Where in the WORLD are the Wyatts???: Have you ever imagined/wondered...

...staying in the desert in a tent, surrounded by palm trees and sand dunes, not far away there is a lake and once or twice a camel caravan comes past while you're sitting at your camp fire making bachbuti or hopsamila????? Well, delete this picture out of your mind again, because this wasn't what happened to us. We ended up staying in a house somewhere in the desert for the first night (it was a nice house but still, not really what we wanted) and the second night in a hotel in town, which was nice as well, but also not really what we wanted.
...getting lost in the desert and what to do if that happened especially if you're almost out of fuel??? Well, we found out. This guy was driving us to that house somewhere in the middle of the desert. And man, he was speeding. We were rather impressed that he knew where to go in the dark with no hill or tree or anything to give you an indication of where in the world you are. Until he stopped and waited for the other car to come along. Then they rattled away in Arabic and finally started laughing and switching of the engines (to preserve fuel, normally they don't bother with stopping the engines for short stops) we were told that we were lost. Lost in the desert in the dark. Great. Now I can laugh as well, then I could NOT. I had a splitting headache (didn't drink enough because I didn't want to have to go to the loo), Ned luckily was so gone and fast asleep but Cedric wasn't and the prospect of sleeping in the open desert but WITHOUT blankets and a tent was uhm, not so inviting, even though a tiny, adventurous bit of my heart longed for it. I mean, WHAT a story to tell. And we had a little gas cooker on the back of the ute, enough food, water and baby formula. But PTL someone invented iPhones... and they have GPS and in no time you're out of the middle of the desert again to somewhere not quite in the middle anymore with a couple of houses around you. I told Ben I'll get him an iPhone. I want one too!!! Just in case... you never know when you might be stuck in some desert again.
...how much mess an ostrich egg can make??? Luckily we only dropped it on the dusty ground... but that would have made scrambled eggs for a family of four.
...how frustrating it can be at times to live in a different culture and you just LONG to be back in your own were people don't have any problem whatsoever to say "No" when they mean it, instead of saying something different but at the end of the day it means that the end result is "No" as well???? We really would have loved to sleep in the desert in a tent. That was our reason for going. But once we were there we were told that it is too dangerous to sleep somewhere outside because Sudan is only 200km away... and because there were ladies present (which they must have known beforehand, because I haven't turned female just lately).
...how an exotic bird feels behind the bars of her cage, well taken care of, secure and protected but well, somehow locked up either only to look at or, well, to protect her of the evil around????
...how much a camel actually stinks????
...to pay around 6Euros for 50l of fuel????
...you see your kid eating camel poo and you're not really allowed to tell him off and all the adults around him laugh their heads off (uhm, inclusive even his mother, who actually managed to get a snapshot of said memorial moment in life... if he ever dares to complain about my cooking some time in the future I shall tell him that he ate camel poo when he was two and my cooking can NOT be worse than that!!!)
...endless flat desert spread out whereever you look and you just feel like screaming because your eyes LONG to see a hill or a tree or something???
...flushing down a toilet all present remote controls, radios, mobile phones and the like???? (you wouldn't be able to use the toilet afterwards anymore, due to being blocked, but oh the quietness and peace...)
...the absolute silence of the desert which makes your ears ring... ou yeah and the "boom---tsha-boom-tsha boom---tsha-boom-tsha" music from the 4W drive ute in the background.
...to do really NOTHING an entire day, sitting in the desert, watching goats... and camels... and donkeys, or watching others cook the food on or in a fire and watching one of your kids sleep... at least a bit, and watching the other one chase goats or donkeys or dogs or watching him eat some more poo, having to drink REALLY strong and REALLY sweet tea in tiny tea cups (luckily they are so tiny so you can stomach it and even luckier if husband is around and he drinks it for you), and be rewarded with a beautiful sunset (and a splitting headache... and a slightly burned face)
...if this particular strip or sand has ever heard German before???
...to long for ship's food???
...seeing your son chasing dung beetles and hearing him calling them "ants"... as well as trying to prevent him to pluck out the legs of those poor beetles???
...having a SNICKERs for breakfast?? Or two???
...how slightly irritating it is that someone always tells you that your kid is basically totally misbehaved and if said kid would spend one week at that someone's house he'd be perfect afterwards???? I know he means it jokingly, but that's an area were I transform from the gentle duck-mother to the fierce lioness (btw, if you point out that this someone's 6 month old daughter is up until 2am and doesn't want to sleep the someone says "Oh, but she's a girl. Boys drink their milk and then they sleep!").
...cleaning your baby's bottles with hand soap as you forgot to bring detergent (BUT I remembered to bring sterilizing fluid!!!!!)??????
...your Australian husband being asked, after being told that the wife (me) is German: "Your son speaks German... why??? You are the father, you speak English!"
...writing a blog to avoid the unpleasant job of having to pack (once again) your life of the last 6 weeks into a couple of suit cases to be ready and set to leave the ship the next day... well, actually the ship is leaving us behind. We'll stay two more days in the country, but hopefully we'll fly from Benghazi to Tripoli tomorrow and go home two days later... home, sweet, sweet home!!!

Where in the WORLD are the Wyatts???

Saturday, November 20, 2010

Have you ever imagined/wondered...

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