Friday, June 11, 2010
Amman
Today we said goodbye to Syria for the last time and were on our way to Amman, Jordan. On the way there, we stopped at the ruins at Jerash. It was HOT. Anyways, once we made it to Amman, Katie, Curt, Miguel, and I went to their friend Abdo's house. We all went out to watch the World Cup game, and then went back and slept over his house.
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Baghdad Cafe and Back to Damascus
This morning we visited some tombs and some more ruins which contained an almost perfectly intact amphitheatre. Then we got back on the bus to Damascus. On the way, we stopped at The Baghdad Café, which contrary to what its name might suggest, is not a café. The only food they sold was these strange little cookie biscuit things, which many of us purchased because we were hungry. After we got back, some of us went out to look around the market one last time before leaving Syria.
1. Quote of the Day: "Syria is like a playground for adults!" This was in regard to our ability to climb all over the ruins and other climbable structures during the past few days.
this is our guide, Nassr, in his element
2. Surprise: There are just some things I didn’t expect on this trip. I didn’t expect to see Greek influences so far out in the middle of Syria, but there were frescos of Greek mythology in the tombs we visited today. I didn’t expect to be able to go so close to the border of Israel, but we did when we visited The Golan. I didn’t expect to see a road sign directing traffic to Baghdad. But I did. It’s weird to hear so much about certain things and then be suddenly faced with them in reality.
3. banana milk: Back in the market in Damascus, they have these little stands where they sell fruit smoothies. I don't know the Arabic words for fruit and the man working at the stand I went to didn't speak English, so I just pointed to the bananas hanging from the ceiling. I'm pretty sure he just blended a banana and some milk, but it was really really good. I plan on making it for breakfast at home. So thank you, confused Syrian fruit smoothie stand employee, for teaching me the simple joy of banana milk.
1. Quote of the Day: "Syria is like a playground for adults!" This was in regard to our ability to climb all over the ruins and other climbable structures during the past few days.
this is our guide, Nassr, in his element
2. Surprise: There are just some things I didn’t expect on this trip. I didn’t expect to see Greek influences so far out in the middle of Syria, but there were frescos of Greek mythology in the tombs we visited today. I didn’t expect to be able to go so close to the border of Israel, but we did when we visited The Golan. I didn’t expect to see a road sign directing traffic to Baghdad. But I did. It’s weird to hear so much about certain things and then be suddenly faced with them in reality.
3. banana milk: Back in the market in Damascus, they have these little stands where they sell fruit smoothies. I don't know the Arabic words for fruit and the man working at the stand I went to didn't speak English, so I just pointed to the bananas hanging from the ceiling. I'm pretty sure he just blended a banana and some milk, but it was really really good. I plan on making it for breakfast at home. So thank you, confused Syrian fruit smoothie stand employee, for teaching me the simple joy of banana milk.
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Palmyra
This morning we got ready to go to Palmyra. I went to bed really early last night so I woke up really early. I went out on our patio and it was cold. That was the first time I felt cold in a long time. Before leaving, some of us walked down the road a little ways just to look around. It is so beautiful here. I never expected that somewhere in Syria would look like this. I imagined it to be one big desert. :
Anyways, we drove to Palmyra and visited another crusader castle which had an amazing view of the city, the sand dunes, and the surrounding mountains. After that, we visited some ruins, checked into our hotel, and then a group of us went back to the ruins for sunset, which was very cool. Oh, and as a side note, our guide, Nassr, was wearing Bedouin garb today. Why? We may never know.
1.Palmyra: My first thought when we got here was that the city looks run-down. It looks like it was a thriving area at one point, but now it's dusty and doesn't get as much attention. It's a nice place though. It's very quiet and feels very safe. There were a bunch ofkids playing Red Rover in the street when we were on our way to dinner. It was cool to see that childhood games like that exist everywhere. It sort of reminds you of the similarities we share even with people we are so different from.
2. the ruins
3.Bedouin food: At lunch today, Connor ordered camel meat. He said it was surprisingly tender, but didn't really have a lot of flavor. For dinner, some of us went out to eat at this little place whose claim to fame was their warm apple pie. We were more interested in the traditional Bedouin food they served though. It was amazing, and tasted very different than most of the other food I’ve tried so far. Maybe the spices were different, who knows?
