a Damascus assortment

!سوْريا
I like this place a lot.

Unfortunately, this picture collection is a little too random for my 02:22am mind to piece together a story that connects all of it. So the theme is: Wendy is in Syria. These are some of the things she sees around town. Simple, eh?

This picture says it all. Can you identify these two men? In Syria, I propose that the one on the left may well be more identifiable than Jesus on the right. President Bashar al-Assad's picture, as well as countless photos, paintings, murals, and mosaics of his father, are plastered around the country, present in every home and every office, omnipresent. This cult of personality is a little unreal and amusing at times (see and read more on Bridget's blog here). I particularly love the car window treatments (don't worry, I'm bringing back a few of my own for MazdaTron):
Also revered is Muhadan, of the beloved Turkish soap opera 'Nour' that has taken the Middle East by storm and stolen the heart of many a Syrian lass and lad. This is Muhadan, who was strangely called upon to appear at a concert I attended last night (more on this shortly). Awkwardly, it turns out he is not terribly engaging live, but the Syrian girls were excited to see him nevertheless: and this is the 'I love Muhanad' (or something approaching that in mistranslated English) shirt that I couldn't help but buy. Please note that Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia has condemned the viewing of the show. Said he, "Any TV station that airs them is against God and His Messenger (peace be upon him). These are serials of immorality. They are prepared by people who are specialists in crime and error, people who invite men and women to the devil.”
Speaking of the forbidden, these are some of the things you should and shouldn't do at Syria's one and only private university:

and if you noted that I was wearing a hijab with my 'Nour' shirt, it was in an attempt to try some of the different Syrian hijab fashions, as drawn well in this picture below. Click on it to see a pretty accurate description of the many styles you see here (I saw plenty of the 'Abu Ramani hijab with veiled Indonesian nanny' at this concert as well).
So, I live in a monastery right now (a monastery bereft of religious personnel, which confused me a bit until I learned that apparently monasteries don't have to have monks to be called such; apparently they can just be hospitable places attached to churches, which is what mine is). Damascus is a city that boasts some really pleasant religious diversity, and it's been most interesting to spend time seeing more of the Christian areas here, after everything in Yemen. Just outside the monastery door, I see this every day:
and last week, I visited a monastery (a real real one, with monks and nuns) an hour or two away, in the mountains.
It's called Mar Mousa, or Saint Moses. This is me (aka Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman) on my way up:
a wonderful monk named Jihad showed us inside (the place is 1000+ years old) before everyone had a hour of silence for meditation and prayer:

Damascus is my paradise. I am eating practically all the lamb my young heart desires, and there are fruit stands on every corner:
and you get watermelon at the end of 98% of all meals:
Sometimes you get to eat dinner at the former prime minister's home. Maybe it's the first birthday of his nephew, and maybe they bake 6 or 7 different desserts and then make you try all of them:But if you're home alone and hungry, don't worry - combining Ninja Turtle cornflakes
with Maxtello chocolate-hazelut-honey spreadis really delightful:
Lots of perfume is sold here:
I'm still enjoying the Arabic studies (our class at a restaurant):
as well as graduations of Iraqi kids in programs run by the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate:
I will say that the Amr Diab concert was a gigantic disappointment/ gigantic Pepsi ad. Amr Diab is the biggest male star in the Arab world. I like his music a lot, but the concert experience was fairly terrible for the price.


I prefer hanging out at the monastery and playing my own music instead: