Category Archives: Syria

11/10/08

Day 44

Yesterday I went on another day trip outside of Damascus, this time to a place called “Bludan”, which is an hour bus ride North-West and is situated at the foot of the mountains that form the border between Syria and Lebanon. The trip was a large youth-group outing organized by the church I go to here. There were about forty youth that came along from the church, all around my age. It was great to make some new friends and it was a great opportunity to learn some more about the Christian-Arab culture among youth my age.

In “Bludan” we visited a famous tourist site called “Moses’ Cave”, which is an old underground quarry that has been converted into a tourist site, with a restaurant inside and numerous gift shops. You would think from the name that it has some sort of religious significance, but actually it was just named after the owner’s father, Moses. Inside the cave they had carved out various sculptures in the walls and at the heart of the cave was a natural water reservoir, which guests could explore by pontoon boat. The cave also served as a great getaway from the heat outside.

After exploring the cave we took the bus up to the top of one of the mountainsides to a large villa that was reserved for our use that day. The view was absolutely stunning and you could see for miles and miles East over Syria. At the villa we had our lunch and then they played some group games and sang some songs. It was pretty much like the youth rally gatherings that we would have in England (except without the “Father Abraham…”). After that we took a trip to the local theme park and tried out some of the rides. We had a lot of fun on the bumper cars. Now I know where the Syrians learn their crazy driving! It was a great trip and I look forward to the next one, wherever that may be.

My classes have started up again and getting to the college is so much easier than before. Now all I have to do is walk downhill for 10 minutes and then get a bus for 3 minutes, which drops me off directly outside the entrance to my college. So for a 9am class I can now leave my place at quarter to, instead of an hour to (as before from my old place in Jaramana).

Unfortunately I had another case of the “Damascus Stomach” this past week, but am back to 100% again. A lot of others were also having it for the second time, as if it’s a periodical thing! I hope it doesn’t become a pattern, because it is not pleasant at all, especially when the toilets at the university are like something out of the flippin’ Stone Age! It’s quite ridiculous. Here you are, at an institution of educated and civilised people, and it’s as if the toilets are designed for savages! This is a common thing here, and in my opinion, is one of the low points of Arab culture. I mean… really!

Anyway, enough about all of that! I shall speak to you soon.

03/10/08

Day 36

I thought I would write and let you know that I had a great birthday over here in Damascus. My friends and I decided to go to a restaurant to celebrate, called “Damascus Gate”, which is apparently the largest restaurant in the world and featured in the Guinness Book of World Records! Of course, I couldn’t just go to any old restaurant for my birthday! The place was pretty amazing and reminded me of Sea World in Florida because of the huge waterfalls and fountains surrounding the place. We were told the place can seat 6000 people! Usually they serve food from all over the world and I was very keen to have some nice Indian food (one of my favourite kinds), but because it was still Ramadan they unfortunately were only serving the normal Arabic food that you get everywhere else in Damascus. I did, however, manage to discover an Indian place yesterday and had one of the best meals I have had so far in Damascus. They even had Chicken Tikka Masala – my favourite!

Unfortunately, due to the end of Ramadan holidays, I have not been able to pick up any mail from the post office and wont be able to until Sunday. I can’t wait until the days here are just normal days, instead of Ramadan or the Eid for example (end of Ramadan four day holiday.) During Ramadan it was nearly impossible to get any food that wasn’t the normal “Iftar” Arabic food and because everyone was eating at the same time in the evening it was impossible to get a seat in any restaurant without having to wait for one hour to be served. So you would have to eat either really early or really late to avoid the crowds. If you ate early, most of the menu was unavailable because it was being prepared for the breaking of the fast (the “Iftar”) and if you ate late, all you could have was leftovers from the “Iftar”.

The day after my birthday I moved into my new apartment. I am now living in an area called “Mezzeh Gabel”, which means Mezzeh on the Hill/Mountain, so I have an amazing view looking down over the city. It is on the opposite side of the city to where I was living before (in Jaramana) and is much closer to the University. Now it takes only 10 minutes by bus to my college for only 10 Syrian Pounds (around $0.20). Mezzeh is also much quieter and I think much safer (i.e. much farther away from where the explosion occurred near Jaramana) which I am sure you are happy to hear! I am still living with the same Arabs, but only two of them this time, since one of the other two works in Jaramana and the other couldn’t afford the rent at the new place. So the two I am living with now are called Simon and William. We sometimes call William by his nickname, “qoh-qoh”, which doesn’t really mean anything, but sounds a bit like a bird cawing! I’m not quite sure how he got the nickname! Although he does do a very good bird-cawing impression! Both of them are extremely friendly and have also been very helpful with just about every aspect of living in Damascus – from finding an apartment for us to buying the groceries (and cooking for me!). Our apartment is pretty large and fully furnished with 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a balcony, living room, kitchen and adjoining eating area. The bathrooms are particularly good, with showers that I would actually go as far as to say are better than the ones at my college in Durham.

