Nigel of Arabia

04/11/08

Day 68

I’m very proud to report that today I carried out my duty as an American citizen and voted!

Of course, it meant I had to go into town to the US embassy. It was quite a daunting experience. Outside of the embassy were dozens of Syrian policemen in full riot gear, standing at the ready in case of any disturbances. The US embassy is close to a number of other embassies and each have their own private security outside their own building, so all around, as if in some kind of stand-off, were men standing with AK47’s. It was also the first time I had seen the US embassy here and out of all the embassies in Damascus, the US embassy is by far the most obviously protected and secure, looking almost like a mini prison with barbed wire all about it. I finally found the entrance to the embassy and outside was a long queue of Syrians waiting to get in. All I had to do, however, was show the guard my US passport and I was taken straight in without any hassle. In fact, the whole process was really very easy and inside the embassy the staff were all very friendly and as a US citizen I found I was given first priority. The embassy was full of Syrians, applying for various consular services, and it appeared to be quite a novelty for the Syrians to see an actual American citizen visiting the embassy.

I had quite a funny experience at one point; as I was filling in some forms, I heard this thick American accent coming from behind me – I turned around and to my surprise the voice was coming from a woman who was wearing the full black Muslim covering or “niqaab” (with only her eyes showing) and talking with her child. That was rather unexpected.

Within about half an hour I had cast my ballot and felt very pleased to have done my bit!

I hope everyone else has a happy election day too!

01/11/08

Day 65

The weather here has started to get pretty cold, especially in the evenings and for the first time I’m having to wear my jacket outside. It’s also been raining a little more, but is still very occasional. During class the other day we could hear thunder outside and because it was so unexpected my first reaction was that it was another explosion of some kind, but soon realised it was nothing to worry about. After all, in my experience so far, you never know with Damascus!

Speaking of explosions, this time round it was the Americans who were causing some noise in Syria, having crossed the border from Iraq. Some Syrians were so upset that they even called it an act of American terrorism! On Thursday there were Syrians holding protests outside of the US embassy here in Damascus. Of course, I stayed well clear of the area, but could still see the affect it was having on the traffic heading in that direction.

Last week a new Persian language course began at the college and so I decided to join the class and pick up my Persian studies from where I had left off. The class runs in the evenings, so doesn’t clash with my Arabic, and is three times a week, for two and a half hours at a time. This class is quite different to what I was used to in Durham, however, as the class here is taught all in Arabic, since the students in the class are all either Arab or Turkish. I am finding though that it is actually very useful, not only for my Persian but also my Arabic. There are some exercises that we have to do, for example, that require us to translate from Arabic into Persian, in which case I have to first translate from Arabic into English and then into Persian! I’m absolutely loving the class so far and am finding the Persian to be quite a welcome breath of fresh air from all the Arabic I am doing.

Tomorrow I am having internet installed in my apartment, so hopefully it should be a little easier to keep in touch and you might see me on Skype a little more.

20/10/08

Day 53

The other day, as I left my apartment building for class, I was surprised to find it was raining! I’m told it’s unusual for Damascus to get rain so early and this could be a sign that there will be too much rain this season. I have a hard time imagining that, however, with things being so dry here.

Today I took a microbus to college again. I thought I would write a little bit about the microbuses here. To get to class, I first walk for about 10 minutes down hill to the main road and then I take a microbus for about 3 minutes, which stops right outside the college. The microbuses actually stop whenever you like on the route, you just have to call out to the driver. People usually say: “ala al-yameen, ya mu-alam, izi b-tureed”, (literally: “on the right, hey teacher, if you want”) which is the equivalent of, “on the right please, mate/buddy.” The buses are really quite small, sitting around 12, and are more like minivans than buses. They have their route printed on the top of the bus, sometimes in very obscure Arabic, that you have to read quickly before you know it’s the right bus to flag down. If the bus is full then the driver will carry on, while giving you a kind of apologetic expression or hand gesture. If the bus is full, but there is just enough room for you to squat down in the aisle (you have to squat because the ceiling is too low to stand), then the driver will hold out his back-hand to you, with his five fingers spread and if you don’t mind squatting then you continue to flag the bus down. I tried it once; it’s not all that fun.

