HW 32: Schopping for school supplies

The topic that I decided to summarize in Baghdad Burning is shopping for school supplies. The blog first starts out with Riverbend saying how every year her cousin S. brings her two daughters to shop for school supplies but ever since the war, she hasn’t let them step outside the house. They don’t have malls in Baghdad so they went to a shopping area and school supplies are sold at “makatib” or a stationary shop that sells everything from toys to desk sets. (Riverbend, 95) Riverbend goes into great detail about the process of shopping for school supplies and the different things that are available to them. I was surprised by this particular blog, which is on pages 94-97 mainly because it reminded me when I used to go shopping for school supplies when I was younger. Riverbend discusses how important it is to buy colorful notebooks and erasers that smell like strawberries and stuff. This definitely reminds me of when I was in elementary school, the colorful notebooks and pens and pencils always seemed much more interesting to me then the plain ones. Riverbend states “The shop assistant looked exasperated when I started smelling the erasers and S. hissed that they all smelled the same anyway. No, they DON”T all smell the same they all taste the same…we went with some strawberry-shaped erasers that oddly enough, smelled like peaches.” (Riverbend, 95) Riverbend seemed to know what exactly what her cousins daughters were going to like for school and had a strong opinion that the more the kids like their school supplies the more they will appreciate them and take good care of them. It was interesting to read about how cautious S. is with her children, they had not left their home all summer long and she was frightened about the upcoming school year and would not be able to feel safe until her daughters got home everyday. Kids going to school in Iraq is something that scares parents, Riverbend also mentioned how parents monitor and look after the school to make sure that their children and neighbors children are safe.