first week at uni

Today's Saturday, which means the weekend is almost over, and I return to university classes tomorrow. The weekend here is Friday and Saturday, with Friday being the Muslim holy day. It seems like the minarets are louder and the calls are more frequent on Fridays, and most stores are closed.

After this first week of class, I feel like I'm becoming more accustomed to Damascus and am falling into somewhat of a daily routine (as much of a routine as you can have in Syria). I have class at university Sunday through Thursday from 9am to 1pm. I leave my house around 8:40 to catch a service bus to uni, and then after class I either catch a service bus back home, or get some coffee/a meal with friends. Lunch with my host family is the biggest meal of the day, and is usually around 2pm, though really its whatever time I come back and want to eat. The whole family eats together (in front of the TV) on the weekends, but during the week we just all help ourselves whenever. The TV is almost always on, and every night Judy, Am Anas, and I watch a Turkish drama dubbed in Arabic. It's in colloquial Syrian, so its a little difficult for me to understand, but the first episodes involved a woman faking her pregnancy (her mom kidnapped a baby for her), and another women being kidnapped (she eventually escaped), and now the main characters are in Istanbul, and theres some romantic tension building up between two characters. Judy and Am Anas love the show, and its fairly entertaining.

Yesterday I went with Am Anas to visit her aunt. Syrians are very proud of their hospitality, and it's really quite amazing. We were brought Arabic coffee (very thick, with the coffee grounds settling in the bottom of the cup), plates of fruit, some sort of sweet with cheese on the bottom and dough on top (delicious!) and then tea. After staying at her house for quite some time, we left and drove to the old Damascene house in which Am Anas was raised. The house has been renovated to make it more modern (it's at least 150 years old), but the floors, ceilings, and stairs are original, and it was absolutely gorgeous. The house centers on an open-air courtyard, and the roof had a great view of old Damascus. We then bought falafel sandwiches and drove to the top of the mountain to eat them with a view of the night lights of Damascus. I could see the green lights of mosques all throughout the city.

Damascus is busy. It can be loud and dirty. But the people are genuinely friendly (with the exception of some creepy guys), and I'm becoming more comfortable and starting to like the city.