Good Bye…

“Then I remembered Yasmina’s remark that travel is not about fun but about learning, about crossing boundaries and mastering the fear of strangers, about making the effort to understand other cultures and thereby empowering yourself. Travel helps you to figure out who you are and how your own culture controls you.” – Fatema Mernissi, from Scheherazade Goes West.

Cairo was good to me, as always. Syria made me think long and hard. Qatar was luxurious.

All three of these places, in their own way, have made me appreciate where I come from, the people in my life and the opportunities I have come across.

Now, as I sit on the plane, on my way to Dubai, mildly reflecting on the past month, I have to say that this trip has been an incredible journey. I was able to explore new parts of the Middle East that I never thought I would be able to see, while improving my journalism skills and of course, picking up life lessons along the way.

After Dubai, I will be at home for a week before embarking on my second dialogue to Geneva for the United Nations program. I cannot wait to see Europe, as well as visit my family in London afterwards. This summer has been and is still non-stop moving. I love it. It’s part of my modern-day nomad concept. I don’t know if I will keep up with the blogging, but then again, who knows?

Until then, good-bye Word Press. Thank you for being the online outlet of my feelings/itinerary during this dialogue of civilizations through the Middle East.

Last day in Doha

June 4-

It is our last day in Doha, and is also the last day of our dialogue. I can’t really describe my feelings, it is a very sad and at the same time, exciting day.

We had a tour of the Islamic Museum of Art in the morning. This place is phenomenal. It just opened up recently and we were lucky to have a tour through these extraordinary exhibits that contain artwork and pieces of history from all over the world.

After the museum we rushed back to the hotel and watched President Obama “address the Muslim world” from Cairo. I am proud that our president can deliver a positive speech so eloquently and inspire change across the globe. I am even more impressed that he was able to deliver that speech with enthusiasm after visiting President Mubarak, touring Islamic Cairo and going to the pyramids!

A small group of us took a mini-self tour of the Pearl. This area is brand new, and totally under construction. When it is finished, I will be able to say that I saw it before all of the glitz and glamour.

Doha Debates

The Doha Debates are one of the most exciting and educational events that take place here in Qatar. First, there is a controversial statement that is debated between two sides. There are guest speakers and a question period. Eventually the audience votes on whether or not to pass the motion made. Tim Sebastian is the host, and we met with Tanya, one of the producers and Sheelagh an educational director. The Doha Debates have been going on for about 5 years. They are a part of the Qatar foundation. However, this does not interfere in the independence of the program. It is run by the BBC, and the aim of the show is to provide the world with knowledge and present various viewpoints by defying stereotypes. In our meeting they said they like to “challenge the audience by giving different sides that are not cliche” The Doha Debates are an example of free speech available to students in Qatar. There have been many famous guests, from Bill Clinton to Shimon Perez.

 

Some examples of issues covered in the Doha debates are:

Muslim women choosing who they can marry

Arab/Israeli Conflict Profit over People in the Gulf

QatarQATARqatar!!!!!!!

Finally, we are here. I’m not too sure if it is too soon to say this, but Qatar is exactly how I imagined it to be… gorgeous, multicultural, hot and fabulous!!!!

It is funny that last year we started in Egypt and ended in a Gulf Country too. It has been just a little over 24 hours, and I am just loving Doha!

We started our time here by visiting Al-Jazeera. For me, this was the epitome of our entire Middle East/Journalism focus. We met with different directors and toured the studios. We were also able to talk to the head of international relations! They were so eloquent with their words and seemed genuinely happy to be a part of the Al-Jazeera “family”. They gave us so much insight, that we could never have learned without this amazing opportunity.

Some ideas they talked about were:
the importance of context in a headline
hard power: military aggression vs. soft power: public diplomacy
Al-Jazeera coming to America

I learned that Al-Jazeera is an independent organization that was the first global news network outside of the western world. They are in Kuala Lumpur, Doha, London and Washington D.C.

Al-Jazeera has been banned in almost every Arab country in some point in time. They were the first channel to dialogue with the Israelis. It was very interesting to learn about the differences between the Arabic and English channels.

We learned about some of the journalists who have lost their lives while out on the job. It was very sad to learn about them and others who have been in terrible situations while striving for truth. In a way it was good to know that Al-Jazeera cares for them and their families. We saw a memorial that they have at the center for these fallen journalists.

We also got to see the American and Arabic news rooms, which was extremely cool. I haven’t even seen one in America, so it was a new and exciting sight to see.

This visit was great because we were able to learn more about Al-Jazeera, from its history, to its functions and future plans.

After Al-Jazeera, we stopped at the City Center Mall. A typical, enormous mall with tons of high-end stores, fast food chains, and fancy restaurants and decorations. Oh, and there is an indoor ice-skating rink.

In the evening a group of us went to the Souq. This market is totally different than Hamdieh (in Syria) and the Khan el-Khalili (in Egypt). It was so clean and organized, and nice smelling incense was in the air. There were ATMs around each corner, and each section of the souq was organized by type of goods to buy. There were restaurants, organized food stands, as well as, dunkin donuts, McDonalds and baskin robins. I don’t think that these chains being in the market is really a traditional concept. Don’t get me wrong, but I really think that when you look at the culture of the Gulf region, with the international population and the high standard of living, literally “caters to” the idea of having luxuries inside of a souq.