Anyways, we drove to Palmyra and visited another crusader castle which had an amazing view of the city, the sand dunes, and the surrounding mountains. After that, we visited some ruins, checked into our hotel, and then a group of us went back to the ruins for sunset, which was very cool. Oh, and as a side note, our guide, Nassr, was wearing Bedouin garb today. Why? We may never know.
1.Palmyra: My first thought when we got here was that the city looks run-down. It looks like it was a thriving area at one point, but now it's dusty and doesn't get as much attention. It's a nice place though. It's very quiet and feels very safe. There were a bunch ofkids playing Red Rover in the street when we were on our way to dinner. It was cool to see that childhood games like that exist everywhere. It sort of reminds you of the similarities we share even with people we are so different from.
2. the ruins
3.Bedouin food: At lunch today, Connor ordered camel meat. He said it was surprisingly tender, but didn't really have a lot of flavor. For dinner, some of us went out to eat at this little place whose claim to fame was their warm apple pie. We were more interested in the traditional Bedouin food they served though. It was amazing, and tasted very different than most of the other food I’ve tried so far. Maybe the spices were different, who knows?
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Krak des Chevaliers
Our first stop today was a mountain village called Ma’loula. It’s the only place in the world where the people still speak the Aramaic language, which was the language of Jesus Christ. While we were there, we hiked through an amazing gorge. Then we drove to the Hims Gap to visit the Krak des Chevaliers crusader castle. After visiting the castle, we drove to our hotel and Katie and I watched The Medicine Man, a terrible Sean Connery movie. Also, although I didn’t see it, apparently there is an ostrich outside of our hotel. Just one more reason that Syria is not real life, as Curt has insisted.
1. Aramaic: We weren’t allowed to take videos inside the church, so this woman kindly came outside to recite the Lord’s Prayer in Aramaic for us. I don’t know if it was just the language or the woman’s voicing of the prayer, but to me it sounded kind of eerie. Beautiful, but eerie. I don’t know how else to describe it. Our guide pointed out the really intense “haa” sound they have, which you can definitely hear in the video.
2. gorge shenanigans: Curt has come to the conclusion that Syria is not real life because of a series of strange things that seem to have been happening on a daily basis since we’ve arrived. One such thing is that here, you can climb on EVERYTHING. Today, for example, we visited the gorge in Ma’loula, and there were all sorts of ledges to climb up on. I feel like the U.S. tends to prohibit those kinds of things when they’re at historical sites.
3. castle weather: Slightly overcast is the perfect weather for castle-going, and that was exactly what we got today. Everything just looks so ominous. Maybe that’s why they were filming some sort of reenactment movie while we were there. We got to meet some of the actors, which was pretty funny because they were all dressed up in their crusader outfits.
1. Aramaic: We weren’t allowed to take videos inside the church, so this woman kindly came outside to recite the Lord’s Prayer in Aramaic for us. I don’t know if it was just the language or the woman’s voicing of the prayer, but to me it sounded kind of eerie. Beautiful, but eerie. I don’t know how else to describe it. Our guide pointed out the really intense “haa” sound they have, which you can definitely hear in the video.
2. gorge shenanigans: Curt has come to the conclusion that Syria is not real life because of a series of strange things that seem to have been happening on a daily basis since we’ve arrived. One such thing is that here, you can climb on EVERYTHING. Today, for example, we visited the gorge in Ma’loula, and there were all sorts of ledges to climb up on. I feel like the U.S. tends to prohibit those kinds of things when they’re at historical sites.
3. castle weather: Slightly overcast is the perfect weather for castle-going, and that was exactly what we got today. Everything just looks so ominous. Maybe that’s why they were filming some sort of reenactment movie while we were there. We got to meet some of the actors, which was pretty funny because they were all dressed up in their crusader outfits.
Monday, June 7, 2010
The Golan
Today we visited The Golan, which is the disputed territory between Syria and Israel. Syria has left all of the destruction of the city of Quneitra intact, as a reminder of how they were wronged by Israel. The director of public relations gave us a tour of the site and told us the history of the area and why it has been so hard to settle the argument. Later in the day we had a discussion about how we think the situation should be handled. Later, we drove to the top of a mountain to overlook the city of Damascus. On a lighter note, tonight we went out for ice cream at this famous place in the market. I ate that ice cream shamelessly, let me tell you.
A Bird's Eye View of Damascus
1. The Golan: I think we had a very interesting discussion about the Golan. I sort of went into it expecting that we would come out with some sort of unified opinion, but I was really wrong. Some people felt strongly that Syria was justified in leaving the area destroyed, because they don’t have the military capability to counter Israel so it’s essentially their only way of making a statement. Other people felt that it was very unprogressive and stagnant to leave the area like that, and that they should put the land to use and move on. People made a lot of good points and it was a really interesting discussion.
