Sunday, February 8, 2009

You Owe Me Money!

Today I got a serious case of the hiccups at work.  We're talking 2 hours worth of hiccuping.  Our receptionist, Freshta, walked into my office and demanded the money I owed her.  I stared at her, a little baffled, and hiccuped again.  She laughed and said, "It didn't work!"  She proceeded to explain to me that the best way to get rid of hiccups is to distract the person or shock them.  Apparently, the Afghan remedy for hiccups is to demand money.  In a culture that has very strict guidelines for what is permissible to discuss in casual conversation, coming right out and asking for money is startling.  A less popular option is to swallow a teaspoon of salt.

In the course of the day, three other people asked me for the money I owed them and one guy asked for a salary raise (not sure if the last one was hiccup related).  None of these worked.  What finally got rid of them?  Too much petrol got in my bukhari heater.  The little explosion made me jump in my seat and scared the hiccups right out of me.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

hahahaa nice!

About Me said...

Julie!

I want to Skype soon!

Sarah said...

I have trouble with hiccups all the time. I finally found a remedy that seems to work every time. Stick a knife in a tall glass and fill it with water. Put the rim of the glass to your mouth and have the the handle of the knife rest against your forehead. Drink the whole glass of water. The knife will make it so that while you're drinking you'll have to tilt your entire head back to get it all, and they should be gone when you're done. It's worth a shot if you have any more hiccup episodes :o)