Classes don’t start up again until Wednesday (because of the Eid Holidays). During the Eid everywhere is really crowded and gets pretty hectic, especially at the market places where all of the shops have been having end of Ramadan sales. Everyone is out celebrating, eating out, smoking shisheh in all the cafes and playing loud music in the streets. Also, all the children who would normally be in school are running wild in the streets and playing with BB guns, shooting at each other. Just sitting here now in the internet cafe I have almost been hit a couple of times by stray BB’s! Out of all the things I am wary of in Damascus, I think it is the wild crowds of kids that are right up there on the list! Just the other day one of my friends, who has also come from Durham, was hit by a firework that some kid threw in the street. Fortunately it only bounced off his hand and wasn’t too serious, but it could have been a lot worse. Forget about the maniac driving here, or the strange plain-clothes police with AK47’s, it’s the crazy children you have to worry about!

27/09/08

Day 30

All OK

You may or may not have heard that today there was a car bombing in Southern Damascus and at least 17 people were killed and at least 17 injured. So I thought I would write and let you know that I am ok and that I was not affected (although the sound of the explosion did wake me up).

I am currently living in a suburb of Damascus, called Jaramana, which is relatively close to where the explosion occurred, so I was within earshot of the blast. I have asked the locals and apparently the explosion was only 5 minutes by car away from where I am staying in Jaramana.

They don’t know exactly who is responsible just yet. It was the first explosion in Damascus since February when the Shiite Hezbollah leader Imad Moughniyah was killed in a car bombing in a residential neighborhood of Damascus.

Life in Damascus, however, is no different than any other day and it is as if nothing happened. Still, you may be happy to hear that I am planning on moving in a few days to a different area of Damascus, on the opposite side of the city from where the explosion occurred.

22/09/08

Day 25

It’s been a little while since last I wrote – I have been very busy, especially with the start of my classes.

They’re going pretty well so far. They’re from 9am to 1pm, Sunday to Thursday (since Friday is the holy day here). Four hours a day is quite a lot, especially when you consider I only had six hours of Arabic language a week at Durham. They do give us plenty of breaks throughout the four hours, so it doesn’t become too strenuous. Fortunately we are allowed to eat and drink at the university, even during Ramadan – so today I enjoyed a nice cold Mountain Dew in class!

The most notable difference between my classes here and at Durham is that here approximately 99% of every word spoken in class is in Arabic and the teacher insists we only speak Arabic in class. Even when the teacher gives us a new word, she explains its meaning by using other Arabic words and she will sometimes ask us what a word means and even though we know the English translation we still have to describe it in Arabic. It can be difficult at times, but is definitely the most effective method of teaching Arabic.

Since starting classes the difference in the language used at university and on the street has become even more obvious. In English there is a similar difference, but in Arabic it is more like a different language entirely that is used on the street. So for almost every word in Arabic that we learn in class we have to learn it’s colloquial equivalent. For example: “How are you?” in Standard Arabic is “Kaifa Haluka?”, but on the street it’s “Shlownak?”.

Today in class the teacher told us that near to Damascus, about 20km on the way to the airport, is actually the largest restaurant in the world, featured in the Guinness book of world records. The local Arabs tell me it has space for up to 6000 people! It’s a place called “Booabat Damasq”, which I think means the “Gates of Damascus”, and they serve food there from all over the world. I shall definitely make a visit at some point as I really fancy some good Indian food, which unfortunately I cannot seem to find anywhere in Damascus.

I went to the same Protestant church again yesterday, Jesus Light of the World, and this time they had an international music group visiting that led the service, with people from America, Britain and various other parts of Europe. The “sermon” was led by the American amongst them – a guy from Alabama. Part of his sermon was actually reciting in its entirety the famous “I have a dream” speech by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and reciting it in the same fashion that Luther King Jr. would have done – so his talk was extremely energetic to say the least! There was then a huge positive response from the congregation and they absolutely loved it, especially when he said, “God has a dream for Syria.” The preacher went on to explain that Martin Luther King Jr. was shot and killed just months later, yet his dream did not die. Then, when the preacher said that Jesus was also killed but he rose again and that God’s “dream for us” is still alive, the congregation burst out into applause. It was really quite moving to see so much Christian energy and faith alive here in Damascus.

