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Reading about Riverbend’s culture is intriguing as you learn what items Iraqi’s value. Tea is especially important to them as they drink it throughout the day and always have a nightly tea time. (Riverbend 109). They do not use the typical American tea where you boil water and dumb it into a mug with a tea bag. They brew their own tea from leaves. In fact as Riverbend explains “Tea is so important in Iraq, that it makes up a substantial part of the rations we’ve been getting ever since the sanctions were imposed upon the country” (Riverbend 109). I found it interesting how important palm trees are for their useful dates. They use dates for many cooking items and other parts of the palm tree to make household items. (Riverbend 104). A palm tree is a type of investment for an Iraqi family and they take pride in the tree and the dates it produces. In a way it made me think of maple trees to a New Englander, as they produce both food products and the wood produces many other essential items for an American. Iraqi’s are more similar to Americans than we often want to realize.