Fox hunting

Yesterday was a typical Belgian weather day. Overcast with some showers. Such a day, however, is a guarantee for 3 or 4 days of excellent weather.

While enjoying the sun on the roof, I realized that another week has passed. Time to update my blog.

The roof is now surrounded by a 1 meter high cement brick wall. It takes away the view while sitting on the floor, but it provides a lot of privacy and protection from the wind which changed direction. A sign that winter is approaching.

The last day of Ramadan was on Monday. Much to the surprise of many Syrians. Everybody expected it to end on Sunday. Many shopkeepers did not open on Monday and the children were disappointed because they had to wait another day to put on their newly bought cloths and postpone the visits to family where sweets and loose change was waiting for them.

Eid-el-Fitr (Holiday of the Breakfast) is translated in Dutch to “Suikerfeest”. In every house a big dish full of plates with cookies, chocolates, etc... is served in the best room of the house that has been cleaned thoroughly for the occasion. The Eid lasts 3 days. This allows time for family to visit each other, as some are living far away.

On the last day of Ramadan, the sky was equally blue and sunny as today. A good day to go collecting the last grapes and zbieb. When we got ready to leave, Mohamed took his gun which I found to be a strange item to go collecting fruits. He said it to be a good day to go and have a walk in the fields, so I put on my walking shoes.

We ended up fox hunting for hours. There are many foxes in this region. We spotted one 2 times. The first shot took me by surprise. I was too much concentrating on walking through the ploughed fields. Did see the fox running away. He was probably hunting the large rabbit that we noticed running away at the same time. So, on we went in search of another one.

About an hour later, a fox was peeping from behind a rock at about 50 meters. Another shot was fired. Again the fox escaped.

As we were near a house and its owner came to us complaining that a bullet hit its wall, we abandoned the hunting and left it for another day. And honestly, we were getting tired.

Fox meat is a delicacy. Dzjidde had been asking for it. It was him who told his son to go and shoot a fox, as he was craving for some fox meat. He will have to wait and me too. I never tasted it before.

New attempts will be made in the near future, I am told. We will also go hunting for rabbits and partridges.

The day was not without success, though. I’ve got a few kilos of zbieb for the winter.

My own private zoo

Three days ago, I noticed a tiny black undefined spot on the ceiling of the living room. At first, I thought it was a spider (I’ve been killing a few the last week, as they are coming in during the cooler evenings). A closer look was needed to identify it. After climbing the ladder – the walls are 3,5 m high – it occurred to be a cricket.

It is not moving. Yesterday evening it chanted weakly for 10 minutes. I’m wondering whether it is ill or it is spending the winter here ? Should it not be eating ? What does a cricket eat ? As I don’t know and the locals do not know neither, I decided to leave it be and observe it.

Last week, the tiny lizard living downstairs at the entrance came up to the first floor. It has grown bigger and is now about 8 cm head to tail. I like lizards. They eat the insects in the house. I hope it will become bigger and stronger and will keep us company for a long time.

At night a bat is flying around the balconies and the staircase. It also eats the insects, so very welcome.

And when we are cooking chicken, the neighbour’s cat is constantly trying to get in It has become easy for her to come onto the balcony, as the neighbour of the adjoining house has been building a second floor. This means that from now on, the door will be shut, when not at home. I am allergic to cats and I don’t want her to come in.

From time to time, I spot a mouse at the entrance downstairs. This is not a surprise. The fields and gardens are crawling with mice. The cats do not have to be fed here. There is enough running around. And not only for the cats.

Yesterday, A snake of about a meter long was killed right next to the house. It was killed with a rock, as is the habit here. I did not see it, but witnesses say it was about 1 meter long and few centimetres in diameter. It had the colour of cucumbers. Perfect camouflage, as the fields behind the house are still filled with cucumber plants.

I must say I heard the snake moving away when I was visiting on the other side of the field one night. I always forget to take a flashlight. Well, I think about it when I am in the middle of the field and am too lazy to go back to get it. Will probably think about it sooner for a while. At the same time, I am not really worried. It is getting too cold at night for the snakes to be active after dark.

Together with the birds living and nesting in the walls, these are the members of my own private zoo. I will be adding some chicken soon. Thinking about some tortoises. And the dogs are a (mid)long term project.

