I did not have the time to write. We were kept on the go always. Ummi had full house – the kids fm Amal and Kerima were there – in total 8. Salah wanted to go to the internet with me and had asked Ummi whether she would take Athana, too. Ummi said of course – bring her on. Then she had 9 kids; crazy…

Since I almost had no mother’s milk ok – almost no was exaggerated but too little would meet the term more adequately – the gossip spread that my milk therefore was poisoned. Since I was a mother and kind of naïve because I never had the chance to raise kids before, I was insecure; which is only natural… of course it must be an old wives’ tale – sometimes I would have loved to scream when hearing such bullsh*t!

Ummi, Mufida and I had discussed my return to career. There was a woman in the neighbourhood who took care of kids. She was a very trustworthy person Ummi said. She also added that we could bring Athana to her and it would only cost us 30 Dinars per month – where in the world would you “only pay” that amount for a nursery? In Switzerland not even 30 Swiss Franks would be enough for 3 hrs true!
I had another appointment with my gynaecologist after the critical 40 days – that was a normal issue – the 40 days referred to the baby – in those 40 days a newborn was not allowed to even stroll in the street with mom in a stroller. It was also an old wives’ tale – YET I thought not so bad abt it. On the opposite – it made sense to me – so I did not argue with anyone. I left it the way it was and adapted.
All were upset of Salah – because I already did the whole chores. Salah had a bakery shop – he made all the shopping and he wanted to go back to flying asap. So it was only fair that I did the chores… He also had little jobs – i.e. extra work – because Adel wanted to build a house for his wife. Yes, Adel was engaged and wanted to get married to Naeema – (Athana’s second name – yet not because of Adel’s future wife – no, because of a very nice nurse at the hospital El Chadra ). Howver – Salah organized the cement for Adel and helped him with men who would help him building.
Adel was a crack when it came to electricity – he could make the whole wiring in an entire house. Ok – the Libyan way, i.e. NEVER compare the Libyan with the Swiss way… it would work – yet you would always be on alert with: EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED
Before these two rooms were the Garage Hadj wanted to make shops out of them – yet the shops were total flops so Salah was happy that Adel finally would get settled and therefore appreciated & welcomed Adel’s idea.
It was time to do sth… Mufida, of course already planned what dress she would wear to the wedding
Well, as most of the Libyan women she was totally crazy abt fashion. Shoes, accessories, make-up (she has a degree on cosmetics – she is awe in that and she can also cut hair very well – true!)
One day there was a fashionshow on the Lebanese channel. I happened to be with them. Mufida asked me non-stop – what does this mean in English – what does that mean in English… pretty – nice – beautiful: helo = nice/pretty - gnain = beautiful – then you have to distinguish between male and female: i.e. if you have Athana – she is gnaina – if there is a man: it is gnain Mufida was not happy with beautiful – she wished to know sth more – sth like super – I told her awesome or gorgeous
Finally she was happy.

At Easter I invited Ummi, Mufida and Nuri for Raclette. It was brilliant, just Nuri complained: why was there no bread and why did we not serve fizzy drinks but tea with it? Salah teased him: why not noodles, Nuri? I also asked him: why not rice? Salah added rice was not so famous in Libya. Ummi told Nuri: if you wish for a fizzy drink – go and buy a Pepsi (at that time there was NO Coca Cola in the market)… then Nuri was quiet cause we all know he hates shopping ok – we were not nice but please when you are invited – you can keep quiet, no? Ok Salah had to explain the fun afterwards – I only understood the “bread thingy” – I would have loved to laugh immediately – not only afterwards… Salah also told Nuri: if you were not to complain all the time – you would be less frustrated, you would have less greys and you would be happier… However – it was Nuri’s life and if he was happy with that…

One of those days Najad showed up and fell in love with Athana, as well – all loved that little girl. Still till today I miss Najad – she was my light in the dark – many times. She had a miserable life with her husband who then still was in prison. I told her the fortune and I saw that he still had a pile of problems but would get out of jail and she would become pregnant again. (to be added her husband is a drug addict, when I left Libya – he was still a drug addict – his brother an alcoholic – tragic). Their mother was a wonderful person – so there must have been other reasons – which led to those tragic addictions…
Athana was one of those kids who could not get enough of action. When I was pregnant with her I went to Lord of the Rings – a very long movie. She normally had me gone to the toilet every 2 hrs – during that movie I had NOT a single problem. It was as if she watched it with me – also during Harry Potter – I never needed to go to the bathroom in the cinema. Still till today she loves action movies – her favourite series are: Xena, Hercules and yes, Bones – can you imagine?
So when she had her hiccups she needed a change – i.e. a fast change. I normally went to the house of my mother in law – as soon as we arrived there, she went to sleep – brilliant… at least I then knew that she is not one of these sissies – till today – she is not afraid of anything. She is doing all at a fun fair – I have to stop her sometimes – she can do merry go rounds – which would make me dizzy and throw up – she thinks it is the perfect field day
She loved to be roled around and was playing hard. The more people around her – the happier she was.