Easter and Embassies

Happy Easter everyone! I went to a Catholic church for both Good Friday and Easter with my friend, Melanie. Both services were in Arabic. I was surprised that the Good Friday service was very crowded, with people standing in the aisles, whereas at Easter service there were plenty of open pews. I went to two different churches though, so that may affect this observation. The Good Friday service was very long. After a little over two hours, Melanie and I were starving (it was 8:30pm, and I had only eaten breakfast that morning). We slowly make our way out of the church (as I said before, it was very crowded) and found that it was even more crowded outside, with a big parade going down the main street (blocking our path to food). We listened to the marching band, watched the priests carry crosses and the altar boys and girls carry candles, and saw fireworks from the roof of a nearby building. After the parade had returned to the church, Melanie and I headed to Bab Touma and the old city for falafel sandwiches (Melanie wasn't eating meat for the week before Easter).

Sunday I didn't have university because of Easter (in Syria, and a good amount of the Middle East, or maybe just the Levant, Christian and Muslim holidays are national holidays). I went to church again with Melanie. This time the service was much shorter. After the service the church's marching band played in the courtyard, and then Melanie and I went to a nearby cafe and I enjoyed an American cup of coffee (I've missed it soooo much... Turkish and Arabic coffee is good, but very different). As we left the cafe, we were greeted by a parade in the middle of the street. Our first parade that day. There were flags, the church marching band, and cute little kids. Apparently each church has their own parade, because just 15 minutes later, yet another parade comes down the street, with a different marching band from a different church (sometimes when I'm in the old city for drinks on weekend nights I can hear the marching bands practicing at the churches). So that was fun to watch. Melanie hadn't eaten meat or sweets the past week, so we bought some chocolates in the souq, ate chicken schwarmas, and enjoyed freshly made strawberry juice. And we spent the day walking through the old city, sitting in the park, on stairs, on curbs, at the hijaz (four different places), people watching and talking. It was a beautiful day. When we were sitting on the stairs, a Christian family went into a nearby house. They wished us Happy Easter and asked if we wanted water or anything else. Ohhh Middle Eastern hospitality is so great.

I also have a new pick-up line/phrase to add to the list. As Melanie and I first entered the souq in the morning, one of the shopkeepers said to us, "Welcome ladies! Want to have an orgy?" in English. I'm sure he didn't know what he was saying. But that was absolutely ridiculous. I've also had a couple of men on the street ask for change, which is code for asking for sex. I don't understand why they think they can get away with that with foreigners, because they most definitely wouldn't be able to say that to Syrian women. Melanie and I were watching cute little boys riding bikes in the park, and we lamented the fact that in a couple of years, they'll turn into obnoxious macho teens/men. I just have to keep a sense of humor with all the comments, otherwise it gets to be too much.

Besides those couple of male episodes, I had a great Easter weekend. Though men say things all of the time, blow kisses, and what not, they (for the most part) won't ever try to touch me (they can get in a lot of trouble), so I do feel very safe in the city. My neighborhood is especially great and full of embassies. On my service bus ride to the President's Bridge I pass by the French, Turkish, Italian, American, Iraqi (ironically the Iraqi embassy is right across the street from the American, and the Cuban embassy is also a couple of buildings down), Serbian, Qatar, Japanese, Saudi Arabian, Libyan, and Polish embassies. All on just one short bus ride. I really like seeing all of the different nationalities. So everyone, rest assured that I am very safe in Damascus and really enjoying my time here. I have exactly one more week of class left, and then I head to Istanbul to meet my mom for a little vacation before we both return to Damascus, and I start my last Arabic class at Damascus University. My time here is going pretty quickly.