Having dogs is a delicate matter here. For Muslims, dogs are the lowest creature on earth. When they touch it, they have to wash their hands 7 times. This is because in the Koran is written that dogs carry a disease with them that makes the children go bald.

At the same time, this is Bedouin country, and Anatolian shepherd dogs are kept to guard the sheep. Regularly puppies are available and when a wall is built around the garden, I will have enough space for a few dogs to run around. I’m prepared to keep some sheep, as an excuse ;-)

Lightning

The third week of Ramadan is coming to its end and fasting during the day has become a habit for the locals. People are much more active during the day.

Last night there was a lightning spectacle during hours without thunder or rain. It seems that when winter starts, storms in the coastal areas are very common and you can see the light flashes until here. This is amazing, as the region where it must have been storming is at least a few hours by car. During the night we had some rain, the remains of the storm. At 7 o’clock in the morning it was “only” 21°C in the house. That’s 5° less than the days before.

Still everything is to happen after the “Eid”. That means it can be 2 weeks up to some months.

Sometimes I think : Let this Eid be over very quickly, because I have some things to be done and delivered. It’s a pleasant time, though, this celebration of the end of Ramadan. And, afterwards, work will start not only in the house, but also in the fields. The olives need to be collected.

Haven’t got my “Zbieb” yet. It is a matter of a few days at the most. Before the “Eid” ;-)

For the rest of the week, we have been to Halab (Aleppo) to try to get the necessary administration done for my residence permit. The administration is extremely heavy here. You need a lot of courage and energy to get something done, as they keep sending you from one desk to another. 2 days, we spent in Halab and it is not done yet. Tomorrow, we need to go and see the Head of police in Damascus. Once, we have the OK from him, all is fine, but I’m sure this will take again a lot of time and energy and I would be amazed that 1 day and 1 visit to the capital is enough. The best way of coping with this, is to put your mind on zero and go for it.

That's all for this week, I’m afraid. Everything else, still as usual. The crickets, the cucumbers, the children, the house…

Progress

Under a full moon sky listening to the sound of the crickets and children playing late on a Friday evening, I realize that another week has passed. Another week of settling in.

We’re now in the stage of furnishing the house and buying practical stuff. I’ve bought a huge refrigerator. It seemed smaller in the shop. No problem, because I’ll need it. Much space is already reserved for the bottles of water that need to be cooled all the time. More space is taken by the vegetables and fruits which come in big quantities.

It is a model with a separate freezer compartment on top, so 2 in 1. This is needed to keep the meat, oversupply of bread, dried figs, dried raisins and we will start to add vegetables for the winter.

This is a country where vegetables and fruits are extremely cheap and available when in season. Some vegetables, like tomatoes, are available when not in season, but much more expensive as grown in hothouses in the coastal area.

Another purchase this week is the gas fire, with oven. Still need to buy a bottle of gas.

And then on the practical stuff side, the main purchase was a iron board. The women here iron on a blanket on the ground. I tried it once. It is very hard and strenuous. Not good for the back and knees.

Little by little the house begins to come to life. It feels good.

Yesterday evening, we had dinner with friends in Tareb, the big village 3 km from Kafaramme. When returning home we found the soukh full of people. After 12 days of Ramadan, the upcoming Eid (el-Fitr) is on everybody’s mind. This is the time of year to buy new clothes and stuff for the house.

There are 2 Eids every year, 1 after Ramadan and 1 about 3 months later. Both are happening in the same way. Everybody visits everybody. There is lots of food and sweets served and everybody has good intentions. The children are even more spoilt, as they receive money from relatives which they immediately spend on chips, cola and fire crackers. Except for some, like 6 year old Ahmed. He is saving. Until now I could not find out for what. He probably does not know yet.

He is an exception in the family, as his parents and his sister and brother, spend everything at once. He also claims to be fasting every day. Every time I ask him what he had for dinner, he says “nothing”, although he just as well may have eaten grilled chicken. A very delicate and sensible boy, he is. His grandfather claims this is due to the Kurdish influence on the mother’s side of the family. She had a Kurdish grandmother.

I hope to be collecting a lot of Zbieb, dried raisins, next week and to be working hard. We want to lay the tiles at the entrance downstairs and build a small wall (80 cm high) all around the roof. The roof is a big surface that we haven’t been using. That should change.