I Have Iraq in My Shoe: Misadventures of a Soldier of Fashion

"I am not moving to Iraq to teach."

But the recession came hard for Gretchen Berg. Tens of thousands of dollars in debt, her only option was to uproot her life and move to the Middle East for work. She was prepared to make some good money, pay off some bad debt, take some photos of camels, and suffer through expected misogyny typical of the Middle East. She was unprepared for the drama and chaos that erupted within the well-intended, burgeoning university program, and the comical carnival of personalities she’d encounter, along with unexpected misogyny coming from inside the building.

How far out of your comfort zone do you have to go to find yourself?

Hilarious and irreverent, I Have Iraq in My Shoe takes a single, broke, fashion-obsessed American female who prefers fashion shows to news shows and launches her into Iraq where her patience, assumptions, resolve, and sense of self will be put to the test.

It’s a different kind of desert storm.

© 2025 Gretchen Berg (Audiobook): 9798318288555

Release date

Audiobook: 3 July 2025