I absolutely love trying out new foods; the more exotic the better. With this in mind, you can imagine how excited I was when one of my Iraqi workers showed up with a gift: a home-cooked meal prepared by his mother, just for me. The two fish were caught in the Euphrates, by their father, and the flat bread was baked in their stone hearth. They were delicious (though a bit bland). I couldn't eat all 5 loaves of bread and both fish (sounds strangely familiar), so I shared it with some of the Indian workers who eat mainly rice. As to why I was given such a thoughtful gift? Well, the Iraqi Christmas was two days ago and I knew that my Iraqi workers would have to miss a large portion of the holiday due to the 13-hour workday we put in, here. So, realizing how I would feel if I were in their shoes, I decided to forgo my lunch break and work straight through, all-the-while helping them out with their duties (as opposed to strictly supervising, as I'm supposed to only be doing) so that we could finish early. I'm not boasting, I actually had fun doing something besides countless pages of mind-numbing paperwork and supervising mundane labor. We were able to finish about 3 hours early, much to the delight of those living in Nasiriyah.
2 comments:
What a sweetheart you are for not only sharing your meal, but also sharing your time. That's a treasure those men will remember forever.
It's already very likely that we both have stomach parasites from too much lamb shwerma, but hey..why not up your chances a bit. I love that bread, especially when it's cooked with an unwashed left hand.---Matt
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