To Bahrain and Back

This past weekend, Megan and I went to a teacher's conference in the lovely, island nation of Bahrain. Our first incling that it was going to be a joyous trip for us is when we say Seattle's Best in the airport. Let me tell you, it's a far cry from the Damascus airport where men sit and smoke under the no smoking signs, where everything is post-communist gray, and people have no idea that lining up does not involve shoving yourself infront of the person in front of you! One of my greatest moments was when we arrived in Bahrain, I went to get some money exchanged. One of the Syrian men who'd shoved in front of us at the ticket counter in Syria walked right past me in line and up to the counter. The man at the counter told him to go to the back of the line. He had to repeat himself several time because the man had no idea what he was talking about!! Victory.

The other highlights of Bahrian...Pizza Hut, Chili's, Toys R Us, shopping malls, and English. When we weren't in the conference, we definitely went overboard. We just don't have those things here in Syria, so it was like a day at Disneyland for us. Besides those attractions, I am not sure what Bahrain has to offer (unless you're looking for a second or third wife).

Our first hotel turned out to be a bit dodgey. The first night we had rock-hard beds, so we asked to be moved. They put us in a nice, big room with OK beds, so we thought we could overlook the somewhat suspisios Filiino women hanging out with the Arab men in the lobby. Well, about midnight I woke up to Ricky Martin turned techno blaring from below me. Turns out our nice room was directly above the night club. About that time we hear "Giggle, giggle, giggle, ah, Muhammed where you going?" in the hallway. I just about lost it. We packed our stuff and moved to another room where we got a few hours of sleep without Ricky or the hookers. The next day we decided to suck it up and pay more money for the Crown Plaza. For what we paid there, you know I took every shampoo and shower cap I could get my hands on!!

With our shopping bags full of Splenda and butter spray, we headed home. I wouldn't say we were exactally thrilled to see the Damascusian airport, but it was good to be hback where we know people will smoke in all undesignated areas, where lines consist of pushing a prodding, and where Chili's is just a way to describe the weather. Home.

I did, however, learn to say, "I was here first" in Arabic!!

A Snowy Day in Damascus

We had the rare experience of snow here in Syria! Some of our students had never seen it snow, and they all went crazy. It's a wet, heavy snow that packs into really nice, hard ice balls. They were just flabbergasted when we told them they couldn't throw snowballs. I made up a great story about a kid I knew growing up who lost an eye because someone hit him with a snowball. I heard my students telling all their friends! If you tell them it happened in America, they take it as the gospel truth! Other kids decided to make snow angels first thing in the morning, and are now sitting, cold and wet, in their classes.

Photos

Just wanted to let you know that I've finally put some photos on my Shutterfly. It's taking foreverto download them with our new "upgrades" here at school.

My Wild Birthday Weekend

Can you believe I celebrated my 36th (yes, 36) birthday this weekend?! My friends, Megan, Allison, Chereylene, and I went to Aleppo to celebrate this milestone. Aleppo is Syria's second major city, located in the Northern part of Syria.

On our way we stopped off at one of the best preserved dead cities- Serjilla. It was settled in 473 BC and was quite wealthy, with bath houses, mosaics, churches, etc. It was abandoned in the 7th century when Arabs conquered the area and changed the trading routes. Why anyone would build in this area, I have no idea. I have never seen such rocky terrain in my life. We felt like we were driving on the moon. Although we loved the dead city, our favorite part of Serjilla was driving back to the road, some kids were out in the street playing. One sweet little girl, about 8 years old, was yielding a nice, big rusty axe that she was swinging around! Syria's Lizzy Bordon?! I tried to snap a photo, but I motorcycle drove by just as the camera clicked. Her parents might consider letting her play with Barbies.

The trip to Aleppo is actually quite pretty with "a lot" of trees, fields, and a nice view of the Anti-Lebanon Mountain range. It was nice to see green field and mountains, especially after spending Christmas in arid Jordan.

We loved Aleppo. It was much cleaner and calmer than Damascus. We stayed at a hotel that was converted from two, old, Arabic houses. We stayed in the basement (cellar) rooms because they were much warmer than the other, more drafty rooms. My friends took me out and bought me WAY too many drinks, then we went to a nice (I'm told) Italian restaurant. That part of the night, a little blurry for this girl. I recovered enough the next day to make a trip to the Citadel and Souke. Both were amazing. I could have passed on "Carnage Alley" with the meat (goats, chickens, camel) carcasses and innards hanging about though. I will get pictures on Shutterfly soon. Keep looking.

We rented a car for our trip, and we learned a very valuable lesson about driving after dark in Syria. DON'T DO IT!! I guess it's not against the law to not have tail lights, to drive going the opposite direction, or pass on the shoulder, but don't even try to pass on the left lane when Mr. MachoArabMan want to speed down the road because he'll tailgate you, flash his lights, and kindly blare his horn at you until you move over. It was the most nerve-racking experience of my life.

Next week it's off to Bahrain....

Happy New Year

I had a wonderful time in Jordan. My friend, Megan's, parents came from Iowa, and they had a blast. Her mom is already planning for her next visit. We visited the Dead Sea, Mt. Nebo, Petra, and Wadi Musa. After they returned to Syria, I stayed on in Jordan with Ghassab. We did a lot of hiking, visited the Red Sea in Aqaba, and camped in Wadi Rum for a night. The only bad thing about the trip was that the village where he lives has a lot of dogs and donkeys, and they make A LOT of noise at night. Braying donkeys, not cute at 3:00 a.m. Not to mention, he lives directly across from the mosque, so they blare the call to prayer (the first one starts at 4:30 a.m.)

Last night they blocked off the huge traffic circle by my house, and held a concert. We didn't go to the concert since it was an Arabic singer we weren't much interested in, but we made it for the other activities. There were Cirque Du Sole type performers, hot air balloons, and the most amazing fireworks I have ever seen. They must have gone on for half an hour, and the grand finale was non-stop fireworks for 5 minutes. They shot half of them off right there in the circle and the other half up on the mountain. Megan lived in China for 4 years and said she'd never seen anything that amazing, even there.

Tomorrow we go back to school, so I'm up here trying to do lesson plans. Good times.

Wishing you all a happy 2008!!