Flashlight

These last few days, it is very nice weather in Belgium and I'm enjoying it, as long as it lasts. Am seeing and contacting a lot of friends and I realize that it is impossible to see them all.

At the same time, I am thinking about all the things that still have to be done in my new house. Also thinking about the garden that still has to take shape.

It is time to go back and continue with what I started.

It is a pity, I cannot combine both living in Syria with seeing my friends and family on a regular basis. This is one of the downsides of moving there.

And I really do hope that most of them will come and visit in the next few years to see themselves how wrong the image is and what a bad image it is !

In the meantime, school has started and on the 24th this year's Ramadan will start. This means I will arrive just before full moon. Nice !

It is getting cooler now, but the days are still hot, hot, hot...

I wonder how the children in the village are coping without me (joke !). I'm sure they are doing fine.

Ahmed has started school (1st year) and probably is all excited about it which makes me think that Rehaaf must have a hard time in the mornings when he is at school, because she is always following him around. During the Summer she had both her brothers to play with and now she has to content herself with her baby sister who cannot walk yet.

Abdellah, from across the road, will be excited to see me again. He wanted me to buy a flashlight for him, but only if it costs 20 SYP (about 30 eurocents). I have a gadget in "my stuff to move" that will please him better.

His sisters - all ages - will have someone to wave at again, either from their front door or when they are working in the neighbour's garden.

And all the others.

I realize that I have more contact with children than with adults. Not difficult when you live in an environment where families with 6, 8, 10 children are not exceptional.

And, the first one to visit is the over 100 years Hadji. He cannot hear what I say, because my voice is not strong enough for his half deaf ears. But he will tell me the good and bad things in his life and make sure that I will be served enough to eat.