An Eastern Easter (and some Damascus)

I meant to make this post two weeks ago, but a sudden trip to Damascus got in the way so I'm not sorry...

Anyway, Eastern Orthodox Easter is celebrated a week after everyone else's Easter. The ladies informed me that Easter is more important here than Christmas, which would have been good to know prior to the day of. They gave me a really pretty necklace and earrings, which made me glad I brought them back some Turkish Delight from my spring break trip.

So Easter day was pretty much the same as Deena's birthday party, but everyone was more dressed up and there were more people. We ate the traditional Jordanian dish mansaf, which is lamb, rice, and jameed, a kind of milk. Traditionally you eat it with your hands, but only the men opted for that.

Last weekend my friends Patricia, Brad, and I decided to journey to Damascus. We decided to go on Tuesday and left on Thursday, so we didn't have time to get visas beforehand. I had heard of Americans waiting for visas at the border between two and ten hours, but miraculously we made it through in under three hours and the border police were really nice.

When we got to our hostel we dropped our things off and got tea in the old city. The following day was Friday so things were pretty dead, but we managed to entertain ourselves by wandering around the old city. Food was cheap and delicious and spent most of our time just exploring. We decided to hit the National Museum which I would not recommend visiting if you're on a limited time schedule. Afterwards we got ice cream at a place in the old city we had seen crowded earlier that day and it was delicious, though the men taking photos and videos of us sort of put a damper on the experience.

We had a really delicious dinner and then looked into the nightlife that we had heard about from others. At the second bar we went to, I noticed that water was pouring out of a light fixture. After calling this to the bartender's attention, all the lights went out and we drank by candle light, chatting and joking with the bartender.

Our second full day we went to the Ummayad mosque. Not that it wasn't impressive, but it was a little outshined by the Blue Mosque which I had seen in Istanbul the previous week. However, Patricia and I enjoyed the mandatory robes that all women wore, especially after I noted that we resembled dementors (Harry Potter fans? Anyone?). It seemed like a lot of people just went to the mosque to nap, sit, and hang out. So we were sitting and enjoying the sights when a large group of young girls ran up to us. They asked us questions about where we were from and if we were friends with Brad (as though platonic male and female relationships were unfamiliar to them). Then they asked us to take off our sunglasses so they could look at our eyes, proclaiming us all beautiful. They left, but came back in small groups periodically asking to take photos with us. We obliged the first few times because we thought it was so funny, but declined when the frequency and numbers in which they came began to increase. It was especially strange because they wouldn't let us take photos of them (but Patricia slyly snapped a few shots of them taking my picture). We spent the rest of the day shopping in the old open-air souqs (markets) and enjoying Damascus.



All-in-all Damascus was probably my favorite city I've seen so far. I partly liked it better than Istanbul because all the people seemed genuinely kind and welcoming, not because they wanted our money. We sat in a scarf store for almost an hour having tea and chatting with the owner. He said to call any time we ever needed anything or happened to be back in Damascus. No offense to Jordanians, but I daresay that Syrians were the most hospitable people I've come across, save the weirdos taking photos and videos of us everywhere we went. Also as we were walking, men would pass us and say things like "so beautiful" and "give me a kiss". Though I could never get used to that, it was something I've come to expect.

Now I have to run to class but I will add photos later! Unfortunately I think the internet in my homestay is really gone forever this time, so I have fewer opportunities to update.

Note: The photos of Damascus were taken by my talented friend Brad Olson!