15 July, 1978 We went to camping Hellas. At 5 P.M. we came to Yugoslavia. We stayed at Camping Varda at 9 P.M. On the morning of the 16th of July it was very windy. We left for Skopia then Beograg, and then we camped again in our big green tent. I have gotten really good at rolling sleeping bags, since that is one of my jobs. We slept really well, it was so comfortable.
18 July, 1978 We left and drove to Hungary. The border check was difficult. We camped at a petrol station, we were the only ones there. Then when my big brother had put up our tent, we had hot dogs at the restaurant. (Drawing in journal of us eating).
19 July, 1978 We rolled our mattresses and my big brother took down the tent. We saw old buildings and nice bridges. This town looked like it was buit a long time ago, like Stockholm in the 1200's. The ladies had short skirts. We saw an old fortress by the Donau river. It is called the Sittadel. The city is named Budapest. There were large holes in the walls of the fortress where they put cannons through a long time ago. (Note from the present: The river I'm referring to which is misspelled in my journal is the Danube River, in Hungary. Here thousands of Hungarian Jews were marched to their death, shot and thrown into the Danube River during the last part of World War Two. Raoul Wahlenberg, who was a Swedish diplomat working secretly with the Americans, was able to save 10,000 Hungarian Jews from the Nazis, right at the location I visited in my journal).
AUSTRIA (Osterike) Later on we arrived in Austria. A kind old lady and man said we could spend the night in their house. All the hotels were too expensive. And we could not find the camping place we were looking for. July 20th in the morning we had breakfast. Then the lady went to a school where she was a teacher teaching people French. In the afternoon there were no people around. All the restaurants were closed. All but one we found! We ate there. Then we found a camping place for the next night.
21 July, 1978 Mammi, my little brother and I we all went to take showers. If you wanted warm water you had to put in 5 Shillings in a machine. But there was only a little luke warm water that came out, and just as I had shampoo all over my hair, out comes freezing cold water!!! It was also very cold outside. It was aweful! Then it started to rain all day. On July 22nd we left the camping place and arrived in Wien. (Vienna) Mammi and Baba (my parents) made us lunch. Then my three brothers and I picked raspberries, but then Mammi said we were not allowed to, they belonged to someone else. We went to a small play ground instead. On July 24th we went on a walk and we saw thousands of fruit trees. They all looked so good. Apple trees, pears, cherries, red berry trees, olives, peaches, apricots and plumb trees. (Journal shows drawings).
25 July, 1978 We all went on a railway car. When we were in town we met Ibrahim and Chantall. They were going out for a drive in their car. Then we went back on the rail way car to Camping West number one, and we went to sleep. On July 26th we went to one of the world's biggest built churches and we listened to the organ music. It was really beautiful. (Years later in 1980 and again in 2009, I would be in Seoul, South Korea where the biggest church in world is today, with the largest congregation). When we had finished listening to the organ music, we met Ibrahim and Chantall and their sister. We were invited to have coffee and tea with them. When it was all over we took the rail way car home (sparvagn). Chantall's sister was engaged with a man from Sweden. Baba was going to help Ibrahim get a U.N. job. He found a job he could do. He had to fill out three yellow forms.
27 July, 1978 Praten, Austria. We went to Praten, which is like Gronalund! (An amusement park). We rode on the world's biggest ferry wheel. My big brother and I went on a roller coaster. It was terribly scary! I pulled my whole neck muscle (sendrag) and could not straighten it for hours. When we were going to go home, there were no more rail cars, we had gotten there too late. (I'm not sure what we did, the journal doesn't say).
28 July, 1978 We went to a restaurant. Baba ordered a dish he didn't know what it was. Then Mammi ordered something that looked like sweet pallt with powder sugar on. (Pallt is a traditional northern Swedish dish that you either love like me, or hate). On July 29th we drove into Germany (Tyskland). We had to drive quickily through Germany. (I'm not sure why, unless we were in East Germany perhaps, and my parents did not want trouble there). We stopped at a place and bought some bread and something to drink. By July 30th we drove into Denmark. We got a new license plate for the car. There was a nice man there that gave us ice cream. We drove all the way to the harbor and by 4 A.M. we were on the ferry to Sweden. We arrived in Goteborg, Sweden at 7 in the morning. (Since I mentioned about World War Two earlier, I want to point out that the trip from Denmark to Sweden, three hour boat ride, was also the escape route for thousands of Danish Jews. They would be hidden on Danish fishing boats and taken to Sweden and taken refuge in Sweden until WW II was over).
