Last Night

So... here's a run down of how last night went in the Priour house. I (Erin) was making dinner for our teammates, I had gone into the living room to pick up some stuff when I hear Jeff coughing really loudly and making hyperventilating noises. This didn't alarm me, because since we arrived here Jeff has had this really bad cough that sounds like he is dying every time he coughs. Then I start to hear some different noises, so I go into the kitchen to see what is going on because Jeff isn't answering my 'Are you okay?' yells. I go into the kitchen just in time to see him running out the front door. I follow him outside and he is throwing up in the yard. When he has settled down I'm trying to figure out what happened and he says 'Sorry, I threw up on the rug'. When we go back inside to clean up the rug I realize that our sink drain is clogged and is flooding our kitchen. So, I'm trying to keep dinner moving, get the rug cleaned up, and get the standing water mopped out the door. Suddenly, Jeff yells - 'It's on fire!'. I turn around to see a towel that is next to our gas stove totally engulfed in flames and Jeff is looking wildly around the kitchen trying to figure out what to do with it and I'm yelling 'Throw it outside, throw it outside!'. So, he throws it outside and fills up a bucket with water, but instead of walking outside and pouring it on the fire he just throws the bucket of water at it from inside the house. It put the fire out. And then I finished making dinner and we ate an hour late.

Oh, by the way, Jeff is fine. He wasn't sick, he just choked on his apple juice. It scared the crap out of me, but he's fine. I started crying right after this just because I was scared. I don't know the Heimlich maneuver and while I know you're supposed to throw yourself over a chair - we don't have any chairs because people here eat on mats on the floor. I don't know what I would have done, I don't even know any emergency numbers. The good news is that after all of this, I laughed really hard instead of bursting into tears. A week ago this might have pushed me over the edge, so I think we are doing better because we were both laughing. Here is what was left of our kitchen towel. Good thing we brought several from America.

Oh, the things you'll see

We have certainly seen some interesting things in the 3 weeks we have been here in Kurdistan. We managed to take some pictures to share with you so you can get a little glimpse of what life is like here.

I saw this guy riding along beside us at the Bazar last week. The Bazar is the big outdoor market, by big I mean HUGE, it is miles long. You can buy everything there; it is like outdoor Walmart.


We have had several rainy days the last few weeks, which is great because that is what will power the electricity for the unbearably hot summer months. However, the sky turns the strangest color when it rains. It is so dirty and dusty here, it is like even the sky rains dirt whenever it rains. Here is the sky right before it started raining last week.


Driving here is quite the adventure. There don’t appear to be any real ‘rules’ just some slight suggestions really. I saw this truck driving down the road next to us a few days ago. There is no telling how many guys are in the back of it. Don’t worry Dad; I will never get in the back of a truck like this.


I went out to the villages last week to visit some families whose children will be leaving for surgery in a few days. I couldn’t believe the stark difference between city life and village life here. The houses we visited only had 1 main room and an outdoor hole in the ground as a bathroom. Here is one of the houses we saw. The silver tank you see is what they use to get water from.


These caves you see in the mountains are the caves that the Peshmerga (the Kurdish military) used to hide in when they were fighting against Sadaam Hussein.


This is what I had waiting for me when I came home from the office the other day. Yep, just a sheep in the back of a truck parked outside our gate. I think it was the neighbor’s, but it made me laugh anyway.


You never know what you're going to see, what herd of animal will be crossing the highway, or what kind of vehicle will pull up next to you. I'll try and keep the camera handy for more 'What in the world...' moments.