NO F/SUN

What is there to write about when back in Belgium ???

Especially, because I have been running around trying to settle all administrative tasks as quickly as possible and am preparing my move to my parent's house for next week. All boring stuff... Stuff that consumes time.

Last Monday I dropped by at Martijn's and Greet's house. I just wanted to pass on an envelope with a document for the Human Resources department at Belgacom.
Stayed until 11:30.
Martijn and me, we had our desks at work next to one another for years. That creates a bond.
During these years, he - together with Greet - had 2 sons and last year they moved to my hometown, just 1 street away.

Looking forward to see other friends. Will go and stay a few days with Joke and her 3 daughters next week. Will see Kathleen again on Sept. 13th. Hope I have enough time to see everybody.

I miss the sun terribly. Got accustomed to the sunshine.

No foxes here. It is too cold for the crickets at night. Have done some bird spotting, though. In my parents' garden. They put some cages their garden.

Have been enjoying the food : Gouda cheese, steak, chocolate pudding, espresso, waffles, mayonnaise, etc. Am trying to eat all the things I don't have in Syria.

It compensates for the lack of sunshine.

Elvis ?

I cannot find a real interesting item to write about this week. Time is passing by real quickly. Within less than a week I will be in Belgium and this needs some preparation.

I have a fact though : Elvis is not alive ! The King of Rock'n Roll never existed. Not in Syria, anyway.

They never heard of him or his music. So, it is not true that everybody remembers where (s)he was the day Elvis died.

Also discovered that internetting is a lot smoother during the powercuts. I just have to make sure that the battery of my laptop is full.

There are not many people with a laptop here as they are very expensive.

At this very moment, it is too hot to even make 1 move, while in Belgium it is only 20°. I will be cold, I'm sure.

But I cannot wait to have wholewheat bread with Gouda chees, mayonnaise, a juicy steak.

Evenings at the terrace

Decided to write this week’s item enjoying the cool evening breeze on my terrace. It is 23:00. I discovered this pleasure during the power outages of the last few weeks. Every day, just after sunset, for a few hours. Since yesterday, the problem is fixed.

I am told that this was due to the fact that we supply electricity to Lebanon, but I was always wondering why our village was contributing and not the one next to it. It may be that the other village’s contribution was on a different time schedule. I don’t know and it seems to be too late now to find out.

During these power outages, I usually sat in the moonlight on the terrace. The moon is very present here. No clouds to hide behind. The visibility of the stars depends on the volume of the moon. When full, few stars are visible.

I often brushed my teeth under a dark sky plenty with stars. I brush my teeth in the bathroom now. Did I gain something, or did I lose something ?

Although I’m living on the main road in the village, the sound of the crickets is an indicator for the peace and tranquillity. Many evenings, a fox is calling for a mate. Sometimes very near.

Some Bedouins have settled nearby too. Sometimes, they pass by with a huge herd of sheep. It is an event not only for me, but also for my neighbours. This seems to be exceptional, even for the locals. They are looking for food. The only green that is left is that of the olive and fig trees, the cucumber plants, and the grapes.

This year, there are some sunflowers in the cucumber fields. The sun is so burning these days, that in the afternoon they look thirstily down to the ground. I would do to, if I would be standing in the sun all day. Actually, I would die of thirst. The donkeys, however, are always put out into the burning sun. I’ve been asking why, but no satisfactory answer yet.

Meanwhile, I’ve learnt that onions have to be put in the sun, and garlic too. And everything that contains germs. Maybe that’s why they put the donkeys in the sun.

Field work

This week has been a relatively calm one. It is very very hot now and every breeze is welcome. Nevertheless, there are many activities here.

This morning at 05:30, a whole bunch of women gathered for the first time in the field behind my house to gather the cucumbers. They finished quite early (at 8) and the harvest was 4 bags, which is quite good for the first day. The cucumbers have to be picked every day. I will try to join them from time to time, but not this morning as I had a lye in after having some visitors from Aleppo city last night.

Aleppines sleep during the day and find it normal to stay until 2 or 3 o’clock at night. They don’t realize that most villagers get up at sunrise. I do too most of the time. The habit here is to take a siesta at noon until 4 or 5 o’clock to overcome the hottest period of the day, but I’m not used to taking a nap during the day. A loooong day…

Other than doing some chores in the house and battling the dust, I’ve been spending my afternoons until sunset amidst the olive trees. They need some maintenance now, like cutting away dead branches, weeding, clearing the rocks. Some have a bug eating its way on the inside of the tree. It is killed by making a small hole in the branch it is eating away, inserting a wire until you here it being caught, taking it out and smashing it against the rocky soil. The olive trees also need extra water now. All this to ensure to keep them happy and healthy.

Olive trees give olives every other year. Some are heavy with olives and others do not have any or very few. They all need to be maintained, though.