Q Did you, were you guys, um, was being, um, keeping Islamic traditions important at home when you were growing up?
A My mother was religious, so she was, you know, practicing Muslim. Our dad became agnostic pretty much, so he was more traditional than he was religious. I mean, we would celebrate Eid every year, uh, you know, with a big feast and a lamb. I always used to say that we lived in two worlds, and our house was an Iraqi world, and outside was, you know, the American culture. So inside it was kind of like a little Iraq. They only spoke to us in Arabic because they wanted us to learn the language. So when we were kids, they had an Arabic only policy. So if we spoke to them in English, they wouldn't answer us. And at the same time, so it was, you know, a both and they wanted us to do well in school and they wanted to integrate with the culture and both had, you know, flourishing careers here in the United States. So we were surrounded by that.
AI assessment note: “My mother was religious, so she was, you know, practicing Muslim.”