"She got dizzy. It's very hot up here. Her dress is tight -- as you could see it was beaded and heavy. She passed out."

I'm just a girl who cain't say no . . .

I ate dinner in a chicken coop last night. Well, it wasn't technically a chicken coop anymore. But it used to be.

We went to eat dinner with a family last night. Their house was bombed during the war in Kosovo, and they are still repairing their main home (six years later). Presently, they are living where their chickens used to live, before the war. I'm sure the chickens were ticked they had to relocate.

I did not feel good. Let's just say I have a common traveler's stomach ailment. And don't forget, I'm a vegetarian. I told the Pastor before we left, ok, I'll go, but seriously I cannot eat anything. Seriously. Apparently telling these people 1. that you are a vegetarian and 2. that you have explosive diarrhea doesn't make much of an impact.

Hospitality is HUGE here. Everywhere you go, people are trying to push food and drink on you, and they will seriously not take no for an answer. (This would not be a good place to start a Weight Watchers.) Especially when they know you are a foreigner. It's a big deal for them to think you would go back to your homeland and say you weren't treated well. And you know it's not like I want to offend anyone or hurt their feelings! That's not my style. I just do what I need to do, then I can always just blog about it later ; ) It's cathartic.

So we go to this dinner. And even though the hosts had been informed in advance of my adversion to meat and my delicate condition, I was served soup that was both beef and chicken as a starter, and then a plate overflowing with meat and chicken. In fact, I think they gave me even MORE food than the others, because I was sick. You know, to make me better. The healing power of food. Between the missionary on my left and the Pastor on my right sneaking bites from my plate, we managed to make it look like my food had a dent put in it. I picked at the rice and a roll. Ironically, the only thing I was not served was the SALAD. I told the Pastor maybe forewarning them I was a vegetarian was confusing. They may have interpreted that to mean that I DON'T eat vegetables.

I also got to drink some hooch. Being married to the Pastor and all, you just don't get a lot of opportunities to drink. In the same way that they push the meat/chicken on you, the hosts were trying to get us to drink last night too. And again, SAYING NO DOES NO GOOD. I sipped the Pastor's wine for him, so he didn't have to touch the stuff. It was the least I could do since he was eating my meat. I'm no conniseur, but this wine was by far the worst stuff I have ever had in my whole life. Kosovonian wine. But again, sometimes you just have to be gracious, and complain about it later on your blog.

I felt kind of bad that these people cooked all day long and went to such great effort to prepare a meal for us. In part, because we are Americans. The chicken was very fresh, they killed it earlier in the day. I don't even want to know where the beef came from.

I would like to think that when I walk away from this whole experience I will be a better person, whatever that is. But I'll probably be the same selfish me who wants to get laser hair removal. Sigh.

Today we hiked up some big mountain. We could see the entire town of Prizren from the top, including about 30 mosques. I'd blog more, but the Pastor is anxious for his turn on the computer. And the power will probably go out again soon!