Leaving Damascus

Today is the big day. We are going to leave Damascus and fly to Doha in a few hours.

Our visit to Syria has been a very interesting journey. We went from the museum to markets to castles all the way to the border. I feel like we have experienced Syria in such a unique way, that it will never be able to be duplicated. We had some issues between the journalism and international affairs aspects of the program, were we student journalists? Were we tourists? Or were we American student ambassadors? Based on our experience, I think we were a little bit of everything.

I will not forget the nice people I met, I will not forget our fun times around and I will certainly not forget what I learned here.

As I get ready for Qatar, my mind is going crazy! For so many different reasons. I cannot wait to visit the Gulf! I absolutely love it there, and not because of the wealth there. I love the culture, and how the Gulf has modernized in its own way. I am fascinated by the number of international residents in each country and how they affect the local economies and society. I wrote a paper for my Global Economy class on issues pertaining to Labor in the GCC states. I am so excited to observe the research I have conducted over the past two years! Also, in my Arabic class we read from Al-Jazeera every day… so I cannot wait to visit and see what happens behind the scenes!

Ps. I am also just a little excited to be going to Dubai on Thursday!!!!!!!!
Ruchi, here I come!

Happy Birthday Rachel! 5/31

Happy birthday rachel

Aleppo was so nice, our hotel was nothing I ever could have imagined. It is cool to think that some people lived in it before as a house! The market was ok compared to the one in Damascus.

Today we returned to Damascus and had a nice long car ride. We watched Tristan and Isolde, it was sad. Lily, Honor and I went shopping at the market and got some goodies for people at home ☺

Later, we went out for dinner for Rachel’s birthday. The restaurant was called Narange, and we had a very nice rooftop meal together. It was a great way to spend our last night here in Syria.

Aleppo

Last night in Krak de Chevaliers was a lot prettier; it felt like we were in the country. There was no noise and we could see stars at night!

We are in Aleppo right now. On the way we watched Mama Mia the movie. I haven’t seen it before and it was really cute. This part of Syria is so nice. We visited another castle and explored the ancient architecture under the hot sun.

Later on, Rachel and I explored the market. These past two days have been so informational and relaxing- I cannot wait to get back to Damascus and do some work and get ready for Qatar!

I can’t believe this trip is almost over. Time is flying!

Crusader Castle 5-29

Today, we visited a small village located in the beautiful hills of Syria. This village is called Maaloula. The special thing about Maaloula is that they still speak Aramaic, the language of Jesus Christ. It was such a unusual kind of feeling visiting the church. We were able to hear a prayer in Aramaic, which was so different than any other language I know. I heard that Hebrew and Arabic stemmed from Aramaic, and I think some of the sounds might have been similar, but this was a once in a lifetime kind of experience.

I truly enjoy long car rides. I enjoy long car rides that have movies about our destination even more. I know it sounds cheesy, but we watched Kingdom of Heaven on the way to Krak des Chevaliers, a crusader castle that still stands today. This was kind of like our history lesson today. We were able to see (through Hollywood) what it was like to be a crusader, and what these castles usually looked like back in the crusader-days.

When we got to the actual castle, it was so surreal. It was so old. The fact that it still stands the way it does today is amazing! We climbed, walked and enjoyed the breathtaking view for hours.

5-28-09

We had a “de-brief”class this morning. It was a very interesting and important. We talked about issues that we are facing in Syria, as students of journalism, as students of international affairs and also just as America citizens. I feel like this class we had was one of the most important moments of our trip.

Later, we went to the ministry of information, where the minister spoke to us. It was a Syrian and American mixed audience, us being the Americans. Professor Sullivan was included in the panel, and it was really great to see him incorporate some of the ideas that we talked about earlier this morning.

Now, I am going to meet Koka and Mishleen to do some shopping!

May 27, 2009- Syrian Golan

Today I was at “The Golan”. Can you believe it? I wish I was able to upload pictures right away, because no words can describe what I saw today.

We were in Golan’s capital, Quneitra. We met with the mayor, something I don’t think the majority of American students are lucky enough to have. At the meeting, he discussed the history behind the Israeli-occupied Golan heights and what the Syrians have gone through since the October War.

First we went to the hospital, that was completely obliterated. It was shocking to see how a place that is meant to help people could be used for the exact opposite reason. After the hospital, we saw the remains of a church that was also destroyed. It was still stunning, despite what happened to it. After the church, we went close up to the barbed wire. This was a very unsettling feeling. The scenery was beautiful, we could see the mountains and the air was so clear. The only thing not so beautiful was the fields and fields that are hiding landmines underneath their soil. I will remember today when I am in Geneva. I saw an Indian UN soldier in a UN car passing by, and said Namaste to him! We made it all the way to the UN checkpoint, where we were able to see the Israeli border. In the distance, past the Syrian border, there was an Israeli flag waving underneath a sign that said “Welcome to Israel”… what do you think about that?

I made two new friends today. Koka and Mishleen. Koka is Palestinian who has lived in Syria her entire life. She loves Syria and said she is treated the same as any Syrian in this country. I asked Mishleen how she felt seeing the borders and she said (in the nicest way possible) she was very sad and angry because the Israelis took her country’s land.

These girls are very nice and loving, and I am so glad I met them.

In the evening, the N.U.S.S. students rented out a night club for us. We went to Chillo’s, the rumor/venu of Damascus. Just kidding. But, it was so nice of them and we all had a great time.