13/09/08

Day 16

Yesterday I visited a town called Maaloula. It’s about an hour’s bus ride north of Damascus, on the road to Homs. Maaloula is a mainly Christian town, almost hidden within a rock valley. Although there is a mosque centred in the middle, which projects the call to prayer like all the other cities in Syria, the tops of the hills all around the town all covered in crosses and there is even a huge statue of Mary leaning over the ridge with arms open to the people below. Also, it was the first time I had heard the sound of church bells ringing in Syria and they were just as loud as the Muslim call to prayer. I traveled to Maaloula with a man called Jacques, who works at the same hotel where three of my housemates work. His brother also came along. He took me to two very old shrines, which date back to the 4th century AD. The first held the tomb of Saint Taqla. The story behind Taqla is that she was a woman who was very pious and was fleeing her father who was persecuting her for her faith. According to the legend, in order to help her escape her father, God split a rock hill to form a secret path for her to use. We walked down that same path, called “Saint Taqla’s Gap”. The two Arabs I was traveling with had no doubt that this was true. Also, inside the shrine itself, where the body lay, there were a stack of old abandoned crutches and leg supports, as if there had been various miracles of healing that had taken place there. Of course, I was a little sceptical about all of this, but I then again everything is possible with God!

The second shrine was dedicated to Saint Serges and Bacchus, who were Roman soldiers martyred because of their faith. This shrine was even older than the first and was built on top of the ruins of an old temple dedicated to the god Apollo. There I witnessed a short ceremony in which two babies were blessed by the priest on their first visit to this shrine. After that the tour guide gave us a very interesting demonstration. She prayed for us the Lord’s Prayer in Aramaic, which is actually a language still in use in Maaloula! The only word I could recognise was “Ubee”, which I think means, “My Father”. They also refer to the language as Assyrian. Perhaps that is the term for modern day Aramaic.

I was then invited back to have dinner at Jacques’ house, where I met his mother, who prepared the meal. She didn’t introduce herself until she had finished the cooking, until then she was hidden in the kitchen, while we watched some Arab soap operas. By the way, soap operas are a huge thing over here – everyone watches them! And not just one but two or three at least. The most popular one in Damascus is called, Bab Al-Hara, which literally means, “The Door of the City Quarter”. It is also the name of my favourite restaurant in Damascus, where the staff know me very well now! I really enjoyed the experience of eating with a Syrian family. The mother was particularly pleased to have the opportunity to welcome me into here home and finally get to meet me after hearing so much about me from Jacques. It was interesting for me to hear how she used a very strong colloquial accent and how she only used the colloquial dialect, as opposed to the more educated “Fus-Hah”, which is used on the news and in the newspapers. The way people speak here and their choice of vocabulary, like other cultures, is a strong indication of education and class. Also, she couldn’t speak much English so would instead use the occasional French word if I didn’t understand her Arabic.

I have noticed that things here in Syria work at a different pace. Things don’t pick up until late in the morning. Most shops don’t open until around 10 o’clock in the morning and sometimes even 11. Many then stay open until around 1 o’clock in the morning or later. You also see people eating in restaurants as late as midnight.

The weather has become noticeably cooler over the last few days, although is still extremely hot in the middle of the day, reaching almost 40 degrees sometimes. The evenings have become a little more pleasant and I don’t need to set my fan at such a high setting during the night anymore.

A couple days ago I had my placement test. It was ridiculously hard, especially since all of the directions were given in Arabic, so half the test was simply understanding what in the world I was supposed to be writing! I did, however, quite enjoy the speaking part of the exam, which was just a 5 minute chat about the weather and why I wanted to learn Arabic …etc. My classes begin Monday, when I shall find out which level of Arabic I am placed in.

09/09/08

Day 12

Just thought I would write a quick email to share something I discovered here. This is mainly for those in Pittsburgh. I discovered that here they also serve sandwiches just like at the famous Primanti Bros. in Pittsburgh! For those who are not familiar with Primanti Bros. sandwiches – they are sandwiches with not just the meat inside, but also some fries and coleslaw. They do the same thing here! So next time someone asks “So what do they eat in Syria anyway?” – you can say, “well, their sandwiches are served Pittsburghese style”!

