moves and we had lots of fun (despite Eve refusing to participate). You can watch our moves HERE.

We hope to be back in two weeks with S – where we will be moving north to central Europe!

For P, we decided to head down to South America to do Paraguay. Now I didn’t know that much about Paraguay and neither did any of my family. But, it is an interesting country. It has many immigrants from Europe, like Argentina, but it has retained it pre-colonial influence from the Guarani people in areas like its cuisine.

It is also one of the first countries to gain independence from Spain in 1810, though then and now it never has had access to the sea. It does however have the Paraguay river which is the country’s namesake.

We chose Paraguay because we hadn’t done a South American country in this round. Paraguay also seemed like a interesting country based on the information we had and it defiantly was. For more information go to Paraguay Slides.

Interesting Facts

• In Paraguay, Dueling is legal 
• Guarani is still an official language of Paraguay being one of the only Spanish speaking countries to retain its native language
• Paraguay has the biggest navy for being a landlocked country
• In the Triple Alliance war(1864-1870), Paraguay lost 7/8 of its men.

Cuisine

Paraguayan cuisine is delicious. It has influence from the Spanish, but uses lots of ingredients, like maize and pumpkin from it’s pre-colonial era. The food is very flavorful, though every dish has cheese in it (I’m not kidding) called Queso Paraguay which is 1/4 Parmesan and 3/4 Mozzarella cheese. I would definitely eat this again since everything was delicious, but it is probably isn’t what comes to mind as Latin American food.

Breakfast

Kiveve Recipe – This is basically a sweet pumpkin stew that is supposed to make you really energetic. It is very delicious and kind of looks like baby food.

Chipa Recipe – This is a bread made out of rice flour that is supposed to be eaten during Easter Holy week. It is kind of dry but was good when dipped in the kiveve.

Dinner

Sopa de Paraguaya Recipe – This is not a soup at all but a cheesy cornbread that was amazing and the national dish of Paraguay. We would definitely eat this again.

Bori-Bori Recipe – This is a delicious, very savory soup with cheesy dough balls inside. We loved it so much that we fought over who had the leftovers. This was also the first dish we cooked inside our new kitchen.

Culture

For the culture of Paraguay we decided to look at a really old lace pattern called Nanduti which can be found in many places in Paraguay. The name in Guarani translates to Spider’s web because the designs are so intricate and symmetrical.

It originates in the Spanish Canary islands where they used the sun as the design and it was called Teneriffe. When Spain took over South America the weaving migrated to Paraguay and instead of using the sun, they used flowers that were native to Paraguay. It is traditionally used for tablecloths though.

As the designs have to be very intricate, we did not weave the patterns but instead draw them on paper using flowers that can be found in our backyard like roses. An interesting fact about them is that they were sold by women to survive after the Triple alliance war devastated the population of Paraguay. For more information go to Nanduti Website.

For R (as Qatar was the only Q country) we are finally going back to Africa for R…

 

 

 

 

For N we decided to head to west Africa to the very poor landlocked country that is twice the size of Texas – Niger. The gross national income is just $360 (compared to the U.S.’s $63,000 or even neighboring Nigeria’s $1,960).  Also this former French territory has also gone through its share of military coups and regime changes since its independence in 1960.

The north of the country is the edge of the Sahara Desert and the bordering Sahel, so most of the people live in the south. Still, the country is home to many Unesco designated National Parks, including W National Park and some interesting wildlife including the largest population of elephants in West Africa Eve’s and favorite, the Caracal cat.

For more information on Niger, check out our slide show HERE. And below are some more interesting fact about Niger:

• Niger is one of the hottest countries in the world, with the year-round average temperature of 84 °F
• On Independence Day (3 August), people often plant trees to combat increasing desertification.
• Niger has the largest animal natural rock carvings in the world – Two towering giraffes and other rock carvings or petroglyphs were discovered in Dabous region in Niger, and date back to 8000 BC

FOOD

The food is what we would call typical West Africa – lots of beans, greens and palm nut oil. They do have the French influence, though with the destruction of our own kitchen we never got around to making beignets.

