Von Behr, Bianco

Since I had picked Arash up from the airport Sunday morning at four and we had had a day full of tests, we decided upon a short nap before heading out to see some more of the old city: we ended up at one of the popular cafes near the Umayyid mosque for some narjeela (sheesha, supposedly, is Egyptian) and tea (beer is in short supply). More sleep followed, but not before we had been elaborately introduced to the art of name calligraphy by an old man passing by: based on my mum and dads surnames (loosely interpreted as von behr - Van Peer & Bianco - Brakel) he made extensive drawings.

The first class involved many many and more new words, plus some silent frustration towards the many words that appear to be the same in farsi and arabic (and hence come easily to Arash). After that, we headed out for the hamam nurriydeen, a beautiful old hamam in the centre of the city. Frustratingly enough to the girls, it is a men-only place. Nonetheless, it is a very special experience, involving sauna, scrubbing, massages, washing and tea. The exact order of all the former activities is still unknown to us, but we plan to develop the skill of hamam-visiting over the next few weeks. Luckily, the hamam staff bossed us around happily.

Today there was more class, and for tonight we plan to visit a Jazz festival in the citadel, and go to the Finnish institute where some NGO's have assembled that might offer me a chance to volunteer! More to follow..

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