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The garden didn’t look too bad last night. After more than a week’s absence, I could harvest about 2 kilos of zucchini and many flowers are showing. It will now be a matter of keeping up with them.

The other plants have grown as well. Hot peppers have bright yellow flowers. And I urgently need to find a support for a mango tree full of growing fruit.

Started weeding at 08h30 and finished at 11h00 because of the heat. It is a pleasure now to do some chores in the (relative) coolness of the house.

It is now 16h00 and soon I will go out into the garden to continue weeding until sunset.

I’ve left Nick and Julia, the Australian couple traveling around Syria with us, alone with Mohamed to go and spend a few days at the Euphratis and the Bedouins. I would have loved to go along, but after 8 days of being from home I really need to catch up.

This afternoon, a bird that is having its nest somewhere downstairs got lost and flew into the house. Soon it realized that it was not heading for home. For some reason a bird does not remember how it came in. It tried to go out by the roof window which was closed. It flew against the mirror in the sleeping room a few times and got really dizzy and desperate. All the time I was trying to show it the open window and fortunately I succeeded.

The highlight of today. About all the excitement I can get. I really do not need this busy life. I want to continue finishing the camping and the house. Maybe we can do it in a few days, although the requests are coming in from travelers (I don’t like to call them tourists) for the upcoming months. I’m going to have to be very selective.

Everything grows

Back in Syria, it is rush rush to get things done at home. The house has been cleaned and in the garden the bad had to be separated from the good. All this in 3 days.

It has been raining during many evenings until a few days ago. This is very good for the trees and vegetables. Needless to say the “not wanted” profit from it too. With Mohamed’s help they have been eliminated for 95% after a few days. I’ve even managed to put in some new vegetables like green beans, salad, broccoli, onions and carrots.

The courgettes and zucchini are in flower. The sunflowers are already turning with the sun although they do not show flowers yet. Some trees are still bearing fruit, although less than before as some is falling off which is good because these trees are too small to carry a lot of fruit. And the “fléflé” (peppers) are looking promising.

The camping/garden has a gate since yesterday. Without lock until we’ve bought one. It is a sliding gate. Much easier to operate. It is painted dark red matching the front door.

I only had 3 days to work in the house and the garden, as Mohamed is touring around the country with Danish and Australian tourists and I am going along. We got in contact through the internet and have worked out an itinerary for both couples. Also helped them find hotels.

Tomorrow we pick up the Danish couple, Skott and Annette, in Lattakia where they are enjoying a few days rest at the beach. The day after tomorrow we’ll meet Nick and Julia in Damascus to travel with them for 9 days.

After that I hope to have some time to go and visit, because I haven’t seen some people for a long time. The advantage of traveling around the country is that I will see others back after quite a long time.

Typical Belgian weather

Since Monday the weather is grey in Belgium and I am longing to go back, because the sun is shining in Kafaramme.

I would like to work in the garden and see the sunflowers and the vegetables grow. Bought seeds for lavender, broccoli, beans ans some herbs. Cannot wait to get on with it and to extend the variety of vegetables and fruits.

Why beans ? They have plenty of "fool" over there, but not the green thin variety I like so much (we call them princess beans).

Got news that the gate will soon be installed, inch'Allah... And that a bedouin craftsman is making bricks to build some traditional beehive houses in the back of the garden. I want to use them as rooms for tourists that look for alternative accomodation. By that I mean other than 5* hotels that you can find all over the world.

Just packed and weighed all the stuff that I'm going to transfer. This time, I am taking my travel souvenirs.

Yes, am really ready to leave, but first I want to see back some friends which I will in the coming days. Don't have a lot of time left to do something else. That's good !!! It will keep me busy until next week Wednesday morning.

Dry and sunny

I am in Belgium since Saturday and have problems adapting to the totally different lyfestyle. After 6 months of living in a village in Syria, Belgium feels like going abroad.

Luckily the weather is warm and dry, so no problem on that side. April has been the hottest and dryest ever. No rain which is exceptional for Belgium.

This is like a holiday for me. I don't have to work in the garden, not in the house, nor help finishing the camping. Therefore, a lot of time to watch television and surf on the internet.

I'll probably be full of energy when going back in a few weeks.

My parents have ADSL. Wonderful... I can do so much more. Find so much more sites and forums on people having questions about traveling in Syria. By the time I'll leave, I'll have left hundreds of messages.

When I'll be back, I'll immediately start traveling with some Danish tourists and right after with an Australian couple. We've established contact through the internet. They were looking for information and had a lot from me. I helped them with the itinerary, hotels and they hired the services of Mohamed as a driver.

I guess I need a website soon. Maybe later this year.

We haven't found a name for the camping yet. I've got an idea of just calling it "Camping". Why give it a name ? But we'll have to decide soon.
At arrival back home, I hope to find a gate installed, the toilets and showers completely finished. The last thing to be done on the camping then is to even out the white chalk roads, as they are very bumpy now.

But before I leave, I hope to see as many friends possible. In the meantime, I'm enjoying chocolates, cakes, french fries with mayonnaise, steak tartare (américain préparé), steak, etc.