Tidy around the house

May is nearly over and so should be the first peak tourist season of the year. During 3 months campers have been dropping in. It seems like more and more are finding their way to our camp site and many more nationalities as before.

The Dutch were well represented the last weeks. It was nice to speak my own language to adults. You do need more vocabulary then talking to a 2 year old.

Zakaria is not quite 2 yet. He needs a few more months. He too was very pleased with all these visitors talking the same language as his mother.

We had a Dutch family with 2 young children staying here for a three nights. The girl was Zakaria’s age, but hardly got his attention, except when she sat on his bike. Then he started yelling and crying while he grabbed it letting her fall on the ground.

Not that he was in the least interested in his little bike when the girl wanted to try it. He was busy riding her toy car and eying her 4-year old brother’s bike. He can take any children’s toy and play with it while sharing his own toys is an unbearable thought.

It is funny to see how sometimes he is a spoilt little brat while most of the times he is so gentle and charming. He is always happy to give away sweets to other children and is very tidy around the house. He is now able to open the fridge and likes to take something from it either to eat from or to just have a look at it. When he is finished he puts whatever he has taken out back.

He always closes doors and windows (also when I want them open) and asks me to put things back “on their spot” whenever the spot is out of his reach. His toys, however, have to be spread all over the place, even though I keep tidying them up.

Rally to Jordan

While the volcano dust in Europe is still causing flights to be cancelled, it must have an influence on the weather far beyond Europe. Last week, we suddenly had unusually fresh temperatures, also reported by campers that stayed in Jordan at that moment.

The strange behaviour of the weather conditions may have another cause and it may be purely coincidental.

Since a few days it is starting to be very hot. It is now a matter of keeping the heat out of the house to have a cool refuge during the day.

Yesterday morning at 04:00 AM, 6 young German campers arrived in 2 cars. They were very glad to find that they still could get in, set up their tents and slept until 10:00 AM.

As a matter of fact, they were so late because 250 vehicles were presented at the same time at the border post Killis. They all finally got in and these guys headed for our camping because they wanted to rest before continuing the race in rally in which they participated. The goal of the whole thing is to get old cars (purchase cost not more than 1000 Euro) to Amman, to get them dismantled and to sell the parts. The benefits will go to a children’s home.

They rested a little bit further and then headed for Palmyra before crossing the border to Jordan.

I don’t know where all the others spent the night, but I sure am glad they didn’t follow their colleagues.

Having a lot of campers means X-mas for Zakaria every day. Not only does he get a lot of attention, but also many gifts, as many bring toys with them that their own grand children do not play with anymore.

I’m not keeping everything for Zakaria, as too many toys mean too much mess and too many objects lying around without being played with. It is better to keep the favourites and to pass the other toys on to the nephews and nieces.

The latest favourites are a small aeroplane that flaps it wings while driven around and a white police car that German campers brought with them after a visit to the Souq.

He is getting too big for baby toys and is definitely interested in motorized vehicles, but nothing beats water, either to drink, to scoop up and pour out or to simply splash it.