Weekend

Another week goes by! This week was full of work. At one of my ministries we just got a new office building and the internet doesn't work well, so it makes it difficult both to do work and to procrastinate work. :) One of our projects, a building project for a Ministry seems to be getting on track and that's very exciting! It's going to be alot of work, but it'll be a historic project to be involved in!

Today is our official day off and it was pretty low key, but I did go to lunch with a friend to a new restaurant outside of town which had a better view than food I think! They insisted on paying and later were discussing the price in Arabic... I guess they don't know how much I understand... but it was WAY to expensive for what it was and I felt bad, though I offered to pay at the time. Generosity and hospitality here is ubiquitous, even when its ridiculous. The cost of food is one of those unexpected costs here. Salaries are not that high and groceries aren't all that expensive, but restaurant food is exorbitantly expensive! A normal meal (nothing special, chicken, fries, etc) will run you $20-$30. Don't get me wrong there is cheap street food (not cheap by Ghanaian standards, but you can get a shwama for about $2). I don't know how anyone getting paid what the majority gets paid can eat out, much less pay for others!

After lunch we went to a new park that just opened about a month ago and its beautiful! Lots of fountains and waterfalls and bridges and flowers and paths, they did a very nice job. I'll have to go back with a camera. So the company was nice, the landscape was nice and I saw quite a few surprising things at this park. Friday is the most popular day for everyone to go out walking, and everyone appears to be well aware that its see and be seen. Women and men alike are wearing their best clothes (while I certainly was not...), fully made up and carting along the whole family. Or couples were holding hands or arms entwined, something I've been noticing more and more lately... and that I find almost shocking for the area (not bad, just shocking)! However, the most shocking thing came when we were walking out, a young man pranced in fully made up, he had on mascara and tons of foundation and blush... I had no idea it was ok to be that openly homosexual here. He's definitely the first one I've seen here, but to be that open about it really surprised me. Good for him!

Tomorrow a last minute exursion was planned, so I'll actually have something interesting to write about and have new pictures! So expect an update soon!

New Experiences!

Here's what I've done over the last two days:

-crossed the Tigris river
-Saw both Syria and Turkey and could have thrown a rock at either one if I so chose
-ate sheep brains
-ate Pasha (traditional Kurdish dish of rice and sheep liver stuffed into a sheep stomach and boiled)
-stayed in a traditional Kurdish village and was treated like a Queen
-was offered several husbands
-drank more tea and had more candy than I ever have previously in my life combined


Why did I do all of these things?

The past few days and ongoing now is Eid al Fitr, which is the end of Ramadan (the Muslim month of fasting) and it is kind of like a mix of our Halloween and Thanksgiving. There is a responsibility to go visit EVERYONE you know and every time you visit you have to eat some of their candy, cookies, nuts, seeds, bakhlava, etc and drink their tea, sometimes two or three cups of tea. And if you're there around a meal time... then prepare yourself for even more food! (Lamb, rice, chicken, soup, veggies, salad, bread, etc) I feel like after their celebration of ending their fast has caused me to need to fast!

I will post some pictures from these few days on my picassa. On the way back from the village we took the "long way" which was 6 or so hours, as opposed to 3, but had great views of the mountains and allowed us to go to Amadia, which is a town built completely on a freestanding rock, surrouned by even higher mountains. Gorgeous views! Again photos will be posted!

Now I'm back in Erbil for the rest of the holiday, which is another few days. I have plenty of actual work to do which will keep me busy.