The price of the bus ride is 10SYP (about $0.20), which is extremely cheap, especially considering you could take the bus for about 40 minutes through town if you wanted to. When you get in the bus, you give your money to the guy in front, who then gives it to the guy in front of him…etc until it gets to the driver. Usually you don’t want to be the guy at the very front collecting all the money, because sometimes it can get quite complicated as to who has paid and who needs how much change – and all that in Arabic! Once you have managed to gather how much money you have been given and for how many people, you then hand the money to the bus driver, but not without giving him the numbers (in Arabic of course!) and collecting the change to hand back to the passengers. I have gotten used to it now, but in the beginning I sometimes just had to tell someone else to collect the money!

Because the buses are not all that big, most of the time you find yourself squashed in some uncomfortable position and, of course, it’s usually blazing hot, which doesn’t help. I have noticed it is one of the few places in Arab society where men and women are together in the same place in such close proximity and it can create some awkward situations. Speaking of which… I remember this one time it was actually a little awkward. My housemate and I were sitting on the seats opposite this Muslim mother and her daughter. The daughter was about my age and was smiling because she found it quite novel to see a foreigner in a microbus. The mother, however, quickly said something to her. Later, my housemate told me that the mother had in fact told her not to speak to me. Anyway, it was, of course, as crowded as usual and so there was little to no room to move and so it ended up that the only place to position my legs was kind of interlocked between the daughter’s. – The mother was not amused at all and for what seemed like the whole journey was staring at me in disapproval! Looking back at it, it was definitely one of those awkward Ben Stilleresque moments and my housemate and I had a good laugh about it once we got out of the bus!

At college today I noticed that the guys who check for student IDs at the entrance gate actually carry AK47’s. Myself and the rest of the group from England are not given Syrian student ID’s, but so far it has never been a problem because just seeing that we are Western seems to get us in. The native Arabs, however, have to give in their ID’s at the gate, kind of like in Durham when you have to hand in your student ID at the entrance to some college bars and then collect it on your way out. The guys checking the ID’s are, of course, not in uniform – their authority is indicated instead by what they are carrying.

Today I spent half an hour clearing away the litter from the staircase that leads up to my apartment entrance. It was clear that the litter had just gathered there for years. Much of it was buried under layers of rock and dust and had almost become part of the stonework that makes up the staircase. It’s still ridiculously dirty at the bottom part that leads to the street. Littering is a really big problem here in Syria and is another low point in Arab culture. Not everyone does, but unfortunately many do and don’t care at all about making a mess. It doesn’t help, however, that the trash removal system here is very poor, quite literally. One passerby walking up the stairs asked me why I was clearing all the rubbish! I wanted to answer in Arabic, “Because I’d like to live in a civilised place!” but unfortunately I didn’t know how to say that, so all I could say was, “Because there’s a lot of litter.” It can be quite annoying sometimes not being able to communicate properly because of the language barrier. Like in class today, for example, we were attempting to compare relationships and marriage in the Muslim World with the Western World and were trying to hold a debate about it, but soon discovered that one’s contribution to such a discussion (when you can only speak in Arabic) is only as good as your knowledge of vocabulary. So you can see how this might be frustrating when such a topic is hard enough in English. I suppose it’s the same sort of frustration that a toddler feels when he wants some milk but doesn’t know the word for it! – Slightly different, of course, but the same principle.

I’m still enjoying my new apartment. Because of its size, however, it takes a long time for the water boiler to heat up; about one hour. So if I want a shower in the morning I have to get up at 6:30 just to switch it on and then go back to bed for an hour. It’s not very pleasant.

Anyway, speaking of bed, I had better be off to sleep.

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”!