08/09/08

Day 11

Things are going well. My stomach has finally settled, at least for the time being, and I am feeling really well.

I went to two church services yesterday. First to a catholic church called “Fatima” and then to a protestant church called “Jesus, Light of the World”. It was very interesting to observe the differences between the two and the style of each church.

The catholic church was of course very elaborate with lots of icons and huge artwork on every wall. There was a very strong smell of incense. The service followed a set liturgy, with the priest speaking and the congregation responding. They had communion, the bread was dipped into the wine and then they would eat the bread. There was also a woman at the front sitting with the congregation that would sometimes sing the liturgy as a solo, like the Agnus Dei for example. Her singing was pretty amazing.

The protestant service was of course very different. The church was very simply decorated, without any pictures or icons, just a large cross above the pulpit. There was no lectern. Instead the pulpit, which was centred in the front, served as both the pulpit and lectern. There was not even an altar and there was no communion. I don’t know if it was just that week, or if they never have it at all. The service was relatively contemporary in style. It began with a reading from the Bible, then a prayer by a layman who was sitting with the congregation. He stood up and prayed something, with both his hands in the air, while the preacher said “Amin” from time to time. The preacher said something next, not quite sure what, but he finished by asking “Amin?” then the congregation said “Amin”, but he said it again louder, “Amin!?” and the congregation responded louder the second time, “Amin!”. It reminded me of the stereotypical African American Baptist Church, where the preacher is constantly saying “Amen!” Then we sang three consecutive hymns, all contemporary in style. I really enjoyed singing along – I thought it was great practice for my Arabic, especially since there was so much catchy repetition. Next was the sermon, about 40 minutes long, delivered by a layman. Next were the prayers delivered by the pastor. They actually call them pastor in Arabic – pronounced “Bastor”.

I noticed a difference in etiquette between the two churches. Even though you would expect the catholic service to be more conservative, it was actually the protestant church where you saw the women covering their hair and it was also the protestant church where the women sat on the left side of the church and the men on the right (unless a woman was sitting with her husband, in which case she would sit with him on the right hand side of the congregation). At the end of the catholic service the congregation left the church virtually silently and simply went home. At the protestant church they had tea and coffee afterwards downstairs – it was like being back home at a Lutheran church!

Speaking of Lutheran churches, I asked and the closest seem to be somewhere in Jordan, but none in Syria. I have been amazed by how many people have heard of the Lutheran church over here. It is almost as if more people know who Lutherans are here in Damascus than England! The pastor at the protestant church had heard of the Lutheran Hour ministry in Beirut as well, which I hope to visit at some point in the future.

I hope to revisit the church again, but this time go to the later service, at 7 in the evening, because I have been told that this when most of the youth my age go. I was also told that for the later service they have simultaneous interpreting into English. The pastor said that one day I may be able to help with that. Simultaneous interpreting, however, is the most difficult of all interpreting, so it may be a while before I do anything like that!

By the way, I discovered the phrase that sounds like Naumann. I am not sure exactly how it translates, but I know the context in which it’s used. For example, after you have had a haircut, someone will say to you “Nai-man!”, which means something like “you are blessed!” The response is then, “Allah ya-naim alayk”, which means something like “God bless you”.

One of the other students from my course has just arrived in Damascus, and so I showed him about the place yesterday. I quite enjoyed being a tour guide for the day!

05/09/08

Day 8

Day 8 and things are going well. With each day I find myself getting more and more settled in and things are slowly becoming easier. I imagine, however, that things will get a lot more difficult once my classes start on the 15th and I become even busier than I am now with everything.

This is my second day now at my flat. There have been significant improvements made since I moved in. At first there was no water and most of the lights did not turn on and some glass in my window was missing. Fortunately all of that has been fixed now. There is still, however, quite a big bug problem in the house, no so much in my room, but in the rest of the house and particularly the bathroom (they are attracted to water) – which is not very pleasant to say the least! Today my flatmate is going to be using some highly toxic pesticide to combat it, which will require everyone to vacate the flat for at least 3 hours it is so strong. Hopefully that will be the end of it. On the whole it’s not a bad arrangement for how much I am paying. I could easily live in a cleaner, more furnished place, but then I wouldn’t have the benefit of having 4 Arabs teaching me Arabic and taking care of various things for me. They have been extremely helpful. If I need to buy something, like my mattress for example, I usually go with one of them and they make sure for me that I get the normal price rather than the tourist price. They also know all the best places for everything.