Dinner

Efo – It proved hard to find a main dish that is truly from Niger. But they do eat a lot of stewed meat and greens, so we  went with Efo a traditional spinach stew of neighboring Nigeria, which we read is also eaten in Niger.  It was pretty delicious, with a rich earthy taste. Fava beans were a great addition.

Couscous – Unlike Nigeria and much of west Africa, Niger eats more couscous (being close to North Africa) than fufu so we went with that.

Fried Plantains – Popular all over Niger. Delicious

Breakfast

Millet Porridge with brown sugar – At the African store, we found this and tried it as it’s common in Niger. Kind of like a slightly crunchy cream of wheat. As Andrew said – “not terrible”

More fried plantains! – Still Delicious

Moringa Tea – Moringa is a very popular green in Niger, but as we could not find it in the fresh version, we tried the tea. Kind of like a green tea!

CULTURE

The largest festival (and what the tourist industry is trying to tout as its main tourist attraction) occurs at the start of their spring (in September) called Cure Salee. It literally means salt cure – which comes from animals licking salt in preparation for the spring. Celebrated by the nomadic tribes of the north, Cure Salee is also a large courtship time and strangely feminine looking men from the Woodabe tribe dance and sing at their best to attract women.

So we researched Cure Salee and looked at their dancing and practice a few of their eye moves and teeth chatters (apparently, thought to be quite attractive!) of our own. Sadly we did not have any face paint.

….Next up is Paraguay…And Isaac is already working up the presentation!

 

 

Sticking with former and present communist countries we headed to Moldova to do M. We chose Moldova because it was close to Ukraine and Andrew loves Eastern European (Mainly Ukrainian) food but we discovered it was nothing like what we thought it was. Instead the culture is a lot more closely related to Romania.

Moldova was part of the Bessarabia region for centuries and under Soviet rule was called Moldavia when it was it became an autonomous state. And Moldova did in fact do better economically under communist rule.  Still, this tiny country mostly surrounded by Ukraine is very cool and unique.

Interesting Facts

• It is the poorest and least visited country in Europe
• The Transnistria Region along the Ukrainian border became and autonomous region in 1997 because it wanted to continue communism
• It is home to the biggest wine cellar in the world
• It has the second most wine consumption in the world per capita behind Belarus

For more information on Moldova check out ourMoldova Slides

CUISINE

Moldovan cuisine is very much related to that of Romania. Many of the foods that we ate were mostly the same as Romania but there are variations to the dishes. The food is what you typically think as Eastern European also. Lots of grain and heavy dishes. They also drink a lot of wine except Mama and Dada thought beer would go better. But the food overall is pretty delicious.

Breakfast

Sfințișori – This is a delicious pastry filled with a walnut filling and topped with a zest flavored syrup and walnuts. It was delicious.

Dinner

Sarmale Recipe – Sarmale is basically a stuffed cabbage leaf filled with beef and rice. And unlike Romania it was baked in broth, not tomato sauce. It was amazing and I ate it for lunch the next day.

Mămăligă Recipe – This was included in R is for Romania but unlike the Romanian version this does not have feta cheese in it.

CULTURE

For the culture of Moldova we looked at Martisor’s Day which occurs on the first of March but festivities last until the tenth. It celebrates the end of winter and the begining of spring. On this day men offer flowers and Martisors to women.

So what is a Martisor? Besides being the name of the holiday it is also a red and white pin with a flower or symbol in the middle. It should be red and white and should be tied in a bow.

The tradition started with the Dacians and were originally black and white. White for the warmth of life being intertwined with black or death. The became red and white mostly influenced by valentines day. They are worn around one’s wrist or heart.

For more information go here:Martisor Info

So we made our own martisors and Eve even made three!

Next we are going back to Africa for N.

