yesterday, after dinner, we took zahraa to pittsford dairy for some ice cream and then walked around schoen place. she told me how the smell of the trees, late in the evening, reminded her of the parks in baghdad. we showed her the pittsford library and she told us about mutanabbi street, located in baghdad’s old quarter, filled with book stores and book stalls and named after the great arab poet, al-mutanabbi, who was born in kufa (iraq) in the 10th century. later zahraa showed me pictures of sulaymaniyah in the northern kurdish region of iraq. she and her family had vacationed there over the summer. we also talked about basra, a city known to me through its frequent mention in islamic history, literature and folklore. it’s located in the south of iraq. she told me about shatt al-arab, a river formed in basra, by the confluence of the euphrates and tigris, which eventually empties itself into the arabian gulf. this part of iraq has one of the largest date palm forests in the world, zahraa shared with us as we ate dates covered in belgian chocolate and stuffed with almonds 🙂