Aleppo

Before I get to Aleppo, I just want to say that I have an amazing family - both in the states and in Syria (and for anyone else reading this, I'm trying to persuade my mom in VA to visit me in Turkey and Syria, so help me sway her easterly). My family is Syria is really fun. My host sister, Judy (which is actually spelled in her passport with English letters as Djoudi, but I will continue to spell it Judy), has given me a colloquial name, as she calls it - Halhoola (kind of). I like it. I continue to french braid Judy's hair almost every night, and we all continue to watch this great Turkish TV show every night (the main character, Zowahr, just got married! finally...). The food is still delicious, and Muhajerin is a great neighborhood to live in. The guy at the internet cafe (who sees me practically every day) lent me some Arabic movies last week. Today as I was walking to this wireless internet cafe, I passed by the man who works at the little cold store, and we exchanged salaam alakom's (peace be with you). And today is a beautiful day in Damascus.

Alright, so Aleppo. Aleppo is a great city. It's in Northern Syria, somewhat close to the Turkey border. We took the midnight train from Damascus, arriving in Aleppo around 6:30am. We dropped our bags off at our hotel (with VERY pink rooms) and found some delicious breakfast (bread with stringy cheese and a dish with a sugary sauce with cinnamon and cheese). Aleppo is known for its rich food. After breakfast, we got ripped off by our taxi driver who drove us to the citadel, but mafi mushkila (no problem, a commonly heard phrase in the Middle East), the citadel was really interesting, with many ruins and great views of the city. The citadel sits on top of a green hill. After the citadel, we walked through empty souqs (everything was closed because it was Friday, the holy day) and came upon the Umayed Mosque. We paid for cloaks, took off our shoes, and walked inside. The mosque has a huge open courtyard with hallwalls and rooms for prayer. It was really peaceful, and it was fun to watch the little children running and playing in the courtyard. (I've just finished uploading pictures from Aleppo... send me an email if you'd like to see them). We then returned to our hotel for a nice afternoon nap (our sleep on the train the night before wasn't exactly the best).

I traveled to Aleppo with three friends from Arabesk. We were an interesting group. I am obviously very Caucasian, Haji is American as well, though her family comes from India, Melanie is French, though her family is from Rwanda, and Fatima is also French, though her family is from Morocco. So we were a very diverse group, and we had a lot of fun together. Haji has a friend in the states who has family in Aleppo, so we called this family to ask for suggestions of good restaurants, or fun things to do at night. The family invited us to their house for dinner. We met Mohammed in front of Aleppo's university, and he walked us to their home. It was a busy home with two parents, seven children, two of the children's husbands, and six grandchildren. The family was really really nice and welcoming and friendly. It was really fun talking with them (and the kebeh they served us was delicious! Kebeh - grilled dough with meat and liver inside). The whole time we ate dinner, drank tea, and drank soda, Mohammed was coming up with a "project" for the evening. So after dinner, Mohammed, Mohammed's friend - Hani, and Zeina (one of Mohammed's sisters - we convinced their mom to let Zeina join us, as females don't usually walk outside at night... it's not proper, and the neighbors all talk, though it was fine for Zeina because Mohammed was with us). We enjoyed some ice cream while Hani drove us to Al-Jedida (a neighborhood). We walked through narrow streets, visited a couple of churches (it was Mohammed and Zeina's first times inside a church), and shopped a little. We really had a great time together.

The next morning we enjoyed breakfast on the roof of our hotel before setting out to explore the souqs some more (this time with the hustle and bustle of an open souq). Lonely Planet describes Aleppo's souqs as the most vibrant Middle Eastern souqs, and it was really beautiful and fun to watch. We shopped some, and bought schwarmas off the street on our way to the soap factory (Aleppo is also famous for it's olive oil soaps). The factory was hidden away down a quiet street, and we had to ask for directions several times. I'm glad we eventually found it - we were shown where the soup was made, stored, and packaged. I bought some olive and mint soap before leaving. After the soap factory, we returned to our hotel, gathered our things, and took a taxi to the bus station, where we took a bus back to Damascus (about 20 minutes outside of Damascus, we started to smell a burning smell, and the bus pulled over to the side of the highway and changed one of the tires, which apparently solved the problem, mafi mushkila).

A quick note on bargaining. In the Middle East, you can bargain for practically everything: items in a store (even if there is a written price), taxi rides, bus rides... Sometimes it's fun to bat your eyelashes, take part in the culture, and tell the shop keeper that you're a poor student who doesn't have a lot of money. Other times it's really frustrating. For example: when we arrived at the bus station, we bargained from one bus company to another until we found a price we liked (eventually we got them down from 200 Syrian pounds to 110). And of course everyone charges foreigners a lot more (some restuarants even have separate foreign and local menus, with different prices on each). Bargaining is just something you have to get used to in the Middle East.