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.

Slumdog Damascus ?

Today I was not feeling 100% — so, I had to stay in the hotel. ☹

Anyways, I watching Slumdog Millionaire and then the thought came to me… are there child beggars in Damascus? I am sure there are somewhere, but we haven’t seen any homeless people here. (It happens in all “third world” countries, and if you haven’t seen Slumdog, or read Midaq Alley, I suggest you do and see what happens to these “poor” kids.) What happens to them here? I am used to India and now Egypt where all kinds of people come out of nowhere and ask for money.

Right now, we are a short distance from downtown, and the area we are in is extremely nice and beautiful. There are two new enormous shopping malls walking distance from us and I haven’t seen anyone on the streets. Is it because we are special guests? Or is it Syria in general? I feel like I will never know unless I talk to people around here, and let’s even see how that would turn out.

I found this article by the Tharwa Foundation that researches child begging in Syria. I wonder where these kids are, and what they are up to today.

hmmm…..

I promise I am not trying to whine about facebook being blocked in Syria, there is actually something big behind this socially obstructive move.

According to this article I found by Sean P. Aune on mashable.com,

“The government of Syria has made the move to block Facebook inside their borders.
According to sources speaking with Reuters, the official statement from officials is that they fear “Facebook could become a conduit for Israeli penetration of our youth”. Critics of the government say that it is really to cut off access to the outside world. This appears to be but one small symptom of a much larger problem for Syrians as Internet cafes are being ordered to limit their communication options, and there is even an Internet Political Crimes ward at one prison now. Access to sites such as Hotmail and numerous newspapers has been blocked also, and this disturbing trend shows no signs of abating.”

I don’t know how I feel about censorship in Syria, or in any part of the world for that matter. My only belief is that people should always be able to do whatever they want, whenever they want… and exhibit self-control if they are doing something bad or hurting others. And when someone tries to tell others what to do, people will find ways around them. I’m positive that people use proxy-servers for their social networking, but just the reasoning behind this move and the way that it is carried out everywhere, is shocking and surprising to me.

Today we went to visit Annar saatti, the president of the National Union of Syrian Students (NUSS). The meeting was in the ministry of education and they had a nice big conference room where they served us beverages, non-stop. He talked about the union and students of Syria. He told us that a 5-year engineering degree would cost the equivalent of $50 and housing would be a monthly $6. Woah. He also stressed the role that volunteer work plays in NUSS.

They gave us a packet that briefed the NUSS. It talks about what NUSS is, and how their main goals are “unity, freedom and socialism.” It also mentions the Arab Students movement, the occupied Syrian Golan and “Israeli nazism.”

Just like our other sessions, after he answered some very interesting questions asked by our group. It was interesting to hear him answer one part of Professor Hempel’s question about how Syrians view Americans. He said something (through translations) that a “Syrian citizen will never hate an American for the sake of being American,” and later on that often times Americans only see one side to issues.

I am still digesting his thoughts. I will consider this tomorrow when we meet with Syrian students, and will use them as motivation to show my objectivity towards sensitive topics, hopefully some day when I can represent America on the international-playground.

Sunday, May 24, 2009

“Before you point your finger at someone else, remember there are three more pointing back at you.”

Who ever thought that I would sit in a meeting with a deputy foreign minister of Syria? Today we met with his Excellency, Dr. Abdul Fattah Ammourah. Our session was extremely informative on Syrian history and policies. He gave us background on the situation in the Middle East. It was interesting to hear the Syrian viewpoint in issues that I have been studying for the past couple of years. I liked his diplomatic way of speaking throughout the session. He answered questions and took the time to explain things to us.

After the meeting, a small group of us went back to the market. I love that place. I hope we go back every day. Later on we had a group meeting in a little conference room that we have turned into our own mini-internet café.

My new friend Omar met us for dinner at the hotel. He is a Northeastern student who is visiting his family in Syria. It was nice to have someone new join our group here and he will meet us later on too.

I started to practice learning the Syrian dialect today. I have been asking Nevenka what all of the major word changes are and they are so similar to some of the dialects we went over in class and some that my friends have taught me from the gulf. It is really fun and I like making the connections. Syrian dialect has similarities to village Gujarati!

Blogging from Syria

Saturday May 23, 2009

Today was our first day out and about in Syria. We visited the national museum of Syria where we learned tons and tons of information about everything from ancient tools of the Mesopotamians to Synagogues to modern paintings. I felt like I was seeing real-life examples of my AP World History class. After the museum we went through the market to the Umayyad Mosque. Let me just say that the market is FABULOUS! I love the Khan el-Khalili, but this souq is so clean and no one hassles you. Later on we visited the “oldest street in the world” and a special church at the end of the road. It was cool how we saw ancient statues from Mesopotamian times and religious settlements for Judaism, Christianity and Islam all in one day. It just shows how diverse Syria is. People here are all shapes, colors and sizes.

Back at Northeastern, I heard so much about how Syrians are proud to be Arab. This Arab/national/ethnic identity struggle that exists in the Middle East will be extremely interesting to observe here. I learned some of the Syrian colloquial words, so I can’t wait to get out and try them. I already practiced a little when I was at the market and the mall. People always ask me where I am from. Sometimes it results in an extra search in airport security and sometimes it results in a discount on some random trinket in the market. People mistake me for so many different nationalities, I think they are all compliments. Last year I used to play around and jokingly change my nationality every time someone asked, but this year I am just compelled to say I am American and of Indian ethnicity. I get sad when Indian people do not recognize me as Indian and kind of ignore me instead of striking up a conversation. I guess my identity is more organized on this trip. Also, I guess it is just in my personality to be curious about people and where they come from. This is probably why I am an International Affairs major.

Greetings from Damascus!

We finally arrived in Syria. I honestly had no idea what to expect. When we got out of the Airport, after a VIP-style check in, the first thing I noticed was the blue sky and the green trees. This may not seem like a big deal, but coming from Cairo, where pure pollution is the color of the sky… seeing blue is very impressive. Syria is just beautiful. The roads are clean and the buildings look well kept and organized. Don’t get me wrong, I love Cairo exactly the way it is, but I definitely appreciate Syria so far. The scenery everywhere is gorgeous! We are at our hotel, and it is so nice and spacious. For dinner we tried to go downtown, and the taxi driver took us to a mall called town-center. After this little pit stop, we made it to the restaurant we wanted to go to, and enjoyed our first Syrian meal. My friends were right, the food here is out of this world. On the way back we asked the driver how many Americans are in Syria. He said about 10/1000, or it might have been 10/10000 or even 10/1000000. Or maybe even just 10. Actually its at least 27 (I don’t really know the exact #) Because our group is here! WE ARE SO LUCKY! I cannot wait to explore and learn more about Syria.

OFF TO SYRIA

Today is a bittersweet day. It is my last day in Cairo, and I do not know when I will be back in Egypt. I am going to miss this place that has been so good to me, two years in a row. I will miss my irreplaceable friends, the fun places to go and most importantly the chaos. I feel like my BlackBerry stopped working for a reason, so that I could make the most out of my trip. I think that so far I have.

Alia came to visit and say good-bye. It was so sad, I will miss her and all of my wonderful Egyptian friends. You guys mean the world to me!

I am excited to go to Syria, but I will really miss Egypt!!!!!!