 

 

For L we decided to go to one of the few remaining communist countries in the world – Laos. We did not know much about this rural country sandwiched between Thailand and Vietnam, so we (especially me, Mama) definitely learned a lot. For example, the ancient Laos kingdom was called “The Land of One Thousand Elephants” and once ruled over modern day Thailand and Laos.  There are also four distinct ethnic groups in Laos, despite being just bigger than Michigan.  Laos is also home to one of our favorite animals – the gibbon, along with lots of other strange animals including the nearly extinct irrawuddy dolphin – and over 200 species of birds.

Here are some more interesting fact about Laos. And for further information, read our presentation here:

• Roads are poorly develop in the rural parts of the Laos, so the Mekong River system is the chief transportation route throughout the country.
• Laos is the most heavily bombed place in the world as a result of the Vietnam War when the US dropped over 2 million tons of bombs across Laos. Around 30% of them didn’t explode.
• Laos is the only place where you can find the native, rare black & white ebony tree.
• Laos is home to Nong Fa Lake – a stunning volcanic lake (about 230 ft deep). Laotians refuse to swim or bathe in the waters as they believe that the lake is home to a giant snake-pig that will consume any who dare to wade into its depths.

FOOD

As Laos is geographically between Vietnam and Thailand, it cuisine is in between the two countries as well. Lots of spices, lemon grass, soups, rice and noodles. We enjoyed most everything we tried!

Breakfast

Khao Piak Sen– This is a classic Lao dish and is pretty easy to make if you use store-bought broth (as we did) Spicy, tangy and delicious! And we had fun making the noodles, too!

Mangoes

Dinner

Laap- This is like a meat salad and was so tasty, I think we might make it again. What makes in from Laos is the addition of toasty, ground up sticky rice and a lot more herbs than its Thai counter part!

Sticky Rice –This is the default national dish of Laos. No country eats more sticky rice than here. And it was quite easy to prepare. We did not have proper steamer so used a fish mesh strainer/colander in a pot on the stovetop.

Green mango salad- Basically just green mangoes, sliced thinly with salt and some vinegar

CULTURE

Most of Laos art is based off Thervada Buddhism, the main religion of Laos. So we decided to look at the different images of Buddha (one site we found was here), and found that there is a posture of Buddha that is ONLY used in Laos. It’s a rare standing Buddha called the “Calling for Rain” Buddha. So we practiced drawing this type of Buddha on our own. Can you guess who did which one?!

…Next up is M, can you guess what African country we will be visiting??

 

 

 

I know it’s been a long time but we have had some travelings of our own among other things such as Middle School and Homes Not Borders, but we are here now.

We chose Kiribati (Keer-i-bas) because it is a random Pacific country that I had no idea what it was all about. And of course with me loving random countries, this was the perfect one to do for K.

Though climate change is very prominent in this country and it may not last much longer, it still has lots to enjoy. Tropical beaches, coconut palms, coral atolls, some delicious food, and lots of underwater wildlife. To find out more on Kiribati click here: Kiribati Slides.

Interesting Facts:

• You pronounce Kiribati that way because the Gilbertese language has no “ti” sound so they substitute it with an s
• Kiribati is the farthest country ahead of Greenwich Mean Time at GMT+14 making it the first country to celebrate new years
• The Exclusive economic zone (Fishing rights, oil drilling rights, etc.) of Kiribati is so large compared to the country making it about 4,000 times larger

Food

The 3 main ingredients in Kiribati-an cuisine is fish/seafood, coconut and taro. The food is very good and has influences from India and east Asia but mainly the food is traditional. Most of this food however can be found all around Polynesia though.

Breakfast

Fresh Coconut

Fried Mushed Up Taro Root (from the night before)

Coconut Syrup – Boil coconut sugar. 2:1 ratio, sugar to water

Kiribati Pumpkin Recipe – This is pumpkin with syrup and coconut milk, I personally liked the taste but not the texture

Dinner

Palusami Recipe – This is basically onion, coconut milk, and curry powder baked and wrapped in leaves. It was delicious though what it sounded like to us.

