In gazzeh

It was february 1990 or 1991 or almost the end of january, theh weather was snowy.. And of course life in beqaa was tough but it was our choice to live here ,and not to leave for good for canada or australia as my brother , or to England as many members of the family did , and my sister with her family too. The war in lebanon was a series.. Some episodes you can manage others one cannot survive them ..So we decided to give Beqaa a try.... And if things didnt work out we can leave ... It was worth to consider this decision because it isnot that costly, and we are still in our country, and near ourfamily we dont have to cross borders to visit them , as a matter of fact i consider being near my fsmily and husbands family as a good reason to stay in my country.. Besides i have my daughters that i cont want to be broought up in the. West , i was living there and my eldest daughter was brought up there ,completely different ,i mean the way way to raise kids there ...
Ourdecision and we never regretted it ,my husband would teach at OMEC and the girls will go to there too , six girls ranging in age from 11 to 1 .. They would be my chore ..here life is no fun, tough life reminded me of the little house on the prairiei used to watch when i was younger. No phones, no central heating, no electricity gor most of the time, but alhamdulillah ,a big house, empty, bare but nevertheless it has a fenced vineyard and a gate ,thats good . The house owners left forbrazil and someone to stay in thehouse so it doesnt get occupied from strangers so tey didnt askfor a big rent ..
We settled here in september just before school started in 1989.. um Lameie house was special... Baba started making some wooden stuff , bookshelves and shelves for toys and he made a wooden frame for a closet and i covered it with a bed sheet and we hung in it a silk line for hangers, we managed without a fridge first because in winter food lasts and we brought our fridge from beirut later and the oven range , we bought a new washing machine ,that was a treat for meg so i finish laundry easier but it turned out to be trouble that washing machine needs stable electricity and it kept bugging me so i washed most of the times in. The twin tub washing machine .
We bought a heavycast iron sobiya and a regular fuel one , the sobiya was a must there , and myjhusbandb bought a saw and a good axe .
Ibrought mysewing machine from beirut and 3 or four trunks of clothing for the girls , at first we put thecloth in Pampers diaper boxes each had a box .
The girls exceptfor bayan attended OMEC ,Bayan was young , tthe kids didnt like schol at fiest they were nicknamed as Beyrutis ,,, .... It was an experience for us all ,my husband was in beirut when a big snowstorm hit, and of course i didnt expect him to come to gazze , i have a car with me plymouth volare an american car and he usually drives the datsun tobeirut so we dont have to pay a lot for gas .. Dahr albaydar was closed ,two days, three days and no sign of the road openning or thestorm ceasing kids stayed home no school , even the milkman didnt mske his ususl morning route ,so my neighbor would give me the milkfree so it doesnt spoil , of course it didnt spoil i kept some milk in two cooking pots in the snow covering thecar well it kept well andb i made all these labneh balls because who wants to finish all this milk , mydaughters remember 55 liters of milk or 11 pails
With no signs of hope i grew desperate , i know myhusband would be worried how we are managing , i thank god that my mom was visitng us and got stuck with us , thatgave us some support in cutting wood and managing extra milk and the stories and the cuddling of the kids ...
Phones would have ben helpful but it was out of mind tohave a phone during the war and in beqaa.
It was Thursday , The sky was clear but it was white with cotton like clouds and its goung to snow as it shows, so before it did we took some carpets out to clean. The kitchen and adjacent room from black soot that sometimes seeps through corners , i was mopping when i heard myhusbands keys tapping on the window, his regular tapping sound , i shouted telling the kids Ija Daddy, but i didnt hear anycar, wel a car can't move anyway, roads are packed by knee-high snow.... Then we heard the door knocking, it was him He came ,his face was red and nose bluish from the cold he came through Syria, my father drove him to tripoli and there he took cabs to Homs then to Baalbak then to Gazze , it was the best he did and thought of , Baba was in beirut without mama but now we knew that they kept daily trials to come to Gazze but no use , the storm lasted for ten or twelve days well it forsnt matter to me how long it lasts now ,and the schools were off for a month . February was a no school month this year, Baba came after 15 days to take mama to Beirut .. Now i talk about the memory but back then i was in such a fuss that i couldnot talk ..