Last night I decided to sample the Damascus nightlife at the most popular nightclub in the Old City, a bar called Mar Mar. It wasn’t cheap, but it was a lot of fun with really great clubbing music. It was really crowded since Thursday nights are the busiest. I was surprised to discover that a significant number of people there were actually Muslim and so Thursday night (as opposed to Friday night) is the most busy because Friday the Muslims are at home in the evening during their holy day. Very strange! I wasn’t expecting that.

Soon some of my classmates will be arriving in Damascus. They are asking me all kinds of questions that I was asking when I first arrived. It is funny to be on the other side this time, giving advice to them about how to get settled in.

As you know, this month is the month of Ramadan. It is very interesting to observe how this affects the society here and the daily routine. The most obvious difference is the lack of food and drinks being sold during the day. Most vending machines are also locked with a sign saying closed for Ramadan. In the Christian quarter, however, things are pretty much as normal and you see people eating a drinking in the streets. Shop opening and closing times change during Ramadan too. Basically they close at around 6 or 7pm (as opposed to 1am normally) because at 6:47pm each day, after an announcement from the loudspeakers on the various Minarets around the city, there is the breaking of the fast. You then see families everywhere eating together, either outside their shops or in restaurants that are packed full of people. I decided to eat one night at a restaurant, not really gathering that the breaking of the fast had just begun and had to wait an hour to be served, while I watched all of the Muslims having first priority on their orders.

It is interesting to note that the town I live in, Jaramana, is home to many Iraqi refugees. Quite often you see them come into the internet cafe to have their Iraqi passport photocopied. It is also possible to hear the Iraqi dialect from time to time, which is a bit more of a harsh sounding Arabic, using the ‘ch’ sound (like in church), which is considered a rather ugly sound to many Arabs in Syria.

Well, I am pretty hungry now, so I think I shall get some food. Hopefully it doesn’t make my stomach any worse than it already is!

02/09/08

Day 5

Day 5 and I am feeling a lot better now. Today was quite productive. I found a place to stay for at least the next few months in the Christian district just Southeast of the Old City, in a town called Jaramana. The arrangement I have with the Arab students I am sharing the house with is quite interesting to say the least. There are only two bedrooms in the house. I shall be staying in one, the larger of the two, while the other four will be sharing the other, because they cannot afford to share my room. It creates what feels like quite a class difference, as if I am the lord of the house and they are my servants. They have even offered to cook for me. So like I said, a pretty interesting situation. But they are more than happy to have me and have actually told me that this place is much better than their last. The rent comes to 90 GBP a month, including water, electricity, satellite TV with over 200 channels, a fridge, bed, wardrobe and fans. It also seems very safe, as I will have both a key to the apartment and a separate key to my room and then lockable storage space, although I really have no reason to be concerned about theft in Damascus because, from my experience so far, it is one of the safest places in the world.

I had another interesting experience today. Just for fun I decided to visit a small school in the Christian District that teaches English and I sat in on one of their classes. The whole class was taught in English – no one spoke a single word of Arabic. It was taught in an American accent because the teacher had studied at the American University in Kuwait. I asked the head teacher what he thought of this and he said he preferred the British accent, because it is a little easier to understand. The class included some examples of radio and television commercials and also a couple pop songs and actually reminded me a lot of my classes on the Egyptian dialect in Durham. I left them my details and they said they would contact me if they needed any help – so one day I might teach a bit of English while I am here – we’ll see! In any case, I said I would come back to say hello and see how the students are progressing.

I went to the Souk again yesterday and came across some very interesting finds. A few shops are selling what appear to be genuine American half-dollars from various dates ranging from 1859 all the way back to 1795! For those who don’t know, these are worth a lot of money and sometimes go for thousands of dollars on Ebay. So I shall see what kind of a bargain I can fetch and maybe make a little profit. I discovered the reason why there are so few Arabs selling items on Ebay. It is because it is much harder over here for the average Arab to get a credit card of some kind, which will be accepted by Ebay. Hence the lack of competition and the high prices of Arabic goods online. I also stumbled across another interesting item. This time a sheathed WWI bayonet, probably American, with the date 1907 inscribed on the blade. That was selling for 20 GBP at the most (without some haggling) and so I am going to research just how much that would sell for. Looking around for these hidden treasures is a lot of fun – I shall keep you updated on my discoveries!

Nothing much else to report for the time being. I shall write again soon, in shah allah.