Mashed taro root

Kiribati Lobster – This did not go as planned because the lobster seemed to have gone bad so we used fish instead and it was amazing, especially the curry dipping sauce

Culture

The Kiribati-ans use whatever resources they can to make objects and handicrafts. An example of this is using banana leaves to make baskets. We were originally going to do this but we already made baskets for previous countries so we decided to make necklaces and jewelry out of what is on the beaches of the coral atolls of Kiribati. Seashells! These necklaces are commonly sold to tourists, and tourism makes up a large percent of the local economy

We have a large seashell collection but you can use whatever seashells you have.

Use elastic and with a hot glue gun, glue the seashells to the necklace. It was pretty fun and they look cool. I made a pendant thingy but you can attach whatever seashells you want. We also made several bracelets. For more imformation go here: Kiribati Seashell Imformation (Under the Arts and Literature section)

….For L we are going to be traveling west to Southeast Asia.(We are going to really, really try to get back to our schedule of 2 weeks!!)

– Isaac

For J, we were limited to two countries – Jordan and Jamaica (as we did Japan on the first cycle), so we decided to travel to the Caribbean for the first time in this trip around the alphabet. And we thoroughly enjoyed our journey!

Though Jamaica was under British rule until 1962, it’s a country rich with culture and traditions that developed through slaves that were brought to the island to work the sugar plantations in the 1700s. Jamaica has its own religion (Rastafarian) and its own music (Reggae) and a wide variety of  unique animals (streamertail hummingbird) and plants (73 types of native orchids!)

Here is the complete slide show: Jamaica Info . And here are some more interesting facts about the country:

• Christopher Columbus landed in Jamaica in 1494, and over the next 150 years, the Spanish killed nearly of  peaceful Arawak people that lived on the island.
• In 1907 a large earthquake (and fire that followed) destroyed nearly all the buildings in Kingston and Port Royal.
• Jamaica is the only country in the world that has no colors in common with the flag of the United States of America.
• Jamaica has more churches per square mile than any other country in the world.
• Jamaica was the first country in the Western World to build a railroad (a mere 18 years after Great Britain

FOOD

Jamaica cuisine has a lot of influence from Africa (the former slaves) and India (the indentured servants who replaced the slaves) as well as its own unique products like Ackee. Consequently the food is spicy, rich and flavorful!

And thanks to the nearby Caribbean store we were able to find all the ingredients we needed from canned ackee to callaloo to jerk seasoning.

Breakfast

Ackee & Saltfish – Surprisingly this is the national dish of Jamaica, so we had to try it. Something completely unfamiliar to us but it wasn’t that bad. Ackee has a savory taste and the look and texture of scrambled eggs. But it really took on the taste of the the very salty salted cod.

Fried Plantains – Delicious, as always

Jamaican spiced bread – a tasty find from the Caribbean store

Coffee (though not from Blue Mountain, the countries famed coffee company.)

Dinner

Jerk Chicken – So spicy and full of flavor! There are many Jamaican jerk chicken recipes out there but we just used Jerk paste from the Caribbean store, added a little brown sugar and rum, and rubbed that on some chicken thighs. Let them marinate for a few hours and then bake them in the oven for 45 minutes or so.

Peas and Rice – Another standard in Jamaica. Taking an basic dish and making it extra tasty with coconut milk and spices. Oh, and its not green peas as you might think, BUT Small read beans, they call peas.

Callaloo  – Its like cooked spinach but with some Jamaican spice. Though, it was the least favorite for the crowd

Coco Bread –this was delicious! And worked great with breakfast as well

CULTURE

For culture we looked at the music synonymous with Jamaica – Reggae. We watched these video:   How to Make Reggae and Reggae History  . We learnd about its origins in the 60s and it’s connection to Rastafarian. And we learned that it has a slower syncopated beat with lots of drums and percussions the background keeping the same beat and lyrics about trouble and oppression.

