Our mothers always tell us about "the sister's cousin, the aunt. Do you remember?"
We have always laughed. Today we know that the desire for human relationships is one of our basic needs.
In our van there is a whole wall full of photos of family & friends. We regularly talk to our loved ones on the phone. And we are also in frequent and close contact with the fellow travellers we have met over the last 2.5 years.
We are happy about conversations, emails, voice messages.
Shortly before Bizerte, the time has come again: we write briefly to Daniela (whom we met in Douz and with whom we spent Christmas Eve at the campfire, remember?) to ask if she or her dad knows of a laundry in or around Bizerte.
Not half an hour later we have an invitation to Bizerte. Cherif, Daniela's dad, invites us to his house. "You can stand with me, fill up with water, eat, drink, do laundry, no problem at all! Just come!"
So we stand outside his door on a windy Sunday afternoon, wash mountains of laundry in his house, listen to many Tunisian-German stories on his terrace. We get something to eat. At six o'clock on the dot, the man of the house disappears, saying that he has to watch handball, that it is really important now. Do we want to watch?
Uh, no, we're not really handball fans. Thank you. Good night and see you tomorrow!
In the morning then the message on the mobile phone: "Breakfast is ready!". We continue to be pampered. Our working days Monday & Tuesday are all-inclusive this time. For breakfast, freshly squeezed orange juice, Tunisian jam, fresh bread. In the evening, couscous with freshly caught fish.
At lunchtime we take him into town, finally we can invite him for dinner. But he wants to pay for the cake himself. We eat it together over our third cup of coffee on his terrace. Until shortly before 6: I have to watch handball again. (Cherif also told us the results the next day, unfortunately we forgot them...).
We find it all quite magical! This hospitality opens our hearts (and expands our stomachs!) and once again lets us fall asleep in the evening full of gratitude.
So the days go by, and on Wednesday he takes us into town so that we can have a look at the medina, stroll along the harbour and indulge in the hustle and bustle of the city. It's a beautiful city, but we notice that the cool weather, the wind, the hop-on-hop-off-rain are eating away at our mood. So it is with a heavy heart that we leave Bizerte and especially Cherif.
With gratitude in our hearts, we set out on our journey. Where to? Good question. We'll probably check the weather app. Because we don't like this drizzly autumn weather at all!
Merci for "travelling with us
We are thinking about taking another break from travelling in the summer and visiting our families in Germany and Switzerland. One of the ideas is to organise a Lecture about our long journey to the Persian Gulf to prepare. If you would like to, what would interest you the most? We will also tell stories here that don't find a place here on the blog. We're thinking of the Bern and Berlin area - simply because we have family there. But other places are also conceivable. Feel free to write to us.
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