The Meaning of life part VII: Death

Death according Monty Python

Food

Alicia has always been a picky eater. About a year ago (she's 4 now) I realized I could make her try something new changing names. She would refuse to eat white beans but liked chickpeas, so I lied and told her "nooo, these are chickpeas, it's just another type, smaller, but they are chickpeas". She tried the beans and liked them. Great. Yesterday she came home from school and I asked her: "What did you have for lunch?"
-Potatoes and chickpeas. But you know what? At school they call them beans! (and she gave me a look meaning "they don't know any better"...)

Btw: We talked about baptizing the girls last night. My husband said "it's so sad, it's like bringing a priest from some obscure tribe to cast away evil spirits..."

A promise...

A few moths ago I made a promise. My husband had a medical problem, a big one, and for a few minutes, I thought he was dying. While I was driving to the hospital, right after the ambulance had left and I had placed my girls with my mother in law, I promised God (strange, since to this day I still don’t know if I should consider myself a believer or not) I would baptise my daughters if he was ok. The outcome was good enough, he needs medication but it’s ok, so… should I baptise them?
When I told my husband he wasn’t so happy. His allegations were: “shouldn’t we wait for at least two years and see if I’m really ok?” and “why didn’t you promise something that implies only you? Why didn’t you promise you’d convert to hinduism or Islam or you’d walk 40 km?” But still… have you ever done something like this? In a way, I’d baptise them. I know my mother and my in-laws would be happy. My father has always believed religion is just a big fairy tale to control people. I can’t help but feel the same way too, at least my rational side…

Mom, when I die, I'll grow again in your tummy, right?
mmmm... I don't know...
Why don't you know??
Because I don't know EVERYTHING, Alicia...
.... silence..............
And dad? Does dad know EVERYTHING?

Egypt

It was one of the most interesting visits on our trip. Chaotic, mostly dirty, but with hospitable people (the few I met, anyway). We decided not to go on the bus like everyone else, because we were travelling with three kids, and we thought we'd have more freedom if we hired a guide just for us (Ahmed). It was not that good, though. Ahmed had his schedule planned, and would give us little choices. And apparently, no matter how you travel to Egypt, you MUST end up in a papirus shop, a perfume store and a jewellery. Why?? Papirus, ok, but we didn't ask him to take us there. And perfume?? None of us wanted to go in there, so we didn't bother to step out of the bus, even though the driver stopped right in front of the shop. And, most annoying, when we went to Giza Ahmed instructed all of us, several times: "Do not buy anything from these people here, I'll take you someplace else if you want to buy souvenirs, a government-run store, with better prices". So in the end, it's like a pay-toll? If my mother wanted to take a look at what the kids were selling, Ahmed would just signal to her to get moving. The thing is, we were supposed to buy from the right people. He also lectured us about Islam. He seemed worried about the perception Westerners have about his religion, so he would talk about the good in Islam, and it was ok, until he told us he's getting married soon. My mother explained she sells bridal gowns, but Ahmed said: "oh, my girlfriend alredy bought her dress in Lebanon, but I'll keep it in mind for my next wedding". WHAT?? My mother and sister in law both looked horrified. I asked him, "so you're getting married and thinking about wife number two alredy, does she know?" And he just smiled. Nooo, he said, you can only have more than one wife if you're absolutely fair to them and treat them equally. And it's so hard to fulfill, most men just have one wife. Anyway, nobody in my family liked that part of Islam...
It was also interesting that Ahmed said according to the Koran, women must cover their head. I knew that part, but I remember two days before, our guide in Turkey (Salma) said “nothing in the Koran says women must cover their head”. And in fact, we didn’t see many women with headscarves in Izmir. Salma gave us pretty simple instructions:
1-Woman with black headscarf: fundamentalist
2-Woman with colorful headscarf: religious
3-Woman without headscarf: not religious or simply modern.

This man on the camel is a policeman. After I I took the picture, he chased me because he wanted money. I didn’t “pay”.

How selfish am I?

Once in a while, I work for my brother. That means I spend a whole day (usually saturday) helping him in his business. What do I get? A warm "Thank you". And sometimes it's not even that warm. And this warmth tends to evaporate so fast, that after a few days, he doesn't seem to remember I did something for him. So when I give him a call, he sounds irritated, he's busy, you see. He is a charming man. He's got the right look (tall, blonde, nice smile) and believe me, he'd be the best public relations, but when it comes to family, I have the feeling family for him is there to be used. I know I'll spend the 24th this month and some day in april working for him. I don't want to do it anymore. I suggested some time ago that he could give me some money. I can't remember what he said, but the word money has never been pronounced again. Am I being selfish?? I'm writing this because this trip proved to me once more how different we are. And I'm mad at him. And I guess mad at me too. He would never spend a day of his life helping me, I'm absolutely certain of that. So why do I keep on doing it?

We made it!!

We're home. We survived a 12 day cruise with the Gremlins and the rest of the family... Family relations, that's a whole another post, and a big one....
It's been interesting, exhausting, stressing and a tiny bit relaxing (about one hour of relax in those twelve days). We were a about 3.000 pampered Europeans (mostly Italians) and Americans (a minority on the ship) eating and getting glimpses of great places, while a bunch of other nationalities, mainly Philippinos, Indians, Latin Americans... worked on the ship. Kind of like living in a bubble... Hope to post something else tomorrow!