This post can happen super early because I am sick and a major party pooper.
I woke up sicker than yesterday. I can't breathe that all. Medication is not helping. I am very sensitive to medication. Tylenol Cold and Advil Cold & Sinus work great. DayQuil doesn't do anything for me, except sometimes it makes me jittery. It doesn't help with breathing. Here I am trying a European brand called Panadol. It must be like DayQuil. Sad. I have also started throwing up since we got back from lunch. Sorry if that was TMI. I am miserable. I think Alan and Tanya will still go over to hang out with the cousins. I hope they will. I don't want to ruin their fun and I don't want to get anyone sick. It is better that I stay quarantined in my room at least for the rest of the day.
Our only outing today was to a hotel in Khanzad, Iraq which is north of Erbil and into the mountains. They are more hills than mountains. We have to go further north to get into the real mountains. We will go there soon. We are waiting for no lunch invitations and Shayan to have time off. The hotel was built originally for the public, but was hijacked by the Americans for the use of Americans with security clearance only! It was later opened for public use again. The gate to the hotel is guarded and the car had to be searched for weapons and car bombs. The view from the top is amazing. Please take the quiz I posted a little while ago to see how much it looks like home. It is shocking when you see the similarities.
Namir (Mahir's brother) invited us (Mahir, Tanya, Alan and me) to lunch. He arrived at 12:30 pm with Tawar, Reno, and Mostafa (spelling correction). Mostafa is another cousin that lives at the large family house next to the one Tawar and Reno live in. Mustafa's mom is Alan's cousin (Avan) who I met during my first day of family visits. We had a buffet lunch with a large table overlooking the Peermam Hills. They used to be covered in pine trees, but they were all cut down so the Kurdish rebels would have no where to hide in the 70s and 80s. For some reason, they have not grown back.
These are the chicken fajitas with pickles & mushrooms!
The buffet was very interesting. It had a mixture of Iraqi and American food. There was a cream of chicken soup that was simple and soothing for my throat. I had some rice with a beef and chickpea stew. There was a breaded chicken breast stuffed with cheese and maybe spinach. The other main dishes I did not try because they looked a little too interesting. There was "macaroni" that was really a try-colored penne pasta with marinara sauce. There were "chicken fajitas" that Alan told me were good, but tasted nothing like fajitas. The chicken and sauce looked normal enough, but the veggies used are usually onions and bell peppers. Here they were pickles and mushrooms! Oh man. There was an English Pie and fried potatoes. I did enjoy the salad bar quite a bit. There was some yummy hummus that I ate with large slices of cucumber. My dessert was a banana, plum and two chocolate-covered brownie bites. I also had two cups of tea. I was so full. Maybe that is why I started to feel so sick on top of the stuffiness in my nose.
Funny Side Note: I was sitting next to Mahir at lunch. I came back to the table with my first plate of food from the buffet. It was full of food! He looked at my plate and said, "Where is all the food?" I told him that I didn't understand. My plate was full! He said that they were all appetizers and that I needed to eat a lot more than that. I promised that I would, even I went back for fruit and dessert. I find it so funny. When I am home with my parents, they eat like birds. We are always talking about eating in moderation and small portions sizes to try to not gain weight. My mom will look at my plate and say, "Are you sure you want that much?" The mentalities are so different. I don't really like either option. I would rather eat just what I want... which is somewhere in the middle. I guess that is why we grow up, move out, and set our own rules. :)
Ok. I am calling it a night. I hope you are doing well.
I am very glad that my type of virus is not the type that can travel through computers.
You should all be safe from my germs. Love, the germy Megan & loving Habibi
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