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As part of the preparations for an upcoming construction project, we conducted a partnering meeting. In addition to USACE personnel, the participants included representatives from the Ninewa Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT), the construction company, the governor’s office, and the appropriate directorate from the provincial council. I can’t go into any specifics about the project due to security concerns. The meeting was held in the Provincial Hall in downtown Mosul.

The highlight of the meeting actually happened before the meeting began. While we were standing around engaged in small talk, one of the Iraqi aides came into the meeting room and handed me a small porcelain coffee cup. He then proceeded to pour about 1 finger of the thickest coffee I had ever seen into the cup. I’ve had Turkish coffee before, and this coffee makes Turkish coffee seem like a nice cup of tea. Anyway, after he poured my shot of coffee, the aide just stood there looking at me. So I drank the coffee in 1 gulp and handed the cup back to him. He then took the same cup, handed it to the next person, poured the coffee, and stood there. The aide repeated this process with the same cup for each person in the meeting.

The following day, we had a meeting with the Governor of Ninewa, Mr Duraid Kashmoula. He had been unable to attend the partnering meeting, so we shared with him the outcomes of the meeting. Once again, we got treated to the same coffee ceremony from the previous day. However, this aide was not as patient as the earlier one. He used 2 cups to get done twice as quickly. The strangest thing was that throughout our meeting, the Governor never turned off the TV. At one point, he did turn the sound down a little, but that’s it. It felt very familiar to me!