Syria

In preparation for our move to Syria later this year, I hopped over there for a week to check the place out. The Husband and I are hoping to learn Arabic properly over there, before continuing our studies in Qum. Thing is, you can learn Arabic here, but you don't really get the speaking environment in which to practise and they really concentrate on teaching the grammer parrot fashion, so off we go to Syria!

I stayed with some friends in an area called Sayyidda Zainab, which is named after the granddaughter of the Holy Prophet, who is buried there. The mosque complex is really nice (if a little small). The surrounding area, however, REALLY made me appreciate Qum. Garbage is only picked up once a week there and the streets are only swept once in a while. Compare that to Qum, where we have orange-clad street sweepers who pick up the rubbish every night and clean the streets.

And not only that, the place is CRAMMED full of Iranians. The shopkeepers all speak Farsi and accept Iranian currency. (Iranians are known to shop, even though the merchandise in Syria is exactly the same as Iran!). Infact on my flight back to Iran, every single person was overweight by at least 10kg. (apart from me - I only had 9kg in total :-) lol!).

But on the plus point, the supermarkets in Damascus City Centre are well stocked up. I saw all the things that I've been missing in Qum (like flash kitchen cleaner, puff pastry and kellogs cereals!)

It was also nice to meet some of the Westerners who are studying out there. The family I was staying with even took me to a place called Maloula, which is an hour away from Damascus. Its the only place where they speak Arameaic (the language they spoke in Jesus' time). Transport is quite cheap, so it cost about a dollar each way. The town is famous for a girl who was supposed to get married, but at the last minute changed her mind and became a nun. The townspeople were furious with her, as her fiance was one of the richer members of the town, so they tried to burn her, chase her away etc. but each time, something happened to save her. It is said that once she was being chased by soldiers and she stopped to pray and the mountain opened up in front of her letting her escape.