2. Propaganda: We used the word “propaganda” A LOT today. Maybe too much. The dictionary definition is “the spreading of ideas, information, or rumor for the purpose of helping or injuring an institution, a cause, or a person.” I feel like under this definition, almost anything a person says or writes could be considered propaganda, because the purpose of speaking is to put your thoughts into someone else’s head for consideration. When we were at The Golan, they certainly were showing us sites that would make us upset by Israel, but that’s because they’re upset by Israel. Of course they’re not going to say “Well, we’re not very happy about what Israel did to us, but I’m sure from their perspective it was the right decision.” I just think that “propaganda” has such a negative connotation, and I feel uncomfortable throwing the word around too much.
3. Egypt v. Syria: I expected Syria to be more conservative than Egypt, but I guess that was a very preconceived notion because I really don’t know all that much about Syria. Anyways, I feel like the people here are less conservative than people in Egypt were. Then again, maybe it’s just that people here don’t seem to interact with tourists as much as people in Egypt did. Maybe I noticed the conservatively dressed people in Egypt because there were people constantly reminding me that I was dressed differently than they were.
A Bird's Eye View of Damascus
1. The Golan: I think we had a very interesting discussion about the Golan. I sort of went into it expecting that we would come out with some sort of unified opinion, but I was really wrong. Some people felt strongly that Syria was justified in leaving the area destroyed, because they don’t have the military capability to counter Israel so it’s essentially their only way of making a statement. Other people felt that it was very unprogressive and stagnant to leave the area like that, and that they should put the land to use and move on. People made a lot of good points and it was a really interesting discussion.
2. Propaganda: We used the word “propaganda” A LOT today. Maybe too much. The dictionary definition is “the spreading of ideas, information, or rumor for the purpose of helping or injuring an institution, a cause, or a person.” I feel like under this definition, almost anything a person says or writes could be considered propaganda, because the purpose of speaking is to put your thoughts into someone else’s head for consideration. When we were at The Golan, they certainly were showing us sites that would make us upset by Israel, but that’s because they’re upset by Israel. Of course they’re not going to say “Well, we’re not very happy about what Israel did to us, but I’m sure from their perspective it was the right decision.” I just think that “propaganda” has such a negative connotation, and I feel uncomfortable throwing the word around too much.
3. Egypt v. Syria: I expected Syria to be more conservative than Egypt, but I guess that was a very preconceived notion because I really don’t know all that much about Syria. Anyways, I feel like the people here are less conservative than people in Egypt were. Then again, maybe it’s just that people here don’t seem to interact with tourists as much as people in Egypt did. Maybe I noticed the conservatively dressed people in Egypt because there were people constantly reminding me that I was dressed differently than they were.
Sunday, June 6, 2010
Old Damascus
Today we went on a tour of Old Damascus. We saw some huge old Syrian houses, which were very beautiful. We also went to Al Umayyad Mosque, which was absolutely amazing. Later we explored the market some more and then got shawerma for dinner. Syrian shawerma was wayyyyy better than the kind I had in Cairo.
A Street in Old Damascus
1. roofs: a lot of the buildings I’ve been in Syria have these retractable canvas roofs that provide shade during the day and ventilation at night. I think they’re a really nice alternative to having the AC on all the time. Plus they let in some light and you can see the sky (which isn’t extremely polluted like it was in Cairo!). Good call Syria. 
2. Al Umayyad Mosque: So So So beautiful. All of the girls had to wear these funny cloaks that were reminiscent of Harry Potter, but it was totally worth it. Mary and Zack also got accosted by some walids (our Americanized Arabic word for young boys) at the mosque, which was pretty funny. They tried to take Mary's shoes and Zack's camera. 
3. Americans?: people in our group joked about telling people that we’re from Canada, but I really don’t think people care that much that we’re American. A political debate would probably get heated pretty quickly, but I think they find us to be perfectly nice people. Most people have stories to tell about their travels to the U.S. or family members that our living there. It’s nice to see that people don’t hold a grudge against us because of our government’s policies.
A Street in Old Damascus
1. roofs: a lot of the buildings I’ve been in Syria have these retractable canvas roofs that provide shade during the day and ventilation at night. I think they’re a really nice alternative to having the AC on all the time. Plus they let in some light and you can see the sky (which isn’t extremely polluted like it was in Cairo!). Good call Syria. 
