As soon as we get back from Ankara, we are sitting at the table with the family. The phone rings: Emire, who is a gynaecologist, has to rush off to a birth. We make ourselves comfortable and look forward to the few days we have left here.
Shortly afterwards, the phone rings: I can be there for the birth if I want. Me? With a strange woman? It doesn't feel right, but I accept the offer to go to the hospital and greet the new little person. So I spend half the night in the room with the newborn's grandma (the dad wasn't there at the birth, but the grandma was) and the baby, alternating between my arm and hers. Mum didn't have the easiest birth, which is why she joins us much later.
We use the time to chat a little (even in German) and welcome the baby into this world. A wonderful moment for me, for which I am infinitely grateful.
When Emire and Mum join us, we all get a delicious, albeit very strong, Turkish coffee. Wonderful, it's half past one and I'm drinking coffee. Later, when I stumble into our Felix, I have to tell Gerd everything. Is it the coffee or is it the happiness hormones that have taken over my body? Gerd grumbles a little, looks dutifully at the pictures, turns round and goes back to sleep! And me? I lie awake, blissfully happy and think of all the babies, who are so sweet in their tenderness.
The next few days are very familiar, Emire wants to learn to sew. After all, she has a sewing machine that she wants to get to know. We do handicrafts and sew. Grandma, who comes to visit for a while, cooks like a star chef. All we have to do here is housekeeping, i.e. laundry, cooking, setting and clearing the table. However, we have to be pretty quick, otherwise we won't be able to do that either.
We all help with Gerd's favourite dish, the mantı. And we realise how much work it is. As we say goodbye, there's another portion - or two - of mantı in our fridge. "Just in case we have a hankering for the family in Batman!"
My favourite piece of furniture in the house, apart from the beautiful Iranian carpet, is the massage chair. First the body is measured, then depending on the programme, it's either gentle or hard. I lie in this otherwise unused piece of furniture every free minute and let myself be massaged. spoil knead thoroughly. And I'm also thinking about how I could integrate this armchair into our Felix. Perhaps as a passenger seat? If anyone has any experience with this, I'm open to tips!
A few days later - we deposit our drone with our friends to be on the safe side, finally have US dollars (there is no way to withdraw money in Iran) and our Carnet de Passage for our Felix, both essential for our onward journey to Iran, has finally arrived - we bid a painful farewell to our friends.
My God, what a wonderful time. And such a good time. A little peace and quiet, little travelling. No sightseeing for once and yet a full heart.
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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