31 July, 1978 We are at Goteborg's harbor, back home in Sweden. The vet checked out our parrot Efraim who had been traveling with us the whole time. The vet said he was healthy and we were allowed to bring him into Sweden. We drove in our car all the way home to our house in Balsta. My grandparents met us there. They had been taking care of our house while we were in Afghanistan. It was still summer in Sweden and warm.
Notes from the present: This is where my first journal ends. The second one picks up when I am in school in Sweden. I am still trying to put photos on the blog. Technical difficulties.
Friday, December 25, 2009
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Eleventh entry. Traveling through Greece 1978
June 29, 1978 Greece (Grekland)
My brothers and I, we went to collect stones by the sea. We found many nice stones. I found a white one I put in my pocket to keep forever.
July 1, 1978
We went to a Greek theater. It was called Philiperna (The Philippians). I saw a snake skin. And we saw some ruins that were left over from the palace and the city.
July 4, 1978
Little brother had lost his shoes so we bought some plastic shoes. Then we went to the ruins from the Greek times. When they had the Olympic games. A long time ago in Greece.
July 5, 1978
We camped at a little place. And we went and ate at a restaurant. We saw a little kitten there. We called her White Nose (Vit nos). I asked the waiter how to say "thank you very much" in Greek. He taught it to me. I practiced and practiced and practiced. I finally learned it. Ephkaristoparapoli. Long word.
(Note from the present: I remember that word to this day. Remember I am writing as an eleven year old. The sentences are brief, to the point and short. The place we visited with the ruins were in Olympia, and you could see where ancient Olympic games had been held once a long time ago. As a young girl I loved to run really fast. So did my three brothers. So we all raced each other on the old ruins, and it was quite an experience. Now back to my journal).
July 6, 1978
We left Trippoli, but when we were in the Greek mountains and driving, the car stopped all of a sudden. There wasn't any gasoline left. (bensine) So Mammi and I had to walk to go get gas. But we got very thirsty and tired. A big truck stopped and gave us a ride to the gas station. Then we went with someone else back with our gas tank. Then on our way back, we saw our car drive by, so we turned around. They had gotten gas from a German.
(Thought from the present: Now why would a young girl of eleven and an attractive woman in her thirties go get gas by themselves in the Greek mountains? My mother has always been very attractive, and it seems odd that we were sent. Thankfully we were all alright hitch hiking and all).
7 July, 1978
We went to the Epodarus theater and saw a Greek play. That happened the night of July 8th at 9 P.M. The theatre has been there 2000 years before Jesus Christ. The people in the play did not have microphones. You could still hear them really well, just like an ear, since the theatre was formed like an ear shape. They danced really nice. We sat at the very top.
(Thought from the present: My father had had too much wine that day/night, and I remember us going to the play, but being very worried about my father. I don't think we really knew where he was. I loved my father dearly, but he sometimes had a drinking problem).
9 July, 1978
We camped at Camping Becas. That was the night Baba had too much to drink. He started swimming out to a far away island from the camping place. He said he could reach the island. We had to get help, so he would not drown. I prayed a lot for Baba that night, and was very worried.
10 July, 1978 Athens
We went to another place. To camping New Europian.
11 July, 1978
We drove to Kapsunion. There is a famous temple there. The temple was built for the Greek sea god. So a lot of people can come to the temple and worship him. The sea is called Sunion.
13 July, 1978
We went to Tamarinda! (Thoughts from present: Tamarinda is the Indonesian word for amusement park. I did not know any other word for it. The reason I called it Tamarinda, was because we used to live in Indonesia when I was six and seven. The reason I also call my father Baba, is because when my brother was born in Algeria, all little kids called their dads Baba, so he did as well. All of us siblings called him Baba because of that).
In Tamarinda we went to a ghost house, motor cars, rubber cars, airplanes and rollercauster. On 14 July we came to Camping Hellas. We swam and had fun. Then we ate dinner. It was pigs meat. Middle brother found a British Airways thing. He has it for his Snoopy dog. During the day at exactly 3 P.M. I do the Snoopy show in the car, in the back seat. It is my daily show. I use my brother's Snoopy dog and there is a theme song and everything.
(Thoughts from the present: We spent a month in Greece. My parents liked for us to see a lot of historical areas, many of which are mentioned in the book of Acts in the Bible. We were of course on our way back to Sweden, after getting out of war torn Afghanistan. I recently spoke to "Little brother" who now is 36, and he encouraged me to put some photos of Afghanistan on the blog. So, I will do that for my next entry. So coming up is my trip through Yugoslavia, and photos of me as a ten year old and photos of Afghanistan in 1978. I'm enjoying traveling with you back in time, through my journals. I'm still in journal number one. I currently have over 70 journals. We'll see how long I keep this up...maybe no one is really even reading. Are you? Happy reading and happy travels).