2. Al Umayyad Mosque: So So So beautiful. All of the girls had to wear these funny cloaks that were reminiscent of Harry Potter, but it was totally worth it. Mary and Zack also got accosted by some walids (our Americanized Arabic word for young boys) at the mosque, which was pretty funny. They tried to take Mary's shoes and Zack's camera. 
3. Americans?: people in our group joked about telling people that we’re from Canada, but I really don’t think people care that much that we’re American. A political debate would probably get heated pretty quickly, but I think they find us to be perfectly nice people. Most people have stories to tell about their travels to the U.S. or family members that our living there. It’s nice to see that people don’t hold a grudge against us because of our government’s policies.
Saturday, June 5, 2010
Welcome to Syria, have a banana!
Today we left for Syria! Our flight left Cairo at 2:35 and everything went smooth—much better than our travels to Cairo from Boston! Once we got to Syria we had to get through Syrian customs on our group visa. Syria recently stopped accepting group visas from the U.S. in response to the U.S.’s Syrian Accountability policy. It took a while, but we made it through! On the bus ride to our hotel we met Nasr, our tour guide for Syria. The first thing he gave us when we got on the bus were bananas, which were 100% welcome after the interesting food on the plane (corned beef?). Then he gave us water, cookies, and nuts. Needless to say, I was loving Syria from the get-go. Then we got to our hotel, which is AMAZING. It’s the quaintest little place and Katie and I got this huge room with 2 floors!
the canary in the jungle/lobby of our hotel
Once we were settled, we decided to go on a quest to find an ATM, which took a while. According to Nasr, there are about 500 ATMs in Damascus, but only about 20 work. We ended up walking through a section of Christian Damascus where there are a bunch of cute shops and just a lot to absorb in general. We also ended up walking through a lot of the famous Damascus market and got all the way to the Citadel, which was a pretty far trek. When we finally figured out which way to go to get back to the hotel, we stopped at a restaurant and had some really good food. We finally made it back and went to bed.
1. Goodbye Cairo: I don’t want to make any snap judgments, but I like Damascus a lot better than Cairo so far. IT’S SO CLEAN. It’s also not as stressfully busy, there isn’t the constant sound of car horns, and it doesn’t have the same funky smells floating around. There are also a lot of plants and a lot of ivy hanging over the streets which is really nice. The market isn’t as cramped either, and the shops are organized and the vendors don’t harass you! If there’s anything that I will definitely miss from Cairo though, it’s Abduh. He treated us all like his own kids.
2. Arabic: Well, after that intensive course in Egyptian Colloquial Arabic, I feel like Syrian people just speak a totally different language and have absolutely no idea what I’m saying. It’s frustrating, and it’s unfortunate that we won’t really be here long enough to learn much Syrian Colloquial. I feel incapable of pronouncing my jiims and qaafs! AHH
3. What I like about Syria, visually:
the canary in the jungle/lobby of our hotelOnce we were settled, we decided to go on a quest to find an ATM, which took a while. According to Nasr, there are about 500 ATMs in Damascus, but only about 20 work. We ended up walking through a section of Christian Damascus where there are a bunch of cute shops and just a lot to absorb in general. We also ended up walking through a lot of the famous Damascus market and got all the way to the Citadel, which was a pretty far trek. When we finally figured out which way to go to get back to the hotel, we stopped at a restaurant and had some really good food. We finally made it back and went to bed.
1. Goodbye Cairo: I don’t want to make any snap judgments, but I like Damascus a lot better than Cairo so far. IT’S SO CLEAN. It’s also not as stressfully busy, there isn’t the constant sound of car horns, and it doesn’t have the same funky smells floating around. There are also a lot of plants and a lot of ivy hanging over the streets which is really nice. The market isn’t as cramped either, and the shops are organized and the vendors don’t harass you! If there’s anything that I will definitely miss from Cairo though, it’s Abduh. He treated us all like his own kids.
2. Arabic: Well, after that intensive course in Egyptian Colloquial Arabic, I feel like Syrian people just speak a totally different language and have absolutely no idea what I’m saying. It’s frustrating, and it’s unfortunate that we won’t really be here long enough to learn much Syrian Colloquial. I feel incapable of pronouncing my jiims and qaafs! AHH
3. What I like about Syria, visually:
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