The boys were not into writing their own lyrics this time around, nor did Andrew let us braid his hair. So we settled for listen to lots of Bob Marley for an afternoon – our favorites were “Jamming” and  “Redemption Song”!

Next up is K, and Isaac will take you all to a small island in the Pacific, before summer is over!

 

For the first country in the Middle East this round of countries we did Iraq. As you may have probably heard it on the news a lot in recent years during the numerous ISIS
attacks on the country but the country and culture is very awesome.

Iraq has one of the world’s most ancient civilizations, including the home to Babylon  and a history dating back 5,000 years. It was ruled by Caliphates for hundred of years, then was under the Ottoman Empire,  then under British rule before finally becoming independent in 1930.  Having lots of oil, dates, and desert Iraq might look like any other Middle Eastern country, but on the inside it is very different because a Persian influence.

We picked Iraq over the other remaining I’s – Iran and India – because Iran had even more history to research and we already know a lot about India (Papa’s home country).

To see all the information on Iraq click here: Iraq Slides

Here are some interesting facts about Iraq

• Iraq is one of the five Muslim-majority countries that has a Shi’a majority population, not a Sunni, like the 45 other Muslim majority countries
• Even though it may not seem like it, Iraq has a tiny coastline on the Persian gulf
• The lowest recorded temperature in this desert country is 12 Fahrenheit, the highest however is 123 Fahrenheit
• A rare wind phenomenon can bring ice to the Iraqi desert
• Lions used to be in Iraq but now they are extinct

– By Isaac

FOOD

The food of Iraq is Middle Eastern but not what you think of Middle Eastern when you imagine a meal. Iraqi food does have lamb, and lots of dates at all the spices like cardamom and coriander but it also has fish. Fish was one of the main meats that the ancient Mesopotamians used to eat because they would catch fish in the rivers. The food is a mixture of Persian with the saffron and kebabs but also Arabic with other spices and the lamb. So let’s eat all this delicious food.

Breakfast

Bagila bil Dihin Recipe – This is lemon soaked fava beans served over pita and a poached egg on top. It was delicious and I would definitely eat this again. We learned that fava beans and broad beans are the same thing.

Dinner

Recipe for Iraqi Biryani – Biryani is rice with pretty much anything in it. This is delicious and as we also had the fish, we didn’t add the meatballs.

Masgouf Recipe– Masgouf is an Iraqi whole fish, we used rockfish served with a numeric and tamarind coating and a tomato filling. It was good but the bones were a bit of a problem, and we ended up putting part of the fish in to cook longer.

Baba Ghanouj – Basically eggplant mushed up with some spices, we used a cookbook recipe, but you can pretty much find any recipe, serve it with Pita

Iraqi Tabouleh Recipe – Instead of the traditional Lebanese one, this one uses about equal   parts bulgur and parsley and is served with Artichokes on top. So yummy!

– By Isaac

Culture

We decided to look at the ancient tradition of Iraq Maqam music. It has a long history going back about 1500 years and is very specific vocal and instrumental style. The Maqam is more popular in urban areas and can be sung as a religious call to prayer or as entertainment. You can learn more about it here: Iraq Maqam

It starts our with a slow beat and then two different melodies (there are 100 to choose from) and then eventually peaks and comes back down in a different style.  There are all sorts of names for these parts like quita, aswhal, tahir. As for the lyrics, most are closely tied to poetry and and several follow  the Zuheiri style, which has a pattern of AAA BBB A, and usually ends with homonyms.

So  we listened to some Maqam Music and then we tried writing some Zuheiri poetry lyrics. Here is what Andrew came up with:

Why do I need the right.

To begin to write.

What I feel is right.

But then I will be banned

from the band

with a rubber band.

This is not right.

Try some of your own writing as well!

….And we hope to get back to you in less than a month with our next trip to a completely different culture in the Caribbean.

– By Laura/Mama