My brothers and I, we went to collect stones by the sea. We found many nice stones. I found a white one I put in my pocket to keep forever.
July 1, 1978
We went to a Greek theater. It was called Philiperna (The Philippians). I saw a snake skin. And we saw some ruins that were left over from the palace and the city.
July 4, 1978
Little brother had lost his shoes so we bought some plastic shoes. Then we went to the ruins from the Greek times. When they had the Olympic games. A long time ago in Greece.
July 5, 1978
We camped at a little place. And we went and ate at a restaurant. We saw a little kitten there. We called her White Nose (Vit nos). I asked the waiter how to say "thank you very much" in Greek. He taught it to me. I practiced and practiced and practiced. I finally learned it. Ephkaristoparapoli. Long word.
(Note from the present: I remember that word to this day. Remember I am writing as an eleven year old. The sentences are brief, to the point and short. The place we visited with the ruins were in Olympia, and you could see where ancient Olympic games had been held once a long time ago. As a young girl I loved to run really fast. So did my three brothers. So we all raced each other on the old ruins, and it was quite an experience. Now back to my journal).
July 6, 1978
We left Trippoli, but when we were in the Greek mountains and driving, the car stopped all of a sudden. There wasn't any gasoline left. (bensine) So Mammi and I had to walk to go get gas. But we got very thirsty and tired. A big truck stopped and gave us a ride to the gas station. Then we went with someone else back with our gas tank. Then on our way back, we saw our car drive by, so we turned around. They had gotten gas from a German.
(Thought from the present: Now why would a young girl of eleven and an attractive woman in her thirties go get gas by themselves in the Greek mountains? My mother has always been very attractive, and it seems odd that we were sent. Thankfully we were all alright hitch hiking and all).
7 July, 1978
We went to the Epodarus theater and saw a Greek play. That happened the night of July 8th at 9 P.M. The theatre has been there 2000 years before Jesus Christ. The people in the play did not have microphones. You could still hear them really well, just like an ear, since the theatre was formed like an ear shape. They danced really nice. We sat at the very top.
(Thought from the present: My father had had too much wine that day/night, and I remember us going to the play, but being very worried about my father. I don't think we really knew where he was. I loved my father dearly, but he sometimes had a drinking problem).
9 July, 1978
We camped at Camping Becas. That was the night Baba had too much to drink. He started swimming out to a far away island from the camping place. He said he could reach the island. We had to get help, so he would not drown. I prayed a lot for Baba that night, and was very worried.
10 July, 1978 Athens
We went to another place. To camping New Europian.
11 July, 1978
We drove to Kapsunion. There is a famous temple there. The temple was built for the Greek sea god. So a lot of people can come to the temple and worship him. The sea is called Sunion.
13 July, 1978
We went to Tamarinda! (Thoughts from present: Tamarinda is the Indonesian word for amusement park. I did not know any other word for it. The reason I called it Tamarinda, was because we used to live in Indonesia when I was six and seven. The reason I also call my father Baba, is because when my brother was born in Algeria, all little kids called their dads Baba, so he did as well. All of us siblings called him Baba because of that).
In Tamarinda we went to a ghost house, motor cars, rubber cars, airplanes and rollercauster. On 14 July we came to Camping Hellas. We swam and had fun. Then we ate dinner. It was pigs meat. Middle brother found a British Airways thing. He has it for his Snoopy dog. During the day at exactly 3 P.M. I do the Snoopy show in the car, in the back seat. It is my daily show. I use my brother's Snoopy dog and there is a theme song and everything.
(Thoughts from the present: We spent a month in Greece. My parents liked for us to see a lot of historical areas, many of which are mentioned in the book of Acts in the Bible. We were of course on our way back to Sweden, after getting out of war torn Afghanistan. I recently spoke to "Little brother" who now is 36, and he encouraged me to put some photos of Afghanistan on the blog. So, I will do that for my next entry. So coming up is my trip through Yugoslavia, and photos of me as a ten year old and photos of Afghanistan in 1978. I'm enjoying traveling with you back in time, through my journals. I'm still in journal number one. I currently have over 70 journals. We'll see how long I keep this up...maybe no one is really even reading. Are you? Happy reading and happy travels).
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