Day NinetyFour

Team Finland

are arriving today!

Super excited and feeling much better.

I have a shower,

wash off the illness 

and head to the airport.

I'm excited!

And nervous.

Hanna and I had been having these dreams in Beirut

where we felt out of place in our hometowns.

I was dreading the reality of this.

I arrive on Cypriot time;

similar to Lebanese time;

i. e. ten minutes late

and stand with a colourful

'Team Finland'

sign

at arrivals.

I can't see the girls

so I wonder if I was THAT late

that they headed outside.

Or if they missed the flight,

I don't think we ever confirmed they caught

that plane.

I sit at a distance

and observe the faces of the people who arrive.

I notice some cool pants

and an overall cool travelling style.

I make positive judgments in my head 

and then look up to the face.

It's Alex!!

Oh and there's Hanna!

Team Finland has arrived-

I slide off my seat and rush

to greet them.

We hug strongly

and 

reunite.

It's nice to see them again

and rock the girl gang attitude again.

We head to the car.

A children's birthday party is eating for us

in a forest house.

They compliment my pants

and I say I've dressed up

as a godmother

seeing that it's my godson's

birthday!

Girl gang on godmother vibes

lego.

Day FourtySix

Sunday funday

and I didn't know I was getting a group haircut today.

We make plans for getting Sawsan a birthday cake and wait for her to exit the premises after singing her the classic #HappyBirthdaySong

on the sunny terrace.

Sawsan leaves and says she'll be back for dinner.

Alex and I set off for the birthday mission as we come up with cake decoration ideas

like marshmallows,

and smarties.

We find what we want and return to the hostel.

Chadya is on a different mission;

to cut and dye my hair.

I usually do it myself so I have start considering myself my own professional

but she has done it before so I take my chances.

Bastien, who is leaving tonight 

is also on our dorm balcony and I'm confused as to how this event has taken male extension.

'Can I cut your hair?'

He says.

'Erm... Yeah!

Have you cut hair before?'

'Ah yeh! (He's French)

One time

When I was drunk'

'Ok, sure!'

I say jokingly.

He grabs the scissors 

and Alex is looking at my reaction.

I start thinking they're in the joke together

and that in fact Bastien

is good

at cutting hair

and this is a bluff..

I sit on the balcony wall,

he grabs some hair

and chops it off.

He extends his hand

and shows me

my chopped 

hair

in

his

palm.

I have a mini stroke 

and burst out laughing histerically

'What is thisssss

Bastiennnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn!!'

'Ah it's your hair!

I cut it!'

With so much confidence,

so much aura,

so much sarcasm

one would think it's a dream

or rather a nightmare.

I really didn't know how to react apart from continuing to

laugh

hysterically. 

Chadya comes and I beg her to fix this!

She starts speaking to Bastien in French and between French lines I hear

'Catastrophe!'

And I agree!

'Quelle catastrophe!'

She chops a few more ends off

and tidies it up

while my adrenaline returns to normal levels.

I touch my head and find that I still have enough hair.

The jokes continue 

with my exaggeration,

Bastien's humour

and Chadya's comfort.

We proceed to dye my hair on the terrace 

as we meet new people who have just arrived.

I walk around with the dye on my head while Alex calls for cake decorations.

Sawsan is back and wondering around the common area.

We take the cake downstairs and start decorating

what turns out to be one of the fanciest cakes I've ever seen.

We make an smooth entrance 

gathering around the table for dinner

as the rest of the group walk in

with the panoramic cake.

I watch Sawsan being the sweetness that she is

and how delighted she is to have 

such a cozy

warm 

birthday day.

She blows out the candles.

We hug her 

as she reads the post-it notes

with birthday wishes in various languages.

Dinner is ready

and I'm off to wash my hair.

Day TwentyFour

Go shawties,

it's your birthdays!

Were all legends born today?

Well, obvs not cz it ain't Jesus' bday,

but a handful of incredible people were born on this day.

First and foremost,

my kindest-hearted friend,

and number 1 'home to many' fan,

Kristy!

She will drop the most universally/ emotionally/ sociologically/ individually appropriate comment and then look down and think about it and say

'yeah dude.'

Peace & Love dude mu.

Then you got Stevo; a San Fransisco traveler who I met at the hostel in September.

Free spirit, young aura and a pleasure to be around.

Ripped Tshirts Stevo!

Then you got Bob Marley.

The guy with the dreads speaking the truth in melodies of the soul man.

know what a meen eh.

Thank you Bob.

And then you got the curious case of Basemo. A child who grew into a man and who, for whatever reason brought him here, found himself living and working between a very female family setting. He receives motherly love and protection from Sarah, sibling troubleshooting from Maryam and sister-homie attention from me.

We all care about him.

Cz if we didn't he wouldn't have been a topic of discussion.

We meet in the kitchen after a lengthy nap; Maryam, Sarah and me.

'Yeh let's get Basem a cake!

'Where is he? Is he coming home?'

'I don't know- he better!'

9pm and he returns.

He has a late dinner and sits on the couch with his earphones on.

Sarah prepares the candles and walks in with a firework-thin-candle on the all white & strawberry cake.

We start singing happy birthday but he's still listening to 'Fat Freddy's Drop'. He looks up, half way through our chanting with the sweetest look of surprise on his face. 

He turned 8 today.

He cuts us cake and serves it on the 'Ben 10' plates wew got him.

His eyes glisten,

'I haven't had a birthday cake in a long time man.'