Damascus.
We left Beirut at 7am and got to Damascus in no time. The taxi driver bribed the Syrian border guards with a few cartons of Marlboro lights. I love Damascus! It's so real. It's so full of life. There's a sense of something here that I couldn't figure out- probably because they aren't trying to hide whatever it is like they do in Lebanon and Jordan.
We couldn't get inside Salah al-Din's castle because it's being restored, but it looks pretty threatening from the outside! There is a huge statue of Salah al-Din on a horse in front of it. It's so awesome studying something in class and then seeing it/applying it. Some of this information might actually stick!
The Umayyad Mosque is absolutely amazing. It's a lot bigger than the ones in Cairo and Istanbul. I got the feeling that people kind of hang out at this mosque but that could be because we were there right before the afternoon prayer. Inside the mosque there is a room that holds the head of al-Hussein. His father was the cousin of the prophet Muhammad and al-Hussein died a dramatic death when his head was cut off during battle. So... this head dates back to the 7th century! My friend said that for Shia' Muslims visiting the head of al-Hussein is almost as sacred as the pilgrimage to Mecca and seeing the Kaba'. When we went in there was a group of Shia' and Sufi Muslims. They were screaming "ya Hussein, ya Hussein" in unison and slapping themselves across the chest very violently to feel the pain of Hussein. It was very powerful to watch especially because children were participating.
Then we saw the al-'Azm palace, which was really cool because we talked about the 'Azm family a lot in my (not so) modern history of the Arab East class. There were also a lot of really neat things at the Syrian National Museum. For example, they have the first record of an alphabet! It's a small stone with Ugarit letters. Really cool to see. Their modern art is atrocious, which made it fun to see.
Nasib, who is from Damascus took us to see the local "hang out" places. There isn't much. A couple ice cream shops and cafes. Syria cannot trade with the United States so there is nothing American in Damascus, which means no Starbucks. Instead they have "In House"- coffee not so good. The boys told us that in Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, and Emirates girls first look at a guy's watch, then car keys, and finally his shoes. And I thought America was materialistic... I feel lucky that I was brought up not to care about these things, but I suppose that too is a superior attitude.
It was about 95 degrees in Damascus both days I was there. It's set in a valley so the heat gets stuck and the pollution traps it in. This causes the buildings to turn brown and the people to suffer from the high temperatures. Also, the sky isn't blue, but rather a white/gray. Yuck. The streets are covered in taxis. In fact, I'd say that 3/4 of all cars are taxis! My friend Anas said that the government makes a substantial amount of money from pulling over taxi drivers. They catch them on a small law like not having a fire extinguisher in the car and then the driver pays the officer off. At least no one pretends that there isn't corruption. There are pictures of President Assad everywhere from billboards to the reception desk at our hotel. Walking around Damascus is very safe. They have virtually no murder, theft, or arson. However, that's because it's a police state and people regularly disappear. My friend Abood told me that a guy he went to school with in Jordan went to Damascus for the weekend. No one heard from him for 3 years because he has the same name as someone who was on the Syrian government's blacklist. These stories are a dime a dozen. For example, Nasib had to give something to his dad so we waited across the street for him to run up to his father's office. It was super hot in the sun so we sat on the curb. Then a couple police officers motioned to us to get up so we did. Then they motioned again. Not only were we prohibited from sitting in front of the building, we weren't allowed to stand there!
The drive home went quickly (less than 2.5 hours). I bought my 4th visa into Lebanon. That means I've spent approximately $140 on Lebanese visas alone! When the taxi driver gave our passports to the border police he added cash to the stack. No messing around.
Overall it was a great trip and I'm really thankful that I made it to Damascus. I can't imagine how different my experience would have been had I not gone with a local. Anyway here are pictures:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=15cadunn.14bcsudn&x=0&y=-b2p2z9
We couldn't get inside Salah al-Din's castle because it's being restored, but it looks pretty threatening from the outside! There is a huge statue of Salah al-Din on a horse in front of it. It's so awesome studying something in class and then seeing it/applying it. Some of this information might actually stick!
The Umayyad Mosque is absolutely amazing. It's a lot bigger than the ones in Cairo and Istanbul. I got the feeling that people kind of hang out at this mosque but that could be because we were there right before the afternoon prayer. Inside the mosque there is a room that holds the head of al-Hussein. His father was the cousin of the prophet Muhammad and al-Hussein died a dramatic death when his head was cut off during battle. So... this head dates back to the 7th century! My friend said that for Shia' Muslims visiting the head of al-Hussein is almost as sacred as the pilgrimage to Mecca and seeing the Kaba'. When we went in there was a group of Shia' and Sufi Muslims. They were screaming "ya Hussein, ya Hussein" in unison and slapping themselves across the chest very violently to feel the pain of Hussein. It was very powerful to watch especially because children were participating.
Then we saw the al-'Azm palace, which was really cool because we talked about the 'Azm family a lot in my (not so) modern history of the Arab East class. There were also a lot of really neat things at the Syrian National Museum. For example, they have the first record of an alphabet! It's a small stone with Ugarit letters. Really cool to see. Their modern art is atrocious, which made it fun to see.
Nasib, who is from Damascus took us to see the local "hang out" places. There isn't much. A couple ice cream shops and cafes. Syria cannot trade with the United States so there is nothing American in Damascus, which means no Starbucks. Instead they have "In House"- coffee not so good. The boys told us that in Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, and Emirates girls first look at a guy's watch, then car keys, and finally his shoes. And I thought America was materialistic... I feel lucky that I was brought up not to care about these things, but I suppose that too is a superior attitude.
It was about 95 degrees in Damascus both days I was there. It's set in a valley so the heat gets stuck and the pollution traps it in. This causes the buildings to turn brown and the people to suffer from the high temperatures. Also, the sky isn't blue, but rather a white/gray. Yuck. The streets are covered in taxis. In fact, I'd say that 3/4 of all cars are taxis! My friend Anas said that the government makes a substantial amount of money from pulling over taxi drivers. They catch them on a small law like not having a fire extinguisher in the car and then the driver pays the officer off. At least no one pretends that there isn't corruption. There are pictures of President Assad everywhere from billboards to the reception desk at our hotel. Walking around Damascus is very safe. They have virtually no murder, theft, or arson. However, that's because it's a police state and people regularly disappear. My friend Abood told me that a guy he went to school with in Jordan went to Damascus for the weekend. No one heard from him for 3 years because he has the same name as someone who was on the Syrian government's blacklist. These stories are a dime a dozen. For example, Nasib had to give something to his dad so we waited across the street for him to run up to his father's office. It was super hot in the sun so we sat on the curb. Then a couple police officers motioned to us to get up so we did. Then they motioned again. Not only were we prohibited from sitting in front of the building, we weren't allowed to stand there!
The drive home went quickly (less than 2.5 hours). I bought my 4th visa into Lebanon. That means I've spent approximately $140 on Lebanese visas alone! When the taxi driver gave our passports to the border police he added cash to the stack. No messing around.
Overall it was a great trip and I'm really thankful that I made it to Damascus. I can't imagine how different my experience would have been had I not gone with a local. Anyway here are pictures:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=15cadunn.14bcsudn&x=0&y=-b2p2z9