Surprise

Next week school will start after the 3 month Summer holidays. The children are not aware yet, carelessly playing outside.

Ahmed came by yesterday morning early. The calculator I passed on to him (a 10 year old gadget I received at the bank) did not display completely the figures anymore. I had a look at it and found that the tape connecting the display board to the rest of the device was broken. Told him I couldn’t repair it.

He was not astonished, but sad. It was working fine, he told me, until his grandmother shook it firmly. It was her who broke it. He will ask her for 100 SYP to replace it (the Euro = 67 SYP today). And then I have to go to Belgium to get one.

Life can be so simple.
And full of surprises, when you live here.

Instead of a dog, there is a couple of I believe it to be partridges in the garden. Mohamed bought them when in the neighbourhood of Saladin Castle.

They arrived in a tiny cage. The next day, they didn’t stop picking the cage looking for a way out. These birds need to fly. Now, they have a bigger cage in the garden, but still too small, I find.

The male is happy with the cage, but the female isn’t. I wonder whether it is because she wants to fly or whether she is unhappy with the other one. She is the second wife after the first one got eaten by a cat. Her first husband got ill and died.

The advice is to keep them in a cage for a couple of weeks and then let them fly. I am convinced we have to do that. The question is : will they return. People like to hunt here and there are many cats.

We will see. I don’t feel like keeping them in their prison for a long time.

I just hope they won’t end up as breakfast during Ramadan in one of the villager’s home.

Ramadan will start in a few weeks (we’re enjoying the full moon these days). And you caaaaaaaaan’t eat nor drink anything at all during Ramadan, Ahmed says. Last year he joined in by skipping the meals, but eating candy and fruit the whole time.

Falling stars

We have been enjoying falling stars every night because of a meteorite rain (or is it storm ?) over Syria. I’d like to make a wish, but do not have the time whenever I spot one. Strange… in the movies, people always have time to say : “Look, a falling star. Let’s make a wish.” And then even have the time to think about what they should wish for.

I was told that last Sunday a meteorite would crash onto Damascus. Today, a week later, Damascus still exists.

A few days ago Ahmed told me George Bush had died. Do not have confirmation yet, but have not been looking for it neither.

Ahmed always has many things to tell. He hears the adults say something, often only a few words and makes a story of it.

He is a funny 7 year old at times. Always very serious about what he tells.

He often comes by with or without his little sister, Rahaaf. Is at his best on his own.

When I’m in the garden, the first thing he asks is when I will go back into the house. This is because his primary need is to play a game on my mobile. The second thing he asks is when there will be foreigners on the camping. He would love to talk to them, but is too shy. Then he starts helping me watering the plants and trees, giving me a lot of advice on how to work in the garden. His grandmother has a big garden too.

He enjoys watching the flowers grow. He loves flowers. Yesterday, he moved from one flower plant to the other talking to them.

After half an hour, 45 minutes he announces that he has to go home to see what his mother is doing but that he will come back. This can be after one hour. This can be after a few days. Although he has got a watch, he has got no notion of time.

I would like to tell him about the falling stars, but am not fluent enough in Arabic to do this.

Tomato time

Finally, the tomatoes are turning red. Next year I will plant more. Have started sun drying some. They are so tasty. Actually not very red, more orangey. If I leave them until they are deep red, they are either half rotten or showing some bursts.

The weather has turned from too hot to warm summer weather with cool nights. Last night, I slept with a blanket and it felt so so good. The plants are happier too. Not so thirsty anymore.

The basil, which was looking very poorly after having had a shower of dust and cement because of the works on the veranda, have been – against the locals’ advice – put into full ground. I cut all the sadly hanging branches and nursed it with lots of water. They (5 plants) are looking extremely healthy these days. I hope they will be big and strong before the winter, so they will survive.

The mint is coming on nicely too. It’s easy to grow. I believe it is hard to stop it from expanding. The trick is to cut it often. And dry it, but not in the sun. It tastes so much better than the dried mint from the soukh.

I harvested the pumpkins and put them in the attic. There are 7 (small and big).That should be enough. I would like to trade some for pomegranates and “duberké”, a dairy product which is like something between yoghurt and cheese.

Am also in the process of taking the pits from the sunflowers. Will have many kilos of the stuff, but will need it for the visitors coming by. I managed to save most of it from the birds. Now, I have to save it from the children coming by. They like the “bizzer” so much that it is hard to keep them from it.

The camping is slowly growing. We’re putting up a tent (not a Bedouin one, but a modern one) to provide shadow to the campers coming by. Until now only French campers.

The last bunch left a lot of baby clothes for me to distribute. This time, most of it was for girls. There was even a beautiful red dress for Rahaaf. She went all quiet when I put it on her. As she is the first girl after 2 boys, she is always dressed in leftovers from her brothers. She needs a few dresses and skirts. I gave her a plastic bag full of cloths for Yasmine who has become a little bit stronger since the winter. She is trying to walk and succeeds in pushing herself up while clinging onto the veranda’s iron work.

One motivation must be to see her sister and brother come and play in the garden while she is left all alone on the veranda. She’s almost 2 now.

For the rest, this is the dustiest time of the year and my vacuum cleaner has broken down since a month now. It has been sent to Aleppo for repair and not come back yet. I need it.